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Art of Ancient Egypt 3 T’s: Tombs, Temples, and Timelessness Essential Knowledge • Funerary objects are the focus of most Egyptian art and architecture • Monumental stone sculpture is a specialty of the Egyptians • Strict stylistic formulas were applied to the gods and pharaohs Four Periods • Predynastic 5000-2950 • Early Dynastic 2950-2575 • Old Kindom 2575-2150 BCE • New Kingdom 1540-1075 BCE – Amarna Period 1353-1336 Gift of the Nile • Longest river in the world • Made civilization possible –Calm, predictable • Kept land fertile • Annual floods Written Language • Pictographs became hieroglyphs • Hieroglyphs represented objects, ideas, or sounds • Deciphered through Rosetta Stone Religion • Polytheistic • Gods were animal, human or both • Strong believers in the afterlife Triple Concept of Spirit • Ka-Soul of deceased • Akh-Lived in heavens as spirit • Ba-in and out of touch with deceased. – Human head, bird body. Burial Method Progression Body preservation for KA 1. Sand 2. Mastabas * 3. Stepped Pyramid * 4. Pyramid * Usually in Necropolisis Mastaba Layout Stepped Pyramid of Djoser Great Pyramids of Giza Mummification Egyptians developed embalming technique 4 step mummification process: 1. Organ Removal 2. Body Treatment 3. Wrapping 4. Protection What was in a tomb? • Mummy in sarcophagus • Food, drink, clothing, utensils for the afterlife • Sometimes slaves, ushtabis • Images of deceased-ka statue The Pharaohs • Deified with absolute power • Pharaohs communicated with gods • Sons of RA, the sun god. • RA’s emblem was a pyramidal stone, hence pyramid shaped tombs. Painting/Relief Conventions • Profile head, legs, feet • Frontal eye, torso, arms • ¾ view waist Sculpture Conventions • Solid, static, stiff, cube-like • Slim, young, beautiful, timeless Canon of Proportions • Strict set of rules for figures • Grid always drawn 18 units high • Figure drawn over grid Palette of Narmer Predynastic c. 3000 • Oldest historical narrative. Slate. Both ceremonial and historical. • Hieroglyphic labels and symbols help to identify everyone • Hathor at top-goddess mother of all pharaohs • Horus (falcon) symbol of Upper Egypt, papyrus symbol of Lower Egypt. • Two sided palette commemorate Narmer’s victorious unification of upper and lower Egypt. • One of first historical artworks • EVERY image shows Narmer’s POWER. • Registers/hierarchical scale/low relief • Composite view Seated Scribe Old Kingdom 2620-2500 BCE Painted limestone • Features are more realistic than idealized • Formality is relaxed and realism is increased as a human subject’s importance is decreased. • Sedentary vocation-free from hard labor Great Pyramids of Giza Old Kingdom 2550-2490 BCE • Necropolis complex • 3 pyramids-Khufu, Khafre, Menkaura • Khufu=Kafre’s father • Khafre=Menkaura’s father • Pharaohs buried in pyramids • Each side is oriented toward a point on the compass. • Face sunset-symbolizes death • Part of huge necropolis The Great Sphinx, from Giza • Body of a lion and head of a pharaoh • In Khafre’s complex-portrait of him? • Intelligence/human and strength/beast • Originally brightly painted to stand out in the desert. • Immovable, eternal silent guardian of the tomb. • Carved in situ Seated Khafre, 2500 BCE, Old Kingdom Menkaura and a Queen Old Kingdom c. 2490-2472 BCE • Made of stone • Valley temple statue • Portrayed with idealized bodies • Gaze confidently and serenely into the future • “Eternal stillness” • One leg forward, influenced early Greek artists • Single unit New Kingdom • Country began to gain its strength back politically and economically from Middle Kingdom • At the height of the New Kingdom, rulers undertook extensive building programs along the length of the Nile New Kingdom Architecture • Temples built to honor the gods and emphasize pharaoh’s power • Pylons and obelisks at entrance • Outdoor-Indoor as it becomes more exclusive • Amun-god of the air and sky • Re=Ra • Temple of Amun-Re: – Largest columned temple in world – 134 columns, 24 meters high Front of Temple Reconstruction Drawing of Hypostyle Hall, Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak New Kingdom • Hypostyle Hall-Columns support the roof • Only the priest and the pharaoh were allowed in the hypostyle hall. • Hypostyle hall led to the sanctuary where the god’s statue was kept and cared for • Allowed some light to come in • Base of column waist high • Columns-sunken reliefs Flower and Bud Columns, Great Temple of Amun at Karnak New Kingdom • Capitals-top of column • Inspired by papyrus with open and closed buds • Within hypostyle hall • Egyptian columns are based on plant forms Hatshepsut • History’s first great female ruler • Crowned King of Egypt • “Female Horus” • Often portrayed as sphinx • Represented in male pharaoh attire Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut New Kingdom c.1470 BCE • 3 colonnaded terraces and 2 ramps – Terraces originally had gardens • Visually coordinated with the natural setting– long horizontals and verticals – patterns of dark and light • Harmonized with its landscape* Hatshepsut's Sphinx New Kingdom • Sculptors portrayed her as having male and female characteristics. • In traditional pharaoh dress • Part pharaoh part lion: again, intelligence of human with strength of a lion Hatshepsut with offering jars New Kingdom • Destroyed, put back together • Offering to RA, only knelt before gods-not mortals • Anatomically male Amarna Period • Amenhotep rules, controversial • Monotheistic-Aton-represented only as a sun disk • Changed name to Akhenaton (servant of Aton) • Defaced all the other god images, emptied temples. Amarna Style • • • • Naturalistic Representations Refined Sensuality Unprecedented Intimacy Specific features – Thin arms – Prominent bellies – Full lips – Heavily lidded eyes – Dreamy expression Akhenaton and His Family Amarna • Sunken relief • Unprecedented for Egyptian royal figuresrelaxed poses, curved outlines, flowing drapery • Humanity of royal family* • Aton-sun disk-rays turn into hands. Ankh giving the breath of life King Tutankhamen-New Kingdom • Inside famous tomb discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter • Mummified body inside coffin • Gold coffin 6’7” • Smooth idealized featurestraditional Return to Tradition • King Tut was the son of Akenaton • Rejected monotheism • Returned Egypt to polytheistic religion and traditional representation of pharaohs • Discovery of nearly complete tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, from the Book of the Dead New Kingdom • Page from Book of the Dead – book of spells and charms on papyrus • Anubis weighs heart/soul against feather. If guilty, hippo/lion hybrid eats heart. • God Thoth is the stenographer of events in hieroglyphics, which he invented • Osiris enthroned to subject the deceased to a day of judgment