The historical period called the Ancient Kingdom pleases us with a large number of beautiful ancient sculptures, including portraits. In round sculpture, more than in relief, clear canons and compositions are observed, which are subsequently visible in the entire development of Egyptian sculpture. The sculpture usually depicts a person in motion, with his left leg extended forward. They also depict figures standing on one knee, figures squatting or sitting on a throne with their hands equally placed on their knees.
The sculptures of the Ancient Kingdom are distinguished by the high quality of the materials used. At that time, most ancient sculptures were made of stone or wood. The ancient sculptures of Nofret and Hemon demonstrate excellent skills in working soft limestone. And the ancient diorite sculpture of Khafre from the Cairo Museum testifies to the amazing ability to process hard rocks. village chief in Cairo - an excellent confirmation of woodworking skills. Initially, all these sculptures were painted, and even on many of them that have come down to us, the color has been perfectly preserved. Even the coloring reflects the canonization of the art of the Ancient Kingdom. As a result, the artist could not independently choose the color; it was determined for each individual object. We can give an example: the figure of a man, both in relief and in round sculpture, had a brick-red hue, and the figure of a woman had a brownish-yellow hue. The sculptural portrait of the Old Kingdom, like the relief, had a close connection with religion, with those complex ideas that the priests established to strengthen pre-existing class relations.
Initially, only the pharaoh could enjoy the privilege of afterlife benefits; later, those close to him began to use it. Scientists and historians already in the second half of the last century noted the high realism of the appearance of Nofret and Sheikh el Beled. An interesting fact is that in 1888, during the excavations of Marietta, a statue of Sheikh el Beled appeared from the ground, and people exclaimed: “Oh, that’s our village chief.” This ancient sculpture, as well as most other sculptures of Egypt from the period of the fifth dynasty, mid-third millennium BC, are very realistic. But main task is not to establish the realism of these architectural monuments, but to find out the special character of this realism. Even if you take a quick look at these portrait heads, you can easily see the difference between the heads of the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. But if we make a deeper analysis, we can see that sculpture is closely related to architecture, which in this era acquires its most majestic monumental features.
The ancient sculptures of scribes in the Louvre and Cairo are vivid representatives of how, in the synthetic type of art of the Old Kingdom, architecture determined the forms of plastic art. The portrait is typified. A kind of ideal essence is conveyed. There is nothing fleeting or superfluous in the appearance. Religious ideas about the double, which involved bringing the statue to life, ultimately led Old Kingdom sculptors to use false eyes. For example, the iris of the eyes in the statues of Rahoten and Nofret is made of grayish-blue chalcedony (also called sapphirine). The look is very realistic and lively. The look in the sculptural portrait of the Ancient Kingdom has a certain illusionism. This image is especially expressively represented in the Cairo statue of the fourth dynasty pharaoh Khafre. The constituent elements of the image are the generality of the form, complete statics and geometry of the composition. Never before in the Ancient Kingdom did images reach such absolute forms of idealization.
But I would like to note that the face is in complete harmony with the stylistic orientation of the entire monument. The living principle in the face seems to be a long process, and not a moment that has stopped. This is the whole essence of the idea of hieratism embodied here. The ancient statue of Khafre personifies him not only as a person, but also as the image of the pharaoh as a whole, with his idea of \u200b\u200bthe power of the viceroy of a certain deity on earth. It must be remembered that the reign of the fourth dynasty, to which this monument belongs, fell in the third millennium BC, and it was a period of prosperity. The transition to the art of the fifth dynasty was marked by a certain loss of ideas of monumentality. During the reign of this dynasty, the power of the pharaoh became weaker, and the land nobility began to acquire independence. And when this nobility gave individual orders, the sculptors transferred to their works the facial features that had recently characterized the pharaoh himself.
Over time, in the monuments of the fifth dynasty, the style changes, although the general remains the same. Body proportions lengthen, silhouette line increases. Neither on the head of Ti, Ranofer or the scribe from the Louvre, nor even in the image of the “village elder” is there anything individual, fleeting. A special place is occupied by a group of ancient monuments found in recent years in Giza. They date back to the reign of the IV Dynasty and are made of limestone. The sculptures in the form of female heads of the king's daughters deserve special attention. They were discovered separately from the body in front of the chamber containing the pharaoh's sarcophagus. According to scientists who examined these heads on site, their widening at the base of the neck indicates a pedestal.
The art of ancient Egypt in the collections of the British MuseumI will continue my show of the British Museum, snatching out its best exhibits for you... The next show is my favorite Egyptian art. So...
Hall No. 4-Egyptian sculpture
The most visited and popular are the halls Ancient Egypt. There is always a crowd of people here. And this is not surprising - if you are already in British Museum How can you miss the opportunity to see with your own eyes the mummies of the pharaohs and their sarcophagi? It is also interesting to see wall paintings from 1350 BC depicting the life of wealthy Egyptians of that time, a collection of amulets and jewelry, mummies of cats and other animals.
It’s always crowded here, it’s good that the sculptures are quite large in size and sleepily watch the crowds of tourists from time immemorial. I won’t talk much, I’ll focus on some of the exhibits... significant
The museum's ancient Egyptian collection is one of the largest in the world (over 66 thousand exhibits). Chronologically covers the period IV-III millennium BC. until the 7th century The richest section is the monumental sculpture of the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC): Granite head of Thutmes III, two Figures of Amenhotep III from black granite, a huge head from his statue (c. 1400 BC), Sculpture of Pharaoh Ramesses II (c. 1250 BC), stone sarcophagi, statues of gods.
About a hundred wooden sarcophagi, well-preserved mummies, including mummies of sacred animals, Coptic textiles and “Fayum portraits” (I-IV centuries) are also exhibited here. The collection contains 31 portraits: Sarcophagus with a portrait of Artemidorus from Fayum (beginning of the 2nd century), “Portrait of a young woman from Er-Rubaiyat” (2nd century), “Portrait of a man from Hawara” (beginning of the 2nd century).
At the entrance to one of the halls, the Rosetta Stone (c. 196 BC) is displayed, with the carved text of a decree in honor of King Ptolemy V. The black basalt slab was found in 1799 by French soldiers near the city of Rosetta. Thanks to an inscription repeating the text twice using different Egyptian writing systems and a translation into Greek, Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832) deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822.
The Egyptian collection of the museum contains papyri (about 800 documents), introducing the world to literary works, theological works, religious hymns and myths, scientific treatises, records of historical events, as well as business and personal correspondence, and legal documents. The museum stores the so-called “Books of the Dead” - a set of magical spells that included more than 180 chapters. The best examples were decorated with drawings, headpieces, miniatures: “Book of the Dead” by the priestess Anhai (c. 1100 BC), “Book of the Dead” by Hunefer (c. 1300 BC).
This department presents handicrafts, ceramics, glass and earthenware vases, jewelry, scarabs, paintings taken from the walls of Theban tombs and made using tempera technique (XV century BC): “Farmers with Geese”, “Hunting” on water birds", "Singers and Dancers", etc. - all date back to 1425-1379 BC.
Kings, queens, their children of different kingdoms and also bas-reliefs and wall paintings of tombs
Ahmenotep and the vizier from Memphis
And these birds are a prototype of the Deity Chorus
Abydos list of kings
Rosetta Stone Ancient Egypt. 196 BC e. Basalt (?). 11 2.3x75.7x28.4
On the famous Rosetta stone there are inscriptions in three languages, the content of the text is the decree of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, which exempted the Egyptian priests from paying one of the taxes and established the cult of the king in the Memphis temple. Repeating the decree in the language of the kings of Hellenistic Egypt (Greek), the vernacular (demotic) and hieroglyphic (the language of the priests) was necessary, because the decree applied to everyone. Upper part The slab has not been preserved, and several hieroglyphic lines have also disappeared.
The inscriptions, inscribed on a slab supposedly made of dark basalt, were discovered in 1799 by engineer Pierre-François Bouchard, who was digging trenches near the city of Rosetta during Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign. After the defeat of the French expeditionary force on the Nile and the surrender of Alexandria, the Rosetta Stone, according to Article XVI of the Treaty of Alexandria, went to England and ended up in the British Museum instead of the Louvre.
Egyptology begins with the deciphering of these inscriptions. Comparison of the same text written in different languages allowed specialists to understand previously unreadable ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The key to the writings was found only 20 years after the discovery of the Rosetta stone by two scientists at once - the Englishman Thomas Young (1819) and, independently of him, the Frenchman Jean-François Champollion (1822), who was able to establish the pronunciation of each hieroglyph in the cartouche (an oblong outline with horizontal line at the bottom, indicating that the text written in it is the royal name) “Ptolemy” and read it in all three languages. Then, based on knowledge of Coptic and Greek languages, he deciphered the remaining unknown characters of the inscription.
