The document provides information on important artistic periods in ancient Egypt from 3000 BCE to 30 BCE. It discusses the Old Kingdom from 2575-2134 BCE, which was the age of pyramid building, including the Step Pyramid of Djoser and the iconic Great Pyramids of Giza. Key artworks from this period included reliefs like the Palette of Narmer and sculptures of rulers such as Khafre that followed strict artistic conventions.

1. From 3000 BCE
to 30 BCE

2. Important Artistic Periods:
Old Kingdom 2575 – 2134 BCE
Middle Kingdom2040 – 1640 BCE
New Kingdom 1550 – 1070 BCE

7. Egyptian Key Ideas
• Egyptian art spans 3000 years
• Elaborate funerary practices = built MASTABAS,
PYRAMIDS, and rock-cut TOMBS in sacred imperial
areas of Egypt
• Egyptian figures: broad frontal shoulders with head,
torso, and legs in profile
• Old Kingdom figures: rigid stance and little facial
expression
• Middle Kingdom figures: more relaxed body and
emotional faces
• New Kingdom figures: rounded and elongated figures

8. Key ideas continued…
• Order and Stability – a conservative formula of
representation.
• Worship the Pharaoh as a divine being who
establishes Ma’at (balance) between the
human world and the gods (a polytheistic
religion- multiple gods).
• Egyptians have methods of transmitting
knowledge and ideas through centuries and
millennia.

9. • Media: stone, paint, gold + gems, and papyrus
(a tall aquatic plant whose fiber is used as a
writing surface)
• Most of our resources come from tombs
where the treasures were held as items for
passage of the dead.
• Egyptians established the temple format with
columns that will be copied and transformed
by the Greeks and Romans.
Key ideas continued…

10. Old Kingdom
(begins with the unification of the
country under King Narmer)
c. 2575 – 2134 BCE
Information and Major Works to follow…..

11. So how did they
celebrate the
unification of the
country under the rule
of King Narmer?

13. Palette of Narmer
c. 3000 – 2920 BCE
Ringing any bells?

14. Palette of Narmer
c. 3000 – 2920 BCESimilarities? Differences?

15. NAME!

16. Nar – fish
Mer – chisel
Narmer
Perhaps the King
Menes?
(close-up of the palette top)

17. • Relief sculpture showing King Narmer uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
• Figures stand on ground line
• Hierarchy of scale
• Palette used to prepare eye makeup for the blinding sun, but this one was
probably commemorative or ceremonial
• Hieroglyphics explain and add to the meaning. It’s a NARRATIVE
Use of REGISTERSto
relate and separate
information
IDEALIZEDdepiction of
figures and events
Low Relief sculpture

18. FRONT:
• Narmer is largest (hierarchy of scale)
• Wears cobra crown of lower Egypt
• Reviewing beheaded enemies
• Bodies seen from above with heads
between legs
• Narmer preceded by four standard
bearers and a priest and followed by his
foot washer and sandal bearer
• Harnessed lionesses w/ long necks
(symbolizes unification)
• Bull knocking down city fortress
(symbolizes Narmer knocking over his
enemies)

19. Close-up of Narmer and his servants.

20. BACK:
• Hawk of Horus (god of Egypt)
triumphs over Narmer’s foes
• Horus holds a rope around a man’s
head and a papyrus plant (symbols
of Lower Egypt)
• Bull’s tail at Narmer’s waist
(strength)
• Bowling pin-shaped crown (symbol
of united Egypt)
• Narmer is beating down an enemy.
• Servant holds Narmer’s sandals
because he stands on the sacred
ground as a divine king.
• Defeated Egyptians lie beneath his
feet.
• Lines show his muscles, half-circles
for kneecaps.
The god Hathor (cow w/ woman’s
face) is at the top four times (two
on each side of the palette.
servant

21. Close-up look at Narmer being powerful!

22. Maybe this drawing makes it easier to see?

23. PYRAMIDS OF THE OLD
KINGDOM
-massive monuments to the dead

24. At first, the dead were buried in MASTABAS
(Arabic for “bench”, a low, flat-roofed tomb
with sloping sides down to the ground and
an entrance for mourners to bring offerings
to the deceased). The body was buried in
an inaccessible area that only the spirit
could enter.
Later, larger monuments were built –
MASTABAS stacked on top of each other
like a wedding cake until a pyramid was
achieved.

