Ancient Egyptian Art, Part 5- Fayum Portraits

In 30 BC the Romans took over Egypt. Of course, this affected Egyptians in many important ways, but I will only talk about how it changed Egyptian art. You have already read that Egyptians used art (paintings, carvings,and sculpture) to help them in the afterlife. You know that the art was not realistic but idealized and showed perfect bodies in perfect proportion. You have also read about how Akhenaten created his own art movement, called Amarna Art, which featured more realistic portraits.

When the Romans took over, they brought a classical style of art with them. This can be seen in the mummy portraits that were found in the Fayum (notice the map) and, to a lesser degree, throughout Egypt.
At first portraits were painted during a person’s life and then, after death, attached to the mummy. Later portraits were only created after a person died.

The portraits showed only the face and possibly the shoulders. The person always faced forward, which is different from other Egyptian art in which people always faced sideways. You’ll notice the big, open eyes and the fancy clothes worn in the portraits. Many even showed jewelry and flowers.
A portrait was painted on a wood panel and tucked into the wrappings of the mummy. The portrait’s face was lined up with where the person’s real face was.

If you compare the Fayum Portraits with artwork from earlier Egypt, I think you’ll see a huge difference. There’s not much more I can say that you won’t notice by looking at the two paintings below.
That’s it for Egyptian art (for now, anyway). Check back tomorrow for something new.

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Ancient Egyptian Art, Part 4- Amarna Art

So far you have read about the paintings, carvings, and sculpture of ancient Egypt. In the art you have seen so far, people were always shown in perfect shape and health. The men looked muscular and masculine. Also, the art followed a formula so that the people were always in the right proportion.

During the Eighteenth Dynasty, Akhenaten (the pharaoh at the time) started a new art movement. We call it the Amarna Period. During the Amarna Period, the pharaoh, his family, and the people of Egypt were shown in a more realistic way.

In all types of art (paintings, carvings, sculpture), the pharaoh (and others) was shown with a long, thin face and a round skull. His chin always stuck out and his eyes were almond-shaped. He had a feminine round belly and wide hips. The pharaoh’s wife was shown in much the same way. It can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart.
Akhenaten was often shown with his daughters. In the artwork, he played with them and showed them affection. This kind of behavior was never shown in art during the other dynasties. Pharaohs thought it made them look weak so they didn’t want anyone to see that side of themselves. They were supposed to look like strong warriors. Akhenaten didn’t think the people of Egypt would think he was weak if he played with his children and loved his family so he wasn’t afraid to have artwork show it.
You’ll also notice that the sun is shown in many of the images of the pharaoh. That is the sun god, Aten. He is shown as a disc with many rays. The rays have hands that reach toward the pharaoh, surrounding Akhenaten in warmth and protection. Aten is the only god shown in art of the Amarna Period.

When the Eighteenth Dynasty ended, Egyptian art reverted back to what it had been before Akhenaten.

EDITED TO ADD: Part 5- Fayum Portraits

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Ancient Egyptian Art, Part 3- Sculpture

The sculpture of the ancient Egyptians followed many of the same strict rules as the paintings and carvings. Since most of the sculptures showed pharaohs or gods and were expected to help in the afterlife, it makes sense that the Egyptians would take the art form seriously.

Sculptures never showed illness. They never showed injury or deformity. These things had no place in the afterlife which was supposed to be just like life—if things were always perfect. The sculptures usually showed the pharaoh, sometimes with animal-formed gods, sometimes with family, sometimes holding offerings to the gods. The pharaoh always wore a peaceful expression and stood (or sat or knelt) in a confident pose that made him look young and strong.

The sculptures were also very well finished and perfectly polished. In the 1000s BC, the power of the pharaohs weakened and the quality of the statues worsened. The sculptures were still pretty spectacular (and huge), and the quality of the early centuries of Egyptian sculpture eventually returned.
Because the sculptures of rulers were often several stories tall, scaffolding had to be used. The Egyptians tied sturdy reeds together to create wide ladders. The sculptors could stand on the ladders to reach the middles and tops of the sculptures. Using chisels and wooden mallets, teams of sculptors chipped away at blocks of stone to create sculptures.

