The Art of the Egyptians

Head of Nefertiti

The Egyptians believed that the pleasures of the world did not necessarily end with death. They believed that the rich and powerful could enjoy the pleasures of life forever, as long as their image was blazoned on the walls of their tomb. This explains why much of Egyptian art is done for the sake of the dead. They would order sculptors to chisel the ruler’s head out of hard granite. It was the artists’ task to preserve everything as clearly and permanently as possible. It’s important to remember that this was art with purpose and was never meant to be seen. . 

In the history of art, it was a long time after the skill of cave art that painting regains its quality. This brings us to the Egyptians, who were mainly interested in architecture and sculpture. Many of the paintings that decorated their tombs prioritized drawing over color.

Most sculptures were created front facing. This allowed the image to face the rituals in front of them. To the ancient Egyptians, it was the eternal essence that mattered. Even their renderings of nature were often more symbolic than realistic. Their technical skills and knowledge of nature is evident in the way each subject is shown in the angle that would make it most identifiable. What we see is art that has a high concern with clarity and thorough representation. That’s why the human head is always shown in profile, yet the eyes are always drawn from the front. Everything looks two-dimensional. 

Most Egyptian wall paintings were created using tempera (paint created by mixing pigment with water or egg yolk) applied to plaster that has been allowed to dry first. When painting the full figure, there was a “rule of proportion” that was strictly adhered to. There was little originality, and artists that could adhere to these strict rules were considered to be the best. The geometric grid system they used insured the repetition of the ideal Egyptian form in any scale and position. The grid was divided into 18 equal-sized units and drawn on fixed points on the grid. A wooden drawing board from the 18th dynasty illustrating the Pharaoh Tuthmosis III was drawn using such a grid. Seated statues had to have their hands on their knees. Men had to be painted with darker skin than women, and the appearance of every Egyptian god was strictly laid down. Horus, the sky-god had to be shown as a falcon or with a falcon’s head, Anubis, the god of funeral rite, as a jackal or with a jackal’s head. For this reason, Egyptian art changed very little for three thousand years or more. 

It was not only the tombs that the Egyptians decorated. It’s also known that the wealthy had murals on the walls in their homes. Unfortunately, only small fragments of these murals remain. Most people are familiar with the limestone statue of the head of Nefertiti. It’s believed that this was a model sculpture because it was found in the ruins of a sculpture’s studio. This particular piece shows a loosening of the rigid rules that earlier artists had to follow. During his reign as ruler, Pharaoh Akhenaten, works of art became more graceful and original.