25. Mastaba Structure

26. Mastaba to Pyramid.

27. Step Pyramid of Djoser, built by Imhotep (first known artist in history!)
c. 2630 BCE, Saqqara, Egypt

28. Remind you of anything?

30. • Constructed entirely of stone (the whole complex of buildings)
• Six unequal steps, like a giant staircase to the heavens
• Looks like a stack of MASTABAS
• Burial is below ground. Pyramid is solid.
• PYRAMID is part of a large burial area called a NECROPOLIS (“City of the
dead”)
• PYRAMIDS were never built alone-always part of a NECROPOLIS
• NECROPOLISES were dedicated to the worship of the spirits of the dead
and the preservation of a person’s soul (ka)

31. Must have been cool in person!

33. people

35. Collasped Meidum Pyramid, First Trial by Snefru
in 2600 B.C. 306 ft
Another pyramid attempt….

36. Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid, c. 2596 BCE
Yet another pyramid attempt

37. Sneferu’s Red Pyramid, c. 2590 BCE
Getting closer….

38. Great Pyramids at Giza – from c. 2500 BCE, granite and limestone
They got it right!

39. • Giant monuments to dead pharaohs (kings of ancient Egypt)
• Each pyramid has a mortuary temple attached
• Minimal interior for the dead
• Pharaoh buried within (unlike stepped pyramid, in which they are buried
underneath)
• Each side is oriented toward a point on the compass
• The site was planned to follow the sun’s east-west path
• Huge labor force to build these (big workers’ burial ground discovered)
• Each block weighs about 2.5 tons (quarried on site or nearby)
• Used sheer muscle power, small logs as rollers, poured water on sand to make it
slippery and drag blocks
• Angled sides may represent
slanting rays of sun
• Inscriptions on walls say dead
kings climbed up the rays to
join the sun god Ra
• Built by kings in this order:
Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure
• These kings wanted to
commemorate themselves as
divine beings
• All three used to have an
outer layer of white limestone

41. How did they build these?
Theories:
• They built a temporary, gently sloping ramp
around the pyramid as it got higher
• They took apart the ramp after the stones
were smoothed and the limestone veneer was
added.
• Architects- sophisticated mathematics
• Huge foundation layer had to be totally level
and the angle of each side had to be perfect so
the stones would meet precisely in the center
at the top.

43. Menkaure
Khafre
Khufu

46. In the southern sky during
the Forth Dynasty, a
vertical alignment due
south of three stars and the
Orion nebula in the large
distinctive constellation of
Orion may have been
noticed and generated
sufficient interest that the
ancient Egyptians aligned
their pyramids to it,
perhaps to create a link
with this constellation, or
they recognized this
vertical alignment as a
useful and accurate marker
for due south.

47. Great Sphinx, c. 2500 BCE, Giza, Egypt, limestone

49. Digging up the Sphinx in the 1870’s

50. • Very generalized features, but
might be a portrait of Khafre
• Carved from one huge rock
• Symbol of the sun god
• Body of a lion, head of pharaoh
and/or god
• Seems to protect pyramids behind
it
• Originally brightly painted
Cats are royal animals in ancient Egypt,
probably because they saved the grain
supply from mice!
Head of Sphinx badly damaged in Middle
Ages
Beard of Sphinx is separate (at the British
Museum)
241 ftlong, 63 ftwide, 6.34 ft high
Largest MONOLITH statue in the world

51. Guess what’s across the street?
Smolinski tip: go to Giza!

52. Egyptian Architecture Main Points:
•Sleek, solid surfaces of pyramids
•Monumental scale
•Pyramids built without mortar
•No one went in once the dead were put in (sealed the
pyramids)
•Believed that the dead could be reenergized after death and
ascent to the heavens
•Temples have astronomical orientation

