Egyptology | Chapter 12: Ancient Egyptian Art
Ancient Egyptian Art
Art is the product of the stability that the ancient Egyptian achieved after he had kindled fire, domesticated animals and arrived at agriculture – achievements he accomplished before his written history began in the First Dynasty.
From its very beginnings, art advanced with firm steps towards confirming its authenticity, highlighting its characteristics and adhering to its rules. Throughout the successive periods of ancient Egyptian history a number of artistic schools appeared; they can be placed within the framework of four schools: the idealistic, the realistic, the school in which the two were blended together, and the Atenist school. These schools continued to exist throughout Egyptian civilisation, although some of them flourished at the expense of others in certain periods.
As for the idealistic school, it is the one that expressed something beyond reality and showed its subjects in the best possible light, without regard to any physical defects that some of them may occasionally have had. This school was restricted to the royal family and the upper classes.
The realistic school is the one that expressed the reality of its subjects, far removed from idealism, and sometimes expressed the reality of its age. It usually applied to the lower classes, showing them while performing their work, even with their physical defects, without strict adherence to the rules of proportion with regard to the human figure or the constituent units of the subject in relief and painting.
The school that combined idealism and realism appeared in certain periods, especially in the Middle Kingdom and the Late Period. In the statues of its subjects from the royal family and high state officials it expressed a measure of idealism mixed with the reality of their physical constitution as well as the reality of their age. The statues of certain kings of the Twelfth Dynasty are the best evidence of this.
The last school is the Atenist school, for which I have chosen this designation for reasons that are not present in the traditional names known as "Amarna art" and "the art of Akhenaten." Among these reasons is that the first signs of this artistic school had already appeared before the reign of Akhenaten, at least in the reign of his father Amenhotep III, and that it continued after Akhenaten in the reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb. Linking it with Tell el-Amarna is also imprecise, because this artistic school appeared at Thebes throughout the period of Akhenaten's residence there and before his move to Tell el-Amarna; it also continued at Thebes after Akhenaten's death and in the reigns of the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty who succeeded him. In addition, the interpretation of the manifestations of this school is linked more closely to the new doctrine than to the place (Tell el-Amarna) or to the king (Akhenaten).
This school aims at depicting Akhenaten in a way that expresses his being the representative of the god Aten on earth. Since Aten is the god who created himself by himself and is a form of the sun god, the creator of the gods whom no one created (according to this doctrine), the statues and images of Akhenaten and his family came to express that quality by which Aten is distinguished – namely that it combined masculinity and femininity in a single constitution. Akhenaten deliberately – while showing himself in this form – confirmed to people everywhere that he was the human embodiment of that god who created himself by himself.
Although the proportions and features in the body of Akhenaten and his family differed from what the ancient Egyptian had been accustomed to in the execution of the statues and images of his kings before Akhenaten and after him, they aim at embodying the idea of the creator god – something the Egyptian had already expressed earlier, and which he also expressed with regard to the statues and images of the god Hapy, the god of the inundation, who combines in his body the features of masculinity and femininity, on the grounds that he is the god who represents the capacity for the continuation of life and bounty.
Because a discussion of art throughout the whole of ancient Egyptian history would require an independent work, I shall confine myself to speaking about the arts of the New Kingdom.
Speaking about art in the New Kingdom and elsewhere means speaking about the arts of sculpture, relief and painting.
| Artistic School | Characteristics | Social Context |
|---|---|---|
| Idealistic School | Expressed something beyond reality; showed subjects in the best possible light without regard to physical defects. | Restricted to the royal family and the upper classes. |
| Realistic School | Expressed the reality of subjects, including physical defects; far removed from idealism; less strict adherence to proportion rules. | Applied to the lower classes, showing them performing their work. |
| Combined School (Idealism + Realism) | Blended idealism with the reality of physical constitution and the reality of the age. | Appeared especially in the Middle Kingdom and the Late Period; royal family and high state officials. |
| Atenist School | Linked to Akhenaten's doctrine; depicted the king with combined masculine and feminine features as representative of Aten; elongated face, long neck, full lips, feminine chest, pendulous belly, enlarged thighs, thin legs. | Appeared before Akhenaten's reign, flourished under him, and continued through Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb. |
Sculpture
It is the three-dimensional art (length, width and depth). Looking at the statues left by the New Kingdom, we find that some of them express idealism strongly and clearly, while others express realism, in addition to the statues that represent the Atenist school and those that combined idealism and realism.
Although the art of sculpture in the New Kingdom, like the other arts (relief and painting), represents to a large extent a continuation of the principal characteristics of the same art in earlier periods, the New Kingdom was distinguished by two new factors. The first was the expansion of Egypt's frontiers and the formation of a far-flung empire that included certain regions of the ancient Near East; the second was the appearance of the Atenist religious thought that Akhenaten adopted.
