Canons of sculpture. Ancient Egyptian canon in the depiction of gods and humans Sculptural canon

Art in Egyptian lands began to take shape thousands of years ago. Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, Egypt developed its own original style in architecture, sculpture and painting. He became a role model for subsequent generations of Egyptians.

Ancient Egypt: architecture, sculpture and painting

Religious buildings were built of stone and were distinguished by strict, large-scale geometric shapes. At first, the Egyptians built a simple form of tomb - a mastaba. Later, step pyramids appeared, which made up huge burial complexes for pharaohs and nobles. Egyptian architects built temples equipped with columns in the shape of a lotus flower or papyrus.
Sculpture and painting were an integral part. Statues and monuments fit organically into the design of tombs and temples. Massive statues of gods and kings showed the power and might of the country. Reliefs and paintings decorated tombs and palaces. They colorfully depicted human activities, scenes of everyday life, or gods and their deeds.

Sculpture and painting of Ancient Egypt

Painting, like sculpture, served to decorate the walls of tombs and religious buildings. was distinguished by its monumentality, reaching colossal sizes. Ancient artists created scenes that included people, animals and deities. Painting and sculpture perfectly complemented the architectural masterpieces of the ancient Egyptians, extolling religion and the cult power of the state.

Canons of painting in Ancient Egypt

Bright, saturated colors predominated in Egyptian paintings. Primary colors are white, red, black, blue, green and yellow. The colors retained their brightness for a long time; in addition, the drawings were covered with a layer of resin on top.
Ancient Egyptian painting obeyed certain canons that were never violated. Thus, it was customary to depict the face of a drawn person in profile, and other parts of the body in full face. The figures of people were outlined with a clear outline. It was red

In the workshop, sculptors worked on movable wooden scaffolds, which allowed several craftsmen to work simultaneously, as well as to process very large statues. The Egyptians called sculptors “sankh,” which means “creator of life,” because they created a home for the life of the soul. To ensure that the soul did not make a mistake, the master had to convey facial features in the statue as accurately as possible. And for this, he made a plaster cast of the face of the deceased, and sometimes of a still living person, if he took care of his tomb in advance.

The tradition of creating sculptures for tombs determined the laws of human depiction:

· statues and busts were created with the expectation that they would be looked at from a certain point of view - from the front;

· the figure is standing or sitting;

· the head is set straight and the gaze is directed into the distance;

· legs are closed, arms are pressed to the body;

· stiff, frozen pose;

· the statue is closely connected with the wall of the building; often behind its back a part of the rectangular block from which it was carved is preserved as a background;

· conventional coloring (the statue of men was painted with red-brown paint, women with light yellow), which made it possible to create the impression of a living person and enhance the portrait resemblance.

These laws helped create majestic images of people who died and were resurrected for a new, eternal life. They strengthened faith in the inviolability of the power of gods, pharaohs and nobles. By the middle of the 111th millennium BC. e. refers to the statue of the Scribe. He sits on the ground with his legs crossed. On his lap lies a scroll of papyrus. The sculptor focused his main attention on the face of his hero. His eyes are wide open. The whites of the eyes are made of alabaster, the pupils are made of silver. However, his gaze cannot be caught; it is turned to eternity, and a light smile complements the feeling of the inviolability of eternal life.
Centuries later, in Egyptian art there is a growing interest in conveying the surrounding world. Now the pharaoh is depicted not only as an inaccessible ruler, but also with his family, during dinner, in a chariot on the streets of the city. Portraits of people are filled with the breath of LIFE.

An example of this is the portrait of the beautiful Nefertiti, the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. It was created by the sculptor Thutmes in the 14th century BC. e. The master managed to convey the delicate features of the face, the gentle curve of the neck, the grace and majesty of the queen.

The high skill of Egyptian sculptors can be judged by the golden mask of Tutankhamun. The notes of Professor Derry, who examined the mummy of this pharaoh, have been preserved: “The golden mask depicts Tutankhamun as a sweet and noble youth. Anyone who had the good fortune to see the face of the mummy can confirm how accurately and faithfully the skillful artist conveyed the features of the deceased pharaoh!”

The tombs of the pharaohs, temple premises, and royal palaces were filled with various sculptures that formed an organic part of the buildings.

The masters felt more free when they portrayed nobles and especially commoners. Here the constraining influence of the canon is overcome, the image is developed more boldly and realistically, and its psychological characteristics are more fully conveyed. The art of individual portraiture, deep realism, and a sense of movement reached their peak during the New Kingdom, especially during the brief reign of Akhenaten (Amarna period). The sculptural images of the pharaoh himself, his wife Nefertiti, and members of his family are distinguished by their skillful conveyance of the inner world, deep psychologism, and high artistic skill.

In addition to round sculpture, the Egyptians willingly turned to relief. Many walls of tombs and temples, various buildings are covered with magnificent relief compositions, most often depicting nobles with their families, in front of the altar of the deity, among their fields, etc.

A certain canon was also developed in relief paintings: the main “hero” was depicted larger than others, his figure was depicted in a double plan: the head and legs in profile, the shoulders and chest in front. All figures were usually painted.