53. Egyptian Sculpture Main Points:
•Range in size- tiny jewelry to massive stone sculptures
•Sculptures of pharaohs are meant to impress and
overwhelm
•Individualization and sophistication are sacrificed for
monumentality and grandeur
•Limestone, sandstone, gypsum used (easy to carve)
•Wooden sculptures are painted
•Copper and iron also used
•Sculpture carved on site = “in situ”- carved from local
available rock (Great Sphinx)
•Relief sculptures follow a formula.
•Outdoor relief: Cut into rocks to show shadows dramatically
•Indoor relief: relief is raised from surface for visibility in a
dark interior

54. KHAFRE
c. 2500 BCE, anorthosite gneiss (similar
to diorite), height 5'6 1/8"
•One of many portraits he commissioned of himself
•Elegant but simple throne
•Idealized body and features
•Falcon god Horus is behind Khafre’s head,
protecting him
•Khafre is an incarnation of Horus
•Pharaoh divinely appointed
•Symbol of a united Egypt in the interlocking of lotus
and papyrus plants at the base
•Lions (regal authority) form the throne’s legs
•In traditional royal costume (pleated kilt, linen
headdress, cobra symbol of Ra, false beard (royalty)
•Frontal, symmetrical, rigid, motionless, cubic
•Dignity, calm, and permanence
•Figure not cut away from the stone- arms and legs
attached, no negative space
•Strict adherence to Egyptian canon of proportions.
•Stone glows deep blue in sunlight

55. MENKAURE AND A QUEEN, PROBABLY
KHAMERERNEBTY II
From Giza. Fourth Dynasty, 2490-2472 BCE.
Graywacke with traces of red and black paint, height 54
1/2“, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
-Dignity, calm, permanence
-Discovered in Menkaure’s valley temple
-Single unit- figures attached to block of stone,
arms and legs not cut free
-United by queen’s symbolic gesture of embrace
-Figures stare out into space
-Menkaure’s powerful physique and stride = kingship
-His fists are clenched over cylindrical objects.
-Queen takes a small step forward = mimics his pose
-Society’s view of women: Her sheer, tight clothes
reveal shape of her body
-Men and women the same height = indicated equality
-Unfinished in some areas (done right before his
death?)
-Red paint remains (male statues usually painted red)

56. King Mycerinus (Menkaure)
C 2500 BCE
•Sculpted triad (3-person statue) shows
King Menkaure between two women
•Goddess Hathor is on the left
•Personification of Cynopolis, nome of
Upper Egypt, is on the right
•He wears crown of Upper Egypt
•False beard
•Short pleated kilt
•Holds two cylindrical objects
•Women wear tight dresses and wigs
•Hathor has her typical crown with sun disk
and cow horns
•Nome has jakal, symbol of her nome
•Nome= an administrative division within
ancient Egypt.

57. Representations of the Pharaoh
• Order and Stability – a conservative formula of
representation
• Worship of the Pharaoh as a divine being who
establishes Ma’at or (balance) between the
human world and that of the gods
• An effective formula for transmitting
knowledge and ideas through centuries and
millenia

58. SEATED SCRIBE
Found near the tomb of Kai, Saqqara.
2400 BCE.
Painted limestone with inlaid eyes of
rock crystal, calcite, and magnesite
mounted in copper, height 21"
See him
at the Louvre
in Paris!

59. Hello!

60. How is he different than the other male statues?

61. Seated Scribe
• Created for a tomb at
Saqqara as a provision for
the ka
• Not a pharaoh: sagging
chest and realistic rather
than idealistic features
• Sedentary job = flabby
• Flabby = no physical labor!
• Color remains!
• Amazingly lifelike, but not a
portrait (a conventional
image of a scribe)
• Attentive expression, thin,
angular face
• Contrasts with ideally
portrayed pharoah
• Less formal than royal
portraits
• Cap of close-cropped hair
• Holds papyrus paper scroll
and pen (lost)

62. Rahotep and Nofret
painted limestone, Old
Kingdom, c. 2620 BCE
•Idealized portraits
•Faces of the statues
express solemness and
self-assuredness
•Found in fancy mastaba =
high rank
•Portraits of the two
deceased in the mastaba
(husband and wife)