Sarcophagus
Man with a hoe Ancient Egypt. VI Dynasty, around 2250 BC e. Wood, mineral paints. Height 33
Wooden figurines of farmers, bakers, potters, and weavers were found in many tombs of the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms. The ancient Egyptians believed that a person's life after death would be similar to earthly life - he would have to drink, eat and dress. Therefore, the pharaoh going to the “land of the blessed” needed numerous servants. In other countries (for example, in Mesopotamia), slaves of the deceased ruler were killed for similar purposes. In Ancient Egypt they acted much more mercifully: instead of real people, their images were left in the “eternal home” of the king. The Egyptians believed that after death a person, as during life, would most need bread, and accordingly, the most important work would be the work of farmers and bakers.
Figurines depicting these types of work have been discovered in the tombs of many pharaohs. The miniature sculpture represents a man holding a hoe. Breaking up the clods that remained after plowing the land is a very difficult task, but it was necessary, because it ensured a rich harvest. The sculptor accurately and realistically showed the farmer’s tools and posture, while he himself was depicted according to the conventional rules of the canon: short stature and weak physique are evidence of low social status, and red-brown skin color is a sign of being male.
Sculptural group showing the work of bakers in Ancient Egypt. XII Dynasty, around 1900 BC. e. Wood, mineral paints. Height 23, length 42.5
Egyptian art, performing magical tasks, was designed to preserve only what was important for eternity. A person busy with work is of little interest to the artist, because it is not he who is important, but his work, on which the well-being of the pharaoh’s afterlife depends. Therefore, authenticity is manifested only in the depiction of the attributes of the craft and gestures of the “king’s servants.” The style of such figurines changed little until the era of the New Kingdom: each of them, being a symbol of a certain profession, was endowed with typical and memorable features. Sometimes the figures were united into groups representing lively and spontaneous genre scenes.
The work of bakers, whose work providing bread on the king’s table was considered sacred, is very plausibly depicted in a miniature sculptural composition. Two court kitchen workers are each busy with their own work. One kneads the dough so diligently that wrinkles form on his forehead from tension, the other, squatting and shielding his face from the fire with his hand, takes the finished loaves out of the oven. The master also showed the result of the bakers’ work - a whole mountain of ready-made bread, intended to provide the owner of the tomb with a well-fed life for a long time.
Head of the cult statue of the goddess Hathor Ancient Egypt, Deir el-Bahri. XVIII Dynasty, around 1450 BC. e. Alabaster. Height 34.8, width 16.5
Hathor, whose name translates as “House of Horus,” was revered by the Egyptians as a mother goddess who carried the supreme deity in her womb. Her image was associated with mythological ideas about the creation of the world, and her patronage extended to all spheres of earthly and afterlife. Hathor's favor was a guarantee of continuously renewed life force. Among the general population, she was considered an assistant in everyday affairs. In the sculpture and painting of Ancient Egypt, the goddess could appear as a beautiful young woman, crowned with cow horns with a solar disk between them. Even during the Old Kingdom (2613-2160 BC), Hathor was depicted as a cow feeding the king. The divine animal was always endowed with solar symbolism: a golden disk shone between the gilded horns, and the eyes were sky blue.
This ancient aspect of the Hathor cult was restored and strengthened during the reign of Hatshepsut. The only female pharaoh in Egyptian history who did not officially have the right to the throne, declaring her divine origin, sought to enlist the intercession of Hathor in the role of “nurser of kings.”
The beautiful head of the cult statue of the goddess in the form of a cow comes from a sanctuary built next to the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. The sculpture is made of white translucent alabaster, symbolizing the purity and holiness of the mother goddess, as well as the milk of the heavenly cow, which gives energy to the gods and pharaohs. The eyes of the statue, inlaid with lapis lazuli and rock crystal, as well as the gilded horns with a gold disk mounted on them, have not survived. However, even without these precious attributes, the image produces vivid impression. The natural-like image is full of soft kindness, calmness and solemn grandeur. While maintaining the realistic features, the sculptor ennobles the animal, turning it into a higher being.
Hall 61. Life and death in Egypt.
Tomb painting frescoes from Nebamun
Hunting for water birds Painting of a tomb in Thebes Ancient Egypt. XVIII Dynasty, around 1350 BC. e. Limestone, mineral paints. 98x115
The painting of the tomb of Nebamun, “the scribe who counts the grain,” included several remarkable scenes that captured for eternity the most joyful moments of his earthly life.
One of the best compositions depicts a hunt for waterbirds in the Nile thickets: the young nobleman Nebamun, standing on a boat surrounded by flowers and holding bait - three blue herons - is preparing to throw a boomerang at a flock of pheasants flying out of the bushes. The scribe is accompanied by his wife and daughter. Beautiful and elegant clothed woman, depicted slightly behind her husband, holds a large bouquet of white lotuses in her hands, and a small naked girl, sitting in a boat and holding onto her father’s leg, pulls a huge flower from the water. To emphasize high position Nebamuna, the artist significantly increased the size of his figure.
Images of people are strictly subject to the canon: faces and legs are shown from the side, eyes and shoulders are shown from the front, and bodies have a conventional symbolic color. But the picture of the hunt itself, abundant bright colors and many entertaining details drawn from life observations, full of joy and movement. Butterflies flutter in the air; among the disturbed birds you can distinguish geese, ducks, wagtails and a heron sitting on a nest. The greedy wild cat contrived to jump and grab three birds at once. The artist even shows what a person cannot see, for example, huge crucian carp swimming under water.
Inhabited by all kinds of living creatures, the Nile thickets turn into a fruitful, flower-filled paradise, where life trembles everywhere and beauty reigns. The sonorous blue, gold and white colors of the painting also remind us of the heavenly river in the “land of the blessed,” where people can forever enjoy contemplating beauty. The genre scene turns out to be full of deep symbolism. Nebamun's successful hunt is a sign of his victory over the natural elements and death, a guarantee of rebirth in eternity. The ginger cat, skillfully dealing with prey, is the embodiment of the solar deity, driving away darkness.
Festival in honor of Nebamun. Singers and dancers Painting a tomb in Thebes Ancient Egypt. XVIII Dynasty, around 1350 BC. e. Limestone, mineral paints. 69x30
In the paintings decorating the tombs of ancient Egyptian nobles of the New Kingdom, images of feasts, dates and relaxation in the garden are often found. These bright scenes of idle pastime, filled with sensual beauty, were to be preserved forever, continuing to delight the deceased.
In the tomb of Nebamun, the artist captured a magnificent celebration. Dressed guests sit in pairs, give instructions to the servants and enjoy life. For them, beautiful vocalists sing, beating time with their palms, a flutist plays, and young naked dancers dance. Golden flowing dresses, curls of luxurious wigs, precious necklaces and massive earrings, bracelets on graceful hands and cones of aromatic substances crowning hairstyles, melting under the rays of the sun - the master captures all the details of the appearance, not a single detail that creates beauty escapes his attentive gaze.
To emphasize the thinness of the linen fabric that hugs the flexible bodies, the artist makes the outfits translucent. Singing lines outline the dancing figures, contours and chiseled faces. When depicting girls, the author sometimes uses angles that are unusual for Egyptian art and go beyond the canon. The colorful palette enhances the bright mood of the scene, which is dominated by white, yellow and blue colors. The hieroglyphic inscription conveys the words of the song being sung: “Sweet flowers are fragrant, gifts of Ptah, grown by Geb, his beauty is scattered everywhere, Ptah created it to please his heart. The ponds are full of water again, the earth is overflowing with love for him.”
Halls 62-63
Judgment of Osiris Drawing from the Book of the Dead Hunifer Ancient Egypt. 19th Dynasty, around 1300 BC e. Papyrus. Height 38.5
The conventional name Book of the Dead was given to an extensive collection of magical texts known from the era of the New Kingdom. They, serving as a kind of guide to the afterlife, were supposed to help a person cope with demonic creatures and, after a favorable outcome of the judgment of Osiris, reach the “land of the blessed.”
The scroll of Hunifer was found in his tomb, inside a hollow figurine made in the shape of a mummy with the attributes of the gods Osiris and Ptah. The most interesting illustrations of this papyrus include the court scene in the kingdom of the dead. It shows how the deceased, accompanied by the god Anubis, enters the courtroom and pronounces a “negative confession” in front of the gods, claiming that “he did not commit evil, did not stain himself with lies, theft, robbery or murder, did not encroach on temple treasures and diverted water from the fields, did not rebel against Pharaoh, did not offend the gods.”