The first factor led sculpture, in addition to its previous characteristics, to acquire strength, elegance and artistic sensitivity, as well as a greater understanding of the anatomical elements of the bodies of living creatures.
The art of statue sculpture in the New Kingdom became more expressive than in any previous age, more full of life and freer – to the extent that its official character and the authority of the priests and the traditions imposed by the requirements of religious ritual allowed.
It was inevitable that the art of statue sculpture should concern itself with the new garments that had appeared, such as the garments with long, beautiful pleats, the broad collars, the jewellery and the large head-coverings. At the time when architecture was using larger blocks than before, we see – correspondingly – the bodies tending towards elongation, and the movements increasing in flexibility and grace. One will notice that the art of statues acquired a flexibility and elegance that some of the other arts may have lost. The exaggeration of these qualities during the Nineteenth Dynasty led in some cases to mannerism and excessive idealism. The works of sculpture that date to the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty show that the artistic traditions of the Middle Kingdom were not greatly affected by the period of occupation through which the country passed. The statue of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari (wife of King Ahmose I) possesses the characteristics of simplicity and dignity and heralds a flowering in the art of sculpture that was soon realised in a short time.
Masterpieces soon appeared. Evidence of this is the magnificent statue of Queen Hatshepsut found in her temple at Deir el-Bahari, which represents her in male attire. The body appears masculine and somewhat rigid, yet at the same time full of beauty and vitality. The features of the face indicate the delicacy and shrewdness characteristic of a woman, combined with an unconquerable will.
The same expressive qualities are realised in the statue of Thutmose III preserved in the Cairo Museum, which represents him trampling the Nine Bows with his feet, and in the group of Thutmose IV also in the Cairo Museum.
The group of colossal statues that depict King Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye fall within the range of the traditional statues that were to undergo an important and profound change from this period onwards.
It is worth noting that from the reign of Amenhotep III the splendid artistic flowering of the New Kingdom begins. In the British Museum there is a magnificent bust of this king, strongly modelled and carved with superb skill. In this statue the distinctive characteristics of the representation of the great in the reign of Amenhotep III are realised: the almond-shaped eyes whose corners incline inwards and rise towards the temples, and the mouth on which a mysterious, distant smile is drawn. This flowering was confirmed in the reign of Amenhotep III, and this artistic tendency is seen in his splendid statue discovered in the cachette of Luxor Temple and currently displayed in the Luxor Museum.
Akhenaten's religious movement arose at the time when the artistic school of Amenhotep III had begun to take root and impose its presence; this movement left its imprint on the art of this period, especially in the art of sculpture.
The attempt to free itself from traditional artistic rules did not find its way without encountering certain difficulties resulting from the small number of artists who were capable of adopting and executing the new artistic rules.
The Atenist school came expressing the new religious thought that Akhenaten adopted: the face is elongated, the neck long, the lips full, the chest feminine, the belly pendulous, the thighs enlarged and the legs thin, etc.
In reality, everything that appears in the features of the king's face represents a faith that breaks every hostile administration, even if this faith is accompanied by an early death or certain failure; it also represents anxieties that express the weight of the responsibility he bears on his shoulders.
This new attempt was destined to fail both religiously and artistically; consequently Atenist art was not destined to last. Yet what remains of it is characterised by beauty and points to a natural life dominated by intimacy and affection. These characteristics manifested themselves even in the royal statues – something that had not been customary before. The private life of the royal family before Akhenaten was its own property, and the people had no right to know anything about it; the expression of natural feelings was not possible, and expressing them in any form was forbidden.
In the reign of Akhenaten, however, we find the king not objecting to being depicted expressing his natural feelings towards the members of his family. He allowed himself to be shown embracing his wife Queen Nefertiti with tenderness and holding her by the hand.
There was also no harm in representing the king kissing a child of his, or being depicted on an outing with his wife and children.
In reality the statues and reliefs that have been found and that date to that period represent a distinctive artistic school – a school in which art was based on the principle of expressive inner contemplation, and which tends more towards the emotional and spiritual side than towards pure material reality.
It is clear that the artists to whom Akhenaten turned had studied anatomy thoroughly and understood it completely; this is evident from the group of plaster masks and moulds discovered at Amarna.
The experiment of the Atenist school came to an end, but its features did not disappear; some of them remained in the reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb.
The Nineteenth Dynasty retained the traditions of delicacy and elegance that had been followed at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Among the finest statues in which the utmost precision is displayed is the statue of Ramesses II preserved in the Turin Museum in Italy.
The artists of the Twentieth Dynasty followed the same pattern, although artistic beauty disappeared and was replaced by a certain mannerism full of stiffness. We shall not see further progress in the art of statue sculpture except when the art is concerned with expressing unfamiliar features that compel it to draw inspiration from the living model. This is clearly visible in the group preserved in the Cairo Museum that represents Ramesses VI smiting a captive.