63. part of her real hair is painted on forehead
to show she’s wearing a wig

64. • Well preserved- mastabas
sealed until discovery
• Look freshly painted today
• Rahotep has short black hair,
trimmed moustache, necklace
with heart amulet
• Short white kilt, horizontal arm
• Hieroglyphics on chair give
his name and titles
• Nofret: shoulder-length wig
• Circlet with flower decoration
around her head
• Elegant long white gown,
elaborate collar
• Arms folded across chest

65. • Rahotep: reddish-brown, Nofret: creamy white
• Color difference between husband and wife is “canonical” in Egyptian art
• CANONICAL = scholars don’t understand it, but it’s true
• Painted colors aren’t their true colors in real life
• Both have lifelike inlaid eyes of crystal (scared people who discovered them!)

66. TI WATCHING A HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNT
Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt c. 2400 BCE.
Painted limestone relief, height approx. 45“
• Painted relief in the mastaba of Ti, a
government official
• Boat glides through gigantic papyri,
which flower into a fan of birds and
foxes (papyrus = symbol of rebirth)
• Hunt takes place as a memorial to the
deceased
• Success in the hunt = fight against evil
• Servants hunt as a tribute to deceased
Ti, and also to destroy animals like
hippos, which damaged crops and
were considered agents of the god of
darkness (Seth)
• Ti stands on (not in) boat, he’s double
anyone else’s size = shows status
• Boat symbolizes journey to afterlife
• River as if seen from above- band of
parallel wavy lines below boat.
• Fish, hippo, crocodile seen in profile

67. • Egyptians believed that superhuman
forces were always at work and
needed constant worship
• Funerary art- things that were buried
last forever and this life must continue
uninterrupted into the next world =
artists represented the human figure
as completely as possible
• Egyptian CANON OF PROPORTIONS
– little individuality
• Let’s take a look….

68. Twisted Perspective and
The Canon of Proportions
based on a grid

69. TWISTED PERSPECTIVE
• Poses impossible in real life
• Memory images (generic
forms)
• Represent each part of the
body from its most
characteristic angel
• Heads in profile
• Eyes frontal
• Profile head, hips, and legs
with frontal torso in between
• Usually striding to show both
legs
• People of lower rank
depicted more realistically

71. Canon of Proportions
• Ratios between height and
components were clearly
prescribed
• Calculated das multiples of a
specific measure, such as the
width of the closed fist
• This unit became the basis of
a square grid- OLD
KINGDOM STANDARD
GRID
• Every body part had a
designated place
• Example- the knees are X
number of squares below the
waist, etc.

74. • Figures rest on horizon line
• If they are above the line,
they are thought to be
receding into the distance
• Artists placed a grid over
the areas to be painted and
outlined the figures
accordingly
• Unfinished figure =
incomplete existence in
afterlife, oh no!
• Even animals drawn as
completely as possible
• These rules change a bit in
the AMARNA PERIOD
(more about that later)

76. Old Kingdom Summary:
• Age of Pyramids
• Canon of Proportions established
• Twisted Perspective
• Relationship between artworks and
afterlife established
• Role and status of the Pharaoh
established

77. Middle Kingdom
c. 2040 – 1640 BCE
• Collapse of Old Kingdom
• 150 years of political turmoil
• After a period of anarchy, Mentihotep II unified
Egypt for a second time in a period called the
MIDDLE KINGDOM
• Arts and writing flourished – reflected awareness
of political problems
• Pyramids abandoned in favor of smaller and less
expensive rock-cut tombs

78. ROCK-CUT TOMBS, BENI HASAN
Twelfth Dynasty, 1950-1900 BCE
• Cliff walls hollowed out to
reveal small burial
chambers
• Reserve columns cut
away from the rock to
create the look of
conventional columns,
but don’t add support
• Columns are not round
but fluted
• Façade shows shallow
columned porch
• Included an entrance
portico, main hall, and
shrine with burial
chamber under the
offering chapel
• Tombs had practical stuff
(food, clothing, furniture)
and reliefs, paintings,
and other objects to
ensure safety and well
being in afterlife
-Rock-cut tombs excavated in the faces of cliffs
-Chambers, ornamental columns, lintels, false doors,
and niches all carved out of solid rock

