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EGYPTIAN ART
Periods of Egyptian Art:
Old Kingdom (2686-2150 BCE)
Middle Kingdom (2100-1700 BCE)
New Kingdom (1500-1085 BCE)
(Each kingdom was further divided by dynasties. A dynasty was a period during which a
single family provided a succession of rulers. One reign ended with the death of the
Pharaoh and another began with the crowning of a successor from the same royal
family)
The Beginning- Around 5000 BCE prehistoric hunters and their families settled in the
fertile valley of the Nile River. There was an abundance if food in early Egypt. The
communities living along the Nile River gradually developed into complex cultures. The
earliest dynastic period began around 3100 BCE, when a powerful pharaoh, named
Menses, united Upper and Lower Egypt. He founded the first of the 31 Egyptian
dynasties. The OLD KINGDOM dates from the start if these dynasties.
ARCHITECTURE:
OLD KINGDOM- The Great Pyramids
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The Egyptians had an obsession with death and afterlife.
They began to preserve the bodies of the Pharaohs and a wealthy few (they
were mummified).
The Pharaohs (god-kings) were buried in their tombs along with food,
servants, art, and equipment, which were to accompany him/her in his/her
second life.
STEP PYRAMID OF ZOSER Saqqara (2680 BCE) 3rd Dynasty
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King Zoser asked the architect
Imhotep (first artist in History
whose name is known) to build his
memorial tomb on a rock ledge at
Saqqara, west of Memphis.
He built a solid stone structure of
six huge steps over 65 m tall (20
stories).
The burial chamber was actually
25 m below ground, directly below
the pyramid.
It was the first huge stone structure built on earth.
THE GREAT PYRMAIDS OF GIZA (2530-2470) 4th Dynasty
 Built in the 4th dynasty by
three pharaohs
 Hundreds of thousands of men
constructed these pyramids
(many of these workers, along
with slaves, also died during
construction)
 The stones (weighing over 40
tons) were floated across the
Nile during flooding season and
hauled over the desert. Only levers and rollers were used by the workers, who
constructed large ramps on which to raise the stones.
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The largest pyramid was built for Cheops around 2530 BCE.
It covers 13 acres- 276 m on each side of the base, and is over 176m (55 stories)
high.
It is made of over 2 million blocks of limestone, which was originally polished to
reflect the sun.
The stones were cut so accurately, that even today, it is difficult to find a place
where a knife blade can be forced between the two surfaces.
It was the tallest structure in the world until
the Eiffel tower was built.
The burial chamber for the mummy of Cheops is
located in the heart of the pyramid.
The interior walls were covered with painted
relief sculptures showing various activities of
the people buried there.
The artist crammed every available space from
floor to ceiling with some kind of sculpture,
drawing, or painting.
The two other large pyramids were for Chefren
(2530 BCE) and Mycerinus (2500 BCE)
The Great Sphinx (more a sculpture than architecture but it is associated with the
Pyramids)
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the sandblasting winds of the Sahara.
A figure 80m in length
and 36 m high, carved
from a rocky ledge,
guarding the Great
Pyramids.
The Sphinx had the body
of a lion and the head of
Chefren.
It has been vandalized
and damaged further by
MIDDLE KINGDOM (2100-1700 BCE)
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The Middle Kingdom was a time of law and order and prosperity in Egypt.
The Pharaoh still was the supreme head: however, he was not as powerful as
Pharaohs had been during the Old Kingdom.
Around 1800 BCE Egypt was overrun by foreign invaders (Hyksos) and for 150
years they were forced to pay tribute to the Hyksos.
During this time there was no harmony in the land.
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During this period architecture shifted
from pyramids to the construction of
funerary temples built near Thebes. In
these temples were the mummies of the
rulers.
Part of the buildings would be cut into
the cliffs and part would be on the
outside.
FUNERAL TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT (1480 BCE)
Following the Middle
Kingdom style, part of
the building was cut into
the cliff and part was
built outside.
 It has many terraced
walls, colonnades,
sculptured reliefs,
passageways and large
open terraces.
 Blends harmoniously with
the towering cliff above
 The queen spent most of
her reign constructing
the temple.
She would strap a false beard to her chin and wear men’s clothes when she
visited the site.
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NEW KINGDOM (1500-1085 BCE)
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About 1567 BCE the Princes of Thebes overthrew the Hyksos invaders and
established the New Kingdom
It was a Golden Age
The Egyptians had become more powerful than ever before
Egypt became an empire. Controlling land beyond their borders, and the kingdom
flourished
Artists and architects also grew in skill and creative expression
THE HYPOSTLE HALL (1530 BCE)
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Temple of Amun, at Karnack.
Built specifically for the worship of gods and the
home of priests, not a tomb or burial structure.
135 columns, the centre ones being 21 metres high
(7 stories), creating a forest feel.
26 rows of columns just across the front alone.
They were capped with open-flowered capitals (top
ornamented part of a column), some in the shape of
a lotus bud.