Along with reliefs, the walls of the tombs were covered with contour or pictorial paintings, the content of which was more varied than the reliefs. Quite often, these paintings depicted scenes of everyday life: artisans at work in the workshop, fishermen fishing, peasants plowing, street vendors with their goods, court proceedings, etc. The Egyptians achieved great skill in depicting wildlife - landscapes, animals, birds , where the restraining influence of ancient traditions was felt much less. A striking example is the painting of the tombs of the nomarchs discovered in Beni Hasan and dating back to the Middle Kingdom.

All ancient Egyptian art was subject to cult canons. Relief and sculpture were no exception here. The masters left outstanding sculptural monuments to their descendants: statues of gods and people, figures of animals.

The man was sculpted in a static but majestic pose, standing or sitting. In this case, the left leg was pushed forward, and the arms were either folded on the chest or pressed to the body.

Some sculptors were required to create figures of working people. At the same time, there was a strict canon for depicting a specific occupation - the choice of a moment characteristic of this particular type of work.

Among the ancient Egyptians, statues could not exist separately from religious buildings. They were first used to decorate the retinue of the deceased pharaoh and were placed in the tomb located in the pyramid. These were relatively small figures. When kings began to be buried near temples, the roads to these places were lined with many huge statues. They were so big that no one paid attention to the details of the image. The statues were placed near pylons, in courtyards and already had artistic significance.

During the Old Kingdom, the round form was established in Egyptian sculpture, and the main types of composition emerged. For example, the statue of Mikerinus depicts a standing man with his left leg extended and his arms pressed to his body. Or the statue of Rahotep and his wife Nofret represents a seated figure with his hands placed on his knees.

The Egyptians thought of the statue as the “body” of spirits and people. According to information from Egyptian texts, the god descended from the temple dedicated to him and was reunited with his sculptural image. And the Egyptians revered not the statue itself, but the embodiment of the invisible god in it.

Some statues were placed in temples in memory of “participation” in a certain ritual. Others were donated to temples in order to ensure the permanent patronage of the deity for the person depicted. Associated with prayers and appeals to the dead for the gift of offspring is the custom of bringing female figurines to the tombs of ancestors, often with a child in their arms or nearby (ill. 49). Small figurines of deities, usually reproducing the appearance of the main cult statue of the temple, were presented by believers with prayers for well-being and health. Images of women and ancestors were an amulet that promoted the birth of children, because it was believed that the spirits of ancestors could inhabit women of the clan and be reborn again.

The statues were also created for ka deceased. Because ka it was necessary to “recognize” exactly its own body and enter it, and the statue itself “replaced” the body, each face of the statue was endowed with a certain unique individuality (with the commonality of indisputable rules of composition). Thus, already in the era of the Old Kingdom, one of the achievements of ancient Egyptian art appeared - a sculptural portrait. This was facilitated by the practice of covering the faces of the dead with a layer of plaster - the creation of death masks.

Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, a narrow, closed room was built in the mastabas next to the prayer house ( serdab), in which a statue of the deceased was placed. At eye level of the statue there was a small window so that the one living in the statue ka the deceased could take part in funeral rites. It is believed that these statues served to preserve the earthly form of the deceased, as well as in case of loss or death of the mummy.

The spirit of the deceased endowed the statues with vitality, after which they “came to life” for eternal life. For this reason, we never see images of people, for example, in a pre-mortem or post-mortem form; on the contrary, there is exceptional vitality. The statues were made life-size, and the deceased was depicted exclusively as a young man.

In statues and reliefs, a person was always depicted as sighted, since the symbolism of the deceased’s “sighting” and his acquisition of vitality was associated with the eye. Moreover, the sculptor made the figures’ eyes especially large. They were always inlaid with colored stones, blue beads, faience, and rock crystal (ill. 50). For the eye for the Egyptians is the seat of the spirit and has a powerful influence on the living and on spirits

Since the life-giving power of the lotus, symbolizing magical revival, was “inhaled” through the nostrils, the human nose was usually depicted with an emphasized cut of the nostrils.

Since the lips of the mummy were endowed with the ability to pronounce the words of the afterlife confession, the lips themselves were never abstracted into a schematized sign.

In the creation of the type of sitting statues (with hands placed on their knees), statues of pharaohs made for the holiday played a large role heb-sed. His goal was the “revival” of an elderly or sick ruler, for there was a belief from the earliest times that the fertility of the earth was determined by the physical condition of the king. During the ritual, a statue of the ritually “killed” pharaoh was erected, and the ruler himself, “rejuvenated” again, performed a ritual beᴦ in front of the tent. Then the statue was buried and the coronation ceremony was repeated. After which it was believed that the ruler, full of strength, was again sitting on the throne.

Statues of the same person placed in tombs could be of different types, because they reflected various aspects of the funeral cult˸ one type conveyed the individual features of a person, without a wig, in fashionable clothes, the other had a more generalized interpretation of the face, was in an official apron and a fluffy wig.