80. STELE OF AMENEMHAT
From Assasif. Middle
Kingdom, c. 2000 BCE.
Painted limestone, 11" ×
15"
• Shoulders seen frontally
• Rest of body, except the eye, is turned in profile
• Sometimes heads and legs face different directions
• Men are taller than women and are pained ruddy brown or red
• Women are shorter and painted yellowish. Shading is rare.
• Represent successful men and women acting calm and rational
• Violence and disorder- only in scenes of animal slaughtering/sacrifices, or
overthrowing the forces of evil
• Contentment and stability
Twisted perspective and grids were still used in the Middle Kingdom….

81. Middle Kingdom Tomb Painting

82. SENUSRET III
c. 1860 BCE
• Moody look in the eyes
and mouth
• Depressed, rather than
heroic figures seen in
Old Kingdom
• Figures in Middle
Kingdom reflect period
of unrest
• Introspective
• Firm chin
• Carefully delineated
lines and folds of flesh
between the brows and
at the corners of the
nose and mouth

83. “When thou liest down
have care for thy very life,
since friends exist not for
a man in the day of
misfortunes.”
-advice from Amenemhat I (great-
great-grandfather of Senusret III)

84. SenusretIII. Middle Kingdom,
circa 1836-1818 BCE
Black granite

85. Sphinx of SenrusretIII, c. 1878–1841 B.C.E.; Middle Kingdom

86. Connection with Old Kingdom
Sphinx is popular throughout Egyptian art history

87. Winged sphinx from the palace of
Darius the Great during Persian
Empire at Susa (480 BC).
Ancient Greek sphinx from Delphi

88. Faience Hippo, Middle Kingdom c. 1900 BCE
• Has all characteristics of a
real hippo
• Rotund body on stubby
legs
• Massive head with
protruding eyes, tiny ears,
big nostrils
• Example of FAIENCE:
glass paste is fired to
produce a smooth and
shiny opaque finish
• Watery blue like habitat
• Lotus blossom decoration
• Decoration = he’s standing
in a tangle of water plants
• Could be a symbol of
fertility (goddess Taweret
had a hippo head) in a
woman’s tomb
• Could be a symbol of evil
in a man’s tomb (like in the
hippo hunt imagery)

89. NEW KINGDOM
1550-1070 BCE
• Anarchy after Middle Kingdom breakdown
• Invaders from Asia brought new ideas/technology
• Eventually, Egypt got back on track politically, kicked out the invaders, and
began the New Kingdom
• New Kingdom = a period of unparalleled splendor!
• New Kingdom art is characterized by rounded and elongated figures
• New Kingdom pharaoh, AKHENATON, changed Egypt by abandoning
worship of many gods to just ONE god, “Aton”
• AKHENATON = Aton’s representative on earth
• Aton is represented as a sun disk emanating rays (instead of gods that
were human and/or animal symbols)
• New religion brought about new artistic style: AMARNA PERIOD
• Temples continued to be built into the sides of rock formations…

90. Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Deir al-Bahrric 1473-1458 BCE,
Deir el-Bahri, Egypt

93. • 3 colonnaded terraces and
2 ramps
• Visually coordinated with
the natural setting
• Long horizontals and
verticals of the terraces and
colonnades repeat the
patterns of the cliffs behind
• Patterns of dark and light in
the colonnade are reflected
in the cliffs
• Terraces were originally
planted as gardens with
exotic trees
• First time achievements of
a woman are celebrated in
art history!
• Hatshepsut is buried
elsewhere (in the Valley of
the Kings)
• Open garden spaces and grand architecture
• Imposing image of authority
• Union of nature and architecture
• Different levels of contrasting textures (water,
stone columns, trees, cliffs = impressive!

