The history of the development of the statues of ancient Egypt. Pyramids at Giza. Egypt

The tombs of the pharaohs, temple premises, royal palaces were filled with various sculptures, which constituted an organic part of the buildings.

The main images developed by the sculptors were the images of the reigning pharaohs. Although the needs of the cult required the creation of images of numerous gods, the image of a deity, made according to rigid schemes, often with the heads of animals and birds, did not become central in Egyptian sculpture: in most cases it was a mass production and inexpressive. Much more important was the artistic development of the type of the earthly ruler, his nobles, and over time - ordinary people. From the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. there was a certain canon in the interpretation of the pharaoh: he was depicted sitting on a throne in a pose of dispassionate calm and majesty, the master emphasized his enormous physical strength and size (powerful arms and legs, torso). During the Middle Kingdom, the masters overcome the idea of ​​​​cold grandeur and the faces of the pharaohs acquire individual features. For example, the statue of Senusret III with deep-set, slightly squinting eyes, a large nose, thick lips and protruding cheekbones quite realistically conveys a distrustful character, with a sad and even tragic expression on his face.

Masters felt more free when they depicted nobles and especially commoners. Here the shackling influence of the canon is overcome, the image is developed more boldly and realistically, its psychological characteristics are more fully conveyed. The art of individual portraiture, deep realism, a sense of movement reached its peak in the era of the New Kingdom, especially during the short period of Akhenaten's reign (Amarna period). The sculptural images of the pharaoh himself, his wife Nefertiti, and members of his family are distinguished by their skillful transfer of the inner world, deep psychologism, and high artistic skill.

In addition to round sculpture, the Egyptians willingly turned to relief. Many walls of tombs and temples, various structures are covered with magnificent relief compositions, most often depicting nobles in the circle of their families, in front of the altar of a deity, among their fields, etc.

A certain canon was also developed in relief paintings: the main “hero” was depicted larger than the others, his figure was conveyed in a double plan: head and legs in profile, shoulders and chest in front. All figures were usually painted.

Along with the reliefs, the walls of the tombs were covered with contour or pictorial paintings, the content of which was more diverse than the reliefs. Quite often, scenes of everyday life were reproduced in these paintings: artisans at work in the workshop, fishermen catching fish, peasants plowing, street vendors with their goods, litigation, etc. The Egyptians achieved great skill in depicting wildlife - landscapes, animals, birds , where the restraining influence of ancient traditions was felt much less. A vivid example is the paintings of the tombs of the nomarchs, discovered in Beni Hasan and dating back to the Middle Kingdom.

All ancient Egyptian art was subject to cult canons. Relief and sculpture were no exception. Masters left outstanding sculptural monuments to their descendants: statues of gods and people, figures of animals.

The man was sculpted in a static but majestic pose, standing or sitting. At the same time, the left leg was pushed forward, and the arms either folded on the chest or pressed against the body.

Some sculptors were required to create figures of working people. At the same time, there was a strict canon for the depiction of a particular occupation - the choice of a moment characteristic of this particular type of work.

Among the ancient Egyptians, statues could not exist separately from places of worship. They were first used to decorate the retinue of the deceased pharaoh and were placed in the tomb located in the pyramid. They were relatively small figures. When the kings began to be buried near the temples, the roads to these places were made with many huge statues. They were so large that no one paid attention to the details of the image. The statues were placed at the pylons, in the courtyards and already had artistic significance.

During the Old Kingdom, a round shape was established in Egyptian sculpture, and the main types of composition appeared. For example, the statue of Mycerinus depicts a standing man who put forward his left leg and pressed his hands to his body. Or the statue of Rahotep and his wife Nofret represents a seated figure with their hands on their knees.

The Egyptians thought of the statue as the ʼʼbodyʼʼ of spirits and people. According to Egyptian texts, the god descended from the temple dedicated to him and reunited with his sculptural image. And the Egyptians revered not the statue itself, but the embodiment of an invisible god in it.

Some statues were placed in temples in memory of ʼʼparticipationʼʼ in a certain ritual. Others were given to temples in order to provide the person depicted with the constant patronage of the deity. Associated with prayers and appeals to the dead for the gift of offspring is the custom of bringing female figurines to the tombs of their ancestors, often with a child in their arms or next to them (ill. 49). Small figures of deities, usually reproducing the appearance of the main cult statue of the temple, were given by believers with prayers for well-being and health. The image of women and ancestors was an amulet that promoted the birth of children, because it was believed that the spirits of ancestors could inhabit women of the clan and be reborn again.

The statues were made for ka deceased. Because ka it was necessary to ʼʼrecognizeʼʼ exactly your body and enter into it, and the statue itself ʼʼreplaceʼʼ the body, each face of the statue was endowed with a certain unique individuality (with the commonness of the indisputable rules of compositions). So already in the era of the Old Kingdom, one of the achievements of ancient Egyptian art appeared - a sculptural portrait. This was facilitated by the practice of covering the faces of the dead with a layer of plaster - the creation of death masks.

Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, a narrow, closed room was built in mastabas next to the chapel ( serdab), in which the statue of the deceased was placed. There was a small window at the level of the eyes of the statue, so that the inhabitant of the statue ka the deceased could take part in funeral rites. It is believed that these statues served to preserve the earthly form of the deceased, as well as in case of loss or death of the mummy.

The spirit of the deceased endowed the statues with vitality, after which they ʼʼcame to lifeʼʼ for eternal life. For this reason, we never see images of people, for example, in death or post-mortem form, on the contrary, there is an exceptional vitality. The statues were made life-size, and the deceased was portrayed exclusively as a young man.

In statues and reliefs, a person has always been depicted as sighted, since it was with the eye that the symbolism of the ʼʼsightʼʼ of the deceased and the acquisition of vitality by him was associated. Moreover, the sculptor made the eyes of the figures especially large. Οʜᴎ were always inlaid with colored stone, blue beads, faience, rock crystal (ill. 50). For the eye for the Egyptians is the receptacle of the spirit and has a mighty power of influencing the living and the spirits

Since the life-giving force of the lotus, which symbolized magical revival, was “breathed in” through the nostrils, the nose of a person was usually depicted with an underlined slit of the nostrils.

Since the lips of the mummy were endowed with the ability to pronounce the words of the afterlife confession, the lips themselves were never abstracted into a schematized sign.

In creating the type of seated statues (with hands on their knees), statues of pharaohs, made for the holiday, played an important role. heb-sed. Its goal was to "revive" an aged or sick ruler, because from the earliest times there was a belief that the fertility of the earth was due to the physical condition of the king. During the ritual, a statue of the ritually ʼʼkilledʼʼ pharaoh was placed, while the ruler himself, ʼʼrejuvenatedʼʼ again, performed a ritual beᴦ in front of the tent. Then the statue was buried and the coronation ceremony was repeated. After that, it was believed that the ruler full of strength again sits on the throne.

Statues of the same person placed in the tombs could be of different types, because they displayed various aspects of the funeral cult˸ one type conveyed the individual features of a person, without a wig, in fashionable clothes, the other had a more generalized interpretation of the face, was in an official belt and a magnificent wig.

The desire to ensure the ʼʼʼʼʼ performance of the funeral cult led to the fact that statues of priests began to appear in the tombs. The presence of figurines of children is also natural, because their indispensable duty was to take care of the funeral cult of their parents.