The veracity of the words had to be checked, and the artist depicts scales, on one bowl of which lies the heart of Hunifer, on the other - a feather personifying the goddess of truth Maat. Anubis monitors the readings of the scales: if the bowl is balanced, it means that the deceased told the truth and passed the test before the judges (their figures are presented in uppercase). Standing to the right of the scales, the ibis-headed god, Thoth, records the decisions of the court. A monster with the head of a crocodile, Ammamat, looks at him with his mouth open, ready to devour the one who lied. But Hunifer turned out to be honest, and Horus leads him to the throne of his father Osiris, who is seated on the throne. The goddesses Isis and Nephthys bless the person arriving in the “land of the blessed,” and the lotus growing from the water symbolizes his purity.
The drawings, consistently depicting all stages of the afterlife judgment, are made with calligraphic precision and colored in rich local colors; their rhythmically organized compositions are distinguished by rigor and laconicism.
Ushabti Seti I Upper part of a figurine from the tomb of Seti I Ancient Egypt, Valley of the Kings. 19th Dynasty, around 1290 BC e. Faience. Height 22.8
According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, ushabti, small figurines depicting a deceased person were to play an important role in ensuring his well-being in the afterlife. They should have done the hardest and dirtiest work in the “Reed Fields” instead of the deceased. It was believed that every resident of Egypt should work after death on the ground.
Even the pharaoh himself could not neglect this sacred duty. To save the ruler from a difficult fate, several ushabtis were placed in his tomb. The magical rites of the funeral ceremony were supposed to revive the figurines and endow them with vitality. Since in the kingdom of the dead the ushabti became human doubles, they were made to resemble him. The figurines could depict the deceased in the form of a mummy or in ordinary clothes. To enhance the effectiveness of the rituals, a chapter from the Book of the Dead should be inscribed on each figurine, which stated its purpose. The earliest Ushabti date back to the 21st century BC. e.
At the beginning of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) their number increased significantly. Several hundred ushabtis were discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb alone. Then, for some unknown reason, the figurines of substitute workers disappeared from the royal burials, and only in the tomb of Seti I did they reappear.
Most of the ushebti of this 19th Dynasty pharaoh from his tomb, discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817, were soon split into pieces. Visitors to the tomb set fire to the wooden figurines, using them as lamps. Numerous figurines, often made of inexpensive materials, were apparently not highly valued. Only a few royal ushebti managed to escape barbaric destruction, including this wonderful specimen. This is an elegant faience figurine, covered with shiny blue enamel and expertly painted with black paint. Ushabti is given a canonical appearance (as the pharaoh was depicted on sarcophagi): the portrait mask is framed by a royal headdress with a uraeus cobra, his arms are crossed on his chest. However, instead of attributes of power, they contain hoes; the need to work in the “Reed Fields” is also reminded by the inscription on the lower part of the figurine, swaddled like a mummy.
Bust of Ramesses II Ancient Egypt. 19th Dynasty, around 1280 BC e. Granite. Height 158
Ramesses II (1304-1237), the great great-grandson of the founder of the 19th dynasty, Ramesses I, who returned ancient possessions to Egypt and concluded a peace treaty beneficial for the country after a long war with the Hittites, restored and strengthened the glory and power of the state, which he successfully ruled for 67 years. He not only fought, but also built a lot: in Thebes, the rocks of Abu Simbel, Karnak, majestic temples were erected, where everywhere - on steles, columns of hypostyle halls and statues of the king - numerous inscriptions proclaimed the power of Ramesses: “He is like fire, advancing , and there is no water to extinguish it. He makes the rebels swallow the cries of indignation that burst from their mouths when he takes them prisoner." The glorification was echoed by immortalization in stone - thousands of sculptures of the pharaoh were erected throughout the country. Among them is a granite bust of Ramesses II from Elephantine Island, donated to the British Museum in 1838 by Lord Hamilton.
The great ruler of Egypt is represented as a "good god" "who suppressed the south and conquered the north, fighting with his sword." The facial features of the famous pharaoh, well known from his numerous images, are softened here and endowed with eternal youth. On the young face there is a long beard with a curl at the bottom - conventional sign unearthly origin and an attribute of the gods. No inhabitant of Ancient Egypt, except the king himself, dared to wear this form of beard.
On the head of the pharaoh, the unifier of the country, there are two crowns at once: Lower and Upper Egypt. In his arms crossed on his chest, he holds a staff and a whip - symbols of power and control over a huge power. The sacred uraeus cobra on Ramses's forehead prepared for a deadly attack on any enemy who dared to encroach on his divine rights. The name of the great king carved on the shoulder of the granite bust strengthens his power and glory on earth and in eternity.
Cat figurine Ancient Egypt. I-III centuries BC e. Bronze. Height 33
Cats, deeply revered in ancient Egypt, were considered the sacred animals of the goddess of love Bastet. Animals were kept in temples; in private ownership, a cat was of great value to its owners. When a beloved pet died, the temple servants and residents of the house, as a sign of mourning, had to shave their eyebrows, cry inconsolably, and mummify the animal’s body and bury it in a special cemetery.
This cat sculpture may have participated in a similar funeral rite. The image is made in life size, it is extremely laconic in its complete simplicity.
The figurine is a masterpiece of animal sculpture from Ancient Egypt. The talented master conveyed in bronze the restrained strength and grace of a lean, flexible cat, the alertness of her posture and the elasticity of an elegant, chiseled body. The sculptor correctly captured the main features of the animal depicted: this is a real wild cat that sits, grouped and concentrated before jumping, proud and confident in its agility.
But at the same time, the viewer faces a regal beast, its pose is majestic, and its attentive, timeless gaze is calm. The animal is wearing a silver mantle with images of sacred symbols eternal life, in the ears and nose - gold earrings. Precious jewelry stands out clearly against the background of the polished bronze surface of the figurine. This sculptural image, despite its miniature size, looks monumental thanks to the laconicism of details, the generality of plastic forms and the precise design of the silhouette.
Amenkhonatep III
Portrait of a young woman Egypt, Fayum oasis, Hawara. Beginning of the 2nd century AD e. Wood, encaustic. Height 38.2
Picturesque portraits of the 1st-4th centuries AD. e., discovered at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century during excavations of the Roman necropolises of the Fayum oasis and therefore called Fayum, present a gallery of a variety of faces: men, women, children and old people. These are the only surviving examples of ancient easel painting were associated with the funeral cult. In Egypt they replaced traditional mummy masks. Under the influence of the traditions of Greek realistic painting and Roman sculptural portraiture, Fayum artists improved their skills and learned to reproduce the appearance of deceased people with extraordinary truthfulness, preserving not only their facial features, but also their character traits.
The portrait of a young dark-haired woman in a lilac chiton is surprisingly vividly and directly executed. The gaze of her huge shining eyes is directed at the viewer, her poetic appearance breathes life: shadows flutter on her delicate skin, gold jewelry and the sonorous color of her clothes emphasize the beauty of her face. In this charming image there is no trace of the detachment characteristic of ancient Egyptian funeral portraits. The encaustic technique, which was primarily used by artists from the Fayum, greatly contributed to the creation of expressive and realistic images. Masters boiled beeswax in sea water, added resin to it and mixed it with powdered mineral paints, then applied them with a metal rod and brush to primed cypress boards. This method made it possible, using the play of chiaroscuro, to give the face an almost sculptural volume. The colors of wax painting, while remaining transparent, retained their brightness and color saturation.
Sarcophagus with a portrait of Artemidor Egypt, Fayum oasis, Hawara. Beginning of the 2nd century AD e. Wood, encaustic. 43x23, sarcophagus length 127
The best examples of Fayum's painting include a portrait on a sarcophagus from Hawara, glued together from several layers of canvas and sheets of papyrus, covered with pink gypsum plaster on top. Its cover shows scenes associated with the ancient Egyptian funerary cult. The relief figures of the gods, as well as the raised letters of the inscription containing the name of the deceased - Artemidorus, are covered with gold. The golden wreath depicted on top of the young man’s hair is a symbol of his happy future in the afterlife. The portrait was made by a gifted artist. The appearance of the young man - a refined face with expressive features and the attentive gaze of large dark eyes - creates the impression of a man with a strong character and a rich inner world. In the open gaze of Artemidor one can read the consciousness of his dignity, strong will and passion of nature.
Portraits from the Fayum were often painted during a person’s lifetime and, as some researchers believe, could decorate his home for a long time, which is why they depict the deceased as very young. The image of Artemidorus is unique in this regard - it made it possible to verify this version, since the mummy itself has been preserved. After spectral analysis, it was found that the age in the portrait exactly corresponds to the time of death of the young man, who was about 20 years old at the time of death. Such a number of young faces in Fayum portraits apparently reflected the real demographic situation: many in those distant times left this world very early.
Art of Ancient Egypt. Portrait sculpture of the Old Kingdom.