The desire to ensure the “eternal” performance of the funeral cult led to the fact that statues of priests began to appear in tombs. The presence of figurines of children is also natural, since their indispensable duty was to take care of the funeral cult of their parents.

First hurt(they were discussed in question No. 2) date back to the 21st century. BC. If it was not possible to achieve a portrait resemblance between the ushabti and the deceased, the name and title of the owner whom it replaced was written on each figurine. Tools and bags were placed in the hands of the ushabti, and they were painted on their backs. Statues of scribes, overseers, and boatmen appear (ill. 51-a). For ushabti, baskets, hoes, hammers, jugs, etc. were made from faience or bronze. The number of ushabtis in one tomb could reach several hundred. There were those who bought 360 pieces - one person for each day of the year. The poor bought one or two ushabtis, but along with them they put a list of three hundred and sixty such “helpers” in the coffin.

During some rituals, sculptures of bound prisoners were used. Οʜᴎ probably replaced living prisoners during the corresponding rituals (say, killing defeated enemies).

The Egyptians believed that the constant presence of sculptural images of participants in a religious ritual in the temple seemed to ensure the eternal performance of this ritual. For example, part of the sculptural group has been preserved, where the gods Horus and Thoth put a crown on the head of Ramesses III - this is how the coronation rite was reproduced, in which the roles of the gods were played by priests in appropriate masks. Its installation in the temple was supposed to contribute to the long reign of the king.

Found in tombs wooden the statues are associated with the funeral ritual (the repeated raising and lowering of the statue of the deceased as a symbol of the victory of Osiris over Set).

Statues of pharaohs were placed in sanctuaries and temples in order to place the pharaoh under the protection of the deity and at the same time glorify the ruler.

The giant colossal statues of the pharaohs embodied the most sacred aspect of the essence of the kings - their ka.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, canonical figures of the pharaoh appear standing with his left leg extended forward, in a short girdle and crown, sitting with a royal scarf on his head (ill. 53, 53-a), kneeling, with two vessels in his hands (ill. 54) , in the form of a sphinx, with the gods, with the queen (ill. 55).

In the eyes of ancient Eastern people, the physical and mental health of the king was understood as a condition for the successful fulfillment of his function as a mediator between the world of people and the world of gods. Since the pharaoh for the Egyptians acted as the guarantee and embodiment of the “collective” well-being and prosperity of the country, he not only could not have flaws (which could also cause disasters), but also surpass mere mortals in physical strength. With the exception of the brief Amarna period, pharaohs have always been depicted as endowed with enormous physical strength.

The main requirement for the sculptor is to create the image of the pharaoh as the son of god. This determined the choice of artistic means. Despite the constant portraiture, there was a clear idealization of the appearance, developed muscles and a gaze directed into the distance were invariably present. The divinity of the pharaoh was complemented by details, for example, Khafre is guarded by a falcon, the sacred bird of the god Horus

The Amarna period was marked by a completely new approach to conveying the image of a person in sculpture and relief. The desire of the pharaoh to be different from the images of his predecessors - gods or kings - resulted in the fact that in the sculpture he appeared, it is believed, without any embellishment on a skinny, folded neck - an elongated face, with drooping half-open lips, a long nose, half-closed eyes, puffy belly, thin ankles with full hips

Statues of private individuals.

The Egyptians have always imitated official sculpture - images of pharaohs and gods, strong, strict, calm and majestic. The sculptures never express anger, surprise, or smile. The spread of statues of private individuals was facilitated by the fact that nobles began to build their own tombs.

The statues were of different sizes - from several meters to very small figures of several centimeters.

Sculptors, sculpting private individuals, were also obliged to adhere to the canon, primarily frontality and symmetry in the construction of the figure (ill. 60, 61). All statues have the same straight head, and almost the same attributes in their hands.

During the era of the Old Kingdom, sculptural statues of married couples with children appeared (ill. 62, 63), scribes sitting cross-legged, with an unrolled papyrus scroll on their knees - at first only royal sons were depicted this way

Temple of Horus in Edfu

Material and processing.

Already in the Old Kingdom there were sculptures made of red and black granite, diorite, quartzite (ill. 68), alabaster, slate, limestone, and sandstone. The Egyptians loved hard rocks.

Images of gods, pharaohs, and nobles were made mainly of stone (granite, limestone, quartzite). It is worth saying that for small figurines of people and animals, bone and faience were most often used. Servant statues were made of wood. Ushabti were made of wood, stone, glazed faience, bronze, clay, and wax. Only two ancient Egyptian copper sculptures are known.

Inlaid eyes with contoured relief rims of the eyelids are characteristic of statues made of limestone, metal or wood.

The limestone and wood sculptures were originally painted.

Late Egyptian sculptors began to prefer granite and basalt to limestone and sandstone. But bronze became the favorite material. Images of gods and figurines of animals dedicated to them were made from it. Some were made up of separately manufactured parts; the cheap ones were cast in clay or plaster molds. Most of these figurines were made using the “lost wax” technique, widespread in Egypt; the sculptor made a blank of the future image from clay, covered it with a layer of wax, worked out the intended shape, coated it with clay and put it in the oven. The wax flowed out through a specially left hole, and liquid metal was poured into the resulting void. When the bronze cooled, the clay mold was broken and the product was removed, and its surface was carefully processed and then polished. For each product, its own form was created and the product turned out to be unique.

