Ancient kingdom examples of works of art. Painting and relief in the ancient kingdom

“Ta-Meri - “Beloved Country.” This is what the ancient Egyptians called their land. And they had every reason to love and admire their country. The unique nature allowed a very early civilization to arise on the banks of the Nile in ancient times. This civilization, developing over many centuries, created the highest culture that gave humanity wonderful works architecture, literature, art."

Historical, economic and social conditions for the formation of the culture of Ancient Egypt

At the end of 4 thousand BC, at a time when Europe lived in the Stone Age, a highly developed civilization was already maturing in North Africa in the Nile Valley.
Ancient Egypt developed in the lower and middle reaches of the Nile.
Already in the 2nd half of 2 thousand BC, during its heyday - during the era of the New Kingdom, the power of the pharaohs extended to the fourth Nile cataracts in the south and extended to large territories in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as on the Red Sea coast.
Since the Early Dynastic period, all of Egypt has been divided into two large regions: Upper and Lower Egypt. And these, in turn, had several dozen regions, which the Greeks called nomes.

Egyptian beliefs and their reflection in art.

Among Egyptian amulets, the image of a scarab beetle was widespread. The ancient Egyptians believed that the scarab had life-giving powers. He was a symbol of eternal life. A scarab rolling a ball is a symbol of the movement of the solar disk across the sky.

First of all, the art of Ancient Egypt reflected the ancient Egyptians’ concern for eternal life and other world. These are tombs, sarcophagi, funerary and ritual statues.
The ancient Egyptians believed that for the prosperous existence of a spiritual person in the afterlife, the preservation of his “material shell” was necessary. Hence the capital stone structures - tombs and the appearance of portrait statues of the deceased and his entourage (deputy mummy).

Much was done for a blessed eternal life in the other world.

Another important component of Egyptian art: the cult of the pharaoh - the god-equal ruler of Egypt. This was necessary to strengthen the power and unity of the state. In art, the cult of the pharaoh was reflected in the grandiose monumentality of architecture and the creation of numerous statues, colossi, sphinxes, reliefs and paintings.

Main features (features) of the art of Ancient Egypt
Egyptian civilization was the creator of:
- magnificent monumental stone architecture
- a sculptural portrait, remarkable for its realistic truthfulness
- beautiful handicrafts.

1. The monumentality of stone architecture.

2. Realism and truthfulness of sculptural portraits are combined with generalization and stylization.

3. A striking feature of the art of Ancient Egypt was devotion to traditions in art and adherence to certain canons.
The reason for this was that the overwhelming majority of the art monuments of Ancient Egypt had a religious and cult purpose. Therefore, the creators of these monuments were obliged to follow established canons.

4. Canonization of the simplest image techniques. This happened due to the fact that the religious views of the Egyptians attributed sacred meaning to the artistic appearance of the first, ancient monuments Egyptian art.

In the art of Ancient Egypt, a number of conventions were preserved, dating back to primitive art and becoming canonical:
- an image of objects and animals that are invisible to neither the viewer nor the artist, but which can definitely be present in a given scene (for example, fish and crocodiles under water).
- image of an object using a schematic listing of its parts (tree foliage in the form of many conventionally arranged leaves or bird plumage in the form of individual feathers);
- a combination in the same scene of images of objects taken from different angles. For example, the bird was depicted in profile, with the tail on top;

A combination of different angles was also used to depict the human figure:
- head in profile,
- eyes to the front,
- shoulders to the front,
- arms and legs - in profile.

5. Another feature of the ancient Egyptian style is the emphasized geometric shapes in architecture and sculpture.
In this way, the Egyptians achieved the generalization or stylization that was required by the canon. There are suggestions that geometrization and special proportionality were due to the ancient Egyptians working primarily with stone rather than clay, as was the case, for example, in Mesopotamia.

In Ancient Egypt, a sculptor was called “sankh,” which means “creator of life.” By recreating the image of the deceased, he seemed to be recreating a double in case the mummy decayed...
Egyptian art was recreated in honor of the kings and the ideas of the divinity of the king (pharaoh). It is important that it was not thought of as a source aesthetic pleasure, and above all, as a statement in striking forms and images of these very ideas and the power that was endowed by the pharaoh - “good god,” according to his official title.

Periodization

Predynastic period

Already during the predynastic period, the ancient Egyptians, who lived in tribal communities, especially carefully decorated the grave of the leader, since it was believed that his “eternal” existence ensured the prosperity of the entire community.
In the visual arts of this time, a system of certain ways of conveying the surrounding reality gradually began to take shape - the ancient Egyptian style. This can be clearly seen in a group of monuments that is important for the history of art – tiles with relief images. Small flat stone plates were used for grinding and mixing paints used during religious rites.
The first monument that very clearly shows the composition of the ancient Egyptian style and has national significance is the Narmer slab.

OK. 3000 BC e. Slate. Height - 64 cm.

It refers to an important time of formation Egyptian civilization and the emergence of the first ancient Egyptian state.
The plate was made to commemorate the unification of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt into a single state.

After the victory, King Menes founded a new capital in Memphis, on the border of the two countries, which allowed him to more successfully rule the united state.
The slab came to us from his successor Narmer.

Content:
On one side, the king in the crown of southern Egypt kills a northerner, below are fleeing northerners.
On the other side, at the top there is a celebration of the victory: the king in the crown of the defeated North goes with his entourage to look at the headless corpses of the enemies, and below is the king in the form of a bull, destroying the enemy fortress and trampling the enemy; the middle part of this side is occupied by a symbolic cult scene of unclear content.