First ushebti(they were discussed in question No. 2) date back to the 21st century. BC. If it was not possible to achieve a portrait resemblance to the deceased from the ushebti, the name and title of the owner, whom she replaced, were written on each figurine. Tools and bags were put into the hands of ushebti, they were also painted on their backs. Statuettes of scribes, overseers, and boatmen appear (ill. 51-a). Baskets, hoes, hammers, jugs, etc. were made of faience or bronze for ushebti. The number of ushebti in one tomb could reach several hundred. There were those who bought 360 pieces - one little man for each day of the year. The poor bought one or two ushebtis, but with them they put in the coffin a list of three hundred and sixty such ʼʼhelpersʼʼ.

During individual ceremonies, sculptures of bound captives were used. Οʜᴎ probably replaced living captives during the corresponding rituals (say, the killing of defeated enemies).

The Egyptians believed that the constant presence of sculptural images of participants in a religious ritual in the temple, as it were, ensures the eternal performance of this ritual. For example, a part of the sculptural group has been preserved, where the gods Horus and Thoth put a crown on the head of Ramses III - this is how the coronation ceremony was reproduced, in which the roles of the gods were played by priests in appropriate masks. Installing it in the temple was supposed to contribute to the long reign of the king.

found in tombs wooden the statues are associated with the funeral ritual (the repeated raising and lowering of the statue of the deceased as a symbol of the victory of Osiris over Set).

Statues of the pharaohs were placed in shrines and temples in order to put the pharaoh under the protection of the deity and at the same time glorify the ruler.

The giant statues-colossi of the pharaohs embodied the most sacred aspect of the essence of the kings - their ka.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, the canonical figures of the pharaoh appear standing with the left leg extended forward, in a short belt and crown, sitting with a royal scarf on his head (ill. 53, 53-a), kneeling, with two vessels in his hands (ill. 54) , in the form of a sphinx, with the gods, with the queen (ill. 55).

In the eyes of the ancient Eastern man, the physical and mental health of the king was understood as a condition for the successful fulfillment of his function as an intermediary between the world of people and the world of the gods. Since the pharaoh for the Egyptians acted as a guarantee and embodiment of the "collective" well-being and prosperity of the country, he not only could not have flaws (which can also cause disasters), but also surpass mere mortals in physical strength. With the exception of the brief Amarna period, the pharaohs were always portrayed as endowed with great physical strength.

The main requirement for the sculptor is to create the image of the pharaoh as the son of a god. This determined the choice of artistic means. With a constant portraiture, a clear idealization of the appearance appeared, invariably there was a developed musculature, a gaze directed into the distance. The divinity of the pharaoh was supplemented with details˸ for example, Khafre is guarded by a falcon, the sacred bird of the god Horus

The Amarna period is marked by a completely new approach to conveying the image of a person in sculpture and relief. The desire of the pharaoh to be different from the images of his predecessors - gods or kings - resulted in the fact that in sculpture he appeared, as is believed, without any embellishment on a skinny, wrinkled neck - an elongated face, with drooping half-open lips, a long nose, half-closed eyes, puffy belly, thin ankles with full hips

Statues of individuals.

The Egyptians have always imitated official sculpture - images of pharaohs and gods, strong, strict, calm and majestic. Sculptures never express anger, surprise, or smiles. The spread of statues of private individuals was facilitated by the fact that the nobles began to arrange their own tombs.

The statues were of different sizes - from a few meters to very small figures of a few centimeters.

Sculptors, sculpting private individuals, were also obliged to adhere to the canon, first of all, frontality and symmetry in the construction of the figure (ill. 60, 61). All the statues have the same straight head, almost the same attributes in their hands.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, sculptural statues of married couples with children appeared (ill. 62, 63), scribes sitting with their legs crossed, with an unfolded papyrus scroll on their knees - at first only royal sons were depicted in this way

Temple of Horus at Edfu

Material and processing.

Already in the Old Kingdom there were sculptures made of red and black granite, diorite and quartzite (ill. 68), alabaster, slate, limestone, sandstone. The Egyptians loved hard rocks.

Images of gods, pharaohs, nobles were made mainly of stone (granite, limestone, quartzite). It is worth saying that for small figurines of people and animals, bone and faience were most often used. Servant figurines were made of wood. Ushabti were made of wood, stone, glazed faience, bronze, clay, wax. Only two ancient Egyptian copper sculptures are known.

Inlaid eyes with a contour relief eyelid rim are typical for statues made of limestone, metal or wood.

The limestone and wood sculptures were originally painted.

Sculptors of late Egypt began to prefer granite and basalt to limestone and sandstone. But the favorite material was bronze. Images of gods and figurines of animals dedicated to them were made from it. Some are made up of separately made parts, cheap ones were cast in clay or plaster molds. Most of these figurines were made using the technique of "lost wax" common in Egypt. The sculptor made a blank of the future image from clay, covered it with a layer of wax, worked out the conceived shape, covered it with clay and put it in the oven. Wax flowed out through a specially left hole, and liquid metal was poured into the resulting void. When the bronze cooled, the clay mold was broken and the product was taken out, the ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ was carefully processed and then its surface was polished. For each product, its own form was created and the work turned out to be the only one.

Bronze items were usually decorated with engraving and inlays. For the latter, thin gold and silver wires were used. Golden stripes circled the eyes of an ibis, necklaces of gold threads were worn around the necks of bronze cats.

The famous ancient Egyptian colossus statues are of interest in terms of the complexity of processing solid materials.

On the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, stand two statues dating from the New Kingdom, called the ʼʼcolossi of Memnonʼʼ. According to one version of Egyptologists, the Greek name Memnom comes from one of the names of Amenhotep III. According to another version, after the earthquake on 27 ᴦ. BC. one of the statues was significantly damaged, and, probably, due to differences in night and day temperatures, the cracked stone began to make continuous sounds. This began to attract pilgrims, who believed that in this way the Ethiopian king Memnon, the character of Homer's ʼʼIliadʼʼ, welcomes the goddess of the dawn, Eos, his mother.

At the same time, there are intelligible explanations of how colossi made of quartzite 20-21 meters high, each weighing 750 tons, were placed on a pedestal also made of quartzite weighing 500 tons manually, can not found. Moreover, it was still necessary to deliver stone monoliths (or parts of them?) Over 960 kilometers up along the Nile.

Sculpture from the early dynastic period comes mainly from three large centers where the temples were located - She, Abydos and Koptos. The statues served as an object of worship, rituals and had a dedicatory purpose. A large group of monuments was associated with the “heb-sed” rite - the ritual of renewing the physical power of the pharaoh. This type includes types of sitting and walking figures of the king, executed in round sculpture and relief, as well as the image of his ritual run. The list of heb-sed monuments includes the statue of pharaoh Khasekhem, represented as sitting on a throne in ritual attire. This sculpture indicates the improvement of techniques: the figure has the correct proportions and is modeled in volume. Here the main features of the style have already been revealed - the monumentality of the form, the frontality of the composition. The pose of the statue, which fits into the rectangular block of the throne, is motionless; straight lines predominate in the outlines of the figure. Khasekhem's face is portrait, although his features are largely idealized. The setting of the eyes in the orbit with a convex eyeball draws attention. A similar technique of execution extended to the entire group of monuments of that time, being a characteristic stylistic feature of portraits of the Early Kingdom. By the same period, the canonicity of the full-length pre-dynastic period is established and gives way in the plastic of the Early Kingdom to the correct transfer of the proportions of the human body.

