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The Art of Ancient Egypt

Art for the Afterlife

Seated Scribeca. 2600 BCE

Painted limestoneOld Kingdom

The Measure of a Man

Illustration of the Egyptian canon of proportions

Vanessa Beecroft, VB45.007.DR, 2001c-print

Egyptomania

http://www.hulu.com/watch/55342

Steve Martin, King Tut, SNL, 1979

The Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian, 1986

Luxor HotelLas Vegas, NV

Elizabeth TaylorCleopatra1963

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZWB5-aXMXQ

Howard Carter, Tutankhamen’s Tomb, 1923

Egypt

Dates and Places: • 3500-1000BCE• Nile River Valley (fertile--

then a lush land of marshes and ridges)

People:• Divine rulers• Agriculture• Hieroglyphic writing system• Polytheism (many gods)

Map of Ancient Egypt

Themes:• Gods• Rulers• Life and death (the afterlife)• OfferingsForms:• Stone and mud brick construction• Natural and conceptual treatments of

figures• Strict adherence to Egyptian canon

(rule of representation according to unity of measurement)

• Registers of space• Hierarchy of scale

Menkaure and Khamerernebty(?),ca. 2490-2472BCE.

Fig. 1-27.

Egypt

Egypt: The Vocabulary of Power

Palette of King Narmer, ca. 3000-2920BCE, Predynastic period

Hathor(divinemother)

Horus(protectorof pharaohs)Papyrus

(LowerEgypt)

Circulardepression(surroundedby feline Heads)

Narmer(crown ofUpper Egypt)

Slain enemies

Narmer(crown ofLower Egypt)

Beheadedenemies

• Ceremonial palette (stone slab with circular depression) commonly used to prepare eye makeup

• Marks transition from prehistorical to historical Egypt

• Story of unification of Upper and Lower Egypt

• Divine ruler (Narmer) and gods (Hathor (cow), Horus (falcon), etc)

• Symbols of authority• Canon of proportions (would last for

3,000 yrs)• Hierarchy of scale (Narmer much

larger than attendants and enemies)• Composite view (head profile, chest

frontal, legs in profile• Hieroglyphs (Narmer’s name)

Palette of King Narmer, ca. 3000-2920BCE. Fig. 1-22

Egypt: The Vocabulary of Power

“Regarding the Pain of Others” (Sontag)

from Abu Ghraib Prison Iraq, 2004

Francisco de Goya, Disasters of War (What more can be done?), 1810-20, etching

Egypt – Tombs & the Afterlife

Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid and mortuary precint of Djoser, 2630-

2611BCE. Fig. 1-24.

• Knowledge of Egypt from tombs & burial artifacts

• Preoccupation with afterlife• Mastaba (stone or brick structure

erected over burial chamber)• Shaft connected tomb with outside

world (so ka (spirit) could escape)• Contained chambers &

compartments (statues, paintings, reliefs, etc. to accompany dead)

• Axis mundi (ziggurat)

Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.

Egypt - Mummification

http://fieldmuseum.org/explore/multimedia/video-gilded-lady-mummy

Reconstruction of King Tut’s face by Elisabeth Dayneshttp://www.daynes.com/en/home.php

King Tut’s Death mask

Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt, 4th Dynasty, ca. 2551-2528BCE. Fig. 1-1.

Egypt – Spatial Hierarchies (Old Kingdom)

Hammurabi and Shamash, detail of the stele with Law Code of Hammurabica. 1780BCE, Babylon (Ancient Near East)

Great Sphinx, Gizeh plateau, ca. 2551-2528BCE

• Funerary precinct with burial pyramids and temples (enormous expense, built over 75 yrs)

• Pyramid symbol of god Re (god of the sun, reborn daily)

• Testifies to king’s power (oversee huge workforce quarrying, carrying, and dressing stone (wooden rollers/sleds)