From the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty the sculptor invented a new style whose roots go back to the days of the Middle Kingdom and executed it in certain statues known as block statues. The body appears seated in a squatting position, the arms enveloping the knees, wrapped in a single garment and taking the form of a cube from which only the head and its covering project.
An example of this new style in sculpture is the statue of Senenmut, the architect of Queen Hatshepsut, holding between his arms his young pupil and foster-child Neferure.
Another new form appeared in statues, depicting a man seated and holding before him a commemorative stela, a naos, an altar or a divine face.
The Egyptian sculptor in this period demonstrated his ability to represent both wild and tame animals, as is shown by the models of lions and sphinxes that have been found, as well as hunting dogs and baboons.
The artist represented each of these animals with its own characteristic movements in a truthful realism that is less exaggerated than the realism with which wild animals were represented in Assyrian art in Mesopotamia, by way of comparison.
Relief and Painting
The scenes carved and painted on the buildings of the New Kingdom differed according to the purpose for which they were constructed.
In the wall decorations of temples, where coloured raised relief is not used, the exterior walls were allocated to the representation of the king's important deeds. The interior halls and colonnades were generally reserved for religious scenes only.
In the royal tombs, where the scenes were executed in relief or in painting, the subjects were purely religious and funerary. Among them, for example, are the scenes that represent the religious books such as the Book of What is in the Underworld, the Books of the Gates and the Caverns, the Litany of the Sun, the Story of the Destruction of Mankind, etc.
In private tombs we find funerary scenes side by side with secular scenes. Among the funerary scenes are those of burial, the funerary procession, and the rituals that were performed for the deceased in his first life and that he hoped to find in his second life. We also find scenes representing the various crafts and the stages through which agriculture passes, as well as others representing the tomb owner and his family.
If we contemplate the raised reliefs at the beginning of the New Kingdom, we find that the traditional artistic rules remained in force, combining an idealism (which quickly became a practical style, especially with regard to the bodies) with a realism realised in the features of the faces.
Nevertheless the bodies become elongated, the face grows more handsome and tends towards idealism, and the inclination towards decoration and perfection increases. The New Kingdom represents the highest degree of perfection in raised relief in comparison with the periods that preceded it and those that followed it.
One of the characteristics of the art of relief in this period was the clear attention paid to highlighting the beauty of the female – that overwhelming beauty that is manifested in the drawings of those strong, original bodies with lines that are both undulating and pure at the same time.
The character of nobility and grandeur that had characterised the reliefs of earlier periods did not change; rather it was joined by a character of allurement and charm that had not existed previously, or that had appeared only rarely.
The raised reliefs in the temple of Deir el-Bahari are among the best examples of this type of relief. The soldiers and offering-bearers move with a grace and freedom greater than before. The artist's ability to draw the limbs of the body with precision for both men and women is manifested, as is his faculty of observation in his ability to depict the Queen of the Land of Punt, who is obese, in a realism far removed from any caricatural exaggeration.
As for sunk relief, which had been known since the Old Kingdom and which flourished in the New Kingdom, its purpose was to protect the edges of the carved figures and their outer lines from damage. For this reason artists preferred to use it from this period onwards in decorating the exterior walls of temples. This method was used in a systematic way in the reign of Ramesses II.
The Atenist school in the art of relief followed the same approach as in the art of sculpture, and the scenes came expressing the religious thought of this stage, as is clearly visible in the tombs of Tell el-Amarna and El-Hagg Qandil.
Yet the art of the Eighteenth Dynasty continued at the same level throughout the Nineteenth Dynasty, as is attested by the reliefs of the temple of Seti I at Abydos and his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. In the reliefs of the temple and the tomb the beauty of the bodies under the transparency of the garments is manifested, as had been the custom since the days of Amenhotep III, as well as the serene, sweet facial expressions that are among the characteristics of Amarna art. These characteristics must have been the last ray of light from an artist who had poured out all his effort and energy.
Then art suffered a certain decline in the reign of Ramesses II, who was fond of erecting numerous buildings and who in turn needed a large number of workmen, so that it was no longer possible to select the competent ones among them. This is clearly visible in the artistic style in which the scenes in the two temples of Abu Simbel were executed.
The clear characteristic of the art of this period is the massiveness that came at the expense of detail. Attention to improving the image disappeared completely – something that can be verified in the scenes of the famous Battle of Qadesh.
In the reign of Ramesses III the forms continued to elongate and stretch until they became slender. Although the image of Ramesses III hunting on one of the walls of Medinet Habu temple realises this development to a large extent, it nevertheless possesses a value connected with the effective realism that is manifested in the scene of the dying bulls struck by arrows.