Sculpture of the Old Kingdom

Significant changes in sculpture take place precisely in the Middle Kingdom, which is largely due to the presence and creative rivalry of many local schools that gained independence during the period of collapse. Since the XII dynasty, ritual statues have been more widely used (and, accordingly, made in large quantities): they are now installed not only in tombs, but also in temples. Among them, images associated with the rite of heb-sed (the ritual revival of the pharaoh's life force) still dominate. The first stage of the rite was symbolically associated with the murder of the elderly ruler and was performed over his statue, which in composition resembled the canonical images and sculptures of sarcophagi. This type includes the heb-sed statue of Mentuhotep-Nebhepetr, depicting the pharaoh in a pointedly frozen pose with arms crossed on his chest. The style is distinguished by a large share of conventionality and generalization, which is generally typical for sculptural monuments of the beginning of the era. In the future, sculpture comes to a more subtle modeling of faces and greater plastic dissection: this is most evident in female portraits and images of private individuals.

Over time, the iconography of the kings also changes. By the 12th Dynasty, the idea of ​​the pharaoh's divine power gave way in depictions to an insistent attempt to convey human individuality. Sculpture with official themes flourished during the reign of Senusret III, who was depicted in all ages from childhood to adulthood. The best of these images are considered to be the obsidian head of Senusret III and the sculptural portraits of his son Amenemhat III. The original find of the masters of local schools can be considered a type of cubic statue - an image of a figure enclosed in a monolithic stone block.

The art of the Middle Kingdom is the era of the heyday of small-scale plastic arts, most of which are still associated with the funeral cult and its rites (sailing on a boat, bringing sacrificial gifts, etc.). The figurines were carved from wood, covered with soil and painted. Often, entire multi-figure compositions were created in a round sculpture (similar to how it was customary in the reliefs of the Old Kingdom

Sculpture of the New Kingdom

In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait appears, especially images of a married couple.

The art of relief acquires new qualities. This artistic area is noticeably influenced by certain genres of literature that became widespread in the era of the New Kingdom: hymns, military chronicles, love lyrics. Often, texts in these genres are combined with relief compositions in temples and tombs. In the reliefs of the Theban temples, there is an increase in decorativeness, a free variation in the techniques of bas-relief and high relief, combined with colorful paintings. Such is the portrait of Amenhotep III from the tomb of Khaemhet, which combines different heights of the relief and in this respect is an innovative work. The reliefs are still arranged in registers, allowing you to create narrative cycles of great spatial extent.

Wooden sculpture of one of the Egyptian gods with a ram's head

Sculpture of the Late Kingdom

During Kush's time in the field of sculpture, the skills of ancient high craftsmanship partly fade away - for example, portrait images on funeral masks and statues are often replaced by conventionally idealized ones. At the same time, the technical skill of sculptors is improving, manifesting itself mainly in the decorative field. One of the best portrait works is the head of the statue of Mentuemhet, made in a realistic authentic manner.

During the reign of Sais, static, conditional outlines of faces, canonical poses and even a semblance of an “archaic smile” characteristic of the art of the Early and Ancient Kingdom again become relevant in sculpture. However, the masters of Sais interpret these techniques only as a topic for stylizations. At the same time, Saisi art creates many wonderful portraits. In some of them, deliberately archaic forms, imitating ancient rules, are combined with rather bold deviations from the canon. So, in the statue of the approximate pharaoh Psametikh I, the canon of a symmetrical image of a seated figure is observed, but, in violation of it, the left leg of the seated person is placed vertically. In the same way, the canonical-static forms of the body and the modern style of depicting faces are freely combined.

In the few monuments of the era of Persian rule, purely Egyptian style features also predominate. Even the Persian king Darius is depicted on the relief in the attire of an Egyptian warrior with sacrificial gifts, and his name is written in hieroglyphs.

Most of the sculptures of the Ptolemaic period are also made in the traditions of the Egyptian canon. However, the Hellenistic culture influenced the nature of the interpretation of the face, introducing greater plasticity, softness and lyricism.

Ancient Egypt. Male head from the Salt collection. The first half of 3 thousand BC.

Figurine of the porter Meir. Tomb of Niankhpepi. VI dynasty, reign of Peggy II (2235-2141 BC). Cairo Museum

PEASANT WITH A HOE. For earthworks, a hoe was used, which was originally wooden, then metal appeared, consisting of two parts: a handle and a lever.

Three bearers of sacrificial gifts. Wood, painting; height 59 cm; length 56 cm; Meir, tomb of Niankhpepi the Black; excavations of the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1894); VI dynasty, the reign of Pepi I (2289-2255 BC).

Art of Ancient Egypt
“There is something before which both the indifference of the constellations and the eternal whisper of the waves retreat, - the deeds of a person who takes away her prey from death” ... (From the ancient Egyptian papyrus)
Egypt is a country whose population has lived in the Sahara region since the Neolithic, that is, it was autochthonous. A deep connection with the primitiveness that gave birth to it permeates the entire Egyptian culture. So, the idea of ​​a pyramid could be born from the idea of ​​a sacred mountain. The idea of ​​the sacred meaning of a separate stone is realized in the form of an obelisk. Egyptian culture slowly grew out of primitiveness, retaining a connection with such primitive beliefs as animism, fetishism and totemism. Animism was manifested in the creation of statues-janitors, the mummification of the bodies of pharaohs, in the paintings of pyramids and rock tombs, the theme of which was the journey of the soul of the deceased in the kingdom of Hades. The basics of iconography and stylistics of Egyptian art have been preserved for thousands of years.

Art in Egypt had as its goal the assertion of the idea of ​​the omnipotence of the "good god", such was the official title of the pharaoh. Another distinctive feature of the art of Ancient Egypt is the connection with the funeral cult, caused by the desire to prolong life after death. To do this, it was necessary to preserve the body of the deceased and provide it with everything necessary for the afterlife, not only mummify the body, but also create a likeness - a statue. That is why the sculptor in Ancient Egypt was called "sankh" - "creating life."
Art of the Old Kingdom (XXVIII-XXIII centuries BC)
More than ten thousand years ago, nomadic tribes of hunters, under the influence of the drying up of the Sahara, switched to settled agriculture in the Nile Valley. Initially, Egypt consisted of separate regions - nomes, constantly at war with each other. Each of the nomes had its own patron in the form of a crocodile, an ibis or a snake. After the conquest of the North by South Egypt, the country was unified.
Sculpture

Hathor, the goddess of the sky, was depicted in the form of a cow, later with cow horns, between which a solar disk was placed.