In this monument one can already trace the main features of the emerging ancient Egyptian style:
- Line by line image
- Addition of a completed composition with a compositional center (the principle of dominance and subordination)
- Expressiveness of silhouettes.
- Consistency and symmetry in the depiction of figures.
- Individual figures are made larger than others to emphasize their important role.

Early kingdom

Architecture occupied a leading position in Egyptian art from the earliest times.
Residential architecture made of wood and raw brick (made from unfired clay) has not been preserved.
In the field of tomb architecture, by the end of the Early Kingdom, the appearance of the burials of Egyptian kings and nobility was formed.
The brick and stone building included underground burial chambers and a rectangular structure above ground. Its walls were inclined inward, and the top ended with a flat roof.
In the above-ground part, cult rooms were arranged for statues of the gods and the owner of the tomb with an altar in front of the so-called false door, that is, in front of the image of the door, as if leading to the “eternal dwelling” of the deceased.
The name of these buildings is mastaba (from the Arabic bench).

Ancient kingdom

The time of the final addition of all the main forms of Egyptian art.
Architecture
It was during the period of the Old Kingdom that the most famous Egyptian type of tomb, the pyramid, took shape.

The ancient Egyptian architects were faced with the task of creating an impression of the overwhelming power and strength of the pharaoh's power. For this purpose, the shape of a pyramid was invented to increase the above-ground part of the tomb.

Ancient Kingdom, mid-27th century. BC. Architect Imhotep. Most likely, the architect's intention was to stack several mastabas of decreasing size on top of each other.

Transitional view – . Beginning of the 26th century BC. Ancient kingdom.

Egyptian necropolises have always been located on the west bank of the Nile.

The pharaohs of the 4th dynasty chose a place for their burials not far from Saqqara - in modern Giza.

Three great classical pyramids of the pharaohs Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mikerin (Menkaure). They are made of giant limestone blocks with an average weight of 2.5 tons, which are held together by their own gravity.
The ensemble includes small pyramids of queens and mortuary temples adjacent to the pyramid on the eastern side.

A sphinx was often placed near the lower mortuary temple.
Sphinx- lying lion with human face. He embodied the superhuman essence of the pharaoh.

The Great Sphinx is located at the lower mortuary temple of Khafre. It is believed to have a portrait image of a pharaoh. Carved from monolithic limestone rock. The statue is missing its nose, damage one meter wide.
Versions: this part of the statue was knocked off by a cannonball during Napoleon’s battle with the Turks (1798); The falsity of this opinion is indicated by the drawings of a Danish traveler who saw the noseless Sphinx already in 1737 - in other versions of the legend, Napoleon’s place is taken by the British or Mamelukes.

Photograph XIX century. Architect Hemiun. Second quarter of the 26th century. BC. One of the "seven wonders of the world". Built on a massive natural rocky hill, which was located in the very middle of the base of the pyramid, its height is about 9 meters. The cladding of the pyramid was made, making it shine in the sun.

Towards the end of the Old Kingdom period there appears new type the buildings are a solar temple. It was built on a hill and surrounded by a wall. In the center of a spacious courtyard with chapels, they placed a colossal stone obelisk with a gilded copper top and a huge altar at the foot.

. Obelisk with Egyptian writings.

Sculpture

During the era of the Old Kingdom, the main features of sculpture developed:
- symmetry and frontality in the construction of figures
- clarity and calmness of postures.
- geometricism and generalization of form.
- mandatory preservation of portrait features.

Full image of the figure:
1. standing with the left leg extended forward - a pose of movement in eternity.
2. Seated on a cube-shaped throne. 3. In a "scribe" position with legs crossed on the ground.

Triad of Mikerin (Cairo).
Pharaoh Mikerin accompanied by goddesses. Sculptural group from the mortuary temple of Mikerin in Giza. Ancient kingdom.
Pose of movement in eternity. The theme of the unity of the godlike pharaoh with the patron goddesses. Immaculately beautiful forms.

Ancient kingdom. Symmetry and frontality in the construction of the figure.

. 27th century BC e. Ancient kingdom. Cairo Museum.
The noble spouses sit solemnly before us. According to the canon, the male figure is painted brick-red, the female figure yellow. The hair on straight-set heads was always black, and the clothes were white. No halftones, decorative.

Scribe Kaya. From his tomb at Saqqara. Limestone with coloring, inlaid eyes. 25 – 1st floor 24th century BC. H - only 53 cm. The body is tinted in the “tan color” traditional for male figures. Shown without a wig. A close, attentive gaze, ready to write down.
The statue was found during excavations in Kon. 19th century When the workers made their way into the tomb, the eyes of the statue sparkled so brightly that the poor people ran away in horror. And then, mistaking her for the embodiment of the devil, they wanted to break her. The head of the excavation had to defend the ancient statue with a pistol in his hands. So the statue of Kaya almost died thanks to the power of the artistic effect of the inlaid eyes.
The proteins were made from opaque quartz; the cornea is made of crystal, coated with brown resin, which, shining through the crystal, creates the illusion of brown eyes. The pupil was a drop of black resin that filled a small depression on the back of the “cornea.”

Middle Kingdom

From 23rd to 21st centuries. As a result of the war, the decline of the idea of ​​​​the divine power of the pharaoh, the country collapsed. This influenced the development of individualism in art.
Individualism manifested itself in the fact that everyone began to care about their own immortality - not only the pharaoh and the nobles, but also simple people. The cult of the dead has become very simplified. Mastaba-type tombs became an unnecessary luxury. To ensure eternal life, one stela was enough - a stone slab on which magical texts were written.
The pharaohs continued to build pyramid-shaped tombs, but their size was significantly reduced. The material for construction was no longer stone blocks, but raw brick, so at present these pyramids are piles of ruins.

