The Ancient World

Egypt has fascinated the world for millennia. The ancient Greeks and the Romans knew and admired Egypt and the interest passed to collectors and scholars in the Renaissance. European sponsored excavations have been going on in Egypt since the nineteenth century, including the discovery in 1922 of the tomb of King Tutankhamen. On reason that ancient Egypt enthralls us is the exceptional technique and monumental character of its works of art particularly with the monumental tombs and architectures they created (Davies and Davies, 2009)

Egyptian Art spans nearly 3000 years. It is broken up into 4 distinct kingdoms (Old, Middle, New and Late) and dynasties based on the rulers. The basic beliefs and artistic ideas were quite rigid. These images were rigid in the sense that both sculptures and paintings only show figures in 3 views 1. full frontal 2. strict profile and 3. vertically from above. Also, the artworks show a strong sense of order and appear stiff, this applies to everyone including Pharaohs all the way down to the common peasant (Strategies For Learning Art Styles).

The Egyptians were the first settled humans to use images of the body extensively in their art. Images of the human body were regular and repeated, and nothing about them was exaggerated. Instead, the images were created using a diagram and were also conceptual because artists were more concerned with cataloging the parts of the body - one head, two arms, two legs, etc - then the actual appearance of the body. To the ancient Egyptians, their grid system used to draw the bodies was a divine gift that would be spoiled by any deviation from the norm. ("How Art Made The World . Episodes . More Human Than Human . Egyptian Need For Order | PBS").

Artists were not independent and did not sign their name on their work, instead art was seen as a skill and these craftsman were supervised while creating sculptures, painting tombs, and building pyramids. Even though the artisans were monitored, they were not slaves. The kings/pharaohs paid for their work and guaranteed their welfare (Strategies For Learning Art Styles).