94. Queen Hatshepsut
c. 1473-1458 BCE
Granite
At the Met Museum in NYC!
• Queen represented in male costume of
a pharaoh, yet slender proportions and
slight breasts indicate femininity
• She’s often portrayed as a sphinx
• Headdress, false beard, and traces of
the cobra on the crown show her affinity
with male pharaoh role
• Represented in all the ways a male ruler
would be
• About 200 sculptures of her exist, but
many were damaged (smashed by her
successor Thutmose III maybe?)
• Bull’s tail hanging from her waist (you
can see it between her legs)
• Mother = Queen Ahmose
• Father = the god Amun

95. Queen (Pharoah)
Hatsepshut (c. 1495 BCE)

96. Sphinx of Hatshepsut c. 1479-1458, Granite

97. One of two obelisks to escape
her stepson's plan to obliterate
her memory, this obelisk was
built by Queen Hatshepsut.
(1473 -1458 BCE).
• 97 feet tall
• Inscription at base indicates that
the work of cutting the monolith
out of the quarry required seven
months of labor.
The Egyptian obelisks were always
carved from single pieces of stone,
usually pink granite from the distant
quarries at Aswan, but exactly how
they were transported hundreds of
miles and then erected remains a
mystery.

98. One of two obelisks to escape
her stepson's plan to obliterate
her memory, this obelisk was
built by Queen Hatshepsut.
Obelisks of Hatshepsut
The use of the obelisks is even more of a mystery
than their carving and construction. While the
obelisks are usually covered with inscriptions,
these offer no clue to their function, but are
instead commemorative notations indicating when
and by whom the obelisk was carved.

99. TEMPLE OF RAMSES II
Abu Simbel, Egypt. c. 1290-1224 BCE.

100. • Resembles a PYLON(monumental gateway to a temple marked by two flat,
sloping walls between which is a smaller entrance)
• Huge seated quartet of statues of Ramses on the façade (front), carved “in situ”
• Sun god placed over the entrance
• Façade used to be brightly painted
• Interior sculptures of Ramses too
• Interior stretches 200 feet into mountain
Sun god

101. PYLON EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATION

103. what a location!

104. This relief is a listing
of Ramses II’s
various names.

105. SCHEMATIC DRAWING OF THE TEMPLE OF
RAMSES II

106. Temple of Ramses II Nefertari’s Temple
(Ramses’s wife)

107. • Standing statues of Nefertari are about the same size as Ramses.
• She’s holding a sistrum(musical instrument)
• Wears long sheet dress, very thin to show her body
• Has long wig
• Solar disk and tall feathers on her head dress.
• Interior scenes show Nefertari making offerings to the gods.
Nefertari’s Temple
Detail of picture on right

108. • The two temples together honor the official gods of Egypt and Ramses II dynasty
• Oriented so their axis crossed in the middle of the Nile (associated with annual life-
giving flood?)

109. Egyptian Temples
Established the temple format with columns
that will be copied and transformed by the
Greeks and Romans.

110. Great Temple of Amen-Re (Amun)
at Karnak, Egypt. 1290-1224 BCE

113. 1914

114. •Amun temple renovated and
expanded over 500 years of
the New Kingdom
•About 60 acres!
•Huge columns, tightly packed
together, admitting little light
into the sanctuary
•Columns were elaborately
painted
•Massive lintels bind columns
together
•Columns in New Kingdom
were based on plant shapes:
lotus, palm, and papyrus

115. Papyrus
Lotus
Palm
top of the column is a “CAPITAL”
LOTUS
PAPYRUS
ENGAGED COLUMN: a column
that is not freestanding. It is
attached to a wall
Freestanding Columns

118. Flower and bud columns,
Hypostyle Hall, Great Temple
of Amun at Karnak
•HYPOSTYLE = a hall in an
Egyptian temple that has a roof
supported by a dense thicket of
columns
•This hall may have been used for
royal coronation ceremonies.
•Ramses II called it “the place
where the common people extol
the name of his majesty”
•134 closely-spaced columns
supported roof of flat stones in
steps (top step is 30 feet above
bottom step)
•Massive columns (66 feet)
•Long row of window openings in
center section (clerestory).
Provided air flow through hall
•Most surfaces covered in relief
carvings

119. After the Temple fell into disuse
with the end of the Pharonic
period, it was reused during the
Christian period as a church.
Those circular smudg-y things
with halos are saints painted
during the 4th century.