With the new stage of centralization of power during the Middle Kingdom, construction intensified again.
Along with the pyramids, a new type of burial structure appeared - a half-rock temple. He combined traditional form pyramids and rock tomb.

(Valley of the Kings). Middle Kingdom.

Sculpture

. His gaze and energetic facial expression with wide cheekbones reveal the tough character of this king.

New kingdom

After the split of the Middle Kingdom, a united Egypt rebelled with new strength in the New Kingdom. This is the period of greatest prosperity, the triumph of Egyptian power. The king of the then powerful state of Mitanni testified that in the power of the pharaoh “gold is the same as dust.”
The construction still aims to affirm the divine character of royal power. But instead of pyramids, temples are now being built.
The tombs of the pharaohs are being built in the so-called “Valley of the Kings” - Deir el-Bahri opposite Thebes.

An example of a semi-rock mortuary temple is.

OK. 1500 BC Architect Senmut.
All parts of the temple are located along a horizontal axis. Three terraces rise one above the other. Alternating horizontal lines represent infinity or eternity. The terraces contained ponds densely lined with trees. The halls of the temple are carved into the rock.

(Senenmut, the queen's favorite) with Hatshepsut's daughter little Nefrura.

The halls of the temple were decorated with magnificent paintings and sculptures depicting expeditions to distant lands.

Like the temples themselves, everything in front of them breathed with solemnity and grandeur: alleys of sphinxes, giant statues of pharaohs - colossi.
Gigantomania characterizes many monuments of the New Kingdom era.

Ramses II is one of the most powerful pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

The statues of the pharaoh at the entrance to the temple are striking in their size - 20 m in height. The temple is dedicated to the pharaoh and three gods: Amon, Ra, and Ptah.

Head of the Colossus of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel

The Karnak and Luxor temples are considered the most grandiose buildings of the New Kingdom.

Architect Ineni. Dedicated to the supreme god – Amon. It was built over several centuries - from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemaic era. Each pharaoh tried to perpetuate his name here.
The temple was an elongated rectangle surrounded by a high massive wall.

Karnak. Plan. 1. Alley of Sphinxes. 12th century BC e. 2. Large courtyard with temples of pharaohs Seti II and Ramesses III. 3. Hypostyle hall. 15th-13th centuries BC e. 4. Yard. 5. main part the temple of the god Amun-Ra (16-12 centuries BC) with the ruins of the temple of the Middle Kingdom and the temple of Pharaoh Thutmes III. 6. Temple of the god Khonsu. 12th century BC e. Roman numerals indicate pylons.

The temple consisted of a complex of structures located along the longitudinal axis of the temple: A road led from the Nile to the temple - the Alley of Sphinxes.

starts from the ancient pier on the banks of the Nile and leads to the first pylon. The alley was created under Ramesses II (XIX Dynasty, New Kingdom). Sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of a ram. The ram is the sacred animal of the god Amun.
During the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo I (30th Dynasty, Ptolemaic, Late Period), the three-kilometer road connecting the temples of Luxor and Karnak was decorated with stone sculptures of sphinxes. The part of the alley that began at Karnak consisted of sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of a ram; From the Luxor Temple there was an alley in which the sphinxes had human heads.
The entrance to the temple is called pylons. Usually, giant statues of the pharaoh and gilded obelisks were erected in front of them.

After the pylon there were several internal courtyards, replacing each other: a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade around the perimeter - peristyle (peristyle). In the center of the courtyard there was a sacrificial stone.


Next came a hall entirely filled with columns - the hypostyle (hypostyle).
At Karnak, a giant hypostyle courtyard (hall) was built by Pharaoh Ramses II.
Its S is 5000 m².
Counts approx. 134 columns arranged in 16 rows.
N central – 23 m.
The capitals of each of them could accommodate 100 people.
Here, in the twilight, the subjects felt with particular force the greatness and incomprehensibility of the divine principle of the pharaoh who created this temple.

Behind the courtyard-halls, in the depths of the temple, there was a prayer house, consisting of several rooms. Its center was a hall where, on a sacrificial stone, there was a sacred boat with a statue of the main god, Amun.

The temple included numerous utility rooms.

Sacred ponds were always built on the temple grounds.

Temple in Luxor
Somewhat smaller than Karnak, but harmony and clarity brighten up the “excesses”. Also dedicated to the sun god Amun-Ra. Located on the right bank of the Nile, in the southern part of Thebes, within modern city Luxor.
It was connected to Karnak by a paved avenue of sphinxes.
The oldest part was founded under Amenhotep III. Ramesses the Great added the northern peristyle and pylon.

At the northern entrance of the Luxor Temple there are four colossi and two obelisks, one of which was transported in the 1830s. to Paris, to the Place de la Concorde.

Amenhotep III was one of the greatest builder pharaohs Egypt has ever known. Near the ruins of his mortuary temple, an alley of sphinxes sculpted from pink Aswan granite was excavated in the last century.
Two of them now stand on Universitetskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg, opposite the Academy of Arts.

Luxor. The Ramesseum is a hypostyle hall built by Ramses the Great. The slenderness of the columns with capitals in the form of open panicles and papyrus buds makes an indelible impression.

Luxor. Old picture Columned Hall of Amenhotep III.

