Sculpture and Painting of the New Kingdom

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Sculpture and Painting of the New Kingdom

Sculpture in the New Kingdom

Sculpture in the New Kingdom continued in the traditional style until undergoing a drastic shift during the Amarna period.

Sculpture in the New Kingdom continued in the traditional Egyptian style, with many great works produced by pharaohs over the years. However, during the later Amarna period, it underwent a drastic shift in style to emphasize more naturalistic (and less idealistic) human figures, such as those with drooping bellies. While reliefs and sculptures in the round continued to be painted, the skin tones of male and female figures were now the same value: brown. Some scholars believe that the shift was due to a new group of artists whose training was different from those trained in the traditional methods at Karnak.

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut’s (1508–1458 BCE) construction of statues was so prolific that, today, almost every major museum in the world has a statue of hers among their collections. While some statues show her in typically feminine attire, others depict her in the royal ceremonial attire. The physical aspect of the gender of pharaohs was rarely stressed in the art, and with few exceptions, subjects were idealized. The Osirian statues of Hatshepsut, located at her tomb, follow the Egyptian tradition of depicting the dead pharaoh as the god Osiris. However, many of the official statues commissioned by Hatshepsut show her less symbolically, and more naturally, as a woman in typical dresses of the nobility of her day.

Ramses II

Statues typically depicted Egyptian pharaohs, often representing them as gods. In the famous sculptures outside the main temple at Abu Simbel, Ramses II (1303–1213 BCE) is depicted in a row of four colossal statues. Other deities are frequently shown in paintings and reliefs. Most of the larger sculpture survives from Egyptian temples or tombs, where massive statues were built to represent gods and pharaohs and their queens.

Four repeating statues of Ramse. The second statue has crumbled. The bearded pharaoh sits on a throne, hands on his thighs wearing a headdress with a cobra. — Colossal statues of Ramses II outside of Abu Simbel: This famous work depicts four repeating statues of Ramses II, following the tradition of deifying pharaohs.

Amarna Art

The style of sculpture shifted drastically during the Amarna Period in the late Eighteenth Dynasty when Pharaoh Akhenaten moved the capital to the city of Amarna. This art is characterized by a sense of movement and activity in images, with figures having raised heads, many figures overlapping, and many scenes full and crowded. Sunken relief was widely used. Figures are depicted less idealistically and more realistically, with an elongation and narrowing of the neck; sloping of the forehead and nose; prominent chin; large ears and lips; spindle-like arms and calves; and large thighs, stomachs, and hips. For example, many depictions of Akhenaten’s body show him with wide hips, a drooping stomach, thick lips, and thin arms and legs. This is a divergence from the earlier Egyptian art which shows men with perfectly chiselled bodies, and there is generally a more “feminine” quality in male figures. Some scholars suggest that the presentation of the human body as imperfect during the Amarna period is in deference to Aten.

Painted relief depicts a man and a woman walking in a garden. Each wears a blue cap and is dressed in white, the man wears a long skirt, the woman wears a dress. Both wear jewelry on their necks. The woman holds flowers. The man holds a staff or walking stick. — Artist’s sketch: Walk In The Garden; limestone, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1335 BCE: A relief of a royal couple in the Armana style. The figures are thought to be Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Smenkhkare and Meritaten, or Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamun.

Like previous works, faces on reliefs continued to be shown exclusively in profile. The illustration of figures’ hands and feet showed great detail, with fingers and toes depicted as long and slender. The skin colour of both males and females was generally dark brown, in contrast to the previous tradition of depicting women with lighter skin. Along with traditional court scenes, intimate scenes were often portrayed. In a relief of Akhenaten, he is shown with his primary wife, Nefertiti, and their children in an intimate setting. His children are shrunken to appear smaller than their parents, a routine stylistic feature of traditional Egyptian art. While the religious changes of the Amarna period were brief, the styles introduced to sculpture had a lasting influence on Egyptian culture.

Relief portrait of Akhenaten (c. 1345 BCE): Akhenaten represented in the typical Amarna period style.

Painting of the New Kingdom

Painting for much of the New Kingdom continued to follow established conventions. However, significant changes to the human form emerged during the Amarna Period. Painters for much of the New Kingdom continued to depict the human figure in largely the same manner as their predecessors in previous eras. A significant change, however, occurred during the Amarna Period under the pharaoh Akhenaten (r. 1351–1334 BCE), when the body assumed a less idealized form. While many theories exist as to why this change occurred, the exact reason remains unknown.

TT52

The tomb known as TT52 houses an official named Nakht and his wife Tawy (14th century BCE). Among the decorations are richly coloured paintings that depict the couple in the standard 18 fists-high profile pose, frontal torso, outward palms pose. As in paintings of previous eras, both figures are the same height. Their skin tones also follow the traditions that depict men with dark brown skin and women with light yellow skin.

Painting depicts Nakht and his wife Tawy making an offering. Tawy wears a white dress. Nakht wears a short white skirt and adds a vase to a large display of food, dishes, and other treasure. — Nakht and Tawy making an offering: The figures in this painting continue the conventions established during the Early Dynastic Period.

Elsewhere in the tomb, Nakht assumes a more dynamic (albeit still stylized) pose as he hunts and fishes, a convention that also follows the style established during the Early Dynastic Period.

Painting depicts various scenes of Nakht hunting and fishing. — Nakht hunting and fishing in the afterlife: The figures in these paintings convey a sense of dynamism, albeit still stylized as in the past.

During the New Kingdom, religious scenes comprise the majority of paintings in the tombs of the elite. This trend, echoed in the decorative objects in these tombs, is evident in the painting of Nakht and Tawy making an offering. However, scenes from everyday life, such as hunting and fishing, remain an important part of the imagery.

Amarna-Style Painting

Art from this period is characterized by a sense of increased movement and activity in images, with busy and crowded scenes and many of the figures overlapping. Male and female figures are depicted with the same dark brown skin tone, a departure from the past in which women are depicted with lighter skin tones. The human body is portrayed more realistically, rather than idealistically, though at times depictions border on caricature. For example, many depictions of Akhenaten’s body show him with wide hips, a drooping stomach, thick lips, and thin arms and legs. This is a divergence from the earlier Egyptian art which shows men with perfectly chiselled bodies, and there is generally a more “feminine” quality in male figures. Some scholars suggest that the presentation of the human body as imperfect during the Amarna period is in deference to the Aten.

Akhenaten’s daughters: Following the conventions of the Amarna Period, the figures in this painting have protruding bellies, overlap one another, and appear more relaxed than figures in previous eras. Although the depicted figures are girls, their skin tone is the same as their male counterparts.