Bronze items were usually decorated with engraving and inlays. For the latter, thin gold and silver wires were used. Gold stripes were used to outline the eyes of the ibis, and necklaces made of gold threads were placed on the necks of bronze cats.

The famous ancient Egyptian colossal statues are of interest from the point of view of the complexity of processing solid materials.

On the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, there are two statues dating from the New Kingdom, called the “colossi of Memnon”. According to one version of Egyptologists, the Greek name Memnom comes from one of the names of Amenhotep III. According to another version, after the earthquake on 27 ᴦ. BC. one of the statues was significantly damaged, and, probably due to differences in night and day temperatures, the cracked stone began to make continuous sounds. This began to attract pilgrims who believed that in this way the Ethiopian king Memnon, a character in Homer’s Iliad, greeted the goddess of the dawn Eos, his mother.

At the same time, there are no intelligible explanations of how colossi made of quartzite, 20-21 meters high, each weighing 750 tons, were placed on a pedestal also made of quartzite weighing 500 tons manually, can not found. Moreover, it was still necessary to deliver stone monoliths (or parts thereof?) 960 kilometers away up along the Nile.

Sculpture from the Early Dynastic period comes mainly from three large centers where the 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. The list of Kheb-sed monuments includes a statue of Pharaoh Khasekhem, represented seated 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.

Old Kingdom Sculpture

Significant changes in sculpture occur 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 share 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 Senwosret 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 sculpted portraits of his son Amenemhat 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 heyday of the plastic arts of small forms, 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

In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait appears, especially images of a married couple.

The art of relief acquires new qualities. This artistic field is noticeably influenced by certain genres of literature that became widespread during the New Kingdom: hymns, war 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. Reliefs are still arranged according to registers, allowing the creation of narrative cycles of enormous spatial extent

Wooden sculpture of one of the Egyptian gods with the head of a ram

Late Kingdom sculpture

During the time of Kush, in the field of sculpture, the skills of ancient high craftsmanship partly fade away - for example, portrait images on funeral masks and statues are often replaced by conditionally idealized ones. At the same time, the technical skill of sculptors is improving, manifesting itself mainly in the decorative field. One of the best portrait works is the head of the statue of Mentuemhet, made in a realistic and authentic manner.

During the period of Sais's reign, staticity, conventional outlines of faces, canonical poses, and even the semblance of an “archaic smile”, characteristic of the art of the Early and Old Kingdoms, again became relevant in sculpture. However, the masters of Sais interpret these techniques only as a theme for stylization. At the same time, Sais art produces many wonderful portraits. In some of them, deliberately archaic forms imitating ancient rules are combined with rather bold deviations from the canon. Thus, in the statue of the close associate of Pharaoh Psametikh I, the canon of a symmetrical image of a seated figure is observed, but, in violation of it, the left leg of the seated person is placed vertically. In the same way, canonically static body shapes and the modern style of depicting faces are freely combined.

In the few monuments from the era of Persian rule, purely Egyptian stylistic features also predominate. Even the Persian king Darius is depicted on the relief in the garb of an Egyptian warrior with sacrificial gifts, and his name is written in hieroglyphs.

The majority of sculptures of the Ptolemaic period are also made in the traditions of the Egyptian canon. However, Hellenistic culture influenced the nature of the interpretation of the face, introducing greater plasticity, softness and lyricism.

Ancient Egypt. Male head from the Salt collection. First half of 3 thousand BC.

Figurine of the porter Meir. Tomb of Niankhpepi. VI dynasty, reign of Peggy II (2235-2141 BC). Cairo Museum

PEASANT WITH A HOE. For excavation work, a hoe was used, which was originally wooden, then metal ones appeared, consisting of two parts: a handle and a lever.

Three bearers of sacrificial gifts. Wood, painting; height 59 cm; length 56 cm; Meir, tomb of Niankhpepi the Black; excavations by the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1894); VI dynasty, reign of Pepi I (2289-2255 BC).

From the very beginning of Egyptian culture, painting played the role of the main decorative art. The painting of Ancient Egypt slowly developed over thousands of years. What did the Egyptians achieve during this time?

The basis for painting was most often walls with bas-reliefs. Paints were applied to plastered walls. The placement of paintings was subject to strict norms dictated by the priests. Principles such as the correctness of geometric shapes and contemplation of nature were strictly observed. The paintings of Ancient Egypt were always accompanied by hieroglyphs explaining the meaning of what was depicted.

Space and composition. In Egyptian painting, all elements of the composition look flat. When it is necessary to represent figures in depth, artists superimpose them on top of each other. The drawings are distributed in horizontal stripes, which are separated by lines. The most important scenes are always located in the center.