As already mentioned, the funeral cult largely determined the appearance of portrait sculpture. But he also limited its development to certain limits. The monotony of the calm, motionless (sitting or standing) poses of the statues, endowed with the same attributes, the conventional coloring of their bodies (male - red-brown paint, female - yellow, hair - black, clothes - white) - all this was dictated by the requirements of the cult that intended these statues are for the “eternal” life of the soul of the deceased.
The eyes of statues were often inlaid with other materials, which achieved greater expressiveness and vitality.
The statues are not designed to be viewed from different sides; they seem to lean back against the plane of the stone block that serves as a background for them. Viewers only see them from the front; they are completely frontal. The statues are also characterized by absolute symmetry, the strictest balance between the right and left halves of the body. This rule is strictly observed not only when depicting a standing figure, but also when conveying all other poses characteristic of Egyptian sculpture of all times.
The Egyptian artist usually began his work by applying, on a rectangular block of stone from which a statue was to be carved, a drawing of the image he wanted to obtain, using a pre-graphed grid. Then, by carving, he removed the excess stone, processed the details, ground and polished the statue. But even in the finished work of art one could always feel the rectangular edges of the block from which it was “liberated” by the artist. This explains the “geometricism” of Egyptian sculpture, which is its most characteristic feature.
Along with statues of kings and nobles, a type of scribe sitting at work, usually with a papyrus scroll on his lap, developed. The variety of compositions was small. The pose of Pharaoh Khafre sitting on the throne is characteristic of all seated figures of the Old Kingdom and of most statues of subsequent times. In a standing figure of a man, the left leg is always pushed forward, the arms are either lowered along the body, or one of them rests on a staff. The female figure usually stands with legs closed, the right arm is lowered along the body, the left one lies in front of the waist. The neck is almost absent, the head sometimes rests almost directly on the shoulders, the spaces between the arms and the body, between the legs are almost always not drilled, and these parts of the remaining stone are conventionally painted in the so-called colors of emptiness, black or white. It was impossible, due to the special tasks of the funeral cult, to convey instant moods and random poses.
The figures of pharaohs and nobles emphasized physical strength. While retaining some undoubtedly portrait features, the authors discarded minor details, gave the faces an impassive expression, and generalized the powerful, majestic and monumental forms of the body.
But the most talented sculptors, even within the restrictive framework of the canon, managed to create a number of wonderful, vibrant portrait works. Examples of such individualized statues are sculptures from the IV Dynasty - statues of noble people Rahotep and Nofret (Cairo Museum) and a bust of the king's son Ankhhaf (Boston, Museum fine arts), the architect Hemiun (Cairo Museum), as well as the head of a male statue from the Salt collection (Paris, Louvre) and a statue of the V dynasty - the nobleman Ranofer (Cairo Museum), the scribe Kaya (Paris, Louvre) and Prince Kaaper (Cairo Museum).
These portraits do not simply repeat the appearance of this or that person. These are images created by selecting the most characteristic features of the person being portrayed.
Sculptors of the V-VI dynasties are beginning to increasingly resort to expensive wood, which allows them to solve problems that seemed insoluble in round plastic, despite all the brilliance of the achievements of stone sculpture of the III and IV dynasties. The movements of the statues become freer, although the basic canon remains in force when conveying the human figure.
Before us is either the face of a Louvre scribe, or the smiling, good-natured face of a plump, elderly dignitary of the 5th dynasty, Kaaper, whom the fellahins who found him nicknamed the “village headman” for his striking resemblance to the headman they knew. No wonder Egyptian sculptor was called “sankh”, which means “creator of life”. By creating a form, the artist thereby magically brought it to life.
Dozens of figurines depicting servants and slaves were also placed in the tombs, which differed from the portraits of pharaohs and nobles by conveying only the typical ethnic features of the Egyptians, without any hint of portraiture. Their purpose is to serve their masters in the afterlife. Made from brightly painted wood and stone, they realistically convey the appearance of peasants, cooks, porters, etc.
Art of the Old Kingdom (3200 - 2400 BC)
Egypt of the Ancient Kingdom was a primitive slave-owning society, in which, along with the exploitation of slaves, there was also the exploitation of the labor of the free agricultural population, united in communities. With the development of productive forces, the use of slave labor also increased. The head of the state was the pharaoh, who ruled the country despotically and relied on the top of the slave-owning nobility. The unification of Egypt, dictated by the needs of the development of irrigation agriculture, was nevertheless quite unstable due to contradictions in the interests of the local nobility, which led to struggle between the nomes (regions) and between the nobility and the pharaohs. Therefore, throughout the history of the Old Kingdom (as, indeed, throughout the history of Egypt), the degree of centralization of the state was unequal.
The period of the Old Kingdom was the time of the formation of all the main forms of Egyptian culture.
Already from early times, architecture occupied a leading position in Egyptian art, and since ancient times the main structures were the monumental tombs of kings and nobles. This is explained by the special significance that funeral cults had in Egypt, closely associated with the widely developed (as in any ancient agricultural country) cults of dying and resurrecting deities of nature. Naturally, the king and the slave-owning nobility, who played the main role in these cults, paid special attention to ensuring their posthumous “eternal life”, and therefore to the construction of durable tombs; Already very early on, the most durable material available to ancient architects, stone, began to be used for their construction. And while brick and wood continued to be used for dwellings intended for the living, tombs - “houses of eternity” - were the first stone buildings. Secular buildings have hardly survived; O appearance We can judge the palaces only by the images of their facades on steles and sarcophagi, while the idea of the houses is given by the clay “houses for the soul” placed in the tombs.
According to the ideas of those who lived in the Nile Valley primitive man, the afterlife was a similarity to the earthly one, and a dead person needed housing and food just as much as a living one; the tomb was thought of as the house of the deceased, which determined its original form. From this arose the desire to preserve the body of the deceased, or at least the head. The climate of Egypt, with its exceptional dryness, was particularly conducive to the development of such aspirations. Here they were no longer limited to preserving skulls or embalming the heads of deceased ancestors, but gradually, as a result of lengthy searches, they developed complex mummification techniques. Since at first embalming methods were still imperfect, statues of the deceased were placed in tombs as a replacement for the body in case of damage. It was believed that the soul, in the absence of a body, could enter the statue and revive it, thanks to which the posthumous life of a person would continue. Consequently, the tomb - the house of the deceased should have served as a room where the mummy would be completely preserved, where the statue of the deceased would be placed and where his relatives could bring everything necessary for his nutrition. These requirements determined the structure of the tombs of the Old Kingdom.
Tombs of the nobility, the so-called “mastaba” ( "Mastaba" means "bench" in Arabic. This is what modern Egyptians call the tombs of the nobility of the Ancient Kingdom. This name has also been retained in science.), consisted of an underground part where the coffin with the mummy was placed, and a massive above-ground building. Similar buildings from the First Dynasty looked like a house with two false doors and a courtyard where sacrifices were made. This “house” was a brick-lined hill made of sand and broken stones. A brick chapel with an altar was then added to such a building. Limestone was already used for the tombs of the highest nobility during the First Dynasty. Gradually the mastaba became more complex; prayer rooms and rooms for the statue were already arranged inside the above-ground part, entirely made of stone. As the homes of the nobility developed, the number of rooms in the mastaba also increased, where, by the end of the Old Kingdom, corridors, halls and storerooms appeared.
For the history of Egyptian architecture great value had the construction of royal tombs, the construction of which was devoted to huge amounts of money, technical inventions, and new ideas of architects. The construction of royal tombs was also given great importance because they were the site of the cult of the deceased pharaoh. This cult played a prominent role in Egyptian religion, replacing the cult of the tribal leader of the pre-class period. At the same time, the remnants of the idea that the leader of the tribe is the magical focus of the well-being of the tribe, and the spirit of the deceased leader, subject to proper rituals, will continue to guard its flame, was transferred to the cult of the pharaoh. It is characteristic, for example, that the pyramid of Senusret I was called “Senusret looking at Egypt,” and eyes were depicted on the tops of some pyramids.
The growing grandeur of the royal tombs clearly reflected the desire to establish a despotic monarchy and at the same time revealed the unlimited possibility of this monarchy exploiting the labor of the masses.
The construction of such structures required enormous efforts, since the stone had to be brought from afar and dragged using embankments to great heights. Only through extreme exertion of the forces of slaves and free communal farmers could such gigantic structures be built.
Architects' thoughts and improvement techniques they followed the lines of increasing the building's above-ground mass, but the horizontal increase of the latter in the end could no longer produce the required impression of overwhelming monumentality. The most important stage in the development of royal tombs was therefore the idea of increasing the building vertically. Apparently, this idea first arose during the construction of the famous tomb of the third dynasty pharaoh Djoser (about 3000 BC), the so-called “step pyramid”. The name of its builder, the architect Imhotep, was preserved until the end of Egyptian history, as the name of one of the most famous sages, the first builder of stone buildings, a learned astronomer and physician. Subsequently, Imhotep was even deified as the son of the god Ptah, and the Greeks compared him with their god of healing, Asclepius.
