Analysis Of Monumental Statue Of The Pharaoh Ramesses II

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Monumental Statue of the Pharaoh Ramesses II Enthroned Jose Manuel Vazquez Dr. Judith Steinhoff Art & Society: Prehistoric to Gothic ARTH 1380 TU&TH 10:00AM-11:30AM A Visual Analysis of Egyptian, Monumental Statue of the Pharaoh Ramesses II Enthroned The Egyptians created Ramesses’ statue 1279-1212 B.C. using granodiorite. The statue is currently being exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Its dimensions withouts a base are 59 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 30 inches (seems bigger than life-size). One must look at the statue from various sides in order to see its entirety. Ramesses II, known also as Ramesses the Great, ruled Egypt for over sixty years. there are thousands of statues made in his honor to proclaim his power and divinity. …show more content…

Ramesses is sitting down in his throne with his hands resting on top of his tights facing forward. There are some scriptures carved in the back of the throne, which are dominant in the structure because they are more detailed and try to give a message. The medium is Granodiorite and the technique used was sunken relief, which is a technique were the sculptor chisels deep outlines below the stone’s surface. The sculpture does not seem to be originally painted. The Egyptians created coloristic effects through contrasting shadows and highlights. They used natural pigments to color some sculptures, however this was not the case. There are deeply cut areas in the back of the statue that create deep shadows and the use of natural light helps to bring up the highlights. The granodiorite has natural colors that helped the sculptor show more of those shadows and highlights. The statue is mostly in a warm hue and it may be caused because of the lighting inside the museum. These warm colors make the details stand out more. At a closer look of the structure there are different colors that can be easily identified, such as white, yellow, brown, black, gray and small spots of orange. The statues seems to be carved in one piece. There are no signs indicating it

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