Image of a human figure. Egyptian drawings of people include features in front and profile equally. To maintain proportions, the artists drew a grid on the wall. Older examples consist of 18 squares (4 cubits), while newer ones have 21 squares. Women were depicted with pale yellow or pink skin. To create a masculine image, brown or dark red was used. It was customary to depict people in the prime of life.

to maintain proportions, the artists used a grid

Egyptian painting is characterized by a so-called “hierarchical” view. For example, the higher the social status of the person depicted, the larger the size of the figure. Therefore, in battle scenes, the pharaoh often looks like a giant. Images of people can be divided into archetypes: pharaoh, scribe, artisan, etc. Figures of lower social strata are always more realistic and dynamic.

Application of color. The artists followed a pre-established program, which means each color had a specific symbolism. It is believed that the origins of the meaning of colors in Egyptian painting were in the contemplation of the color tints of the Nile. Let us highlight the meaning of the main colors used by artists:

• blue - promise of new life;
• green - an expression of life's hopes, rebirth and youth;
• red is a symbol of evil and barren land;
• white is a sign of victory and joy;
• black is a symbol of death and return to life in the other world;
• yellow is an expression of eternity and incorruptible divine flesh.

The tone of the background depends on the era. The Old Kingdom has a gray background, while the New Kingdom has a pale yellow background.

Painting of the Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom covers the period from the 27th to the 22nd centuries BC. It was then that the construction of the Great Pyramids took place. At this time, bas-relief and painting were not yet distinguished from each other. Both means of expression were used to decorate the tombs of pharaohs, members of the royal family and officials. During the Old Kingdom, a uniform style of painting was formed throughout the country.

Peculiarities

The first wall paintings are distinguished by a rather narrow range of colors, mainly black, brown, white, red and green shades. The depiction of people is subject to a strict canon, the stricter of which is the higher, the higher the status of the person depicted. Dynamism and expression are characteristic of the figures depicting minor characters.

Mostly scenes from the life of gods and pharaohs were depicted. Colorful frescoes and reliefs recreate the environment that should surround the deceased, no matter what world he is in. The painting reaches high filigree, both in the images of characters and in the silhouettes of hieroglyphs.

Example

Sculptures of Prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret (27th century BC) are considered one of the most significant monuments of the Old Kingdom. The male figure is painted brick red, while the female figure is painted yellow. The figures' hair is black and their clothes are white. There are no halftones.

Painting of the Middle Kingdom

We will talk about the period that lasted from the 22nd to the 18th century BC. During this era, wall paintings exhibited structure and orderliness that was absent during the Old Kingdom. A special place is occupied by the painted multi-colored relief.

Peculiarities

In cave tombs one can see complex scenes that are more dynamic than in previous eras. Additional attention is paid to contemplation of nature. Paintings are increasingly decorated with floral patterns. Attention is paid not only to the ruling class, but also to ordinary Egyptians, for example, you can see farmers at work. At the same time, the integral features of painting are perfect order and clarity of what is depicted.

Example

Most of all, the paintings of the tomb of the nomarch Khnumhotep II stand out against the background of other monuments. Particularly noteworthy are the hunting scenes, where animal figures are rendered using halftones. The paintings of the tombs in Thebes are no less impressive.

New Kingdom Painting

Scientists call the period from the 16th to the 11th centuries BC the New Kingdom. This era is distinguished by the best examples of Egyptian art. At this time, painting reached its greatest flowering. The proliferation of tombs encourages the development of painting on walls covered with plaster. Freedom of expression is most evident in the tombs of private individuals.

Peculiarities

The era of the New Kingdom was characterized by a hitherto unknown color gradation and light transmission. Contact with the peoples of Asia brought a fascination with detail and ornamented forms. The impression of movement is enhanced. Dyes are no longer applied in an even matte layer; artists try to show soft tonal tints.

Through painting, the pharaohs demonstrated their strength to the border peoples. Therefore, depictions of scenes reproducing military episodes were common. Separately, it is worth mentioning the theme of the pharaoh in a drawn war chariot, the latter was introduced by the Hyksos. Images of a historical nature appear. Art increasingly resonates with national pride. Rulers transform temple walls into "canvases" that focus on the pharaoh's role as protector.

Example

Tomb of Nefertari. This is a perfect ensemble of painting and architecture. Currently this is the most beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens. The paintings cover an area of ​​520 m². On the walls you can see some chapters from the Book of the Dead, as well as the queen’s path to the afterlife.

• The first surviving ancient Egyptian monumental painting was discovered in a 4000 BC funerary crypt located at Hierakonpolis. She depicts people and animals.
• The ancient Egyptians painted with mineral paints. Black paint was extracted from soot, white from limestone, green from malachite, red from ocher, blue from cobalt.
• In ancient Egyptian culture, the image played the role of a double of reality. The painting of the tombs guaranteed the deceased that the same benefits awaited them in the afterlife as in the human world.
• In Ancient Egypt, images were believed to have magical properties. Moreover, their strength directly depended on the quality of the painting, which explains the special care with which the Egyptians treated painting.

Despite numerous studies devoted to the painting of Ancient Egypt, not all the secrets of this art have yet been solved. To understand the true meaning of each drawing and each sculpture, scientists will have to work for centuries.