The pyramid of Djoser was the center of a complex ensemble of prayer houses and courtyards. The ensemble, which was not yet distinguished by the harmony of its overall layout, was located on an artificial terrace and occupied an area of 544.9 X 277.6 m. The terrace was surrounded by a stone-lined wall 14.8 m thick and 9.6 m high. The pyramid itself reached a height of over 60 liters and consisted of seven mastabas, placed one on top of the other. The tomb of Djoser is notable not only for the shape of the pyramid, but also for the fact that stone was widely used as the main building material in its prayer houses. True, the stone did not have a constructive meaning everywhere here. We will not see free-standing columns yet; they are connected to walls, from which the architect does not dare to separate them. The stone repeats the forms characteristic of wooden and brick buildings: the ceilings are cut out in the form of log ceilings, columns and pilasters are maintained in proportions developed for wooden buildings. The tomb of Djoser is also very important in its decoration, rich and varied. The shapes of the columns and pilasters are interesting: clear, majestic in their simplicity, fluted trunks with flat abacus slabs instead of capitals, or pilasters made in stone for the first time in the shape of open papyrus and lotus flowers. The walls of the halls were lined with alabaster slabs, and in a number of underground chambers - with shiny green faience tiles reproducing reed weaving. Thus, the tomb of Djoser as a whole was an extremely important monument for its time, a monument that combined a concept of enormous novelty and importance with technical and artistic capabilities that were not yet mature enough to adequately formalize this concept.
The forms inherent in stone construction had not yet been found, the layout of the entire ensemble had not yet been properly organized, but the main thing had already been realized and implemented - the building began to grow upward, and stone was identified as the main material of Egyptian architecture.
Djoser's pyramid paved the way for the creation of a perfect and complete type of pyramid. The first such pyramid was the tomb of the IV dynasty king Snefru (about 2900 BC) in Dashur, which was over 100 m in height and was the predecessor of the famous pyramids at Giza of the 29th - 28th centuries. BC, ranked in ancient times among the seven wonders of the world. The pharaohs built them for themselves. IV dynasty Khufu (whom the Greeks called Cheops), Khafre (Khephren) and Menkaure (Mykerinus).
The most grandiose of the three, the Pyramid of Khufu, probably built by the architect Hemiun, is the largest stone structure in the world. Its height is 146.6 m, and the length of the side of its base is 233 m. The Pyramid of Khufu was built from precisely hewn and tightly fitted limestone blocks weighing mostly about 2.5 tons each; It is estimated that over 2,300,000 such blocks were used to build the pyramid. Individual blocks weighed 30 tons. On the north side there was an entrance that was connected by long corridors to the burial chamber located in the center of the pyramid, where the king’s sarcophagus stood. The chamber and part of the corridor were lined with granite, the remaining corridors with better quality limestone. The outside of the pyramid was also lined with slabs of good limestone. Its mass clearly stood out against the blue sky, being a truly monumental embodiment of the idea of indestructible eternal peace and at the same time an eloquent expression of the enormous social distance that separated the pharaoh from the people of his country.
Each of the pyramids at Giza, like the pyramid of Djoser, was surrounded by an architectural ensemble; but the arrangement of the buildings at Gize shows the greatly increased ability of the architects to give a clear plan of the whole complex and to balance its parts. The pyramid now stands alone in the center of the courtyard, the wall of which emphasizes the special position of the pyramid and separates it from the surrounding buildings. The small pyramids of queens sometimes located within the same courtyard do not disturb this impression; the difference in their scale compared to the king’s pyramid only enhances the impression of the latter’s exorbitant size. Adjacent to the eastern side of the pyramid was the royal mortuary temple, which was connected by a covered stone passage to a monumental gate in the valley. These gates were built where the waters of the Nile floods reached, and since to the east of them the fields irrigated by the Nile were green, and to the west the lifeless sands of the desert lay, the gate stood as if on the brink of life and death. Around the pyramid, in a clearly planned order, were located the mastabas of the pharaoh’s courtiers, who were also his relatives. The most clear idea of the mortuary temples at the pyramids at Giza is given by the remains of the temple at the pyramid of Khafre, which was a rectangular building with a flat roof, built of massive limestone blocks. In its center there was a hall with tetrahedral monolithic granite pillars, on the sides of which there were two narrow rooms for funeral royal statues. Behind the hall was an open courtyard surrounded by pilasters and statues of the king in the form of the god Osiris. Further on there were chapels. The entrance to the entire pyramid complex was the facade of the gate in the valley, which reached 12 m in height and had two doors guarded by sphinxes placed on their sides ( The Sphinx is a fantastic creature, a lion with a human head, the personification of the power of the pharaoh.). Inside, this gate also had a hall with quadrangular granite pillars, along the walls of which statues of the pharaoh made of various types of stone were placed.
A distinctive feature of the architecture of the Giese pyramids is the knowledge of the constructive role of stone and its decorative capabilities. In the temples at the pyramids of Gizeh, free-standing pillars are found for the first time in Egypt. The entire decoration of the buildings is based on a combination of polished planes of various stones. The shining edges of the columns of the mortuary temple were in perfect harmony with the slabs of pink granite that lined its walls and with the alabaster floors, just as the similar decoration of the gate hall in the valley formed a wonderfully colorful whole with statues of green diorite, creamy white alabaster and yellow slate.
The design of the tombs of the pharaohs of the V and VI dynasties (about 2700 - 2400 BC) is of a different nature. Although these tombs preserve all the basic elements of the tombs of the kings of the Fourth Dynasty, their pyramids differ sharply from the grandiose monuments of their predecessors. They are much smaller in size, not exceeding 70 m in height, and are made of small blocks, and partly even of rubble. The construction of the colossal pyramids of the IV dynasty placed too heavy a burden on the country's economy, separating the mass of the population from agricultural work, and caused discontent among the new nobility. It is possible that the result of this discontent was what happened around 2700 BC. change of dynasty. The new pharaohs were forced to reckon with the new nobility and could not strain all the forces of the country to build their tombs. The more attention they paid to the design of temples, which was now supposed to express the main idea of the pharaoh's tomb - the glorification of royal power. The walls of these mortuary temples and the halls at the gates began to be covered with colored reliefs glorifying the pharaoh as the son of god and the mighty conqueror of all the enemies of Egypt. Goddesses breastfeed him, in the form of a sphinx he tramples his enemies, and his fleet arrives from a victorious campaign. The size of temples near the pyramids increases, and their architectural decoration becomes more complex. It is here that palm-shaped columns and columns in the shape of bundles of unblown papyri, which later became so characteristic of Egyptian architecture, first appear.
The special attention that the architects of the end of the Old Kingdom paid to the design of temples had a fruitful effect on the general development of architecture of that time. In particular, the third, main type of Egyptian column arose - in the form of a bunch of lotus buds. A new type of building appears - the so-called solar temples. The most important element of such a temple was a colossal stone obelisk, the top of which was covered with copper and shone brightly in the sun; he stood on a dais, in front of which was a huge altar. Like the pyramid, the solar temple was connected by a covered passage to a gate in the valley.
Above we talked about the statues that formed an integral part of the tombs of kings and nobles, as well as about the religious ideas that caused the appearance of sculpture in the tombs. These same ideas determined the requirements for sculpture. The funeral statues that have come down to us in significant numbers have monotonous, motionless poses and conventional coloring. Placed in the niches of mastaba chapels or in special small enclosed spaces behind the chapels, these statues depict the dead in strictly frontal poses, either standing or sitting on cube-shaped thrones or on the ground with their legs crossed. All the statues have the same straight heads, almost identical arms and legs, and the same attributes. The bodies of the male figures, when made of light limestone or wood, are painted reddish-brown, those of the female figures yellow, all have black hair and white clothes. The statues seem to be inextricably linked with the wall of the chapel, and behind many of them a part of the block from which they were carved remains as a background. And, despite the fact that their different-time origins, qualitative differences are clearly visible and their individual portrait character is clearly expressed, nevertheless, all these sculptures produce a general impression of solemn monumentality and strict calm.
