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Egyptian New Kingdom
1550-1070 BCE
Credit to Gardner’s Art Through The Ages 12th Ed.
Egyptian New Kingdom 1550-1070 BCE
• Egypt was segregated again…• During Dynasties 17-18, it was reunited again, this time
by Ahmose I• His successors conducted successful military campaigns
that finally secured Egyptian control of Nubia• As a result, New Kingdom pharaohs were pretty rich…
much of their wealth was spent in honor of their gods, especially Amen-Re of Thebes, in whose name a huge temple complex at Karnak was constructed
Ahmose I
Nubia
Nubia is present day Sudan
Restored view of the Temple of Amen-Re at Karnak
Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re
Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re
Temple Complex at Karnak dedicated to Amen-Re
He’s so tiny!!! Which means these columns are HUGE!!! (66 ft. High)
This hall is known as theGreat Hypostyle Hall (meaning it has a LOTof columns supportingthe roof!)
New Kingdom
• Dynasty 19 rulers established a capital near Delta, but Thebes continued to be the main cultural and religious center of Egypt
• The New Kingdom was a period of almost 500 years of political stability, economic prosperity, and LOTS of artistic masterpieces
• Especially known for monumental architecture and statuary honoring the gods and pharaohs
• New trade was made possible with Asia and the Aegean Islands
New Kingdom Art: Mortuary Complex of Hatshepsut (Dynasty 18)
• Hatshepsut (literally, The Woman Who Would Be King)• The wife and half-sister of Thutmose II, she had no sons who
survived to take the throne– The title of pharaoh went to a 12 year old son of Thutmose II and a
“minor” wife, Thutmose III– Hatshepsut was declared his regent until he was old enough to rule– Eventually she proclaimed that her father, Thutmose I had actually chosen
HER as his successor (not his son and her half brother Thutmose II)– When she died and Thutmose III finally assumed rule, he had most
portraits of Hatshepsut destroyed• She was the first great female monarch whose name was ever
recorded• She ruled for 2 decades!
Hatshepsut: often depicted wearing a fake, ceremonial beard
Hatshepsut’s Mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahri (near Thebes)
Hatshepsut’s Mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahri (near Thebes)
Akhenaton and the Amarna Period (Dynasty 18)
• Revolution in Egypt• Mid 14th Century BCE (1350ish)• Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, later known as
Akhenaton abandoned worship of most Egyptians gods in favor of one: – Aton, who he declared to be the universal and
only god, identified by the sun disk– He blotted out the name of Amen from all
inscriptions and changed his own name
Akhenaton and the Amarna Period
• Moved the capital from Thebes to a site he named Akhetaton(present day Tell el-Amarna)
– Built an entire city complex here
Akhenaton and the Amarna Period
• He claimed to be both the son and sole prophet of Aton
• In contrast to other Egyptian gods, Aton was not represented as a human or an animal, but as a sun disk emitting life-giving rays
Akhenaton and the Amarna Period
• Akhenaton’s brief religious revolution was soon undone after his time, and his city was largely abandoned
• The Pharaohs who succeeded Akhenaton restored the cult, priesthood, and temples of Amen
• The Amarna period, however, housed very distinct artistic qualities that varied greatly from Egyptian Art’s basic canon
Akhenaton from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, Dynasty 18, Sandstone, H. 13 ft.
Effeminate body that is curiously misshapen with weak arms, a narrow waist, protruding belly, and wide hips
Curving contoursLong faceFull lipsHeavily lidded eyes
Modern doctors have tried to explain his physique byattributing a variety of illnesses to him, but cannot come to anagreement
Consequently, it is believed that this sculpture is not an accurate representation of his actual appearance
It has been argued that his artists were trying to formulate a new, androgynous image of the pharaoh as the manifestation of Aton, the gender-less sun disk
Nefertiti (The Beautiful One is Here)
• Akhenaton’s queen• Sculpted by Thutmose• Intentionally left incomplete, but why?
– Left eye hasn’t been inlaid yet
• Elongated neck, exaggerated featuresto meet the era’s standard of spiritual Beauty
In portraits with the pharaoh, she isthe same size as him, suggesting herimportance
Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, 1353-1335 BCE, Limestone, H. 12 in.
Aliens???
The Amarna-Art-Legacy Continues…King TUT! (Dynasty 18)
• Tomb of Tutankhamen (Theban necropolis)– Largely unplundered when it was uncovered in 1922, excavator
Howard Carter• Probably a son of Akhenaton by a minor wife (not
Nefertiti)• Ruled for a decade• Died at age 18• Although a very minor figure in Egyptian history, probably
the most well-known figure from Egyptian history today (because of the excavation of his relatively in-tact tomb)!