The tombs of the pharaohs, temple premises, and royal palaces were filled with various sculptures that formed an organic part of the buildings.

The masters felt more free when they portrayed nobles and especially commoners. Here the constraining influence of the canon is overcome, the image is developed more boldly and realistically, and its psychological characteristics are more fully conveyed. The art of individual portraiture, deep realism, and a sense of movement reached their peak during the New Kingdom, especially during the brief reign of Akhenaten (Amarna period). The sculptural images of the pharaoh himself, his wife Nefertiti, and members of his family are distinguished by their skillful conveyance of the inner world, deep psychologism, and high artistic skill.

In addition to round sculpture, the Egyptians willingly turned to relief. Many walls of tombs and temples, various buildings are covered with magnificent relief compositions, most often depicting nobles with their families, in front of the altar of the deity, among their fields, etc.

A certain canon was also developed in relief paintings: the main “hero” was depicted larger than others, his figure was depicted in a double plan: the head and legs in profile, the shoulders and chest in front. All figures were usually painted.

Along with reliefs, the walls of the tombs were covered with contour or pictorial paintings, the content of which was more varied than the reliefs. Quite often, these paintings depicted scenes of everyday life: artisans at work in the workshop, fishermen fishing, peasants plowing, street vendors with their goods, court proceedings, etc. The Egyptians achieved great skill in depicting wildlife - landscapes, animals, birds , where the restraining influence of ancient traditions was felt much less. A striking example is the painting of the tombs of the nomarchs discovered in Beni Hasan and dating back to the Middle Kingdom.

All ancient Egyptian art was subject to cult canons. Relief and sculpture were no exception here. The masters left outstanding sculptural monuments to their descendants: statues of gods and people, figures of animals.

The man was sculpted in a static but majestic pose, standing or sitting. In this case, the left leg was pushed forward, and the arms were either folded on the chest or pressed to the body.

Some sculptors were required to create figures of working people. At the same time, there was a strict canon for depicting a specific occupation - the choice of a moment characteristic of this particular type of work.

Among the ancient Egyptians, statues could not exist separately from religious buildings. They were first used to decorate the retinue of the deceased pharaoh and were placed in the tomb located in the pyramid. These were relatively small figures. When kings began to be buried near temples, the roads to these places were lined with many huge statues. They were so big that no one paid attention to the details of the image. The statues were placed near pylons, in courtyards and already had artistic significance.

During the Old Kingdom, the round form was established in Egyptian sculpture, and the main types of composition emerged. For example, the statue of Mikerinus depicts a standing man with his left leg extended and his arms pressed to his body. Or the statue of Rahotep and his wife Nofret represents a seated figure with his hands placed on his knees.

The Egyptians thought of the statue as the “body” of spirits and people. According to information from Egyptian texts, the god descended from the temple dedicated to him and was reunited with his sculptural image. And the Egyptians revered not the statue itself, but the embodiment of the invisible god in it.

Some statues were placed in temples in memory of “participation” in a certain ritual. Others were donated to temples in order to ensure the permanent patronage of the deity for the person depicted. Associated with prayers and appeals to the dead for the gift of offspring is the custom of bringing female figurines to the tombs of ancestors, often with a child in their arms or nearby (ill. 49). Small figurines of deities, usually reproducing the appearance of the main cult statue of the temple, were presented by believers with prayers for well-being and health. Images of women and ancestors were an amulet that promoted the birth of children, because it was believed that the spirits of ancestors could inhabit women of the clan and be reborn again.

The statues were also created for ka deceased. Because ka it was necessary to “recognize” exactly its own body and enter it, and the statue itself “replaced” the body, each face of the statue was endowed with a certain unique individuality (with the commonality of indisputable rules of composition). Thus, already in the era of the Old Kingdom, one of the achievements of ancient Egyptian art appeared - a sculptural portrait. This was facilitated by the practice of covering the faces of the dead with a layer of plaster - the creation of death masks.

Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, a narrow, closed room was built in the mastabas next to the prayer house ( serdab), in which a statue of the deceased was placed. At eye level of the statue there was a small window so that the one living in the statue ka the deceased could take part in funeral rites. It is believed that these statues served to preserve the earthly form of the deceased, as well as in case of loss or death of the mummy.

The spirit of the deceased endowed the statues with vitality, after which they “came to life” for eternal life. For this reason, we never see images of people, for example, in a pre-mortem or post-mortem form; on the contrary, there is exceptional vitality. The statues were made life-size, and the deceased was depicted exclusively as a young man.

In statues and reliefs, a person was always depicted as sighted, since the symbolism of the deceased’s “sighting” and his acquisition of vitality was associated with the eye. Moreover, the sculptor made the figures’ eyes especially large. They were always inlaid with colored stones, blue beads, faience, and rock crystal (ill. 50). For the eye for the Egyptians is the seat of the spirit and has a powerful influence on the living and on spirits

Since the life-giving power of the lotus, symbolizing magical revival, was “inhaled” through the nostrils, the human nose was usually depicted with an emphasized cut of the nostrils.

Since the lips of the mummy were endowed with the ability to pronounce the words of the afterlife confession, the lips themselves were never abstracted into a schematized sign.