Art of the Middle New Kingdom During the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton)

Art of the second half of the New Kingdom

conclusions

The first known manifestations of painting in Egyptian art are fragmentary and can hardly help to recreate the picture of its use, but painting from the very beginning of Egyptian culture was the main decorative arts, not limited to wall painting only, but finding application to any substrate, such as ceramics, fabric or papyrus.

The first surviving wall painting comes from a 4th millennium BC funerary crypt located at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. It depicts animals, people, as well as boats, forming a complex composition of figures placed nearby that do not reveal a specific spatial direction. The painting that has come down to us from the Old Kingdom is scanty and does not make it possible to fully imagine the development of this art during the first dynasties, however, numerous scenes must have been depicted for decorating the walls of tombs.

Starting from the III dynasty, pictorial models were unified and various tested solutions developed into a mature, uniform style that would become characteristic of the entire country. The painted relief acquires a monumental character when applied to the walls of mastabas, and above all of the first large funeral complex of King Djoser. Frescoes and reliefs create a setting designed to surround the deceased in his tomb. The relief reaches high filigree, including the smallest silhouettes of hieroglyphs.

Wall in reliefs early era, belonging to the First Theban Dynasty, achieves such achievements in forms that will later become widespread.

We are talking about the “Wadi Stele”, depicting the god Horus above the hieroglyph of the snake king. For the first time, steles are being created that represent the name of the king on a monumental level. Very finely finished, this ideogram synthesizes the figures of both animals: a falcon towering above the palace structure, inside which a snake is kept. The filigree of the technique and the harmony of the composition make this ideogram one of the most significant reliefs in Egyptian art.

Other, later panels, dating from the Fifth Dynasty tomb of Hezir at Saqqara, are made of wood with elaborate carvings on each of its elements, demonstrating the effectiveness of the technique in the hands of Egyptian artisans.

Depicting details: careful contemplation of reality

The first wall paintings used a narrow range of dyes (brown, black, white, red and green), but mixed with such skill that they provided a great variety of shades, as evidenced by the painting belonging to one of the mastabas in Medum ("Geese", Cairo , Egyptian Museum), which belonged to Ne-fermaat, a major official of the IV dynasty. The painting depicts a bird hunt with a snare. Nile geese graze freely against a pinkish-gray background. The bodies of the geese are depicted with great care in their characteristic profile. The thoroughness of the image of each feather speaks of the accuracy of the reproduction of the original model, which can only be captured through careful observation of nature. The white and black tones are complemented by a color scheme of red, brownish and green.

Other fragments depicting birds and crocodiles, fragments from the tomb of Methet of the VI dynasty at Saqqara (Paris, Louvre), reproduce figures conveyed by several characteristic essential features and with high degree confidence and maturity of lines. Compared to animals image human figure is subject to a strict canon, which is still not so strict when playing secondary or inferior characters social class, such as servants, artisans and peasants. These figures acquire great liveliness, not only in their gaze, but also in the dynamism of gestures and poses. These characters are depicted in the process of labor (scenes from the tombs of the 4th and 5th dynasties). The figures of woodcutters, shepherds and peasants are very expressive. However, when these same figures act as bearers of offerings, as in the case of the tomb of Ankh-Ma-Gor at Saqqara, they embody greater reserve and stillness.

One of the most common scenes in masta-bah is a hunting scene in swampy waters. The tomb of the official Ti at the necropolis of Saqqara, dating back to the 5th dynasty, reveals some of the most beautiful paintings in bas-relief. Among them, one large painting stands out, in which the person depicted is represented in his boat, while his servants are pursuing river hippopotamuses with spears. Geometric shapes dominate each of the elements, inserting them into a strict order of vertical and horizontal lines: the background is formed by an extensive pattern of papyrus stems of triangular profile; a horizontal line marking a body of water reveals zigzag lines within it. Even the birds' nests at the top of the stage are arranged in a strict order.

culture mesopotamia egypt china

In the 8th millennium BC. e. in northeast Africa, in the lower reaches of the Nile River, the first Egyptian cities arose: Memphis, Hierakonpolis, etc. Several dozen centuries passed, and to III millennium BC e. , as a result of the unification of the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, one of the most ancient states on Earth was formed, which gave birth to the wonderful and great culture of the Ancient East, which played a crucial role in the formation ancient culture and in further history development of society. In art there is a direct tradition, passed on from master to student, from student to connoisseur or copyist, connecting mysterious early forms artistic creativity with the culture of our time. Its study represents big interest also because we can find out the ways of the formation and development of art in one of the first class societies in the history of mankind and establish a reflection in it of the changes that took place in the life of the Egyptian slave society, because the history of the emergence and development of the art of Ancient Egypt can be traced over a vast period of time - over four thousand years.

Egyptian art is interesting and important for its beautiful monuments of timeless, great artistic value and the fact that many things were created by the Egyptian people for the first time in human history. Egypt was the first in the world to produce monumental stone architecture, remarkable for its realistic truthfulness sculptural portrait, high skill artistic craft products. Egyptian architects and sculptors had excellent mastery of the art of processing various types of stone. They brought to high perfection the artistic crafts of wood and bone carving, different kinds metal processing, finest jewelry works from gold, silver and semi-precious stones, production of colored glass and faience, thin transparent fabrics. These works of Egyptian masters are remarkable for the combination of amazing taste in the choice of form and material with unusual care in execution, reaching the point that up to 20 thousand inserts from pieces of ivory or ebony were used to inlay another casket

Like milestones, the Egyptian pyramids rise on the distant horizon of history - weathered man-made stone mountains. And no matter how alien and unapproachable they may seem, they can tell a lot about themselves. The pyramids tell the story of a society so clearly organized that it became possible to build these gigantic artificial hills just during the lifetime of the reigning person. In my opinion, Ancient Egypt, the “gift of the Nile” and the country of the pyramids, is not just a unique state, but a great and powerful state, not only in its inviolability, steadfastness in its supreme power, but also more topics the enormous impact of culture that we experience today, five millennia after its creation. What served as a prerequisite for the emergence of the truly magical art of the ancient Egyptians, what forced them to create such grandiose structures, what was the basis of their great culture? Let's try to find answers to these questions by turning to the spiritual sources of ancient Egyptian art.

