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Ancient Egyptian Art
It is impossible to discuss the Ancient Egyptian art without understanding a lifestyle of the country.
Henri Frankfort in the Ancient Egyptian religion states that the Egyptians "comprehended the
universe as essentially static" (Frankfort, H., Ancient Egyptian religion p.49). Most likely, this national
characteristic was caused by the following factors: country's geographical location and religion.
Ancient Egypt was situated in the Nile valley. The desert on both sides of the valley protected the
country from foreign invasions. Every August the river rose and fertilized the surrounding fields
(Garraty J.A. & G. Peter, The Columbia history of the world, 1981, p.68). The life was stable and
predictable. Perhaps, that was why the Egyptians considered the universe to be harmonic and
unchangeable. This principle was expressed in their religion.
A religion played a most important role in the formation of the Egyptian civilization. The main doctrine
of the Egyptians' faith was Maat: a universal order. "The conception of Maat [expressed] the ...
beliefthat the universe [was] changeless ... [Maat] excluded ideals of
progress ... revolutions, or any other radical changes in existing conditions" (Frankfort, 64). The
Egyptians believed that "the touchstone for all that was really significant was its permanence"
(Frankfort, 49).
The Ancient Egyptians manifested their understanding of the world in the works of art.
Canon.
Representation of Egyptian gods, pharaohs, and the nobles was guided by rules of a strict canon.
According to the canon peoples' heads, legs, and feet had to be shown in profile, while arms and
torsos in frontal view. It was done to show the figures "in the most complete way possible" (Janson H.
W. & A. F. Janson, History of art: the western tradition p.50). "Western tradition of perspective was
never adopted by Egyptian artists because it was thought to distort the essential form of the subject.
Overlapping was avoided ... An object that was acknowledged to be behind another did not diminish
in size ... but was ... placed above the nearer object (Teeter, Egyptian art, 1994). According to the
canon, nobles were portrayed bigger than the common people. The tallest figure in the picture was
the pharaoh.
The canon imposed "a strong sense of order" in Egyptian Art (Janson & Janson, 50). It was the result
of the use "of a ... proportional system that involved guide lines and grids. For example,
from the time of the Old Kingdom (c. 2700 B. C,) the standing human figure was proportioned from
the hairline to the soles of the feet by an eighteen-square grids" (Teeter, 1994).
Sculpture
Early Dynastic Period (Before c 2920 B. C.):Narmer Palette)
The Narmer Palette (see page 8), a famous Egyptian masterpiece, was created in c. 3000 B. C.
(predynastic period). It is made of limestone; the height of the palette is 63.5 cm. It is the first known
work of art dedicated to a historical personage; the Pharaoh's name is written on the palette. Janson
& Janson suggest that the relief "celebrates a victory over Lover Egypt" (Janson & Jannson, 49).
The first side of the palette divided into three horizontal registers. In the upper register we can see
two cow's (or bull's) heads, which could be symbols of goddesses Hathor (Frankfort, 11). Janson &
Janson believe that the bull is a symbol of the Pharaoh (Janson & Janson, 50). Narmer's name is
written between the bulls' heads; the two hieroglyphs, catfish and chisel, give its phonetic
representation.
There is a picture of the Pharaoh and his defeated enemy in the middle register. The king is holding
the foe by hair. In the right hand Narmer has a mace. He is barefooted. Janson & Janson states that
Narmer has removed his sandals because he is standing on a holy ground, and the whole scene is a
ritual (Janson & Janson, 50). Also, it does not look that Narmer is going to kill his prisoner, because
he holds the weapon by the middle. It looks like a gesture of a victor. Interestingly, the pharaoh and
his enemy are of the same size. Perhaps, it is so because the artistic style was not completely formed
at that time.