According to the Egyptians, each person had Sah - the body, Shunt - a shadow, Ren - a name, Ah - a ghost, Ba - a manifestation of the essence and Ka - a soul, which is an immortal double. The main condition for the afterlife is the preservation of the body, for which mummification began to be used. Strict observance of frontality and symmetry in the construction of the figure, the solemn calmness of the pose conveyed a stay in the other world. At first, noble people were depicted either sitting with their hands on their knees or standing with their left leg extended forward. During the IV dynasty, figures of nobles appear in the form of a scribe. The heads of the statues are set straight, in the hands of the obligatory attributes. The bodies of men were painted brick red, women - yellow, hair - black, clothes - white. The bodies were depicted as extremely developed. The ruler was shown more than the rest of the depicted figures. The Egyptians believed that the soul would be protected inside the pyramid. Figurines depicting various servants of the pharaoh were placed in the tomb. Unlike the statues of nobles, whose poses are canonical, the statuettes of servants conveyed various moments of their activity, which led to a wide variety of positions of their bodies.

Sculpture, which had a cult significance in Egypt, also obeyed the canon. A significant part of the sculptural images of the pharaohs that have come down to us shows the rulers of Egypt sitting on a throne, wrapped in a funeral veil. These sculptures were the objects of a special ritual, which was based on the rite of the ritual killing of the leader, known from antiquity and now practiced by some African tribes. Another type of Egyptian sculpture is the cult statues of the pharaohs that stood near the pyramids. In these sculptures, the pharaoh appeared seated or standing. On the body - a loincloth, on the head - a headdress. The face is impassive. Another type of sculptural image It was called the sculpture “in life” - it was placed together with the mummified body of the pharaoh in the burial chamber, it depicted guards, scribes, water carriers - all those who would continue to serve the pharaoh after their death.

The walls of the mortuary temples were decorated not only with reliefs, but also with picturesque compositions. The Egyptian artist showed not what he saw from a certain point of view, but what he knew about the figure, trying to reveal the most expressive - the eyes shown in the front on the face given in profile, the shoulders turned straight at the viewer and the legs shown from the side. The figures rest on the ground with their entire foot. The artist does not know the laws of perspective, the size of the figures depends on their social status. Each scene is a complete whole and at the same time part of the overall composition. Each relief belt, like a new line, is linked to the next one. The reliefs and paintings of the tombs of the nobility are dedicated to the idea of ​​supplying the deceased with everything necessary for the afterlife.

Since ancient times, sculptors have been faced with the task of creating portrait images necessary for the soul to return to the preserved body. The existing type of statue of the Old Kingdom is represented by the statue of Pharaoh Sneferu: the neck has the correct proportions, the eyes are slightly deepened in the orbits. The statue of Pharaoh Mykerin shows full cheeks, a straight, slightly upturned nose, a beautifully defined, peculiar mouth. The sculptures of Snefru's son Rahotep and his wife Nefert are among the most perfect monuments of ancient Egyptian art. Rahotep and Nefert are depicted sitting on cube-shaped thrones. Rahotep's hands are clenched into fists, the left lies on his knee, the right is pressed to his chest. Hair and mustache are black, eyes are inlaid. Nefert is dressed in a tight, figure-hugging dress, a fluffy wig on her head, over which a ribbon is tied. The scribe Kai is depicted sitting with his legs crossed, unrolling a papyrus scroll on his knees. He has tight lips, a slightly flat nose, and prominent cheekbones.
Thus, both idealized and realistic images have been found in the tombs of the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms. Realistic statues always have loose aprons, and tight-fitting bandages on their heads, while idealized statues have puffy wigs, aprons tight around the hips, and wide necklaces. The exact ritual functions of the two different statues have not been elucidated.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, a large number of reliefs and paintings were created to decorate the royal mortuary temples and tombs of noble people. The reliefs were low and incised (i.e. counter-reliefs). The silhouette of the figures is always clear and graphic. The reliefs of the Old Kingdom are characterized by a frieze development of the plot. Wall paintings were also of two types: tempera on dry plaster and the same technique in combination with colored inlays. Mineral paints were used: red and yellow ocher, green from grated malachite, blue from grated lapis lazuli, white from limestone, black from soot. The entrance was decorated with two figures of the owner of the tomb, depicted in full growth, along the walls of the chapels and corridors a procession of bearers of gifts unfolded, directed to the front niche, in the center of which there was a false door. Above the niche with the image of the statue of the deceased was his own image at the sacrificial table. The relief compositions were arranged in such a way that they were more read than looked. The content of the reliefs and paintings was determined by their name. The main position is occupied by the figure of a king or nobleman, far exceeding all the others, with a staff or wand - symbols of power.

Relief - one of the types of sculpture, in contrast to the round sculpture, located on a plane and oriented towards it.

The reign of the V-IV dynasties is the period of the highest flowering of tomb reliefs and murals of the Old Kingdom.
A feature of the art of ancient Egypt is the development of sustainable forms of architectural structures. This is how the canon of the mortuary church was formed. Initially, the burial was in the form of a mastaba. Mastaba - the modern name of the tombs of the Old Kingdom - a ground rectangular structure with walls slightly inclined towards the center. The mastaba originates from a mound of earth and sand that occurs when digging a grave. The mastaba included an underground burial chamber, a vertical well extending from it leading to the ground part, as well as a rectangular building made of raw brick or stone, which in the section has the shape of a trapezoid. The ground part of the mastaba had a false door carved from stone, through which the double of the deceased could go out and come back, a stone slab - a stele placed above the false door, covered with inscriptions with sacrificial spells and reliefs depicting the deceased, and a stone altar, establishments in front of the false door. Depending on the nobility of the deceased, the mastaba had such additional elements as a serdab, in which steles were placed, in the above-ground part there could be chapels and upper chambers where the relatives of the deceased were buried. The mastaba complex has survived to our time on the west bank of the Nile in the Memphis region.

Mastaba - a ground rectangular structure with walls slightly inclined towards the center above an underground burial chamber

The next stage in the design of the mortuary temple was the creation by the architect Imhotep of the step pyramid of Djoser in the 28th century. BC. It consisted of six folded
stone and shrinking mastabas. The burial chambers were carved into the rocky foundation under the pyramid. The plan of the pyramid is rectangular, which speaks of following the tradition of building mastabas. The pyramid of Djoser reached 62 m in height. Initially, the entrance to it was on the north side and led down the stairs. The second entrance was located in the floor of the mortuary temple, which also adjoined the pyramid from its northern side. At the eastern wall there was a serdab built of limestone blocks. Under the pyramid were underground galleries with two alabaster sarcophagi and 30,000 stone vessels. The entire burial complex of the pyramid of Djoser occupied an area of ​​550 by 280 m and was surrounded by a wall dissected by ledges. To the south of the pyramid of Djoser, a building with the same layout of burial chambers was found, its outer walls were crowned with a frieze depicting cobras, and there was also a complex of prayer houses dedicated to the royal jubilee. The buildings of the ensemble in stone reproduced the forms of wooden and brick buildings: the ceilings were cut in the form of log ceilings. For the first time in the ensemble, there are capitals of semi-columns in the form of a stylized open papyrus panicle, capitals in the form of a stylized lotus flower, as well as protodoric capitals with flutes that actually repeat reed bundles in stone.

