Ancient Egyptian Art Analysis

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The final judgment Egyptian papyrus, Figure 1, is an artwork that was created during the Ancient Egyptian period +-3100 BCE - 30 BCE (Harris & Zucker 2013). According to Kleiner (2005:76), this particular artwork was created during the 19th Dynasty, which was within the New Kingdom. During the New Kingdom, the power was passed on to the shepherd kings (Kleiner 2005:67). They brought with them a new influential culture as they came from the Syrian and Mesopotamian uplands (Kleiner 2005:67). This time period took place +- 1539 BCE - 1075 BCE (Kleiner 2005:67). Even though there was a different culture that began influencing the Egyptians, they still believed in the afterlife and the judgement they would have to go through. This is evident within …show more content…

Ancient Egyptian artists followed very strict rules based on conceptual principles rather than the realistic views of humans. The Ancient Egyptians also relied heavily on symbolism, this is evident throughout their writing which was known as hieroglyphs (Hansen 2014). This was one of the earliest scripts that was created (Hansen 2014). This is also seen in the final judgement egyptian papyrus, Figure 1, above where the scale lies there are some hieroglyphs. The Egyptians were the first to create portraits of human beings, even though their sizes and proportions were not realistic, it was highly symbolic in this ancient movement (Hansen 2014). For example, pharaohs were often the largest figure within the artwork, whilst the things around the pharaohs may look small and out of place, this too was a symbolisation for the fact that they were in power (Hansen 2014). Additionally the Egyptians illustrated human beings in a very particular way. The feet for example were always seem in a side perspective because the Egyptians thought that they would not have been easily identified if it was viewed in a frontal position (Hansen 2014). In contrast, the eyes and shoulders however were always painted from the frontal position, whereas faces, waists and other parts were always shown in the side perspective (Hansen 2014). These strange proportions are seen within the final judgement egyptian papyrus, Figure 1, with the feet, waist and other limbs facing towards the side but the shoulders and eyes appears from the frontal view. Additionally, within the Ancient Egyptian artworks there is no depth within them because there is no horizon, vanishing points or perspective (Hansen 2014). This is once again replicated within the final judgement egyptian papyrus, Figure 1, as there is absolutely no depth within this artwork and all the colours that have been used

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