Art of Ancient Egypt
Visual Arts Guide

Egyptian Art (3100 BCE - 395 CE)

Egyptian culture made an enormous contribution to the history of art. It was the earliest and longest living of all the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean. Egyptian art forms were shaped by the geography of the country as well as the political, social and religious customs of the period. Protected by its desert borders and sustained by the waters of the Nile, Egyptian culture developed largely unhindered (by external invasion or internal strife) over many centuries. The Pharaoh (originally meaning 'palace') was worshipped as a divine ruler (supposedly the incarnation of the god Horus), but typically maintained firm control through a strict bureaucratic hierarchy, whose members were often appointed on merit.

The function of Egyptian art was twofold. First, to glorify the gods - including the Pharaoh - and facilitate human passage into the after-life. Second, to assert, propagandize and preserve the values of the day. Due to the general stability of Egyptian life and culture, all arts - including architecture, sculpture, painting, metalwork and ceramics - were characterized by a highly conservative adherence to traditional rules, which favoured order and form over creativity and artistic expression.

Egyptian art is most noted for its monumental architecture (eg. the Pyramids), its tomb artworks ('mummy art', paintings, sculptures, ceramics and precious metal crafts), it's hieroglyphics (the Egyptian writing script based on pictures and symbols) and its general artistic style. The latter remained largely independent of foreign artists until the spread of Greek culture during the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE).

Egyptian culture evolved over three thousand years, a period usually divided as follows: The Early Dynastic Period; The Old Kingdom (2680­2258 BCE); The Middle Kingdom (2134-1786 BCE); The New Kingdom (1570­1075 BCE), including the controversial Amarna Period of King Amenhotep (Akhenaton) (1350­1320 BCE). After this, came an Intermediate Period until the Ptolemaic Era (323-30 BCE) and the period of Roman rule (30 BCE - 395 CE).

Ancient Egyptian civilization is symbolized by the Pyramids, most of which were constructed during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods, when the Pharaoh's power was more absolute. Even today, the full significance of these funerary monuments and tombs is imperfectly understood by archeologists and Egyptologists.

Rules of Painting

Egyptian civilization was highly religious. Thus most Egyptian artworks involve the depiction of many gods and goddesses - of whom the Pharaoh was one. In addition, the Egyptian respect for order and conservative values led to the establishment of complex rules for how both Gods and humans could be represented by artists. For example, in figure painting, the sizes of figures were calculated purely by reference to the person's social status, rather than by the normal artistic rules of perspective. The same formula for painting the human figure was used over hundreds if not thousands of years. Head and legs always in profile; eyes and upper body viewed from the front. For Egyptian sculpture and statues, the rules stated that male statues should be darker than female ones; when seated, the subject's hands should be on knees. Gods too were depicted according to their position in the hierarchy of deities, and always in the same guise. For instance, Horus (the sky god) was always represented with a falcon's head, Anubis (the god of funeral rites) was always depicted with a jackal's head.

Use of Pigments

The use of colour in Egyptian paintings was also regulated and used symbolically. Egyptian artists used six colours in their paintings red, green, blue, yellow, white and black. Red, being the colour of power, symbolized life and victory, as well as anger and fire. Green symbolized new life, growth, and fertility, while blue symbolized creation and rebirth, and yellow symbolized the eternal, such as the qualities of the sun and gold. Yellow was the colour of Ra and of all the pharaohs, which is why the sarcophagi and funeral masks were made of gold to symbolize the everlasting and eternal pharaoh who was now a god. White was the colour of purity, symbolizing all things sacred, and was typically used used in religious objects and tools used by the priests. Black was the colour of death and represented the underworld and the night.

Egyptian Arts And The Afterlife

Nearly all of Ancient Egypt's surviving paintings were discovered in tombs of the pharaohs or high governmental officials, and portrays scenes of the afterlife. Known as funerary art, these pictures depicted the narrative of life after death as well as things like servants, boats and food to help the deceased in their trip through the after life. These paintings would be executed on papyrus, on panels, (using encaustic paint) or on walls in the form of fresco murals (using tempera). In addition, models (eg. of boats, granaries, butcher shops, and kitchens) were included in the tomb in order to guarantee the future well-being of the dead person.

As the spirit inhabited the body, the preservation of the latter against decay was also critical. The use of tightly wrapped bandages to mummify the corpse, and the removal and packaging of internal organs within ceramic canopic jars and other opulent sarcophagi became widespread among the ruling elite. All these arrangements helped to support a nationwide industry of Egyptian artists and craftsmen who laboured to produce the artworks (paintings, scultures, pottery, ceramics, jewellery and metalwork) required.

Egyptian sculpture was highly symbolic and for most of Egyptian history was not intended to be naturalistic or realistic. Sculptures and statues were made from clay, wood, metal, ivory, and stone - of which stone was the most permanent and plentiful. Many Egyptian sculptures were painted in vivid colours.

The Rule of King Amenhotep (Akhenaton) (1350­1320 BCE)

Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (husband of Queen Nefertiti) triggered a sort of cultural revolution in Egypt. Born into the cult of Amon (Amen), a line that worshipped a wide range of gods, he changed his name to Akhenaton and, strengthened by his control of the army, instituted the worship only of Aten, a sun god. The Egyptian capital and royal court was moved to Amarna in Middle Egypt. All this led to a radical break with tradition, especially in the arts, such as painting and sculpture. They became more naturalistic and more dynamic than the static rule-bound art of previous eras. In particular, the Amarna style of art was characterized by a sense of movement and activity. Portraits of Egyptian nobles ceased to be idealized, and some were even caricatured. The presence of Aten in many pictures was represented by a golden disc shining down from above. After the death of Akhenaton, the next Pharaoh - the child Tutankhaten - was persuaded to move back to Memphis and change his name to Tutankhamen, thus reverting to Amon. As a result, Egyptian painters and sculptors largely returned to the old traditions which continued until the Hellenistic era from 323 BCE onwards.

The influence of Greek art on Egyptian artists, a process accelerated by Alexander the Great and afterwards during the Ptolemaic Era, encouraged the naturalistic representation of individuals in paintings and sculpture, not unlike the process initiated by Akhenaton. Portraits became realistic and the rules of colour were relaxed. This trend was further encouraged by the practical Roman style of art.

Collections of Egyptian artworks can be seen in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo; the British Museum, London; the Louvre Museum, Paris; the Agyptisches Museum, Berlin; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

• For other pre-historic civilizations, see: Ancient Art.
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