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History of Art: Ancient

Egypt
by Mary Winkler2 Sep 2016
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Art HistoryHistoryInspiration
This post is part of a series called A Beginner's Guide to Art History.
History of Art: Mesopotamia
History of Art: Ancient Greece

Welcome back to our series on art history. In this article we’ll move forward from
Mesopotamia to ancient Egypt where we’ll get into hieroglyphics, paintings,
sculpture, and more!

The ancient Egyptians focused a lot of their artwork on figurative works, religion,
rituals, and communication through hieroglyphics. We’ll run through an overview
of 3,000 years from 3000 BCE (after the end of the Neolithic era in the region) to
30 BCE before the Romans invaded and took over (think Cleopatra and Caesar.
Let’s dive into history!
Ancient Egyptian painting. Image by Sa.hprw.

Early Dynastic Period, 3000–2686 BCE

Also known as the “Archaic” period, this time follows the Neolithic era and
unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. It’s at this time that Egypt comes to be
ruled by a god-like king, which is something we started to see near the end of our
article on Mesopotamia. With civilization comes a ruling body, and with our
species, we tend to really get into all-powerful ruling entities.

Sun-dried bricks, which were common to Mesopotamia, and architecture that

included decorative elements (arches and recessed walls as well as decorations
themselves) carried over into Egypt. With a more established ruling class came
more involved funeral rituals. Ancient Egyptians are renowned for their elaborate
funeral practices for rulers and the like.
Mastaba example. Image by Jon Bodsworth - www.egyptarchive.co.uk.
This is where things like the Step pyramid, which is a structure that uses a series of
flat platforms, and the mastaba, an ancient Egyptian tomb, began to be used more
often for Egypt’s elite class. When we think of ancient Egyptian tombs, we are
talking about the richest of their society creating elaborate structures and art pieces
to honor the dead (or send them off into the afterlife). An interesting note to be
made is that a lot of the artwork uncovered as a part of these elaborate tombs
throughout history wasn’t really meant to be seen or used by the living.
Narmer palette. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The first king of Egypt is identified either as Menes or Narmer. Currently it’s
believed they are the same person, so more often than not you’ll find people refer
to the first pharaoh as Narmer.

Narmer is shown in the Narmer Palette wearing the crowns of both Upper and
Lower Egypt as a sign of having unified the two. At least, that’s the thinking
behind the interpretation of it. It’s possible the palette is also purely symbolic.
Regardless, the palette is one of the earliest examples of hieroglyphic inscriptions,
dating to around 3100 BCE or so, and includes some classic art styles seen
throughout ancient Egyptian art.

Old Kingdom, 2686–2181 BCE

The Old Kingdom era starts around the Third Dynasty of Egypt. This coincides
with Djoser, who ruled for a couple decades somewhere around 2691–2625 BCE
(other sources say 2686–2613). Djoser ordered the construction of a Step pyramid
at Saqqara called the Pyramid of Djoser. It’s throughout the Old Kingdom era that
Egypt’s first pyramids were created.

Pyramid of Djoser. Image by Charlesjsharp.

It’s also during the reign of Djoser that we get his vizier, Imhotep, who you might
recognize in name as the wacky, power-hungry necromancer of the Mummy movie
series. In reality, Imhotep was an architect, engineer, and physician. He designed
the Pyramid of Djoser, and it’s possible he was responsible for the first known use
of stone columns within ancient Egypt. Later he was revered as a poet and
philosopher thanks to the divine status he received after death (around 2,000 years
after his death).

Another quite notable pyramid constructed during the Old Kingdom era is the
Great Pyramid at Giza. It’s thought to have been commissioned by Khufu during
the Fourth Dynasty. The oldest and largest of the three pyramids at Giza, it’s
considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Great Pyramid at Giza. Image By Nina.
Likely constructed over the span of a decade (or more), the pyramid consists of
limestone, granite, and mortar. Limestone was used for the casing. Casing stones
are slanted, flat-topped stones that create the face of the pyramid. In order to cut
stone like limestone and graphite, Egyptians hammered wood wedges into the
stone, soaked the wedges with water, and as the wedges expanded from the water
they cracked the rock, allowing pieces to be cut or broken away.

Stones traveled to the construction site on boats via the Nile River where they were
then built into the pyramid that still stands today. As for how exactly the pyramid
was built, there are so many theories including slave labor, skilled workers,
blocked being rolled or dragged, and more.
Statue of Iaiib and his wife Chuaut, Giza; 4th dynasty. Image by Einsamer
Schütze.
Other artistic contributions of the Old Kingdom to Egypt include the first life-
size statues created in wood, copper, and stone as well as portraits of individuals,
which we see quite often in subsequent centuries. Structures and objects were
decorated with relief carvings that depicted landscapes, plants, animals, and more.

Artworks were centered around the afterlife, though I always wonder how much is
missing since a great deal of them come from ancient tombs. All in all, the Old
Kingdom comprises four dynasties through 500 years or so.

Middle Kingdom, 2000–1700 BCE

Next, we jump ahead to the Middle Kingdom. This era brought us the block statue,
which was a memorial sculpture depicting a figure squatting or seated with their
arms resting on their knees. Often the figure wears a cloak, rendering their body
into a block-like shape. There are two types of statues in this genre: with a cloak
that covers the feet and with the feet and legs exposed.