The most important distinctive feature art of Ancient Egypt is that it was designed to serve the needs of religion, including the funeral cult and the state cult of the deified pharaoh. Religion is the fundamental basis of ancient Egyptian art, its integral component, a factor that had a direct influence on the development of Egyptian culture as a whole throughout its existence. Monuments of ancient Egyptian art throughout its history overwhelmingly had cult significance.

The slow nature of the development of ancient Egyptian society gave rise to stagnation religious ideas, canonization artistic images. Emerging in the ancient period, Egyptian art continued to retain its characteristics for many centuries. But, despite this, throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian art developed, acquiring various artistic forms in different historical periods

Egyptian art was created for the glory of the kings, for the glory of the unshakable and incomprehensible ideas on which they based their despotic rule. It was conceived not as a source of aesthetic pleasure, but primarily as a statement in striking forms and images of these very ideas and the power with which the pharaoh was endowed. Art began to serve the interests of the top of the slave-owning state and its head; it was called upon, first of all, to create monuments glorifying the kings and nobility of the slave-owning despotism. Such works, by their very purpose, had to be performed according to certain rules, which contributed to the formation of canons that became a brake in further development Egyptian art. An example of a pre-dynastic monument exalting a pharaoh is the Narmer slate slab, 64 cm high, covered on both sides with relief images and short hieroglyphic inscriptions recounting a significant historical event: the victory of Narmer, king of Upper Egypt, over Lower Egypt and the unification of the Nile Valley into a single state. “The main significance of this monument is that it is not only a kind of summation of the artistic creativity of previous periods, but also the most striking example of the art of the time of the first pharaohs in Egypt, the first example of the so-called “Egyptian style.” For the purpose of maximum clarity, the same essentially the theme is repeated several times in Narmer's palette different options. In the center, Narmer crushes the head of the enemy leader with his mace. On the reverse side, at the top, Narmer, wearing the crown of Lower Egypt, heads as a conqueror to the place where the prisoners of war lie bound and beheaded. Below, the king in the form of a bull breaks the jagged fence of the settlement with his horns and tramples the defeated enemy with his hooves.

Using the example of the Narmer palette, one can see the emphasis on social inequality in the visual arts that is characteristic of this early class society. The pharaoh is four times taller than the other tribal leaders. This principle was repeated in the art of Ancient Egypt for decades. In reliefs and paintings, the pharaoh was traditionally depicted much taller than everyone else, and the statues of the pharaohs acquired enormous dimensions, overwhelming the viewer with their grandeur and power (statues of Ramesses II in Abu Simbel, colossi of Amenhotep III in Thebes, statues of Queen Hatshepsut 5 and 8 m high from the temple in Deir el-Bahri, the statue of Pharaoh Khafre in Giza, etc.). The Sphinx of Khafre, standing in front of the mortuary temple of this pharaoh, amazes with its monumentality. This sphinx, carved in the 3rd millennium BC. e. , is overwhelming in its size - its height is 20 m, length -57 m. This is the largest of all the sphinxes of Egypt known to us. Its basis is a natural limestone rock, which in its shape resembled the figure of a reclining lion and was processed in the form of a colossal sphinx, and the missing parts were added from suitably hewn limestone slabs. The Sphinx wears a royal striped scarf on his head, a uraeus, a sacred snake, which, according to Egyptian beliefs, protects the pharaohs and gods, is carved on his forehead, and an artificial beard worn by Egyptian kings is visible under his chin. The Sphinx's face was painted brick red, and the stripes of her scarf were blue and red. Despite its gigantic size, the face of the Sphinx still conveys the main portrait features of Pharaoh Khafre (Khefre). In ancient times, the Sphinx, a colossal monster with the face of a pharaoh, was supposed to inspire, along with the pyramids, an idea of ​​the superhuman power of the rulers of Egypt.

In order to emphasize the power and greatness of the pharaohs, their divine origin, the sculptors of Ancient Egypt depicted their rulers in an idealized manner (with the exception of the sculptors who worked during the El-Amarna period, in the first half of the 14th century BC, when strictly real features prevailed in sculpture). the figures of the pharaohs emphasized physical power. 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. A striking example of such a work of art is the statue of Pharaoh Khafre, the ruler of the IV dynasty. It was found by the French Egyptologist Mariette in the mortuary temple in Giza, at the bottom of a well. The image of the deified pharaoh is full of majestic calm: not a single muscle trembles on the face of this strong and powerful man. He sits proudly on his throne, and Horus the falcon, the guardian of royal power, spreads his wings over him. “The composition is built on the principle of a symmetrical arrangement of body parts on the sides of the central axis, cutting the entire figure. This achieves complete balance between the right and left parts of the figure, a certain conventionality of the composition and solemnity of the pose. The statue has a cult character; according to the Egyptians, it is a receptacle for the spiritual essence of the deceased. The portrait appearance of the king is interpreted in this regard. The portrait of Khafre is quite real, but it emphasizes not so much personal resemblance as the type of pharaoh - the largest ruler of ancient Eastern despotism, detached from everyday life and living for centuries.