As for painting, it reached its zenith in the New Kingdom and passed through the same stages that relief passed through. From the Eighteenth Dynasty there are examples of this in the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier of Thutmose III, where the purity of the lines that depict the bodies and the remarkable capacity for expression are evident.
The artist in this period succeeded in depicting foreign personages with their racial characteristics and their natures. He portrayed the Nubians with their gaiety and their childish movements that invite ridicule, and the Asiatics in their kneeling, supplicating postures.
The artist perfected the depiction of the traditional hunting scenes – the hunting of birds, fish and animals – scenes that had been customary since the beginning of Egyptian history.
Scenes of banquets and festivals multiplied in the New Kingdom. Men appear being served by beautiful women, and women are attended by young naked servant-girls. The splendour of these celebrations is increased by the luxurious garments, the beautiful transparent pleated robes and the lovely wigs.
Certain humorous details appeared: a thirsty lady stretches out her cup to one of the servants in an insistent movement, informing her that her throat is dry as two, while another is overcome by nausea, perhaps from excessive drinking.
The art of painting remained advanced throughout the Nineteenth Dynasty, as is attested by the paintings of the reign of Seti I and Ramesses II, although the lines in the latter's reign lost some of their flexibility.
In the reign of Ramesses III the artist retained the general lines, although some details disappeared, the variety of colours diminished, their brilliance weakened, and deterioration set in.
In the reign of the later Ramessides the art of painting began to decline, as did the other arts.
Before concluding our discussion of the arts of sculpture, relief and painting in the New Kingdom, we should like to point to a matter concerning the artists who bore on their shoulders the burden of artistic life throughout the periods of ancient Egyptian history. That is the refusal to allow the artist to record his name on the work of art on which he may have spent many years of his life in order to accomplish it.
Although we are able to distinguish the art of one period from another and the art of one school from another, we are unable to know more than that. There is no direction that the artist should append his name to his work, except in a few cases that can be counted on the fingers, where the name of the artist who made it has been found by pure chance.
There is no dispute that the presence of a picture of a painter or sculptor among the secondary scenes carved on the walls of one of the tombs, with the name written beneath this picture, carries with it what leads us to assume that this painter or sculptor is the one who performed the work in this tomb and that he wished to immortalise his name in it. For example, in the tomb of the chief sculptor of the palace of Queen Tiye at Tell el-Amarna a picture was found of the chief sculptor of the queen, named Iuti, in his workplace absorbed in completing the formation of a statue of one of the princesses. Two of his pupils stand beside him watching with interest what their master is making, while two others are occupied with work – one on the head of a statue and the other on a chair. It is strange that the name of Iuti is carved twice around his picture; in one of them the name is written in the ordinary way, while in the second it is written in a form resembling a signature.
Another type of artist's signature appeared in the Old Kingdom. In the tomb of Ptahhotep at Saqqara a picture of the artist was found drawn in the lower left corner of one of the walls of the tomb.
If it is difficult for us to recognise the reasons for which the signature of the Egyptian artist is rare, it is also difficult to know the intention behind recording the name in the few known cases. Did the artist wish to record his pride in what his own hands had accomplished, or did he wish to secure for himself a means of living an eternal life?
In any case the Egyptian artist, whether painter or sculptor, was perhaps regarded from the social point of view as a craftsman belonging to the middle class.
At the same time that we see the school-books speaking of the artist and his works with every meaning of lack of appreciation, we find that the artist's works were held in high esteem, and it appears from many indications that he enjoyed a not inconsiderable standing in his worldly life.
The high priest of Memphis in the Old Kingdom was regarded as the supreme head of the artists and bore the title of Overseer of All the Artists.
In the New Kingdom we find a man who styles himself "Chief of All the Artists of the King" and who depicted in his tomb pictures of the workshops in which the various architectural elements were manufactured.
Module Key Takeaways
- Four Artistic Schools: Ancient Egyptian art evolved through four distinct schools — idealistic, realistic, combined, and Atenist — each serving different social strata and reflecting the religious and political currents of its time, from the idealised royal imagery to the radical anatomical experiments of the Amarna period.
- New Kingdom Artistic Zenith: The New Kingdom marked the pinnacle of Egyptian sculpture, relief, and painting, characterised by unprecedented anatomical precision, graceful elongation of forms, transparent pleated garments, and a new emotional intimacy — particularly evident in royal family scenes under Akhenaten — followed by gradual decline through the Ramesside period.
- The Anonymous Master Craftsman: Despite producing works of enduring beauty and technical mastery that defined Egyptian visual culture for millennia, the Egyptian artist rarely signed his work, was socially classified as a middle-class craftsman, and remained largely anonymous — with only a handful of signed works surviving by pure chance.