121. The interesting part of this picture is
the screen in the middle. It's part of
the original architecture of the
Temple and was built to allow light
and air into what would otherwise be
an oppresive place.

123. •Huge statues inside
•Huge stone statue of the god
Khepri (scarab beetle)
•Priests washed and clothed the
statue every morning.
•Gave it meals (then at the meals
themselves)
•Inscriptions and images of kings
and god on columns and walls
Khepri statue: symbolic of rising sun,
rebirth, and everlasting life

124. A very large statue (as in, I come up to
half way up the base) of Ramses II
with Nefertiti perched on his feet.Ramses II with Nefertari

126. Luxor
Luxor Templecomplex
East bank of Nile River
1400 BCE
Six great temples in the complex
Used by Romans in the future (government homes and fortresses

127. Luxor

131. What is AMARNA STYLE?

132. What is AMARNA STYLE?
•Flourished during reign of King Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti
•Akhenaten believed in MAAT (divine truth)- “living the maat”
•Concern for truth = new artistic conventions
•Portraits of the king emphasize his unusual physical characteristics
•Told artists to portray his family in informal situations

133. Akhenaton, c. 1353-1335 BCE
sandstone, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
•Body has same pose as in Old Kingdom
sculptures, but features are smoother and more
relaxed = new image of a pharaoh
•Curving contours
•Long face, relaxed mouth
•Heavy-lidded eyes
•Tight clothes accentuate
big hips
•Stomach protrudes over
elastic, hanging waistline
•Thin arms
•AMARNA STYLE

134. Akhenaten Nefertiti, 1353-1335 BCE, limestone

135. Queen Nefertit 1365 BCE -- Berlin

136. •Long elegant neck
•Realistic face
•Soft, delicate New
Kingdom features
•Might have been a
demonstration
model for copying
•Wife of Akhenaton
•AMARNA STYLE

137. How is the AMARNA STYLE
different than the style in the Old
and Middle Kingdoms?

139. AKHENATEN AND HIS FAMILY
From Akhetaten (present-day Tell el-Amarna).
c. 1353-1336 BCE. Painted limestone relief, 12-
1/4" × 15-1/4”
•painted relief sculpture
•Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and
three of their daughters
•example of new openness
and new figural style
•sunken relief (outlines of
figures are carved into
surface instead of carving
out background to make
figures pop out)
•King and queen on
cushioned thrones playing
with their kids
•Base of queen’s throne has
plant symbols of unified
Egypt. This might mean she
was a co-ruler.
•Royal couple gets blessings
from Aten- rays end in hands
and give them “breath of life”
•Hieroglyphics around them

140. •Children are nude, shaved heads (custom of the time)
•Oldest (on lap) has side-lock of youth (patch of hair on side of head in braid)
•Engaging behavior of kids, loving concern of parents, awww.

141. Family Sacrifice to Aten 1360

142. Monotheism with the sole god
Aten – a radical change in
religious worship and practice
Radical change in sculptural
representation

143. Queen Tiy, New Kingdom,
c. 1352 BCE, ArmanaStyle
• Tiy = Akhenaten’s mother
• Personality captured
• Exquisite bone structure, dark
skin, arched brows, pouting lips
Pectoral of Senusrut II, New Kingdom,
c. 1938-1755 BCE, gold and
semiprecious stones
• Pectoral = chest ornament
• Horus falcons perch at base
• Coiled cobras = symbols of Ra
• Ankh (symbol of life)
• CARTOUCHE (oval formed by a loop
of rope) with hieroglyphics of the king’s
name
• Sun disk of Ra, scarab beetle
• “May the sun god give eternal life to

144. Mask of King Tutankhamen,
Valley of the Kings 1323 BCE
gold, enamel, semiprecious stones

145. cool and creepy
•Famous tomb discovered by Howard
Carter in 1922
•Mummified body of King Tutankhamen
buried with 143 objects on his head,
neck, abdomen, and limbs
•Gold mask placed over head
•Gold coffin 6’7” long containing body of
the King
•Golden mask has smoothly idealized
features of the boy-king