Not only reliefs, paintings and statues, but also architectural works served to glorify the pharaohs. Grandiose temples and entire temple complexes were erected in honor of the deified kings of Ancient Egypt. One of the best examples of a cult architectural work is the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, built at the end of the 16th century. BC e. architect Senshut in the Deir el-Bahri valley. The funeral temple is dedicated to the sun god Amon-Ra and his relatives Hathor and Anubis, but the main deity in whose glory and memory it was erected is the queen herself. That is why the most elaborate paintings and the most important inscriptions are devoted to the description of the birth and coronation of the queen and the most remarkable of military exploits her reign - a campaign in the country of Punt. “There are other monuments, such as the two obelisks and the sanctuary of the great temple at Karnak, and the inscription in the chapel of Stab el-Antara, which shed some light on the glorious reign of Queen Hatshepsut, but Deir el-Bahri became for her an exceptional place of commemoration of her life and power pharaoh. The testimony is invaluable to us, for Pharaoh Deir el-Bahri is a woman. In the long line of monarchs who ruled two Egypts for 4000 years, we will still meet women who ruled personally, but the first of them was Hatshepsut. Thus, in addition to its artistic significance, Deir el-Bahri is a rich source of information about one of the most curious personalities of the pharaonic kingdom.” Despite the fact that this great queen ruled Egypt for more than twenty years and left behind imperishable monuments, her name is not in the official lists of kings preserved on the tablets of Abydos and Saqqara, in the Turin papyri or in Manephond. The pharaohs banished this woman from the chronological records, and therefore all the inscriptions relating to her reign are fragmented.

Thus, the cult of the pharaoh, which reached its apogee in the era of the Old Kingdom - the time of the zenith in the development of centralized despotism and the greatest idealization of the power of the ruler, became the state religion in Egypt and found its embodiment in art, influencing primarily the plot circle works of art: sculptural portraits of pharaohs, paintings and relief images of scenes from the life of their families and, of course, pyramids and temples erected in honor of the autocratic rulers of the state were of predominant importance in ancient Egyptian art.

Having analyzed the monuments of artistic creativity that have come down to us from the distant era of ancient Egyptian civilization, we can accurately determine two main themes in the art of Egypt in the period from approximately the 4th millennium BC. e. to 332 BC e. This is the theme of power and the theme of death. The power of the pharaoh over the threshold of Egypt, the superiority of the Egyptian state over neighboring tribes and kingdoms became stronger and stronger over time. But how to combine this with the most terrible thing that awaits a person - death? “Such unprecedented power, such power, and suddenly all this is destroyed...” In no other civilization has a protest against death found such a vivid, concrete and complete expression as in Egypt. This bold and stubborn protest inspired Egypt for several millennia. “Once it was possible to create on earth such a power that subjugated everything to itself, is it really impossible to perpetuate it, that is, continue it beyond the threshold of death? after all, nature is renewed annually, because the Nile - and Egypt, as Herodotus wrote, is the “gift of the Nile” - spilling, enriches the surrounding lands with its silt, gives birth to life and prosperity on them, and when it goes back, drought sets in: but this is not death, because then - and so every year - the Nile floods again! ”

And so in Egypt a creed was born, according to which the deceased awaits the Resurrection. Pharaoh- divine being and holder of supreme power -at the end His mission on Earth was to return to the gods among whom he dwelt before birth. The tomb, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians, was supposed to become the “house of eternity” of the pharaoh. Powerful autocrats forced thousands of armies of workers to work hard for them year after year, cutting granite blocks in quarries, delivering them to the construction site, lifting and laying them using the most primitive technology, and so on until the tomb was ready to receive the body of the ruler. “No other people, no other king, dared to incur such expenses and such labor for the sake of building tombstone. But in the eyes of the pharaohs and their subjects, the pyramids had important practical significance. Apparently, it was assumed that the pyramids rising to the heavens would help them ascend to the gods.” Although death in Ancient Egypt was recognized as equally “abnormal” for everyone, the means of combating it, i.e., reliable burials, inaccessible crypts, abundantly supplied with everything necessary for the deceased, were the privilege only of those in power, and primarily of the deified pharaoh. Thus, the funeral cult was inextricably intertwined with the cult of the king. This interweaving determined the tasks of ancient Egyptian art. Having found their solution, it changed relatively little, remaining for thousands of years as unshakable and incomprehensible as the ideas it expressed. Ancient Egyptian art as a whole appears to us as “the art of decorating death.”

In the ancient Egyptian text we read:

“There is something before which both the indifference of the constellations and the eternal whisper of the waves retreat - the actions of a person who robs death of its prey.”

The funeral cult in Ancient Egypt was not a cult of death, but a kind of denial of its triumph, a desire to prolong life and make sure that death - an abnormal phenomenon - would not violate the beauty of life. “Death is terrible when the deceased does not receive a dignified burial, allowing the soul to reunite with the body, terrible outside of Egypt, where the ashes are “wrapped in a ram's skin and buried behind a simple fence” in spite of all ritual rites.

No, the art of mortuary cult was not a dark art. Everything in the tomb and in its architecture, and in the paintings, and in the sculptures, and in all the luxury items with which it was filled to “please” the deceased, was supposed to express the beauty of life, such a majestic and calm beauty, as the imagination pictured it ancient Egyptian. It was the beauty of the sun blue sky, the beauty of a huge river, giving coolness and an abundance of earthly fruits, the beauty of the bright greenery of palm groves among the grandiose landscape of boundless yellow sands. Smooth distances and colors of nature, full of sound under the dazzling light, without haze, without halftones. The Egyptian cherished this beauty in his heart and wished to enjoy it forever, having overcome death.