In the creation of the type of sitting statues (with hands placed on their knees), statues of pharaohs made for the holiday played a large role heb-sed. His goal was the “revival” of an elderly or sick ruler, for there was a belief from the earliest times that the fertility of the earth was determined by the physical condition of the king. During the ritual, a statue of the ritually “killed” pharaoh was erected, and the ruler himself, “rejuvenated” again, performed a ritual beᴦ in front of the tent. Then the statue was buried and the coronation ceremony was repeated. After which it was believed that the ruler, full of strength, was again sitting on the throne.

Statues of the same person placed in tombs could be of different types, because they reflected various aspects of the funeral cult˸ one type conveyed the individual features of a person, without a wig, in fashionable clothes, the other had a more generalized interpretation of the face, was in an official apron and a fluffy wig.

The desire to ensure the “eternal” performance of the funeral cult led to the fact that statues of priests began to appear in tombs. The presence of figurines of children is also natural, since their indispensable duty was to take care of the funeral cult of their parents.

First hurt(they were discussed in question No. 2) date back to the 21st century. BC. If it was not possible to achieve a portrait resemblance between the ushabti and the deceased, the name and title of the owner whom it replaced was written on each figurine. Tools and bags were placed in the hands of the ushabti, and they were painted on their backs. Statues of scribes, overseers, and boatmen appear (ill. 51-a). For ushabti, baskets, hoes, hammers, jugs, etc. were made from faience or bronze. The number of ushabtis in one tomb could reach several hundred. There were those who bought 360 pieces - one person for each day of the year. The poor bought one or two ushabtis, but along with them they put a list of three hundred and sixty such “helpers” in the coffin.

During some rituals, sculptures of bound prisoners were used. Οʜᴎ probably replaced living prisoners during the corresponding rituals (say, killing defeated enemies).

The Egyptians believed that the constant presence of sculptural images of participants in a religious ritual in the temple seemed to ensure the eternal performance of this ritual. For example, part of the sculptural group has been preserved, where the gods Horus and Thoth put a crown on the head of Ramesses III - this is how the coronation rite was reproduced, in which the roles of the gods were played by priests in appropriate masks. Its installation in the temple was supposed to contribute to the long reign of the king.

Found in tombs wooden the statues are associated with the funeral ritual (the repeated raising and lowering of the statue of the deceased as a symbol of the victory of Osiris over Set).

Statues of pharaohs were placed in sanctuaries and temples in order to place the pharaoh under the protection of the deity and at the same time glorify the ruler.

The giant colossal statues of the pharaohs embodied the most sacred aspect of the essence of the kings - their ka.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, canonical figures of the pharaoh appear standing with his left leg extended forward, in a short girdle and crown, sitting with a royal scarf on his head (ill. 53, 53-a), kneeling, with two vessels in his hands (ill. 54) , in the form of a sphinx, with the gods, with the queen (ill. 55).

In the eyes of ancient Eastern people, the physical and mental health of the king was understood as a condition for the successful fulfillment of his function as a mediator between the world of people and the world of gods. Since the pharaoh for the Egyptians acted as the guarantee and embodiment of the “collective” well-being and prosperity of the country, he not only could not have flaws (which could also cause disasters), but also surpass mere mortals in physical strength. With the exception of the brief Amarna period, pharaohs have always been depicted as endowed with enormous physical strength.

The main requirement for the sculptor is to create the image of the pharaoh as the son of god. This determined the choice of artistic means. Despite the constant portraiture, there was a clear idealization of the appearance, developed muscles and a gaze directed into the distance were invariably present. The divinity of the pharaoh was complemented by details, for example, Khafre is guarded by a falcon, the sacred bird of the god Horus

The Amarna period was marked by a completely new approach to conveying the image of a person in sculpture and relief. The desire of the pharaoh to be different from the images of his predecessors - gods or kings - resulted in the fact that in the sculpture he appeared, it is believed, without any embellishment on a skinny, folded neck - an elongated face, with drooping half-open lips, a long nose, half-closed eyes, puffy belly, thin ankles with full hips

Statues of private individuals.

The Egyptians have always imitated official sculpture - images of pharaohs and gods, strong, strict, calm and majestic. The sculptures never express anger, surprise, or smile. The spread of statues of private individuals was facilitated by the fact that nobles began to build their own tombs.

The statues were of different sizes - from several meters to very small figures of several centimeters.

Sculptors, sculpting private individuals, were also obliged to adhere to the canon, primarily frontality and symmetry in the construction of the figure (ill. 60, 61). All statues have the same straight head, and almost the same attributes in their hands.

During the era of the Old Kingdom, sculptural statues of married couples with children appeared (ill. 62, 63), scribes sitting cross-legged, with an unrolled papyrus scroll on their knees - at first only royal sons were depicted this way

Temple of Horus in Edfu

Material and processing.

Already in the Old Kingdom there were sculptures made of red and black granite, diorite, quartzite (ill. 68), alabaster, slate, limestone, and sandstone. The Egyptians loved hard rocks.