The semi-columns have not yet separated from the masonry walls. The walls of the halls were decorated with alabaster slabs, in some - panels of green faience tiles, reproducing cane wickerwork. The creation of Djoser was of decisive importance in the sense that buildings began to grow upwards and stone was identified as the main material of monumental architecture. Near the pyramid of Djoser, scientists found fragments of his statue and a pedestal with the name of Imhotep.
During the IV dynasty in the XXVIII century BC. there was a further development of the form of a monumental tombstone - from a stepped pyramid to a classical one. The transitional period was marked by the erection of the pyramid of Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the IV dynasty in Dahshur, which had a height of more than 100 m. Under Sneferu, the geometric shape of the pyramid finally took shape, the slope of its walls was slightly more than 46 degrees, still quite gentle compared to the classical ones. The formation of the canon ended with the creation of classical pyramids. The pyramid of Cheops, the son of Sneferu, is the most famous of them. For about 10 years, 4 thousand people leveled the site for the future pyramid and carried out preparatory work. Only one road, along which stone blocks weighing up to 7.5 tons were moved on special skids, was built for about 10 years. On an inclined entrance 20 m wide, built of bricks from the Nile silt, the builders dragged skids with stone blocks. The upper block - "pyramidon" with a height of 9 m completed the construction, which was carried out for 20 years. Then the steps of the pyramid were laid with stones and at the end the sides of the pyramid were lined with white limestone slabs. A polished red granite sarcophagus was placed in a small room, located at a height of 4.5 m from the base of the pyramid. Below was another chamber, possibly for the king's wife. It is surprising and has no explanation for the fact that the burial chamber has no decorations, the sarcophagus is only roughly hewn, does not have a lid and is wider than the passage into the chamber, i.e. could not be brought into it after the construction of the pyramid. Several narrow long passages leading to the chambers and a large gallery 50 m long were laid in the thickness of the pyramid. To protect the burial room from the colossal pressure of the rows of stones located above, 5 deaf unloading chambers were located above the ceiling of the tomb. The pyramid is part of a grandiose burial ensemble. A covered corridor led from the lower mortuary temple, along which the participants in the procession passed to the upper temple, which consisted of the main corridor and the central courtyard. In the depths there was a chapel with false gates and an altar. On four sides, in the recesses of the rock, 4 wooden boats were placed, intended for the pharaoh's journey through the other world. Near the pyramid was a huge burial ground with the scale of the nobility and high dignitaries. The ratio of the height and base of the pyramid contained the number "pi", with a height of 318 cubits and a base of 500 cubits, the ratio of the double base to the height corresponded to the sacred number for the Egyptians. The base square could house the five largest cathedrals in the world: the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome, St. Paul and Westminster Abbey in London, Florence and Milan Cathedrals. From the building stone used for its construction, it was possible to build all the churches of Germany, created in our millennium.

Another pyramid of the classical type, the Khafre pyramid is the established form of the mortuary temple of the Old Kingdom, consisting of two parts - the first, accessible to believers, and the second, where only the elite were allowed. The lower temple of Khafre had the shape of a square and was built from large blocks of granite. There was a pier in front of the temple, two sphinxes guarded the two entrances of the temple. In the middle of the temple, there may have been a statue of the pharaoh, narrow corridors departed from both entrances, which led to the hypostyle with monolithic granite pillars. This E-shaped hall contained 23 statues of a seated pharaoh. The Pyramid of Mykerin, like the two previous ones, had a square base in plan, each side of which was 108.4 m. It reached a height of 66.5 m, and the angle of inclination of its walls was 51 degrees. To the south of the pyramid were three small pyramids connected with it by a common wall. In the pyramids of Giza, for the first time, free-standing columns with round trunks and tetrahedral ones are found.

The pyramids of the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty have never been surpassed. It is in the classical pyramids that the column separates from the wall. There is a type of palm-shaped, papyrus-shaped and lotus-shaped capitals of columns. The basis of the Sphinx from Giza was limestone rock, the missing parts were hewn from limestone slabs.
A royal scarf is put on the head of the Sphinx, a uraeus is carved on the forehead - a sacred snake, an artificial beard is visible under the chin. The face of the Sphinx was painted brick red, the stripes of the scarf were blue and red, the face conveyed the features of the pharaoh Khafre.

Another Egyptian temple canon is the "Sun Temple".
The huge costs of building the pyramids weakened the country. Troubles began, wars with neighbors. After the collapse of Egypt around the XXIII century. BC. a long struggle for his reunion begins. The Theban rulers of the South completed the unification of the country, but they failed to subjugate the nomarchs of Middle Egypt. At this time, local art centers arose.

Art of the Middle Kingdom (XXI-XVIII centuries BC)
The heyday of the Middle Kingdom is associated with the reign of the XII dynasty. At this time, the Egyptians waged wars with neighboring peoples and built fortresses on the borders with Nubia. In the era of the Middle Kingdom to prominent places in public administration
strangers are starting to show up. Bronze production is developing, glass production is emerging. Significant changes have taken place in the field of architecture.
There is a reassessment of values. In the mortuary cult one feels the moral more strongly! aspect. The one who enters the world of the dead must appear before Osiris.

During the period of the Middle Kingdom, the entrance design appears in the form of two pylons - towers with a passage between them. A new type of capital is being created - with the head of the goddess Hathor. In the construction practice of the first half of the Middle Kingdom, a new type of mortuary temple was developed, an example of which is the tomb of Mentuhotep I in Deir el Bahri. The temple was erected on the rocks of the Libyan highlands. On the facade and sides of the temple, which towered over two terraces, there were porticos, gentle slopes led to the terraces - ramps. The columns were tetrahedral. The wall of the portico, lined with limestone, was covered with colored reliefs. On the second terrace stood a second portico, surrounding the hall of columns on three sides. The tomb of the pharaoh was carved under the hypostyle hall. Behind the main part of the temple was an open courtyard carved into the rock, surrounded by a colonnade, and a covered second hypostyle hall. A walled road led from the mortuary to the lower temple, along which painted statues of the king were installed.

In front of the facade of the mortuary temple there was a huge front yard, and on the side of the ramp leading to the roof of the lower terrace, there were two reservoirs. The construction of the pyramids was revived again, but not as huge as before. Raw brick served as building material now. The basis of the pyramid was made up of eight main stone walls, diverging in radii from the center of the pyramid to its corners and to the middle of each side. From these walls, at an angle of 45 degrees, another eight walls departed, the gaps between which were filled with fragments of stone, brick and sand. The pyramids were faced with limestone slabs. Unlike the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, these pyramids proved to be short-lived.
Under Amenemhet III, the irrigation system in Fayum was completed and a burial complex was built, which included a brick pyramid lined with limestone slabs, and a grandiose mortuary temple with an area of ​​​​72 thousand square meters. m, which consisted of many halls and chapels, decorated with sculptures and reliefs. The colonnades played a leading role in the design and were its characteristic feature. Architects also used a new type of columns with flutes and rectangular abacuses. The Greeks later called this temple the "Labyrinth" (after the throne name of Alienemhet III - Nimatra, in Greek - Labira).