They were carved from top to bottom with relief
sculpture (sculpture that
projects from a background of
which it is part of) and then
painted.
Stone lintels were placed atop of
the columns to create a
sheltered roof.
The columns needed to be kept
close together to prevent the
stone slabs lintels from breaking.
SCULPTURE
OLD KINGDOM
MYCERINUS and HIS QUEEN (2470 BCE)
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Cut from a single block of slate.
The sculpture is one solid block; there are no open spaces.
142 cm high (4 ft 8”) slightly less than lifesize?
Stylized and formal appearance.
Frontal pose (figures facing and looking straight ahead)
Arms are rigid, faces look
straight ahead, and each foot
is slightly forward.
The sculpture is not an
accurate depiction of the king
and queen; the sculpture has
given them the ideal body.
KATEP and HIS WIFE (2563 BCE)
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Carved from limestone and painted
47cm (18” high)
Poses are formal, frontal and figures are stylized.
Painted for added realism.
MIDDLE KINGDOM
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Art continued to flourish and crafts people still held an honoured position in
society.
They carved wood into figures, boats, weapons and other items.
These carvings were then painted to create an illusion of reality.
NEW KINGDOM
AKHENATON AND HIS FAMILY (1350 BCE)
Limestone relief
Akhenaton and his beautiful wife, Nefertiti, are
shown with their daughters basking in the
beneficent rays of their god, Aton. For the
first time in Egyptian history, the pharaoh is
shown enjoying family pleasures.
 Akhenaton ruled for 17 years. During his reign
he declared a single new supreme god in ATEN,
THE SUN. He declared himself Aten’s representative on earth and a god himself.
Though most art in Egypt was stylized during the reign of Akhenaton realism
became dominant. The image of Akhenaton is not so idealized, since he has a
visible belly.
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NEFERTITI (1360 BCE)
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Nefertiti was Akhenaton’s wife and King Tutankhaten’s
aunt, and a most beautiful woman.
This sculpture was left abandoned in the artist’s studio
after the death of the king.
This portrait is delicate and sensitive, showing the
sculpture’s awareness and knowledge of the structure of
the human head.
This artist had in fact taken moulds from human faces
and bodies to study the structure and create carvings of
anatomical perfection.
TUTANKHATEN (King Tut)
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 Akhenaton’s successor
was nine-year-old Tutankhaten, latter changed to
Tutankhamen (some books claim he was Akhenaton’s
nephew, some his son, and others claim he was
married to Akhenaton’s daughter).
He only ruled for nine years, his is Egypt’s most
famous king because of the wealth of objects found
in his tomb
Most of the Egyptian tombs had been robbed.
To protect their treasures Pharaohs began cutting
their burial chambers into rock cliffs and disguised
the entrances.
King Tutankhamen’s tomb was not looted because the debris from a latter tomb
hid his tomb entrance.
Ramses II (1257 BCE)
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standing cliff.
Under Ramses art again
began to return to the
traditional stylization.
Ramses II ruled for 67
years
He had had a multitude of
statues of himself placed
throughout the land.
His temple at Abu Simbel is
the most famous.
Four figures of Ramses II
are carved directly out of a
FIGURES IN ARTWORK
In order to be able to
show all essential
features, the human
body was depicted as a
collection of body parts
seen from varying view
points.
 Heads are generally
turned right or left,
therefore seen in
profile, the eye is always
shown in full frontal view
 The shoulders are in
frontal view, which
causes at times awkward
depictions of arms when both arms are stretched forward.
The lower body is again represented in profile and often shown walking.
Limbs, hands and feet are in profile
Descriptive Perspective- The more important figures were larger than the less
important ones.
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HEIROGLYPHICS
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HIEROGLYPHS are pictures that were used to write the ancient Egyptian
language. In the beginning hieroglyphic signs were used to keep records of the
king's possessions. Scribes could easily make these records by drawing a picture
of a cow or a boat followed by a number. But as the language became more
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complex more pictures were needed. Eventually the language consisted of more
then 750 individual signs.
Some hieroglyphs are read as signs of the objects they illustrate, while others
are syllables used to construct words. In ancient Egypt very few people could
read and write. The position of scribe was important in the hierarchy of the
royal court, and scribes had special privileges. It was believed that writing
captured the spirit of the object it described, so that the scribes carried out
magic by the mere act of writing. Writing was considered an art and a sacred
act.
These pictures eventually developed into language where certain symbols related
to certain consonants. As in other languages, words in Egyptian were made up of
sounds, partly of consonants and partly of vowels. But, the writing of hieroglyphs
constantly ignored and omitted vowels.
Since the ancient language has never been heard, we are not sure how words
would be pronounced.
HEIROGLYPHS are more then just a way of writing, they are also pictures, and
as such they are meant to be aesthetically pleasing. The picture signs can be
written from right to left; from left to right; or vertically, reading downwards.