Images of gods, pharaohs, and nobles were made mainly of stone (granite, limestone, quartzite). It is worth saying that for small figurines of people and animals, bone and faience were most often used. Servant statues were made of wood. Ushabti were made of wood, stone, glazed faience, bronze, clay, and wax. Only two ancient Egyptian copper sculptures are known.

Inlaid eyes with contoured relief rims of the eyelids are characteristic of statues made of limestone, metal or wood.

The limestone and wood sculptures were originally painted.

Late Egyptian sculptors began to prefer granite and basalt to limestone and sandstone. But bronze became the favorite material. Images of gods and figurines of animals dedicated to them were made from it. Some were made up of separately manufactured parts; the cheap ones were cast in clay or plaster molds. Most of these figurines were made using the “lost wax” technique, widespread in Egypt; the sculptor made a blank of the future image from clay, covered it with a layer of wax, worked out the intended shape, coated it with clay and put it in the oven. The wax flowed out through a specially left hole, and liquid metal was poured into the resulting void. When the bronze cooled, the clay mold was broken and the product was removed, and its surface was carefully processed and then polished. For each product, its own form was created and the product turned out to be unique.

Bronze items were usually decorated with engraving and inlays. For the latter, thin gold and silver wires were used. Gold stripes were used to outline the eyes of the ibis, and necklaces made of gold threads were placed on the necks of bronze cats.

The famous ancient Egyptian colossal statues are of interest from the point of view of the complexity of processing solid materials.

On the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, there are two statues dating from the New Kingdom, called the “colossi of Memnon”. According to one version of Egyptologists, the Greek name Memnom comes from one of the names of Amenhotep III. According to another version, after the earthquake on 27 ᴦ. BC. one of the statues was significantly damaged, and, probably due to differences in night and day temperatures, the cracked stone began to make continuous sounds. This began to attract pilgrims who believed that in this way the Ethiopian king Memnon, a character in Homer’s Iliad, greeted the goddess of the dawn Eos, his mother.

At the same time, there are no intelligible explanations of how colossi made of quartzite, 20-21 meters high, each weighing 750 tons, were placed on a pedestal also made of quartzite weighing 500 tons manually, can not found. Moreover, it was still necessary to deliver stone monoliths (or parts thereof?) 960 kilometers away up along the Nile.

Sculpture from the Early Dynastic period comes mainly from three large centers where the 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. The list of Kheb-sed monuments includes a statue of Pharaoh Khasekhem, represented seated 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.

Old Kingdom Sculpture

Significant changes in sculpture occur 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 share 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 Senwosret 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 sculpted portraits of his son Amenemhat 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 heyday of the plastic arts of small forms, 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

In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait appears, especially images of a married couple.

The art of relief acquires new qualities. This artistic field is noticeably influenced by certain genres of literature that became widespread during the New Kingdom: hymns, war 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. Reliefs are still arranged according to registers, allowing the creation of narrative cycles of enormous spatial extent

Wooden sculpture of one of the Egyptian gods with the head of a ram

Late Kingdom sculpture

During the time of Kush, in the field of sculpture, the skills of ancient high craftsmanship partly fade away - for example, portrait images on funeral masks and statues are often replaced by conditionally idealized ones. At the same time, the technical skill of sculptors is improving, manifesting itself mainly in the decorative field. One of the best portrait works is the head of the statue of Mentuemhet, made in a realistic and authentic manner.

During the period of Sais's reign, staticity, conventional outlines of faces, canonical poses, and even the semblance of an “archaic smile”, characteristic of the art of the Early and Old Kingdoms, again became relevant in sculpture. However, the masters of Sais interpret these techniques only as a theme for stylization. At the same time, Sais art produces many wonderful portraits. In some of them, deliberately archaic forms imitating ancient rules are combined with rather bold deviations from the canon. Thus, in the statue of the close associate of Pharaoh Psametikh I, the canon of a symmetrical image of a seated figure is observed, but, in violation of it, the left leg of the seated person is placed vertically. In the same way, canonically static body shapes and the modern style of depicting faces are freely combined.

In the few monuments from the era of Persian rule, purely Egyptian stylistic features also predominate. Even the Persian king Darius is depicted on the relief in the garb of an Egyptian warrior with sacrificial gifts, and his name is written in hieroglyphs.

The majority of sculptures of the Ptolemaic period are also made in the traditions of the Egyptian canon. However, Hellenistic culture influenced the nature of the interpretation of the face, introducing greater plasticity, softness and lyricism.

Ancient Egypt. Male head from the Salt collection. First half of 3 thousand BC.

Figurine of the porter Meir. Tomb of Niankhpepi. VI dynasty, reign of Peggy II (2235-2141 BC). Cairo Museum

PEASANT WITH A HOE. For excavation work, a hoe was used, which was originally wooden, then metal ones appeared, consisting of two parts: a handle and a lever.

Three bearers of sacrificial gifts. Wood, painting; height 59 cm; length 56 cm; Meir, tomb of Niankhpepi the Black; excavations by the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1894); VI dynasty, reign of Pepi I (2289-2255 BC).