146. INNER COFFIN from TUTANKHAMUN'S SARCOPHAGUS
From the tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings.
c. 1323 BCE.
Gold inlaid with glass and semiprecious stones
•SARCOPHAGUS: a stone coffin
•His tomb was never plundered = stuff in good condition
•Body inside three nested coffins
•Over 240 pounds of gold
•Decorated with colored glass and semiprecious stones
•linear designs and hieroglyphic inscriptions
•Headcloth with cobra and vulture on his forehead
•Blue braided beard
•Necklace indicates military valor
•King’s features reproduced – full lips and thin-bridged nose = continued AMARNA
•Realistic portraiture
•Became king at age 9, died at age 18 from genetic defects maybe (from incest)

147. JUDGMENT OF HUNEFER BEFORE OSIRIS
from a Book of the Dead. New Kingdom, c. 1285 BCE. Painted papyrus
• From Book of the Dead, an Egyptian book of spells and charms
• The god of embalming, ANUBIS, has a jackal’s head.
• Anubis leads Hu-Nefer(dead) into a hall where his soul is being weighed against a feather
• If the sin weighs more than the feather, he is condemned
• Hippo/lion figure between scales will eat the heart of an evil soul
• The god Toth has the head of a bird- the stenographer writing down these events in the
hieroglyphics he invented (Egyptian writing using symbols or pictures as characters)
• Osiris, god of underworld, appears enthroned- will put Hu-Nefer through a day of judgement

148. Weighing of the deceased’s heart against Maat’s
Feather of Truth
Anubis Thoth Ammit the Devourer
Same story, just another painting…

149. The Book
of the
Dead

151. We will see many more images
of souls’ judgment throughout art
history. The afterlife is a major art
theme.

153. 16th – 11th centuries BCE,
Valley of the Kings
Initiated by Thutmose II

154. Valley of the Kings
• From 16th to 11th century BCE (about 500
years), tombs were constructed for the
Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the NEW
KINGDOM
• On the west bank of the Nile near Luxor

158. Tomb

160. Tomb of a Nobleman

161. “FAYUM Portraits”
• Very late Egyptian art
• Mummifying the dead continued into Egypt’s Roman
period
• Mummy is a “soft sculpture” with Roman-style portrait
painted on wood panel in ENCAUSTIC (hot colored
wax)
• Link Egyptian art with ancient Roman art (coming
soon!)
Mummy Wrapping of a Young Boy
Roman period 100-120 CE

162. Ancient Egyptian
(hieratic)
Demotic
(simplified
form of
hieratic)
Greek
ROSETTA STONE
• Created in 196 BCE, discovered in 1799 in Rosetta, Egypt deciphered in 1822
• A stele made of diorite
• Inscribed with a degree issued at Memphis in 196 BCE on behalf of King
Ptolemy V
• How it was figured out: linked some hieroglyphs to specific names in Greek
version, located the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra in Egyptian scripts, built
an alphabet of hieroglyphs

163. Major Points of Egyptian Art
• Modeled to promote ideas of Stability and
Order (little variation in 3,000 years) – highly
tied to religious practice
• Monumental Architecture with Pyramids and
massive sculpture (Sphinx, Ramses II, etc.)
• Meant for Permanency – note use of stone,
mummification, tombs
• Distinctive Representation with Twisted
Perspective and Canon of Proportions for
figures in painting and relief sculpture

164. • Architecture designed and executed by highly
skilled craftsmen and artisans (not slaves)
• Mummification became a national industry,
handled by embalming experts who were paid
well
• Imhotep = history’s first artist on record
• He supervised work under his direction
• Artists were likely ordained high priests of Ptah,
the god who created the world in Egyptian
mythology

165. Egypt Test Material:
• General understanding of Egyptian art styles, methods, purposes, and
subject matter
• General understanding of styles and themes from each kingdom
ART:
-Palette of Narmer
-Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt
-Seated Scribe
-Menkaure and a Queen
Vocabulary:
• Sarcophagus
• In Situ
• Mastaba
• Necropolis
• Reserve Column
• Amarna Style
• Engaged Column
• Pharaoh
• Papyrus
• Hieroglyphics
• Hierarchy of Scale
• Hypostyle
• Ka
• Pylon