The unity of the visual means of sculpture of the Old Kingdom was caused by both its purpose and the conditions of its development. The need to convey the likeness of the deceased person whose body the statue was supposed to replace was the reason for the early emergence of Egyptian sculptural portraiture. The solemn elation of the image was caused by the desire to emphasize the high social position of the deceased. On the other hand, the monotony of the statues’ poses, partly due to their dependence on the architecture of the tomb, was the result of a long period of reproduction of the same models, which went back to the most ancient stone images and became canonically obligatory. The inhibitory role of the canon prevented artists from overcoming the established approach to conveying the image of a person, forcing them to invariably maintain constrained poses, impassive calm of faces, and emphatically strong and strong muscles of powerful bodies. This can be clearly seen, for example, on the statue of the nobleman Ranofer he is depicted walking with his arms down along his body and his head raised; everything in this sculpture is kept within the framework of the canon - the pose, the attire, the coloring, the overly developed muscles of the motionless (despite walking) body, the indifferent gaze directed into the distance.
However, life was stronger than the demands of religion, which could not completely retard the creative growth of Egyptian art. The best sculptors have managed, even within the framework of time-honored traditions, to create a number of truly remarkable works. Among them, especially noteworthy are the statue of the architect Hemiun, the bust of the royal son Ankhhaf, the statues of the scribe Kaya and the royal son Kaaper, the head of a male statue from the Salt collection in the Louvre, the head of a female statue from the Carnarvon collection.
Each of these sculptures embodies an unforgettably bright image, full of unique individual originality and genuine artistic power. The portrait of Hemiun depicts one of the most highly ranked people in his contemporary society - a royal relative, the leader of the construction of such a wonderful monument as the Pyramid of Cheops. The obviously portrait face is interpreted in a generalized and bold manner. Sharp lines outline a large nose with a characteristic hump, eyelids perfectly set in the orbits of the eyes, and the line of a small but energetic mouth. The outlines of the slightly protruding chin, despite the excessive fullness of the already obese body, still continue to retain a firm authority that expressively ends general characteristics this strong-willed, perhaps even cruel person. Hemiun's body is also shown very well - fullness of muscles, truthfully conveyed folds of skin on the chest, on the stomach, especially on the toes and hands.
The portrait of the royal scribe Kaya is no less distinctive. Before us is a confidently contoured face with characteristic thin, tightly compressed lips of a large mouth, prominent cheekbones, a slightly flat nose. This face is enlivened by eyes made of various materials: in a bronze shell, corresponding in shape to the orbit and at the same time forming the edges of the eyelids, pieces of alabaster are inserted for the white of the eye and rock crystal for the pupil, and a small piece of polished ebony is placed under the crystal, thanks to which a shiny point is obtained that gives special liveliness to the pupil, and at the same time to the entire eye. This technique of depicting eyes, generally characteristic of sculptures of the Old Kingdom, gives amazing vitality to the face of the statue. The eyes of the scribe Kaya seem to inextricably follow the viewer, no matter where he is in the hall ( It is interesting that the fellahins, who excavated Marietta under the leadership of the French oraeologist at the end of the 19th century. The tombs of the Ancient Kingdom in Megum, having entered the tomb of Rahoten, threw down their picks and shovels and rushed away in horror when they saw the eyes of the two statues standing in it sparkling from the sunlight that penetrated into the tomb.). Like the statue of Hemiun, the statue of the scribe Kaya amazes with the truthfulness of the elaboration of not only the face, but also the entire body of the collarbones, fat, flabby muscles of the chest and abdomen, so characteristic of a person leading a sedentary lifestyle. The modeling of hands with long fingers, knees, and back is also excellent.
No less remarkable than the statues of Hemiun and the scribe Kaya is the famous wooden statue of the king's son Kaaper. We see here again individual person with soft lines that imperceptibly flow into one another, with a round chin, a relatively small nose, a plump mouth and small, skillfully depicted eyes. Again, as in the previous two monuments, here the body is just as carefully worked out with a large belly, full shoulders and arms. The life-like truthfulness of this statue is such that it is no coincidence that the fellahs who worked at the excavations near Marietta, having discovered the statue of Kaaper in his tomb, shouted “But this is our village chief!”( This is where the nickname “village elder” comes from, by which this statue is known in science.). In this wonderful statue, with all the solemn importance of the pose, which speaks of the high social status of the person depicted, what is striking is the realism with which the image of an ugly, middle-aged, plump man is embodied here.
The bust of the king's son Ankhhaf is perhaps the most remarkable sculptural portrait of all the mentioned masterpieces of the Old Kingdom. This is a striking face, marked by extreme realism not only for the sculptures of the period under consideration, but, perhaps, for all Egyptian sculpture; it attracts attention with its amazing skill in conveying facial muscles, skin wrinkles, drooping eyelids, and unhealthy “bags” under the eyes. All the modeling of the face was made not using limestone, from which the bust was carved, but using plaster, dense layer covering the stone. The realism of the face also corresponds to the interpretation of the shoulders, chest, and back of the head, similar to the rendering of the body that we saw in the statue of Hemiun.
The same sharpness of individual characteristics is characteristic of the Louvre head from the Salt collection and others the best works period of the Old Kingdom. IN woman's head from the Carnarvon collection, the image of a young woman in the prime of life and beauty, typical of the art of the period under review, is perfectly conveyed.
The sculptures listed above are among the best examples of ancient Egyptian realistic portraiture. These are the monuments in which the quests of the artists of the Ancient Kingdom were most fully realized. In each of them, the sculptor was able to convey the appearance of a specific person, with all the originality of his inherent facial features, head shape and figure. At the same time, these statues are by no means a simple repetition of the external appearance of a particular person. Before us are images created by selecting the most characteristic features, with the help of a certain generalization, which are certainly far from the passive transmission of reality.
The path that led the sculptors of the Old Kingdom to the creation of such masterpieces was long and difficult. For the first time, the artist had to overcome technical difficulties, flawlessly master the material and at the same time create a significant artistic image. Monuments from previous centuries show us how these difficulties were gradually overcome. An important step on creative path The sculptors of the Old Kingdom were making masks from the faces of dead people. However, the sculptors could not limit themselves to simply repeating these masks in the faces of funeral statues, because the statue had to depict a living person. Hence the need to rework the cast, in which the sculptor made the necessary changes.
The successes achieved as a result of the application of this method were so obvious that it took hold and was further developed. In particular, it was used in the manufacture of heads or busts of the dead, which initially existed along with statues. Such portrait heads were found in a number of Gizeh mastabas of the IV dynasty; they were placed in the underground part of the tomb in front of the entrance to the chamber with the sarcophagus. These Gisech heads are important as evidence of the intense work of human thought and the continuous growth of artistic quests. Each of them has its own individuality, expressed in a thoughtful and clear form, imbued with a strict rhythmic feeling. This entire group of monuments is also valuable because it helps to trace the path to the creation of such outstanding works as the statue of the architect Hemiun. Only after comparing the statue of Hemiun with the heads of Gizeh it becomes clear that this statue is a natural stage of a long creative search, a monument that embodies, to the greatest extent possible for the art of the Old Kingdom, a realistically truthful image of an Egyptian nobleman, a large slave owner, a royal relative, confident in his significance , and at the same time outstanding architect at the court of the powerful pharaoh. The social certainty of the image, so clearly expressed in the statue of Hemiun, which combines the cold arrogance of the appearance and the solemn immobility of the pose with an accurate and sober rendering of the overweight, fat body, is generally one of the most important elements of the style of sculptures of the Old Kingdom. After all, they had to reproduce not just the images of deceased ancestors, but the images of people who belonged to the elite of society who held in their hands the entire administration of the state.
Emphasizing the high social status of the depicted person also had higher value for royal statues, where the main task was to create the image of the pharaoh as an unlimited ruler and son of god. Pharaohs were usually depicted with superhumanly powerful bodies and impassive faces that retained some undoubtedly portrait features, but at the same time clearly idealized. Sometimes the idea of the pharaoh's divinity was conveyed by purely external means: the king was depicted together with the gods, as an equal to them, or the sacred falcon overshadowed him with its wings, sitting on the back of his throne. A special kind The embodiment of the idea of the superhuman essence of the pharaoh was the image of the sphinx - a fantastic creature with the body of a lion and the portrait head of a king. It was the sphinxes that were the first royal statues that stood outside the temples and, therefore, accessible to the public, to whom they were supposed to give the impression of supernatural and therefore irresistible power.
An exceptional place not only among such sculptures, but also in Egyptian art in general, is occupied by the famous Great Sphinx, located at the monumental gate and covered passage of the Pyramid of Khafre in Giza. Its base is a natural limestone rock, which in its entirety resembled the figure of a reclining lion and was worked into the shape of a colossal sphinx, the missing parts being added from suitably hewn limestone slabs. The dimensions of the Sphinx are enormous: its height is 20 m, its length is 57 m, its face is 5 m high, its nose is 1.70 m. The Sphinx wears a royal striped scarf on its head, and a uraeus is carved on its forehead ( A sacred snake, which, according to Egyptian beliefs, protects the pharaohs and gods.), an artificial beard under the chin worn by Egyptian kings and nobles. The face was painted brick red, the stripes of the scarf were blue and red. Despite its gigantic size, the face of the Sphinx still conveys the main portrait features of Pharaoh Khafre, as can be seen by comparing the Gizeh Sphinx with other statues of this king. In ancient times, this colossal monster with the face of a pharaoh was supposed to leave an unforgettable impression, instilling, like the pyramids, an idea of the incomprehensibility and power of the rulers of Egypt.