The main embodiment of the mortuary cult and the idea of ​​​​the superhuman power of the pharaoh were the pyramids, and therefore architecture became the leading art form in Egypt. All other types were subordinate to it, dependent on it, i.e., in other words, art in Ancient Egypt was complex, synthetic, and this is its main and most characteristic feature. Egyptian art is unified in painting, in relief, and in round sculpture, since it largely developed as decoration, as a complement to what was considered important for pleasing the gods, for deifying the pharaoh and for the fight against death, i.e. .architecture. We know almost nothing about the architects who built the cathedrals and castles of feudal Europe. And those names that have come down to us are faceless, because architects were most often considered simple artisans, and they did not enjoy any special honor among secular and spiritual rulers. the architects of Ancient Egypt are in better position. The names of many of them are carved in stone on the monuments they created. The very incomprehensible majestic purpose of these monuments exalted them in the eyes of the Egyptians and their creators. And they, the creators, were aware of their merits and their glory.

Ryabov Daniil Alexandrovich

Report on the art of Ancient Egypt with presentation.

Download:

Preview:

Report on the topic: The Art of Ancient Egypt.

Prepared by 5th grade student Daniil Ryabov.

In Africa, on the banks of the Nile River, one of the first civilizations, Ancient Egypt, arose several thousand years ago. It had a rich history, and before today famous cultural monuments have reached. This mysterious pyramids, Egyptian sphinxes and many smaller artifacts exhibited in museums around the world. This is what the famous ancient Greek historian Herodotus said about this country.

Now I want to talk about Egypt, because this country has more outlandish and remarkable things compared to all other countries...

Just as the sky in Egypt is different than anywhere else, and just as their river has different natural properties than other rivers, so the morals and customs of the Egyptians are in almost every respect the opposite of the morals and customs of other peoples.

Ancient Egypt left behind a large number of monuments.The art of this state was closely connected with religion.Therefore the main cultural heritage has to do with the afterlife of the Egyptians. First of all, these are pyramids. These were huge buildings with rich decorations inside. Their construction was hard and long work. The pharaohs wanted to stand out from other people, which is why they built such majestic tombs. Their walls were decorated with carved paintings - bas-reliefs. They glorified the life of the ruler.

At the foot of the pyramids laygiant sphinxes - lions with a human face.Despite their enormous size, you can see portrait resemblances to pharaohs in them. These sculptures emphasized the greatness of the rulers and superhuman strength.

The painting of Ancient Egypt is original and easily recognizable. The main colors of their images are black, white and shades of brown, yellow and red. The primary colors remained bright for a long time because the images were covered with a layer of resin.They painted mainly people and gods.These were rather sketchy images of creatures with a human body and the head of a bird or animal.

Egyptians became the first to use writing and the alphabet.Their mysterious notes for a long time remained undeciphered. But in the end, scientists dealt with them. The Egyptian alphabet consisted of only consonants. To clarify what the word means, the icons were followed by a picture of the object being talked about. Therefore, the written messages of the Egyptians look like mysterious drawings.

Ancient Egypt was a great and mysterious civilization. He left behind many secrets and famous monuments. These places still attract the attention of scientists and tourists who come here specifically to see the pyramids and sphinxes, totouch history.

Slide captions:

Slide 1
Art of Ancient Egypt.
The presentation was made by Daniil Ryabov, 5th grade student of the Atratskaya Secondary School.

Slide 2
EPIGRAPH
Now I want to talk about Egypt, because in this country there is something more strange and remarkable compared to all other countries... Just as the sky in Egypt is different than anywhere else, and how their river has different natural properties than the rest rivers, and the morals and customs of the Egyptians are in almost all respects contrary to the morals and customs of other peoples. Herodotus

Slide 3
Main features of the art of Ancient Egypt.
The art of the ancient Egyptians is multifaceted: it is represented by architectural, sculptural, pictorial creations, literary monuments, achievements in the field of music.

Slide 4
Architecture of Egypt.
Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara. Architect Imhotep. 28th century. BC. Step pyramid, the world's oldest surviving large pyramid stone buildings. Built by the architect Imhotep in Saqqara for burial Egyptian pharaoh Djoser ca. 2650 BC e. The size of the pyramid is 125 meters x 115 meters, and the height is 62 meters.

Slide 5
Architecture of Egypt.
Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu) in Giza. 28th century. BC. The largest of Egyptian pyramids, the only one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” that has survived to this day. The original height of the pyramid was 146.6 meters (now 137.2 meters).

Slide 6
Pyramids of Pharaoh Cheops, Khafre, Menkaure.
In the suburbs of Cairo - Giza - there are three largest pyramids. The pyramids are huge pyramid-shaped stone structures that were used as tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The word "pyramid" is Greek and means polyhedron. A total of 118 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.

Slide 7
Temples. Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.
The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (15th century BC) is located at the very foot of the Deir el-Bahri cliffs. The complex of the temple of Queen Hatshepsut differs significantly from the temples of other Egyptian rulers. Its architecture and location were as unusual as the very appearance of a female pharaoh on the historical stage. The daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmes, Hatshepsut was the half-sister and great royal consort of Thutmose II.

Slide 8
Rock temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel.
Ramses II ordered the construction of a temple at Abu Simbel (a rock on the west bank of the Nile in which two famous ancient Egyptian temples to Ramses II and his wife Nefertari are carved) to commemorate his victory over the Hittites. The temple is impressive in size: 38 meters on the facade and 65 meters in depth.

