Lecture: Egyptian Art and Architecture

Double Portrait of Pharaoh and Wife

• Subjects: Pharaoh Menkaure and wife Khamerernebty
• Date: 2490 BCE
• Size: Approximately 4 feet high
• Material: Diorite
• Details:
  • Carved detail at the back not usually shown
  • Focus on the couple in a rigid, frontal pose
  • Marriage pose: Wife's arm behind husband and one on his arm
  • Pharaoh’s traditional stance: One foot forward
  • Idealized knife-blade shin, unrealistic
  • Pharaoh depicted as eternally young
  • Pharaoh wears linen kilt; wife wears one-piece linen garment (chamise)
  • Pharaoh possibly wearing a wig, wife definitely is
  • Pharaoh holding rods symbolizing power
  • Headdress symbolizes protection, resembling bird protecting its young
• Method: Subtractive method (diorite is expensive and difficult to carve)

Scribe Statue

• Date: 2500 BCE
• Material: Painted limestone
• Size: About 2 feet high
• Details:
  • Polychrome (painted in many colors)
  • Detailed, lifelike depiction
  • Not idealized: Shows flabby chest
  • Represents a scribe, a highly valued and literate individual in Egyptian society
  • Contrasts with idealized depictions of pharaohs
  • Intense, calm expression
  • Sophisticated space between arms

Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple

• Subject: First female pharaoh, Hatshepsut
• Date: 1450 BCE, New Kingdom
• Architect: Senenmut
• Structure: Rock-cut
• Details:
  • Carved into the side of a mountain
  • Originally surrounded by gardens, pools, and fountains
  • Elite worship place and burial site
  • Ramped processional walkways
  • Covered with tourists today
• Hatshepsut's Role:
  • Appointed herself Regent for young nephew Thutmose III
  • Dressed like a male pharaoh, wore a beard
  • Architect Senenmut was her lover and they had a child
  • Sculpture in kneeling position, idealized

Hypostyle Hall at Karnak

• Date: 1290s BCE
• Location: Temple of Amun-Ra, Karnak
• Construction: Post and lintel
• Details:
  • Enormous scale with massive columns
  • Central columns taller to create clerestory
  • Clerestory allows light and air into the structure
  • Technique used throughout architectural history (e.g., Gothic, modern architecture)

Evolution of Wall Painting

• Techniques: Dry fresco and wet fresco
  • Dry Fresco: Paint on dry wall
  • Wet Fresco: Paint on wet plaster, pigment absorbed into wall
• Example: Interior of an Egyptian tomb
  • Subject: Nebamun, wife, and child bird hunting
  • Style: Twisted perspective, hierarchical scale
  • Details:
    • Larger figure (Nebamun) than wife and child
    • Child with lock of youth hairstyle
    • Realistic depiction of animals (birds, fish)
    • Stylized elements (papyrus reeds, water)

Key Takeaways

• Egyptian art is highly symbolic and idealized, especially for royalty
• Depictions of non-royal figures can be more realistic
• Architectural innovations like the clerestory were significant
• Wall paintings combine naturalism with stylized elements