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CHANGE FROM THE OLD KINGDOM, MIDDLE KINGDOM AND TO THE NEW
KINGDOM
Amber Taylor
Art History 260
Part 1 Discussion Paper
Trace the change of style from Old to New Kingdom. Use as examples the seated statue
of Khafre, the head of Sesostris III, and the figure of Akhenaten. Include the Egyptian
proportional system and give some examples of how it is used in painting and sculpture.
There were many changes that occurred from the time the Old Kingdom began and the
New Kingdom emerged. I will be describing many changes that occurred during the Old
Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. Egypt was the site of one of the
most powerful and long-lasting civilizations that existed in the ancient world. Egypt was
split into two areas, Upper Egypt which was in the South and Lower Egypt which was in
the North. It was eventually unified around 3100 B.C. Egypt’s most important
geographical feature was the Nile, which is the world’s longest river.
The Old Kingdom which was from about 2649 B.C to 2150 B.C. was the beginning of
the Egyptian civilization. This was the era of the Pyramids, the most monumental
expression of the Egyptian pharaoh’s power. The pyramid was his place of burial and the
passage into afterlife. Three of the most outstanding pyramids were located near Cairo at
Giza and were the pyramids of three old Kingdom pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty. One
was the pyramid of Khufu, which is the largest, known as the Great Pyramid. The other
two were built for Khafre, Khufus son and Menjaures, the son of Khafres. The Great
Sphinx, which is a colossal human-headed creature with a lion’s body was used as the
guard of the pyramid of Khafre.
The Egyptians used a grid system to control the proportions of human figures when doing
sculptures. The statue of Khafre illustrates the conventional presentation of a seated
pharoh. Their statues were known as standing figures which can be seen in the statue of
Kahfre’s sons Menkaure. The purpose of these two statues was to embody the ka of the
royal personages and to receive food and drink who were brought from worshipers. The
Statues of the old kingdom were more rigid and stiff. In the statue of Mekaure and
Khamerenebty, the Pharaoh and his queen were done during the Old Kingdom. In this
statue the king is taller and his shoulders broader than her which symbols that he is more
powerful and forceful than her.
During the Middle Kingdom which was from 1991-1700 B.C a new type of tomb was
introduced besides the pyramids. Rock cut tombs were what became popular during the
Middle Kingdom. During the Middle Kingdom sculpture was somewhat more
naturalistic and the royal figures seemed less imposing that of the Old Kingdom. During
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the Middle Kingdom is when the faces on statues and paintings starting to show some
expression, the faces had more of a round shape to them. One of the most finest and
large scale statues from the Middle Kingdom was that of Lady Senuwy. Two wooden
statuettes of the Middle Kingdom that are slimmer and less imposing that the Old
Kingdom are the figures of Sesostris I who is wearing the conical white crown of Upper
Egypt in one statue and the red crown of Lower Egypt in the other.
One of the best examples that has been discovered of showing the new approach of royal
representation in the Middle Kingdom is that of Sesostris III. He was the man who
referred to himself as the shepard of his and people and in his portrait he is portrayed as
showing concern. The artist made it look as though he had bags under his eyes and his
cheeks fleshy, it is also made to seem as though he is frowning.
Lastly we find out about the differences of the New Kingdom. The New Kingdom was
from 1550-1070 B.C. This was the civilization that introduced the temples. Tombs
which were durable and impressive the Egyptian temples were a way of establishing the
worshiper’s relationship with the gods.
In the temples they had columned hallways.
The standard Egyptian temple was known as the Pylon Temple. The design of the
temples was to make a feeling of a mysterious enclosure, a space that was inhabited by
pharaoh’s and gods. There was a temple that was built that was dedicated to a triad of
gods which was the New Kingdom temple at Luxor. From the size of the Egyptian
temples and as well as the pyramids, you can tell that huge, colossal size was highly
regarded.
The New Kingdom was the first to have a female pharaoh, Hatshepsut. She was the wife
and half sister of Thutmose II. In the statues that were created of Hatshepsut she chose to
be shown as a man instead of a female. These statues had the traditional assertive pose of
standing pharaoh’s wearing a ceremonial headdress and beard. On difference between
the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom statues was that in the statue of Hatshepsut she
has her arms extended forward and lays her hands flat instead of the clenched fist used in
the Old Kingdom statues.
Mural paintings of the New Kingdom were a little more naturalistic than those of the Old
Kingdom but the fact that the pharaoh is shown as bigger than his wife or children is
carried on from the Old Kingdom. The women of the New Kingdom were shown with
brown skin color rather than the lighter skin that was done in the Old Kingdom.
A really good example of the changes in art and sculptures between the three Kingdoms
is that of the ruling times of Akhenatens. He changed the belief from many gods, known
as the polytheistic belief system to the worship of a single, all powerful god. In his art
and sculptures he broke away from always being represented as an assertive and
dominating king. He is shown as being elongated, thin, potbellied and curvilinear. The
best known sculpture of the Akenatens reign though was that of the painted limestone
bust of his wife, Nefertiti. You can see a change in the art in the painting of Akhenaten
and Nefertiti while playing with their three daughters. I think that a most impressive
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piece from the New Kingdom was the Mask of Tutankhamon. It was a solid gold portrait
mask inlaid with blue glass. There were three coffins inside on another to protect the
mummy. Each of these were made of gold and decorated with inlaid colored glass and
semiprecious stones. This tomb became one of the world’s most popular and widely
traveled museum exhibitions in Paris, London, Russia and the United States.
As you can see by the many different ways that sculptures and paintings changed
throughout the Old, Middle and New Kingdom they still portrayed their pharaohs as
powerful and strong. The art of the Egyptians is simple amazing considering there
wasn’t as many resources then as there is now. Egyptian art amazes me and to me is very
beautiful and tells many stories of the way they lived and what they believed.
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