King Tut
• Main finding in the tomb: enshrined body of the pharaoh himself
• The royal mummy was inside the innermost of 3 coffins nested within each other
• Innermost coffin = most luxurious of the 3– Made of a quarter-ton of beaten gold– Inlaid semiprecious stones: lapis lazuli, turquoise,
and carnelian
King Tut’s Innermost Coffin
King Tut
• The portrait mask that covered the king’s face was also made of gold with inlaid semiprecious stones– Sensitive portrayal of an adolescent king in official
regalia• Nemes headdress • False beard
• In general this is expressive of Egyptian power, pride, and affluence
King Tut’s Portrait Mask
King Tut
• Too young to fight, but his position as King required that he be represented as a conqueror
• Funerary art in his tomb depicts him this way– Paintings on the panels of the chest in his tomb
Painted chest from tomb of Tutankhamen, Wood, 1’8” long (did not contain his body!)
Detail from Painted Chest of King Tut(Tut the “great warrior”)
King Tut
• The scroll of Hu-Nefer, the royal scribe of pharaoh Seti I was found in King Tut’s tomb (page from the Book of the Dead)– Seti was the son of Ramses I (ruled AFTER King Tut)
• Preceded Ramses II in rule • Main goal was to restore religion to traditional Egyptian beliefs
after the reign of Akhenaton
• This was painted in the traditional style of Egyptian artistic canon of the Old Kingdom– Evidence that religion and artistic ideals were reset very
quickly after the rule of Akhenaton
Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, from the Book of the Dead, Painted Papyrus Scroll
Left: Anubis, jackal headed godof embalming, leads Hu-Nefer tothe hall of judgment
He adjusts his scales to weigh Hu-Nefer’s heart against the feather of the Maat (goddess of truth and right)
Right: Ammit, a hybrid monster that is half hippopotamus, half lion, the devourer of the sinful, awaits thedecision of the scales
If the weighing had been unfavorableto the deceased, the monster would have eaten his heart
Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer, from the Book of the Dead, Painted Papyrus Scroll
The Ibis-headed god, Thoth (Egyptian god of knowledge), records the proceedings Above, the gods of the Egyptian
pantheon are witnesses, while Hu-Nefer kneels before them inadoration
Having been justified, Hu-Nefer is brought by Osiris’s son, Horus (falcon head) to Osiris (green face)and his sisters, Isis and Nephthys to receive the award of eternal life
Rock-Cut Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel (Dynasty 19)
• Ramses was Egypt’s last great warrior pharaoh, and he ruled for two-thirds of a century (66 years!)– A huge accomplishment (life expectancy back then was not
nearly as long as it is today)• Placed 4 colossal images of himself on the temple façade• 12 times taller than the average height of an ancient
Egyptian, even though the pharaoh is seated• Not as detailed as other Egyptian art of the time because of
its sheer size• This entire temple was moved 700 ft. in 1968 to save it
from falling into the Aswan High Dam reservoir
Abu Simbel, Temple of Ramses II
Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel
Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel
Inside the Temple of Ramses
32-foot tall figures of the kingin the guise of Osiris (Egyptiangod of the dead)
These pillars are not weight-bearing
Nefertari
• Ramses II’s principal wife• Ramses ordered construction of a grand
temple for her
Egypt in Decline
• During the last millennium BCE, the Egyptian empire lost its commanding role and dwindled away
• Foreign powers invaded, occupied, and ruled the land, until it was taken over by Alexander the Great of Macedon and his Greek successors, and eventually by the emperors of Rome
Egypt in Decline
• A portrait statue of Mentuemhet, a rich and powerful Mayor of Thebes during Dynasty 26 in the 7th Century BCE is an example of what Egyptian sculpture looked like when the Greeks first encountered the art of the Nile Valley
Mentuemhet, from Karnak, Dynasty 26, 650 BCE, Granite, H. 4’5”
Differences in this from past Egyptian sculptures:
Double wigRealistic head and faceRough/brutal characterization
However, the rigidity of the stance, frontality, and sparseness of silhouette with arms at the side and left legadvanced still recall Old Kingdom canon
Egyptian Art Legacy
• Today, visitors to Rome who enter the city from the airport are greeted by the tomb of a Roman nobleman who died around 12 BCE
• His memorial is a pyramid, even though he died 2500 years after the Old Kingdom pharaohs built the great pyramids at Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World