Sharply opposite in nature to the statues of kings and nobles are the figurines of servants and slaves, which were placed in the tombs of the nobility to serve the dead in the afterlife. Made of stone and sometimes wood and brightly painted, they depict people engaged in various tasks: here we will find a farmer with a hoe, and weavers, and porters, and rowers, and cooks. Distinguished by great expressiveness, these figurines are made using the simplest means, outside the canonical norms.
A large place in the art of the Old Kingdom was occupied by reliefs and paintings that covered the walls of tombs and temples, and here, too, the basic principles of everything were developed further development these types of art. Thus, both types of Egyptian relief techniques were already used in the Old Kingdom: the usual bas-relief and the incised, in-depth relief, characteristic only of Egyptian art, in which the surface of the stone, which served as the background, remained untouched, and the contours of the images were cut in, thus turning out to be quite flat. Two types of wall painting techniques were also known: most of the paintings were carried out using the usual and later Egyptian technique of tempera on a dry surface; in some tombs of Medum this method was combined with the insertion of colored pastes into pre-prepared recesses. The paints were mineral: white paint was extracted from limestone, red - from red ocher, black - from soot, green - from grated malachite, blue - from cobalt, copper, grated lapis lazuli, yellow - from yellow ocher.
In the art of the Old Kingdom, the main features of the content of reliefs and paintings and the main rules for the arrangement of scenes on the walls, as well as the compositions of entire scenes, individual episodes, groups and figures, which later became traditional, developed.
The content of images in reliefs and paintings was determined by their purpose. The reliefs that covered the walls of the mortuary royal temples and the covered passages leading to them included, as mentioned above, scenes glorifying the king in the form of a mighty ruler (battles, capture of prisoners and booty, successful hunts) and as the son of god (king among gods), as well as images, the purpose of which was to provide the king with afterlife bliss. The reliefs in the tombs of the nobility also consisted of scenes glorifying the activities of the nobleman, and scenes intended to ensure his posthumous prosperity. Therefore, images of the owner of the tomb in such reliefs were made portraits for the same reason as funeral statues. In the best examples, the mastery of portraiture reaches very great heights. This is how, for example, the architect Khesira, who lived during the Third Dynasty, is depicted: an aquiline nose, thick eyebrows, and an energetic mouth perfectly express the image of a strong, strong-willed man in all his unique individuality.
Reliefs and tomb paintings are a valuable source for the cultural history of Ancient Egypt. They depict rural work and the work of artisans, fishing and hunting in the Nile thickets and in the desert. Bright pictures pass before us social inequality- the unbearable burden of labor of the bulk of the people and the wealthy, idle life of the ruling elite. The beating of tax defaulters is replaced by the amusements of the nobility, sowing and harvesting under the scorching sun - by the dancing of dancers at the nobleman's feast. All these images are based on the same desire: to exalt the owner of the tomb, to emphasize his nobility and wealth, the significance of the position he occupied during his life and the favors that he enjoyed from the pharaoh.
The same desire was reflected in the construction of the scenes, in the relationship of the figures to each other and in the approach to their depiction. The main place everywhere is occupied by the figure of a king or nobleman: it is much larger in size than all the others and, in contrast to the diverse and in motion groups of working people, is completely calm and motionless. Whether the king and nobleman are sitting or walking, they still hold a staff and a rod - symbols of their high rank - and equally dominate the entire scene, without mixing with the actions of the rest of its participants, even in cases where such a position is completely incredible, as, for example, in some scene of a hippopotamus hunt. Characteristic is the difference in the construction on the plane of figures of people occupying different social positions. As a rule, the basis for the depiction of the human figure in the reliefs and paintings of the Old Kingdom was firmly based on the canon, the composition of which dates back to the times of the Narmer slab. Deviations from these norms are most often found in images of farmers, artisans and other ordinary ordinary people.
These deviations from the canon reflected in art those changes in life and worldview that occurred during the development of culture and the growth of knowledge and technical discoveries. Naturally, artists already saw many things differently and could convey them by other means; the tasks facing them to create new, increasingly complex compositions were an effective incentive for the growth of their skills and overcoming the fixed rules of the canon. Sharp observation and the desire to reproduce authentic life give special attractiveness to such creations of Egyptian masters. Feeling less constrained by the canon when depicting the work of the people and knowing this work well, they were able to show the life of the people and convey to us their inexhaustible artistic creativity, especially in the frequent images of folk singers, dancers, and musicians; they even preserved for us the words of labor folk songs.
However, some deviations from the canon could not change the general conventional character of the style of reliefs and paintings of the Old Kingdom. The horizontal arrangement of the scenes and their strictly defined sequence, as well as the general planar nature of the images, remain conditional; The schematic nature of many compositions is also preserved, in which the monotony of the figures is sometimes broken only by a change in attributes or turns of heads and hands. The conventionality of many techniques was also supported by the persisting belief in the magical effectiveness of what was depicted: for example, the enemies of Egypt were invariably shown defeated, and animals were pierced by arrows, since the conviction did not disappear that everything depicted had the same degree of reality as. and real life.
During the period of the Old Kingdom, artistic craft gained great importance and development. Vessels made of various types of stone - alabaster, steatite, porphyry, granite, jasper; jewelry from gold, malachite, turquoise, carnelian and other semi-precious stones, as well as from earthenware pastes; artistic furniture made from valuable types of wood - chairs, stretchers, tents, sometimes with gold inlays, sometimes upholstered in gold sheets, wooden beds with artistically processed bone legs; products made of copper, bronze, clay - this is just a short list of the various items that were already produced during the era of the Old Kingdom. As in other forms of art, the artistic craft of this period also developed basic forms and techniques that existed for a very long time. The artistic crafts of the Old Kingdom are characterized by the same strict and simple, complete and clear forms that distinguish all the art of this period. In the decorative details of these things there is a lot of direct reflection of real life phenomena: for example, the legs of the bed are given the shape of powerful bull legs, beads and pendants reproduce flowers, etc. Artistic craft was of great importance for the development of all the art of the Old Kingdom. On the one hand, the processing of a number of materials was first developed and improved precisely during the creation of artistic craft, opening up ways for the decorative use of these materials in other areas of art; Thus, the beauty of polished stone surfaces and colored faience was first found and understood in crafts, and then used in sculpture and architecture. On the other hand, artisans, closely associated with the folk environment, were constant conductors of its life-giving influence on the work of professional artists.
Ancient Egypt sculpture
Ancient Egypt sculpture- one of the most original and strictly canonically developed areas of art of Ancient Egypt. The sculpture was created and developed to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, kings and queens in physical fitness. There were also many images of ka in the graves of ordinary Egyptians, mostly made of wood, some of which have survived. Statues of gods and pharaohs were placed on public display, usually in open spaces and outside temples. The Great Sphinx in Giza was never replicated in life-size anywhere else, but alleys made from smaller copies of the Sphinx and other animals became an indispensable attribute of many temple complexes. The most sacred image of God was located in the temple, in the altar, usually in a boat or barque, usually made of precious metals, although not a single such image has survived. A huge number of carved figurines have been preserved - from figures of gods to toys and dishes. Such figurines were made not only from wood, but also from alabaster, more expensive material. Wooden images of slaves, animals and property were placed in tombs to accompany the dead in the afterlife.
Statues, as a rule, retain the original shape of the block of stone or piece of wood from which it was carved. In traditional statues of seated scribes, similarities to the shape of a pyramid (cubic statue) are also often found.
There was a very strict canon for creating ancient Egyptian sculpture: the color of a man’s body had to be darker than the color of a woman’s body, the hands of a seated person had to be exclusively on his knees. There were certain rules for depicting Egyptian gods: for example, the god Horus should be depicted with the head of a falcon, the god of the dead Anubis with the head of a jackal. All sculptures were created according to this canon and adherence was so strict that during the almost three-thousand-year history of Ancient Egypt it did not undergo changes.
Early Kingdom Sculpture
Statue of Pharaoh Khasekhemui.
The sculpture of the Early Dynastic period comes mainly from three major centers where temples were located - Ona, Abydos and Koptos. The statues served as objects of worship, rituals and had a dedicatory purpose. A large group of monuments was associated with the “heb-sed” ritual - a ritual of renewing the physical power of the pharaoh. This type includes the types of sitting and walking figures of the king, executed in round sculpture and relief, as well as the image of his ritual running - characteristic exclusively for compositions in relief.