From the XII Dynasty, sculptures of pharaohs began to be installed in temples along with deities. In this regard, the volumetric modeling of the facial features of the rulers intensified, more attention began to be paid to the transfer of age. The sculptural images of the pharaohs acquire realistic features. Thus, the sculptural images of the pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III are realistic: the eyes are already set obliquely and deeply seated in the orbit, the faces are worked out. There have been changes in the construction of reliefs. Their themes have become more diverse, for example, in the reliefs of the nomarch of the Middle Kingdom Senbi in Meir, in hunting scenes, animals are depicted among the hilly expanses of the desert. The reliefs depict scenes of everyday life - the collection of papyrus, the work of artisans, etc.
Art of the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC)

After the expulsion of the Hyksos, Thebes again became the capital of Egypt, where colossal construction unfolded. The architecture of this period is characterized by splendor and decorative sophistication. The main temple construction was dedicated to the mortuary cult and the god Amon, whose veneration combined the worship of the solar deity Ra. The most widespread type of temple with a clear rectangular plan, including an open courtyard,
surrounded by a colonnade, a columned hall and a sanctuary. The facade of the temples turned to the Nile, from which there was a road framed on the sides by stone sphinxes or rams. The entrance was bordered by stone pylons - walls tapering upward in the shape of a trapezoid, separated by a narrow passage in the middle. Obelisks and colossal statues of pharaohs rose in front of the pylons. Behind the pylon, an open courtyard, rectangular in plan, surrounded by columns, opened. The stone colonnade in the center of the courtyard along the main axis outlined a straight line of the way to the halls of columns, to the chapels and storerooms. The walls of the temples are covered with monumental reliefs.
Architecture

By the beginning of the New Kingdom, the temple is separated from the tomb. The temples of the New Kingdom are built at the foot of the rock masses. Of particular importance are the sanctuaries of the main god Amon-Ra, called Karnak and Luxor by the Greeks. Karnak was the official Egyptian sanctuary. Excerpts from chronicles, descriptions of campaigns and victories were placed on its walls. Luxor was an example of a temple of the New Kingdom: an entrance in the form of a pylon, a courtyard surrounded by porticos, an abundance of columns with capitals in the form of blossoming papyrus flowers.
Of all the temples of the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty, the mortuary temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut stands out. The temple stood on three terraces and struck with an abundance of columns. The reliefs of the temple depicted a journey to Punt, from where the Egyptians exported exotic animals.

Another rock temple of the New Kingdom is the mortuary temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel, created in the first half of the 13th century. in Nubia, on the west bank of the Nile. The facade of the temple was facing east, from the banks of the Nile a staircase led to the terrace of the temple. On both sides of the entrance were four twenty-meter portrait statues of Ramses II made of sandstone. Above the entrance is a carved six-meter image of the bird-headed sun god Ra. The total length of the enfilade of underground rooms (two halls and a sanctuary) was 55 m. The ceiling of the first hall rested on 8 pillars placed in 2 rows, two ten-meter sculptures of Ramses II were leaning against them, on the ceiling - a sky with stars.

The sculpture has undergone a number of changes. Female statues have become softer and more plastic.
A special period of ancient Egyptian art is the reign of the reforming pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1368-1351 BC). This period was called Tell al-Amarna.
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV made a religious reform and introduced the worship of the god Aten. The property of the priests was confiscated, the royal court was moved to the new capital - Akhetaten with a single plan, with a clearly organized center, including palaces, halls, pavilions with columns (papyrus-shaped, lotus-shaped and palm-shaped), statues of the pharaoh, a temple - the House of Aten.

Pylon - in the architecture of ancient Egypt, a monolithic trapezoid structure with symbolic and mythological compositions and a rectangular vertical entrance.

The Amarna style is characterized by: the expressive manner of depicting the pharaoh and his family members, lyrical coloring, appeal to natural human feelings. The best works of the Amarna period are distinguished by humanity and penetration, fanned by the true breath of life, full of inner charm. For the first time in the history of Egyptian art, an image of a king in the family circle appeared. The best that was created during this period are the sculptural portraits of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. Nefertiti is shown in a high crown made of painted limestone, with a slightly elongated chin, tightly closed, slightly smiling lips, and high arches of eyebrows. Another portrait of Nefertiti, made of crystalline golden sandstone, remained unfinished.
At the end of the era, there is a return to canonicity.

Art of the late period (1085-332 BC)
By the end of 1 thousand BC. in Egypt, a decline in economic and cultural life begins, which leads to a reduction in temple construction and a decrease in the number of decorative reliefs.
During this period, the power of the Theban priesthood was strengthened, and centralized control was weakened. The power is established first by representatives of the Libyan nobility, then by the dynasties of Kush, Ethiopia and Assyria. The Assyrians were fought by the rulers of the western Delta. Having driven out the invaders, they formed the XXVI dynasty with the capital in the city of Sais.
In all areas of culture of this period, a turn to antiquity is planned. The statues reproduce ancient patterns, but at the same time, departing from the canons, the masters create wonderful sculptural portraits. The buildings of the late period are guided by the canon of antiquity. Sculpture becomes conditional.
The conquests of Alexander the Great marked the beginning of the Hellenistic period in the development of Egyptian art.

The art of Ancient Egypt was the most perfect and advanced among the arts of various peoples of the Ancient East. The Egyptian people were the first to create monumental stone architecture, realistic sculptural portraits, and beautiful handicrafts. Among the many achievements, the main one was the depiction of a person with an incomparably greater degree of realistic concreteness than before. Egyptian art for the first time began to depict a person in connection and comparison with other people, opened and approved an interest in individuality. From the very beginning of the formation of class relations, art has become a powerful means of influencing the consciousness of the masses in order to strengthen and exalt the power of the pharaoh and the slave-owning elite of society.

The Greeks and Romans drew attention to one of the most characteristic features of Egyptian art: a long adherence to the patterns adopted in antiquity, because. religion ascribed a sacred meaning to the artistic examples of antiquity. Because of this, a number of conventions have been preserved in the art of slave-owning Egypt, dating back to pre-class society and enshrined as canonical. For example, the image of objects that are actually invisible, but present; such as fish, hippos, crocodiles underwater; image of an object using a schematic listing of its parts; combination in one image of different points of view. Also, a number of artistic principles that arose and developed already in the early class society of Egypt, in turn, became canonical for subsequent periods. Observance of the canons also determined the technical features of the work of the Egyptian masters, who early used the grid to accurately transfer the desired pattern to the wall. It is also known that in the Old Kingdom a standing human figure was divided into 6 cells, in the Middle and New - by 8, in the Saisian time - by 26, and a certain number of cells was assigned to each part of the body. Also, canonical patterns existed for the figures of animals, birds, etc. Despite the positive aspects, the canons fettered the development of art, and later played only an inhibitory conservative role that hindered the development of realistic trends.

The addition of ancient Egyptian art

(4 thousand BC)

Monuments give a relatively complete picture of the ancient Egyptian society from 5 thousand BC. They speak of the primitive communal nature of society based on primitive agriculture and cattle breeding. The fertility of the soil, formed from alluvial silt, provided food for a large number of people, despite the primitiveness of the tools. In some communities, agriculture based on irrigation began to appear. The labor of slaves, at first still few in number, was used. The development of property inequality within the community led to the rudimentary forms of state power. Constant internecine wars over lands, canals and slaves ended only in the middle of the 4th century BC. the formation of two large state associations - northern and southern. around 3200.BC. the south defeated the north, which meant the formation of a single Egyptian state.

The oldest human dwellings in the Nile Valley were pits and caves, sheds and tents were made of skins and wickerwork stretched on poles. Gradually, reed huts, plastered with clay, appeared. Further, raw bricks were used to build housing. In front of the dwelling, a yard was arranged, surrounded by a fence, and later by a wall. The oldest type of housing - a pit - served as a model for burials, which had an oval shape and were lined with mats.