In the upper right comer of the same register, we can see "a falcon standing above a clamp of
papyrus plants [and holding] a tether attached to a human head that "grows" from the same soil as
the plants". Falcon in Egyptian mythology represents god Horus, which in the Old Kingdom was
associated with Pharaoh. Papyrus was a symbol of Lower Egypt, so Janson & Janson believe that
"the image repeats the main scene on a symbolic level" (Janson & Janson, 50).
There are images of two enemies in the lower register. The men are pictured in a most humiliating
from an Egyptian point of view position. Their bodies are curved, and limbs are bended.
Interestingly, Pharaoh and his attendant have different facial features comparing to the enemies.
Noses of the king and a sandal carrier are on the same line with their foreheads (I would say, Roman
noses), while all the enemies are snub-nosed and have very low foreheads.
On the other side of the palette we can see Narmer and his soldiers marching towards the dead
bodies oftheir enemies. Narmer's soldiers bear standards, and the process reminds a military
parade. The enemies are lying on the ground and shown from the above. Hands of the dead soldiers
are tied up. The prisoners' heads are cut off, and placed between their feet. Also, there are strange
long-naked beasts in the middle section of the palette. Their necks are intertwined, and the scene
could symbolize a unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. In the bottom compartment "the pharaoh ...
represented as a strong bull trampling an enemy and knocking down a citadel" (Janson & Janson,
50).
The Old Kingdom
"Apart from the works of architecture", the Old Kingdom is famous for "portrait statues found in
funeral temples and tombs. Figures of the Egyptian kings and queens "are almost overwhelming in
[their] firmness and immobility". Their idealized bodies "are completely impersonal". Only faces
"suggest some individual traits" (Janson & Janson, 56).
"Standing and seated figures were the basic forms of Egyptian large-scale sculpture". At the end of
the fourth dynasty "a third pose was added: a scribe sitting cross-legged on the ground" (Janson &
Janson, 56-57). One ofthe finest works of that period is the sculpture of pharaoh Menkaure and his
wife Khameremebty (see page 9).
The statue was created approximately in 2515 B.C. Its height is fifty-four and a half inches (138.4
em) (Janson & Janson, 57). Pharaoh and his queen are represented as a young and beautiful
couple. Initially, the sculpture was painted, and the pharaoh "would have had a darker body color
than the queen". Now, just traces of the original colors remain. The king and his wife look strictly
ahead; they "stride forward with the left foot". The king made a longer step than the queen.
Khameremebty embraces her husband. It looks like as if she tries to protect the king. Her
embracement looks like a gesture of a mother, but not a wife.
Menkaure is half naked. The king wares some sort of a kilt. The man has a false beard, a sign of the
pharaoh's power. The queen is wearing a finest gown trough which the contours of a beautiful female
body can be easily seen. Feet of both figures are carved very roughly. The pharaoh has in his
hands strange cylindrical objects.
••
The middle kingdom (2040-1674 B. C.)
"The unsettled times" of the first intermediate period "gave rise to a great deal of experimentation by
Egyptian artists, even though they continue to look back to the Old Kingdom". The mural Feeding the
oryxes (see page 8) from the tomb of Khnum-hotep is a great example of the experimental forms
introduced into Egyptian art. In the mural "we can read the depth with surprising ease". "According to
the standards of [the Ancient Egyptian] art, all the figures ought to share the same ground-line. If
not, the second oryx and its attendant ought to be placed above the first ... Instead, the painter
employs a secondary ground-line only slightly higher than the primary one" (Jason & Jason, 61). As
the result, the picture looks very realistic.
The portrait of Sesostris III (see page 11.) represents a radically new form of depicting a human
body. The pharaoh's portrait seems very alien to the Egyptian style. It looks more like a portrait of a
foreign ruler. The work is very realistic. Though the sculpture is badly damaged, we can see deep
lines on the man's cheeks and forehead. It is a thoughtful face of a very tied man. The sculpture has
nothing to do with a divine handsomeness of the Old Kingdom's pharaohs.