• Masonry (ashlar) construction with internal chambers (hoisted up on ramps with ropes/pulleys)

• Stone facing reflected sun

Egypt – Spatial Hierarchies

Fernand KhnopffThe Sphinx (The Caress)1896oil on canvas

Man-headed lion (image of Khafre & symbol of Re)

Egypt: Old Kingdom Tomb Sculpture – The Measure of a Man

(God and King)

Khafre EnthronedGizeh, Egypt

4th Dynastydiorite, 5 ft 6”ca. 2500 BCE

• Ka sculpture for king’s temple (Valley of Kings)

• Stone (diorite) used for tomb statuary

• Quarried 400 miles up river• Attributes of pharaoh (nemes

headdress (uraeus cobra), kilt, false beard)

• Enthroned (resembles two lions’ bodies)

• Between legs intertwined lotus and papyrus (symbolize united Egypt)

• Horus (protector) behind head• Idealized body (youthful divine

leader) • Compact, frontal, solid,

symmetrical (eternal power)

Khafre EnthronedGizeh, Egypt

4th Dynastydiorite, 5 ft 6”ca. 2500 BCE

Old Kingdom Tomb Sculpture

Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, painted limestone

in mastaba of Ti, Saqqara 4’ high, Egypt, ca. 2450 BCE

Egypt - Old Kingdom Tomb Sculpture

• Painted relief for tomb of Ti• One of many depictions of

agriculture and hunting• Hippopotamus hunt (an allegory for

defeat of evil)• Ti and attendants in thick grove of

papyrus• Animals (birds, foxes, fish,

hippopotami) at top and bottom• Strict adherence to canon (system

of proportions) in Ti• Composite (conceptual)

representation (head in profile, chest frontal, legs in profile)

• Timeliness and enduring power in Ti’s aloof stance

Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt,

painted limestone relief in mastaba of Ti, Saqqara 4’ high, Egypt, ca. 2450

BCE

DetailHall of

BullsLascaux

ca. 25,000 BCE

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (detail)ca. 2254-2218BCE

Egypt - Old Kingdom Tomb Sculpture

Egypt – New Kingdom

Architecture

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, New Kingdom, ca.

1473 BCE

Sphinx of Hatshepsut, New Kingdom, ca. 1473 BCE

Colonnade(row of columns usuallyspanned by lintels above)

Egypt – New Kingdom Architecture

Column

Capital

Clerestory

66’

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain

Wiltshire England

2550 – 1600 BCE

Hypostyle hall

Amiens Cathedral13th century CEFrance

Model of the hypostyle hallTemple of Amen-ReKarnak, Egyptca. 1290 BCE

22’

Egypt - Defying the Canon (New Kingdom Sculpture)

AkhenatonTemple ofAtonKarnak, Egyptca. 1350 BCEsandstone 13’ high

Egypt – Defying the Canon• New Kingdom pharaoh • Changed name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaton • In honor of Aton (only god, sun)• Declared monotheism and moved temple down river (to Akhenaton)• Brief departure from strict adherence to canon• Naturalism and realism• Androgynous & effeminate representation (thin, elongated face and arms, swollen belly, hips)• Identifying himself with Aton (not represented naturalistically but as sun itself)?

The Royal FamilyAkhenaton, Nefertiti and their family

AkhenatonTemple of

AtonKarnak

ca. 1350 BCE13’ high

Thutmose, Nefertiti, ca. 1353-1335BCE. Painted

limestone, 1’8”, Fig. 1-34.

Egypt – Defying the Canon

• Akhenaton’s wife• Name means “The Beautiful One Has Come”• Influential queen (shared power?)• Named sculptor (Thutmose)• Deliberately unfinished (left eye not inlaid)• Ideal beauty over true likeness• Possibly resembles flower (enlarged head

over thin, delicate neck)

Thutmose, Nefertiti, Painted limestone

1’8” tallca. 1353-1335BCE

Egypt – Defying the Canon