The lack of knowledge about the true connection of phenomena gave a fantastic character to the ideas about the world, the rituals and beliefs that had already developed during this period determined the nature of the art products that were in the oldest tombs. The earliest of these are earthenware vessels painted with simple white patterns on a red background of clay. Gradually, both form and execution changed. Mortuary and agricultural rites were depicted, with female figures playing the main role, which is associated with the leading role of women in the period of matriarchy. Rough schematic figurines are made. An example of paintings of that time is a painting from the tomb of the leader in Hierakonpolis. In such images, the artist did not draw objects from life, but conditionally reproduced the most important features. The central role of the Priestess or Goddess was expressed more than other sizes.

Gradually, the art changes and the images become clearer. Examples of the new stage are relief depictions of battles between communities that led to the formation of large associations in the south and north. Leaders stand out especially in the relief: they are depicted in the form of a bull or a lion, striking enemies. With the formation of a new social system, art becomes an ideological weapon. A striking example is the slab of Pharaoh Narmer (64 cm). The scenes are depicted with belts, so in the future all wall paintings and reliefs will be decided. In the further art of slave-owning Egypt, deviation from the canons was most often applied to the depiction of people of the lower classes.

Art of the Old Kingdom

(3200 - 2400 BC)

Egypt of the Old Kingdom is the first slave-owning state, where, along with the exploitation of slaves, there was exploitation of the free agricultural population. The pharaoh was at the head of the state, but there was a constant struggle between the nomes (regions), between the nobility and the pharaoh. Also, the period of the Old Kingdom is the period of the addition of all the main forms of the forms of Egyptian culture.

From early times, the leading position in Egyptian art was occupied by architecture, the main monumental structures: tombs, kings and nobility. Stone was used for their construction, while dwellings"live" were built of brick and wood. According to ancient ideas, the deceased also needs a home and food, just like a living one. From these convictions was born the desire to preserve the body of the deceased, or at least his head; complex mummification techniques were gradually developed. Also, statues of the dead were placed in the tomb to replace them in case of damage to the body. It was believed that the soul can enter it and revive it, thereby ensuring the posthumous life of a person. Noble tombs - mastaba - consisted of an underground part, where the coffin with a mummy was kept, and a massive above-ground building, which originally looked like a house with two false doors and a courtyard where sacrifices were made. The house was a brick-lined mound of sand and stone fragments. Then they began to build a brick chapel with an altar. Limestone was used for the tombs of the highest nobility. Of great importance was the construction of royal tombs, where all the advanced technologies and inventions were applied. Remnants of the notion that the spirit of the leader would protect his tribe were transferred to the cult of the pharaoh. Often, eyes were depicted on the tops of the pyramids.

An important stage in the development of royal tombs is the idea of ​​increasing buildings vertically - for the first time this idea arises during the construction of the tomb of the pharaoh of the III dynasty of Djoser (~ 3000 years BC), the so-called step pyramid. The name of its builder, Imhotep, survived until the end of the history of Egypt, as a sage, builder and astronomer, and later he was deified as the son of the god Ptah, and the Greeks compared him with their healer god Asclepius.

The tomb of Djoser opens the way to the creation of a perfect and complete type of pyramid. The first such pyramid was the tomb of the king I Dynasty V Sneferu in Dashur (~2900 BC) - the predecessor of the famous pyramids in Giza (29-28 centuries BC)

The most famous pyramids, located to Giza, were built for the pharaohs of the IV dynasty Khufu, whom the Greeks called Cheops; Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mykerin). The most grandiose of the three is the pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), it is the largest stone structure in the world: 146.6 m in height, and the length of the side of the base is 233 m. The pyramid is composed of precisely hewn limestone blocks weighing about 2.5 tons each (total there are more than 2,300,000 pieces).

Each of the pyramids in Giza was surrounded by an architectural ensemble: sometimes there were small pyramids of queens nearby. The royal mortuary temple adjoined the eastern side of the pyramid, connected by a covered stone passage with a monumental gate in the valley. These gates were built where the waters of the Nile floods reached, and since. to the east, the fields irrigated by the Nile were green, and to the west, lifeless sands spread, the gates stood, as it were, on the verge of life and death.

The clearest idea of ​​the mortuary temples at the Giza pyramids is given by the remains of the temple at the Pyramid of Khafre (a rectangular building with a flat roof). In these temples, free-standing pillars are found for the first time. The buildings themselves are decorated with a combination of polished planes of various stones.

The tombs of the pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties (2700-2400 BC) are of a different nature. there was a change of power. Now more attention was paid to the design of temples: the walls were covered with reliefs glorifying the pharaoh. It was at this time that palm columns and papyrus-shaped columns, characteristic of Egyptian architecture, appear. There is also a third type of Egyptian columns: in the form of a bunch of lotus buds.

A new type of building appears - the so-called solar temples. An important element of which was a colossal obelisk, the top of which was upholstered with copper. Example: Niuser-ra Solar Temple. It was also connected by a covered passage with a gate in the valley.

Sculpture of this time is represented by mortuary statues in the niches of chapels or in enclosed spaces behind chapels, executed in monotonous sitting or standing poses. The sacred purpose of sculpture, as a substitute for the physical body, led to the early emergence of the Egyptian sculptural portrait. Example: the statue of the nobleman Ranofer from his tomb in Saqqara.

Nevertheless, some sculptors managed to create true masterpieces within the framework of the most severe canons:

Statue of architect Hemiun

Statue of Prince Kaaper from the tomb at Saqqara

Pharaoh Menkaura, goddess Hathor and goddess noma

Statue of Pharaoh Khafre from his tomb in Giza

Statue of Scribe Kai

Sculptors gradually came to the need to refine the masks of the dead, especially in the manufacture of heads or busts of the nobility, while the pharaohs were depicted exaggeratedly: with super-powerful bodies, a passionless look. A special incarnation of the pharaoh was the image of the sphinx - the body of a lion, and the head of the pharaoh. The most famous of all - the Great Sphinx is located at the monumental gates of the pyramid of Khafre. It is based on a natural limestone rock, which resembled the figure of a lying lion. The missing parts were added from limestone slabs.

Separately, you need to consider the statues and figurines of slaves and servants, placed in the tombs for"service" to the dead. These sculptures depicted people engaged in various works, moreover, without any canonical norms.

Girl preparing beer. Statuette from Saqqara, IV dynasty

A large place in the art of the Old Kingdom was occupied by reliefs and paintings covering the walls of tombs and temples. Two relief techniques were used: ordinary bas-relief (a type of relief where the image protrudes above the background plane by no more than half the volume) and incised, characteristic of Egyptian art, where the surface of the stone remains untouched, and the contours of the images are cut.

Architect Khesira. Relief from his tomb at Saqqara

Two wall painting techniques were also used: tempera on a dry surface and the insertion of colored pastes into recesses. The paints were mineral. Murals and reliefs depicted not only scenes of glorification of nobles and kings, they told about rural and handicraft work, fishing and hunting, but at the same time there were scenes of beating non-payers, immediately replaced by scenes of amusement of the nobility. It is in the images of ordinary people that defy the canons that one can trace a change in worldview, in artistic creativity.

During the period of the Old Kingdom, artistic craft was of great importance and development: various vessels, furniture, decorations; kept in touch with real life events.