The list of Kheb-sed monuments includes a statue of Pharaoh Khasekhem, represented sitting on a throne in ritual attire. This sculpture indicates an improvement in technical techniques: the figure has correct proportions and is volumetrically modeled. The main features of the style have already been identified here - monumental form, frontal composition. The pose of the statue is motionless, fitting into the rectangular block of the throne; straight lines predominate in the outlines of the figure. Khasekhem's face is portrait-like, although his features are largely idealized. The placement of the eyes in the orbit with a convex eyeball is noteworthy. A similar technique of execution extended to the entire group of monuments of that time, being a characteristic stylistic feature of portraits of the Early Kingdom. By this same period, the canonicity of the pre-dynastic period standing at full height was established, giving way in the plastic arts of the Early Kingdom to the correct rendering of the proportions of the human body.
New features also appeared in the reliefs. If in the previous era masters usually preferred multi-figure compositions, now they strived for a laconic form of expression. The more secondary, private features are discarded in the images, the more the main and essential appears in the image, acquiring a multi-valued meaning, elevating it to the category of symbol. A clear example of this is given by the famous stele from Abydos of the king of the 1st dynasty Jet. Here the artist found simple and meaningful visual arts. The hieroglyph of the snake, meaning the name Jet, fits into a rectangular field above the conventional reproduction of the palace facade “serekh”, which symbolized the earthly abode of the pharaoh and served as the home of the deity, embodied in the guise of the reigning ruler.
The strict vertical division of the facade, similar to architectural structures, contrasts in the Jeta stele with the flexible body of the snake. The image of the falcon Horus, which was part of the name of the pharaohs of the zero dynasty and the Early Kingdom, was an example of calligraphic writing of the corresponding hieroglyphic sign.
In the composition, you can notice a shift of the images to the left relative to the frame of the stele and the central vertical axis. This technique is based on the rhythmic balance of the proportions of the “golden section”.
Old Kingdom Sculpture
Statue of Kaaper ("Village Chief"). Cairo Museum. Egypt.
Many sculptural monuments have been preserved from the era of the Old Kingdom, most of which had a ritual purpose. Burials and temples abound with portrait images of doubles of the dead - ka, in which the portrait art of Egypt took shape. The art of the Ancient Kingdom is especially rich in this kind of monuments. These include not only full-length sculptural images, but also “Gizech heads” - casts and sculptures of heads that did not have traditional coloring and probably served as working models for portrait images.
Statuary compositions in the Old Kingdom strictly followed a certain number of canonized types. Particularly widespread are standing figures with their left leg extended forward, sitting on a throne or kneeling. The canonical type of scribe statue was widely used. In connection with ritual purposes, the technique of complex inlay of eyes or a relief outline along the contour of the eyelids, as well as careful decorative design of statues, which, despite the canonical composition, received an individual pictorial interpretation, have long been introduced into use. These are the sculptural portraits of the architect Rahotep (son of Pharaoh Snefru) and his wife Nofret - the archaeologists themselves who carried out the excavations were shocked by the liveliness and expressiveness of these sculptures; royal scribes, nephew of Pharaoh Cheops, architect Hemiun. Ancient Egyptian artists achieved high skill in wooden sculpture(statue of Kaaper, known as the "Village Chief"). Small figurines depicting working people are ubiquitous in tombs. Here the canon is observed less strictly, although the masters do their best to avoid imbalance in the position of the figure.
Reliefs in this era are not limited to the sphere of small forms. A narrative narrative appears in them, especially characteristic of ritual images in tombs. Gradually, a strict system of their placement develops: full-length figures of two deities or the owner of the tomb are placed at the entrance to the temple or tomb. Further along the walls of the corridors there are images of gift bearers, thematically directed towards the middle niche with a false entrance. Above the niche of the doorway there was usually an image of the deceased in front of the altar. Such ensembles were carried out by a group of craftsmen according to a single plan, strictly corresponding to the nature of the architectural solution. The reliefs (bas-relief and relief with a deep contour) differed in the plane of execution and were usually painted. Relief compositions were complemented by painting.
Middle Kingdom sculpture
Three granite statues of Pharaoh Senusret III. British Museum. London
Significant changes in sculpture occurred precisely in the Middle Kingdom, which is largely explained by the presence and creative competition of many local schools that gained independence during the period of collapse. Since the time of the XII Dynasty, ritual statues have become more widely used (and, accordingly, produced in large quantities): they are now installed not only in tombs, but also in temples. Among them, images associated with the rite of heb-sed (ritual revival of the pharaoh's life force) still dominate. The first stage of the ritual was associated with the symbolic murder of the elderly ruler and was performed over his statue, which in composition resembled canonical images and sculptures of sarcophagi. This type includes the gray-haired statue of Mentuhotep-Nebkhepetra, depicting the pharaoh in a pointedly frozen pose with his arms crossed on his chest. The style is distinguished by a large degree of conventionality and generality, generally typical for sculptural monuments of the early era. Subsequently, the sculpture comes to a more subtle modeling of faces and greater plastic dismemberment: first of all, this is manifested in female portraits and images of private individuals.
Over time, the iconography of the kings also changes. By the time of the 12th Dynasty, the idea of the divine power of the pharaoh gives way in images to persistent attempts to convey human individuality. The heyday of sculpture with official themes occurred during the reign of Senusret III, who was depicted at all ages - from childhood to adulthood. The best of these images are considered to be the obsidian head of Senusret III and sculptural portraits of his son Amenemhet III. The type of cubic statue - an image of a figure enclosed in a monolithic stone block - can be considered an original find by masters of local schools.
The art of the Middle Kingdom is the era of the flourishing of small forms of plastic art, mostly still associated with the funeral cult and its rituals (sailing on a boat, bringing sacrificial gifts, etc.). The figurines were carved from wood, covered with primer and painted. Entire multi-figure compositions were often created in round sculpture (similar to how it was customary in the reliefs of the Old Kingdom).
New Kingdom Sculpture
Relief from the tomb of Khaemkhet
The art of the New Kingdom is distinguished by the significant development of monumental sculpture, the purpose of which now often extends beyond the sphere of funerary cult. In Theban sculpture of the New Kingdom, features appear that were not previously characteristic of not only official, but also secular art. Individuality distinguishes portrait images of Hatshepsut.
In the art of the New Kingdom, sculptural group portraits appear, especially images of a married couple.
The art of relief acquires new qualities. On this artistic field have a noticeable influence on certain genres of literature that became widespread during the New Kingdom: hymns, military chronicles, love lyrics. Often texts in these genres are combined with relief compositions in temples and tombs. In the reliefs of Theban temples there is an increase in decorativeness, free variation of bas-relief and high-relief techniques in combination with colorful paintings. This is the portrait of Amenhotep III from the tomb of Khaemkhet, which combines different heights of relief and in this regard is an innovative work. The reliefs are still arranged according to registers, allowing the creation of narrative cycles of enormous spatial extent.
Amarna period
Bust of Nefertiti
The art of the Amarna period is distinguished by its remarkable originality, which stems primarily from the nature of the new worldview. The most unusual fact is the rejection of a strictly idealized, sacred understanding of the image of the pharaoh. The new style was reflected even in the colossi of Amenhotep IV, installed in the Temple of Aten at Karnak. These statues contain not only the typical canonical techniques of monumental art, but also a new understanding of portraiture, which now required a reliable representation of the pharaoh’s appearance, down to the characteristic features of the body structure. The criterion of verisimilitude was a kind of protest against the previous official art, therefore the word “maat” - truth - is filled with a special meaning. Images of Akhenaten are an interesting example of a combination of authenticity with the requirement for extreme generalization and normativity characteristic of Egyptian art. The shape of the pharaoh's head, the unusually elongated oval of the face, thin hands and a narrow chin - all these features were carefully preserved and reflected in the new tradition, but at the same time all the artistic techniques were fixed on special samples - sculptural models.
The characteristic techniques of depicting the pharaoh were extended to members of his family. A frank innovation was the depiction of figures entirely in profile, which was previously not allowed by the Egyptian canon. What was also new was the fact that ethnic features were preserved in the portrait: such is the head of the pharaoh’s mother, Queen Tia, inlaid with gold and glassy paste. An intimate lyrical beginning is manifested in the Amarna reliefs, full of natural plasticity and not containing canonical frontal images.
The culmination of development fine arts The works of sculptors from Thutmes’ workshop are rightly considered. These include the well-known polychrome head of Queen Nefertiti in a blue tiara. Along with the completed works, many plaster masks that served as models were also found in the excavations of sculpture workshops.