At the same time, the statue of the Lady Sennuwy (see pic.) totally satisfied the canonical rules.
Perhaps, classical and new styles existed in parallel, but not fused together.
The New Kingdom
The new kingdom (c. 1550 - 1070 RC.) was the last period of prosperity in Ancient Egyptian history.
The art of the earlier part of the New Kingdom (eighteenth dynasty) is significantly different from the
later period. In "the fist part of the eighteenth dynasty" artists continued further developing of the
Middle Kingdom's style (Janson & Janson, 61). At that time such frescos as the Pond in a garden and
Musicians and dancers (see page 11) were created. Both works are from the tomb ofNebamun. The
frescoes are very colorful and full of life. The first one shows a garden of a rich family (Janson &
Janson, 62). The second one pictures a group of people watching the dancing girls. Janson &
Janson believe that the frescoes were created under a foreign influence. There is a theory that
"between 1700 and 1580 B.C. "the Egyptians had
close contacts with Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. Egypt needed their help to get rid of Hyksos
(Janson & Janson, 102).
I must mention, that the frescos satisfy rules of Ancient Egyptian art. As we can see, the trees in the
left side of the first fresco are shown horizontally to the pond. It is done according to the
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canon; the angle of vision must be changed only by ninety degrees (Janson & Janson, 50). Also, the
head and arms of the girl in the upper right comer of the fresco are pictured in profile, while her torso
in front view. Images ofthe dancers and musicians in the second fresco are very realistic, but those
women are commoners. Their pictures do not have to satisfy the standard. At the same time, the
people in the upper register, probably the nobles, are pictured according to the
canon.
"In the later years of the New Kingdom", the decline ofthe Ancient Egyptian art began (Janson &
Janson, 69). The artists of that period unsuccessfully tried to imitate the styles of the Old and Middle
kingdoms. "The decline is ... [clearly seen] in the ... statues that flank the pylon of Ramsess II (at
Luxor). Although as skillfully carved as ever, they are far cry from alert, muscular" figures of the Old
Kingdom pharaohs (Janson & Janson, 68).
Amarna period
The reign of the "pharaoh-heretic" Akhenaten (c. 1348 -1336 B.C.) was the only period in the
Egyptian history when the rules of the artistic canon were completely broken, and a new, though
short-lived style was created. It was known as Amama style (Janson & Janson, 64).
One of the most famous works of that period is the relief of Akhenaten and his family (page 11). The
relief shows a domestic scene: the pharaoh and his wife are playing with their daughters. In any
other time this theme would be unimaginable. The family is pictured in a very strange way. For
example, the king's body has almost a feminine shape. In addition, everybody in the family has an
enormously long oval head. As Janson & Janson write, "the new style did not bring greater realism; it
rather introduced a new sense of form that seeks to unfreeze the traditional immobility of Egyptian
art" (Janson & Janson, 65). After Amenhotep's death the old canon of art was restored all over Egypt.
Architecture.
Unfortunately, houses of common Egyptians built of "sun-dried bricks and palm trees" did not survive
(Garraty J.A. & G. Peter, 66). Thus, the temples of gods and tombs of the nobles are the only source
of our knowledge about Egyptian architecture.
The basic form of an Ancient Egyptian tomb was a mastaba ("the word comes from the Arabic for
"bench" because of [its] shape"(Janson & Janson, 51). It was a "brick-shaped" structure "faced with
brick or stone". A burial chamber connected with a structure by a shaft was under
the mastaba. "Inside the mastaba was "a chapel for offerings to the" deceased (Janson & Janson,
51).
"During the third dynasty, royal mastabas developed into step pyramids" The most famous of them
was the pyramid of pharaoh Djoser. The pyramid is believed to be the first structure made entirely of
stone. It consisted of six layers "placed over a traditional mastaba". The structure reminded a
Mesopotamian ziggurat.