Other sculptors then worked on smoothing out the stone. They created sandpaper by pressing sand between a rock and the sculpture. The sculptor would rub until the sand had all fallen away, then added more and continued. You can imagine that this would take a long time if only one person worked on it. This is one reason why Egyptian sculptors worked in teams.
When the sculpture is smooth and perfect, the sculptors carved the name of the pharaoh into the back of the sculpture.
There were, of course, smaller sculptures made for the tombs of other Egyptians, but they weren’t as large or well-finished as those created for the pharaoh.

More Egyptian art to come! Check back tomorrow.

EDITED TO ADD: Part 4- Amarna Art, Part 5- Fayum Portraits

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Faberge Eggs

In celebration of Easter, I thought it would be fitting to post about the master of egg decorating, Peter Carl Faberge. He created art in many forms but this article will focus only on his famous Faberge Eggs.

Many people collect “Faberge eggs” but, unless they are millionaires, they are not collecting the ones that Peter Carl Faberge and his studio created from 1885 to 1917. Those eggs are very hard to get and some have sold for nearly 10 million dollars! While modern “Faberge eggs” are beautiful works of art, I will only talk about those 69 eggs that Peter Carl Faberge himself had a hand in designing and creating.

The first egg was made as an Easter surprise for the wife of the Russian Tsar (ruler) Alexander III. From the outside, it looked like a regular egg. It was made of white enamel with a little band of gold around the center. The egg could be opened and inside was a golden yolk. When the yolk was opened, there was a gold hen sitting in a golden nest. Inside the hen (yes, the hen opened, too!) was a necklace with a little ruby egg and a diamond crown. Sounds like a nice Easter gift to me!
The Tsar’s wife loved her egg and from then on Alexander III gave her a custom-designed Faberge egg for Easter each year. When Alexander III’s son, Nicholas II, became tsar, he continued the tradition. He had Faberge create eggs for his wife and his mother each year at Easter.

Faberge made about fifteen eggs for wealthy collectors but the rest were made for the Russian royal family.

Shown above is the Blue Serpent Egg. Notice the Roman numerals around the upper part of the egg. The serpent’s head points to the time.

Next is the Azova Egg (above). I love the idea of a ship in an egg.

Look at the little carriage that came inside the Coronation Egg (above).

How gorgeous is the Lilies of the Valley Egg? Faberge designed it because he knew the Empress loved lilies of the valley, her favorite jewels were pearls, and her favorite color was pink. Wouldn’t you love someone to design an egg based on your favorite things? I think mine would be made of polished opal nestled in a base of tiger lilies. What would your Faberge egg look like?

Below are two more eggs that I really liked, The Clover Egg and the Peacock Egg.
The eggs of Peter Carl Faberge are worth millions of dollars. Faberge’s grandson, Theo Faberge, began making eggs in the second half of the 1900s. His were not one of a kind like those of his grandfather. Theo made a few hundred of each of his designs and sold them to the public. Each of his eggs is worth several thousand dollars, far less than Peter Carl Faberge's. Theo’s eggs are not as ornate and do not have as many pieces.

On Monday I’ll post more about the art of the ancient Egyptians. Until then, enjoy you weekend and your Easter. And for those of you on spring break (like me), enjoy your time off from school!

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Ancient Egypt Art, Part 2- Carvings

Ancient Egyptians sometimes decorated tombs and monuments with carvings called reliefs. Yesterday you read about how they created paintings. The process of creating relief carvings was very similar.

A thin layer of plaster was spread over the wall, polished, and smoothed. An apprentice then marked the wall with a red grid pattern and copied the image from a piece of papyrus, carefully keeping the same proportion. At this point, the wall was ready for carving. The sculptor used a large, wooden mallet and a copper or bronze chisel to make the carving.

There were two types of reliefs: raised reliefs and sunken reliefs. When creating a raised relief, the sculptor chiseled away the parts of the stone around the image. This made the image stand out, like the one shown below.

To create a sunken relief, the sculpture carved away the image, leaving the background higher than the picture. An example is shown below.
Egyptians often combined the two styles when decorating tombs and monuments, as in the example below. The pharoahs were done in raised relief and the hieroglyphics around them were done in sunken relief.
When the carving was complete, the wall was whitewashed before the natural, Egyptian paints were added.
Stay tuned for more about Egyptian Art.

EDITED TO ADD: Part 3- Sculpture, Part 4- Amarna Art, Part 5- Fayum Portaits

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