Slide 9
Temple complex at Karnak.
Ipet-Isut, Karnak Temple - the largest temple complex Ancient Egypt, the main state sanctuary of the New Kingdom. The ensemble includes temples dedicated to the Theban triad - the supreme god Amun-Ra, his wife Mut and son Khonsu. Located on the territory of ancient Thebes in modern Karnak - a small village lying on the eastern bank of the Nile, 2.5 km from Luxor.

Slide 10
Avenue of the Sphinxes in Karnak.
During the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo I, the three-kilometer road connecting the temples of Luxor and Karnak was decorated with stone sculptures of sphinxes. The part of the alley that began at Karnak consisted of sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of a ram; From the Luxor Temple there was an alley in which the sphinxes had human heads.

Slide 11
Temple of Amon in Luxor.

Slide 12
Luxor. Papyrus-shaped columns.

Slide 13
Egyptian sculpture.
The Great Sphinx on the west bank of the Nile at Giza is the oldest surviving monumental sculpture on Earth. Carved from a monolithic limestone rock in the shape of a colossal sphinx - a lion lying on the sand, whose face, as has long been believed, was given a portrait resemblance to Pharaoh Khafre (c. 2575-2465 BC), whose funeral pyramid is located nearby. The length of the statue is 72 meters, height - 20 meters; Between the front paws there was once a small sanctuary.

Slide 14
Ancient Egyptian sculptural portrait.
Bust of Amenemhet III.
Statue of Ka of King Auibra Horus.
Nefertiti.

Slide 15
Relief in Ancient Egypt.
Relief is one of the types of sculpture. It is divided into types: - convex relief; - in-depth relief; - relief with an incised contour.

Slide 16
Painting.
A noble Egyptian woman at the toilet.
"Pharaoh's Hunt"
Pharaoh's wife

Slide 17
Tutankhamun's tomb.

Slide 18
External and internal sarcophagus.

Slide 19
Funeral mask of Tutankhamun.

Slide 20
Jewelry

Briefly, so that you can understand big picture about what it was like in those days.

As you know, nature has always been the inspiration of humanity. In the Nile Valley, it also provided opportunities for creativity - a lazy river, flat mountain tops, palm trees, lotus and papyrus.

The development of ancient Egyptian art was greatly influenced by people's beliefs. The Egyptians believed in an afterlife, so all their masterpieces were intended for the kingdom of the dead and rarely became the property of the living.

It was the Egyptians who gave the world the main architectural forms- column, pyramid, obelisk.

Old Kingdom

During the period one of the pharaohs founded the city of Memphis, which later became cultural center. In general, it was during this period that writing, religious laws, and secular principles were laid down.

Sculpture was of particular value - it was subject to strict laws visual arts those times. The craftsmen tried to maintain a characteristic resemblance to the personalities from whom the sculptures were created, again taking into account the significance of the afterlife.

Reliefs have also become widespread - sculptural images on surface. Moreover, at first the relief was flat (it practically did not protrude above the surface), and later they began to create deep relief.

For any work of fine art in the ancient Egyptian kingdom, it was typical for the figures of a lord, pharaoh or nobleman to be somewhat larger in size when compared with slaves or ordinary people. Obviously, this showed the difference in position and rank.

Middle Kingdom

The period of the Middle Kingdom is the XXI-XVIII centuries. BC e. A time when a centralized state no longer existed. Political center became the city of Thebes, and individual regions (nomes) became more independent, which allowed the development local schools. The nomarchs, the rulers of the nomes, elevated themselves to parochial pharaohs, allowing themselves to create their own mini-masterpieces.

This explains the fact that even the pyramids have become smaller and more inconspicuous.

Some of the most famous and recognizable pieces of art from this period are images with scenes of hunting and fishing.

In the tombs of the Middle Kingdom, wooden figurines of people who served their master are often found - warriors, shepherds, laundresses, plowmen.

Pectoral is an ornament that was worn on the chest and looked like a rectangular plate. It was always placed on the chest of the deceased.

The second half of this period is characterized by the appearance of statues of pharaohs in temples. They were put on public display, so the importance portrait resemblance was special.

Jewelry art is also flourishing. A recognizable decoration for Ancient Egypt is the pectoral. They appeared just in the Middle Kingdom. The most common image for them was the scarab beetle, a symbol of resurrection. Pectorals were decorated with lapis lazuli, turquoise, and carnelian.

New kingdom

The beginning of the last conventional period of the existence of Ancient Egypt was associated with the invasion of enemies and disasters. The reliefs and wall paintings were filled with battles and battles with the Hyksos (Asian tribes).

Mid-16th century before i. e. was the beginning of the New Kingdom. The enemies were expelled, the XVIII dynasty of pharaohs ascended the throne. Riches poured into Thebes, making the city prosperous and decorated.

The greatest achievements in the art of this time were temples. One of them was dedicated to the goddess Hathor, daughter of Ra. It was erected by order of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri (in Thebes). The temples of Ipet Res and Ipet Sut are also known in Luxor and Karnak.

From 332 BC, with the arrival of Alexander the Great, Egypt began to change. The Alexandrian school of art appeared here, which was based on the traditions of not only Egyptian culture, but also ancient culture.

So, we looked briefly at the art of Ancient Egypt. His characteristic features throughout all this time, majestic strictly geometric structures (temples, pyramids), as well as bas-reliefs and paintings, remained, telling us so much about the life of the ancient Egyptians.