Block statue of Senemut. Image by Andreas Praefcke.

Nobles were also rendered into busts and other statues. This, unlike a lot of
artwork before it, included depictions of women in a context that has nothing to do
with being a fertility statue or a goddess.
Head and Torso of a Noblewoman, ca. 1844–1837 B.C.E. Image by Charles Edwin
Wilbour Fund.
Interestingly, these statues were able to show beauty standards, makeup, and hair
styles of the time period within the carving itself.

New Kingdom, 1550–1069 BCE

The New Kingdom era begins around the time Ahmose I reunited Egypt around the
17th Dynasty. Since we’re focused on art in this article rather than all of Egypt’s
history, it suffices to say that this kicked off Egypt’s third great cultural era.

This era is notable for being a time in which royals were quite extravagant. Luckily
for the world of art, when the rich are being fancy, fantastic artwork tends to be
created. What better way to show wealth or honor the living and the dead than with
paintings, sculptures, and more?
A relief of a royal couple in the Amarna-period style. Image by Andreas Praefcke.
The Amarna period in the late Eighteenth Dynasty saw a change in the overall art
style. Figures were more androgynous and expressive than before. Fingers and toes
were long and slender, faces were elongated, and stomachs, thighs, and chests were
shown to be fatter than before. Previously figures would be shown to have two
right feet or two left feet, while in the Amarna style they had each a right and left
foot.

Around 1200 BCE, Ramses and those who followed focused on large works
including relief pieces where designs were cut into stone rather than the
background being cut away. Since these pieces were big, they’re not as highly
detailed as the smaller works that preceded them.

Throughout the New Kingdom period, the dead were buried with the Book of the
Dead. A collection of texts consisting of spells intended to assist a person’s
journey into the afterlife were written and painted onto papyrus and buried with
them in their coffin. This tradition carried on through this era into the next.
A portion of the Book of the Dead. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
People who commissioned these texts for themselves or for loved ones were rich,
since papyrus was expensive, and creating such a “book” could garner a scribe half
a year’s wages. Interestingly, pre-made collections could be purchased, allowing
buyers to have the dead person’s name placed within the text upon purchase. The
Papyrus of Ani is an example of one such “book”.

Late Period (664–332 BCE) and Beyond

Sometime after the New Kingdom comes the Late Period. The scale of artwork
diminished compared to the eras that came before. Bronze figures became more
common during this time and carried into the Ptolemaic period that followed.
Animals, especially figures like Bastet and Apis, were rendered in bronze during
the Late Period.
Gayer-Anderson Cat, believed to be a representation of Bastet. Image by Einsamer
Schütze.
Following the Late Period, Egypt was taken over by the Persians, Greeks, and
Romans (in that order). Alexander the Great conquered the Persians to bring about
the Ptolemaic Kingdom (332–30 BCE), and later Octavius defeated Marc Antony,
got rid of Cleopatra, and annexed Egypt in the name of the Roman Empire (30
BCE to 4th Century CE).

Our next two articles will cover ancient Greece and Rome respectively, so
understanding those cultural and artistic influences on the region is best saved until
later.

Painting Styles
After running through an overview of the timeline, I wanted to take some time out
to chat about the paintings found throughout ancient Egypt. Often when I think of
art from these eras, it’s paintings or painted media (relief, sculpture, etc.) that come
to mind.

Surfaces that were painted were likely prepared with layers of whitewash and/or
gesso, a primer-like paint. It’s suggested that minerals were used with an unknown
binder (possibly egg tempera). It’s said that Egyptians were strict about painting.
They used six colors: red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black. A small paint box
found in the tomb of Tutankhamen contained these six colors.

An example of a scribe's palette. Image by Harrogate Museums and Arts.

From 4000 BCE onward, color washes were used within painting. The first uses of
blue pigment were found to date back to 3000 BCE. Later they used vegetable dyes
in addition to mineral pigments, and were the first in known history to create “lake
pigments”. A lake pigment is a pigment that’s been rendered insoluble by mixing it
with tannin, metallic salt, or some other compound. This sort of pigment was used
for thousands of years following this period, allowing for a wider range of
pigments to be created.

Egyptian Wall Painting Woman Holding a Sistrum. Image via Wikimedia

Commons.
Aside from their contributions to pigments and paints themselves, the Egyptians
had a classic style used for thousands of years (until the Amarna period) that
consisted of figures shown with heads in profile, bodies facing forward, and feet in
profile (often shown as two left feet or two right feet).

Furthermore, unless children or gods were being illustrated in these paintings, all
human figures were shown in the same proportions (18 fists high). The rigidity of
these figures contrasts quite a bit with the expressive Amarna period I wrote about
above.
Conclusion
From relief and sculptures to paintings and papyrus texts, the ancient Egyptians
made huge contributions to the art world. It’s quite lucky that so many of their
dynasties were focused on an afterlife since many extravagant burial sites have
given us numerous pieces of art and preserved them for study in the hopes of
understanding their lives, culture, and history.

These are just the highlights of several thousand years of artistic expression and
history. Ancient Egypt is filled with some fantastic artwork that has a lot to say
about its cultural history. I implore you to read on about each era in Egyptian art
and to get to know the figures contained within each era, whether they’re historical
or mythological figures.