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Great Art 26

The origins of Egyptian painting date back to prehistoric times, with the Nagada culture producing painted pottery around 4000–3500 BCE. Tomb decorations were not intended for aesthetic pleasure but served ritual purposes to protect the deceased in the afterlife, featuring themes like agriculture and personalized hieroglyphs. Stylistic regulations dictated the organization of images, and Egyptian blue was one of the first synthetic pigments used in these artworks.

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9 views1 page

Great Art 26

The origins of Egyptian painting date back to prehistoric times, with the Nagada culture producing painted pottery around 4000–3500 BCE. Tomb decorations were not intended for aesthetic pleasure but served ritual purposes to protect the deceased in the afterlife, featuring themes like agriculture and personalized hieroglyphs. Stylistic regulations dictated the organization of images, and Egyptian blue was one of the first synthetic pigments used in these artworks.

Uploaded by

callaontheway
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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024 ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

BEGINNINGS
SANDS OF TIME
The origins of Egyptian painting can be traced back to Although the contents of Egyptian tombs may appear lavish
prehistoric times. The artisans of the Nagada culture (c.4000– and artistic to modern eyes, that was never the intention.
3500 BCE) produced painted pottery, using some motifs that Everything in the funereal traditions of ancient Egypt served
would survive into the dynastic era. The earliest known a common purpose: to protect and sustain the deceased
painted tomb dates back to c.3100 BCE and was discovered in the afterlife. Paintings were not designed to look realistic
at the ancient capital, Hierakonopolis. The royal cemetery or aesthetically pleasing – they were components in a ritual
at Saqqara is almost as old, with decorated tombs dating framework that was organized for the benefit of the dead.
back to as early as the 1st Dynasty. These include pyramids These practices remained in place for virtually the entire
and the more modest mastabas (mud-brick burial places). span of Egypt’s ancient history.

ARTISTIC INFLUENCES

By the time Saqqara was built, the format for tomb decoration was already
well established. Among the themes to feature heavily was agriculture, an activity
that the deceased might have been associated with during their lifetime – Unsu
the scribe, for example, had been a grain accountant. Agricultural motifs also
featured because of the food and provisions that would be needed in the afterlife.

Sculpture was combined with painting


in early tombs, producing coloured Offering Chapel
of Ptah Sekhem
reliefs rather than frescoes. Parades of Ankh, c.2454–2311 BCE
herdsmen with animals – their sheer (5th Dynasty).
variety emphasized the wealth of the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, US
deceased – were a common theme.

Stylistic regulations dictated the way


artists organized their pictures. Human Tomb of Unsu,
figures were shown in profile, although c.1479–1425 BCE
both shoulders were turned to face the (18th Dynasty), depicts
an agricultural scene.
front. Scenes were arranged into long, Louvre, Paris, France
horizontal bands known as “registers”.

Hieroglyphs, literally “sacred words”,


Goddess Ma’at,
were used to amplify the subject of the c.1297–1185 BCE (19th
painting – images were rarely meant Dynasty), painted with
to be viewed in isolation. Tomb hieroglyphs alongside.
paintings tended to be personalized Tomb of Nefertari, Valley
with a theme relating to the deceased. of the Queens, Egypt

Egyptian blue or “blue frit” is often


Powdered mineral
described as the first synthetic pigment. pigments from the
It is a calcium-copper silicate produced tomb of Kha at Deir
by fusing powdered limestone with sand el-Medina (18th Dynasty).
and copper filings. It features in Nebamun Egyptian Museum,
Hunting in the Marshes (see pp.30–31). Turin, Italy

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