The Djoser's pyramid was constructed by vizier Imhotep: a famous architect, astronomer, and healer.
He became the "first artist whose name was recorded in history". Constructing Djoser's funeral
complex, Imhotep widely used papyrus-shaped columns. However, they were not free standing and
were incorporated into other structures (Janson & Janson, 53).
The step pyramids were adapted by Djoser's successors, and after several generations the
structures became smooth-sided (Janson & Janson, 52-53). The building of the pyramids "reached
its climax during the fourth dynasty in the three great pyramids of Giza". They were built by pharaohs
Khufu (c. 2601-2528), Khafre (c. 2570-2544 B.C.), and Menkaure (c. 25332515 B.C.). "[The
pyramids] originally had an outer casting of carefully dressed stone, which has disappeared except
near the pinnacle of the pyramid of Khafre. The top of each [pyramid] was covered with a thin layer
of gold".
"According to a recent theory, the three pyramids at Gyza are arranged at the same formation as the
constellation of Orion, which was identified with the god Osiris". Frankfort believes that the pyramid
could symbolize a mythical "primeval hill": a place where the life was originated" (Frankfort, 156).
"The pyramid ofKhufu was 481 feet high (now 450), [and] had a base with sides 755 feet long (now
746) ... The mean error in the four sides of the base .. .is only sixteenth of an inch" (41). Now, we can
only wonder how such a structure could be built with primitive tools of that time. "After the end of the
fourth dynasty, ... pyramids on such a scale were never attempted again (Janson & Janson, 55). In
the Middle and New Kingdoms, however, absolutely new architectural forms were developed.
Complex at el-Bahri
A magnificent funeral complex at el-Bahri was started by pharaoh Mentuhotep II (the Middle
Kingdom) and completed by queen Hatshepsut and her nephew pharaoh Tuthmosis III (the New
Kingdom). The complex consists of three terraced funeral temples, which "extended into the
living rock"(Janson & Jnson, 60). The rock could symbolize a "primeval hill" according to Frankfort's
theory.
The funeral temple of Hatshepsut was the largest. "The worshiper [was] led toward the holy of holies
- a small chamber cut deep into the rock - through three large courts on ascending levels, which
were linked by ramps flanked by long colonnades". The temple of Mentuhotep II is ruined now. The
temple of Tuthmosis III, the smallest one, "was sandwiched between two other temples (Janson &
Janson., 60-63).
Temple at Luxor (decline of Egypt).
The temple of the god Amun at Luxor was started by Amenhotep III and completed by Ramesses II.
"The complex was typical of later Egyptian temples ... The gateway (or pylon) [led] to the court ...
[where was] a pillared hall [leading] to the second court. On its far side [was] another pillared hall.
Beyond it [was] the temple itself, a series of symmetrically arranged halls and chapels. They shield ...
a square room ... containing a colossal statue of Amun. The entire complex was enclosed by high
walls that shut the outside world" (Jason & Jason, 67).
Massive columns occupied a large part of the halls. "The columns had to be closely spaced [to
support] the stone lintels ... [The columns] were rather coarse when measured against ... [elegant
columns] in Djoser's palace ... " This comparison shows "how little ofthe genius of Imhotep survived
at Luxor" (Janson & Janson, 68). "Artistic degeneration anticipated the decline of Egypt itself. About
1076 B.C., the country began a long period of decay, and, eventually, in 323 B.C. it was conquered
by Alexander the Great.(Janson & Janson, 69).
References
Frankfort, H. (1961). Ancient Egyptian religion. New York: Columbia University Press.
Garraty J. A., & P. Gay. (1987). The columbia history of the world. New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, Inc.
Janson H.W. & A. F. Janson. (2004). History of art: the western tradition. New Jersey: Pearson
Education.
Teeter, E., (1994) Egyptian art. Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies vol. 20/1 pp. 14-31.
Retrived November 15, 2007, from EBSCO database.