Art of the Middle Kingdom

(21st century - early 19th century BC)

Frequent predatory wars, gigantic construction work led to the weakening of royal power. As a consequence, in 2400 BC. Egypt broke up into separate regions. In the 21st century BC. a new unification of the country began, there was a struggle between the nomes, the winners were the southern nomes, headed by the rulers of Thebes. They formed the XI dynasty of pharaohs. But the struggle for power still continued among the subjects. Amenemhet I and his successors managed to maintain the unity of the country, a new irrigation network was built (Fayum irrigation facilities). The general economic upsurge contributed to the development of art, the construction of the pyramids resumed. The predecessors of Anemkhet I resorted to a new design of their tombs - a combination of a pyramid with an ordinary rock tomb. The most significant of these is the tomb of Mentuhotep II and III in Deir el-Bahri.

The layout of the pyramids and temples of the XII dynasty completely coincides with the location of the tombs of the pharaohs of the V-VI dynasties, but due to changing economic conditions, the construction of giant stone pyramids was impossible, so the size of the new structures is much smaller, and the building material was raw brick, which changed the method of laying. The statues of the mortuary temples imitate the examples of the Old Kingdom, but there are some differences in local centers, in particular in middle Egypt, where the nomarchs still felt themselves to be the rulers of their regions and imitated the customs of the royal palaces. This is how a new direction in the art of the Middle Kingdom is taking shape, art centers are being formed.During civil strife, there were periods when there was no power of the pharaoh. Faith in the established foundations, and in particular in the afterlife, was shaken, and new scientific discoveries also contributed to this. This was reflected in literature (the story of Sinuhet) and art, there is a greater inclination towards realism.

A striking example of new trends are the reliefs and paintings on the walls of the rock tombs of the nomarchs. Particularly noteworthy are the reliefs from Meir depicting ordinary people.

The masters achieved particular success in the depiction of animals in the murals of the tomb of the nomarch of the 16th nome Khnumhotep II in Beni Hassan. Gradually, this experience was positively received in official art and was reflected in royal portraits.

In order to glorify themselves, the Theban pharaohs began extensive temple construction. They tried to install as many of their images as possible in the temples, inside and out, and the maximum similarity was necessary in order to fix the image of the pharaoh in the minds of the people.

Statue of Sanurset III, obsidian, 19th century BC.

Statue of AmenemhatIII, black basalt, 19th century BC.

Statue of AmenemhatIII from Hawar, yellow limestone, 19th century BC.

By the time of the reign of Senurset III, royal power had strengthened, the nobility sought to take positions at the court. Court workshops began to play a huge role. Local creativity began to follow their creativity, more canonical. There is an increase in construction, including pyramids. Example: the tomb of Amenemhat III in Havar, the mortuary temple was especially famous, especially in Greece.

Artistic craft has been widely developed due to the growth of urban life. As before, a lot of dishes were made from stone and faience, metal was processed, and bronze vessels appeared. A new technique has appeared in jewelry - granulation.

Among the discoveries of the art of the Middle Kingdom are the three-nave construction of the hall with a raised middle nave, pylons, colossal statues outside the building. Especially important is the growth of realistic tendencies, in particular in portrait statues.

Art of the first half of the New Kingdom. Art of the 18th Dynasty

(16th-15th centuries BC)

In the 18th century BC. there was a weakening of the central government. The ensuing long conquest of Egypt by nomads was a period of economic and cultural decline. In the 16th century BC. Thebes began the fight against the nomads and for the unification of the country. Pharaoh Ahmes I was the first king of the XVIII dynasty. The victorious wars in Syria and Nubia contributed to the influx of funds and an increase in luxury and grandiose architecture. In the art of this period, the role of pomp and decorativeness, as well as the role of realistic aspirations, increases.

Thebes played a leading role in the art of the 18th dynasty, where the best works of art of this time were created: the Temple of TimeXVIII dynasty, the temple of the god Amun in Thebes - Karnak and Luxor. In Luxor, a new type of temple of the New Kingdom acquired its finished form. The central colonnade was in the form of giant stone papyrus flowers.

Temple of Amun in Luxor

Temple of Amun at Karnak

An important place in the architecture of the 18th dynasty is occupied by the mortuary royal temples located in Thebes on the western bank of the Nile. The tombs were separated from the mortuary temples, they were carved in the gorges of the rocks, and the temples were erected below, on the plain. This idea belongs to the architect Ineya. Temples are becoming more and more monumental. (Temple of Amenhotep III of which only 2 giant statues of the pharaoh have survived:

A special place is occupied by the temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Del el-Bahri. Sculptures of external design are the least individual, only the most characteristic features of the queen's face are transmitted. The statues in the main chapel reproduce her image more.

From the middle of the 18th period, a new stage began: the severity of forms was replaced by decorativeness, sometimes turning into excessive elegance. There is a general interest in the volume, the transfer of portrait features. The canonicity of the royal statues did not allow to fully reflect all the innovations, this was more clearly manifested in the statues of private individuals.

The development of style in Theban wall painting proceeded in similar ways. The most interesting are the tombs of the nobility, because. the royal ones contain narrowly religious subjects, with the exception of the Hatshepsut temple in Deir el-Bahri. The main images are scenes from life and religious subjects, military themes, feast themes appear. Much attention is paid to movement in the composition. The figures of ordinary people contrast strangely with those of the nobility.

At the same time, Egyptian graphics appeared, drawings on papyri with texts"Books of the Dead". There is a flourishing of craft, multi-colored inlays. The use of a vertical loom made it possible to produce fabrics with tapestry patterns. Plant motifs are especially popular.

The art of the time of Akhenaten and his successors. Amarna Art

(late 15th - early 14th century BC)

As a result of the aggressive wars of the kings of the 18th dynasty and the enrichment of the nobility and priesthood, internal confrontation grew, which culminated in an open conflict at the beginning of the 14th century. BC. under Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who resolved this conflict with a religious reform. He put forward the doctrine, declaring the only true deity of the solar disk under the name of the god Aten. The pharaoh left Thebes and built himself a capital in middle Egypt - Akhetaten, he himself took a new name - Akhenaten, which means"Spirit of the Aten". He actively showed a break with the traditional past, which had a strong impact on art. The rejection of canonical forms changed not only the form of monuments, but also their content. They began to portray the king more often in everyday life, and began to pay special attention to the environment. It was necessary to re-create artistic images, new types of sanctuaries. The first artistic experiences were very unusual, because. masters had to be retrained. However, the lack of a canon had a positive effect.

The reign of the XIX Dynasty was the years of a new political and economic upsurge. The influx of wealth and slaves increased due to external wars, but inside there was still a struggle between the pharaoh, the priesthood and the nobility. Theban art preserves a reactionary desire to return to old traditions, the rulers tried to give more brilliance and splendor to the capital.

The main object of construction in Thebes was, of course, the temple of Amun in Karnak, of the grandiose scale. The mortuary temple of Ramses II, the so-called Ramesseum in Abu Simbel, was also monumental, in the first courtyard of which there was a colossal statue of the king (~ 20m in height).

Sculpture returns to the canonical images of antiquity, more and more external elegance increases. However, secular depictions of the pharaoh and queen appear. The pharaoh is depicted without exaggeration as a muscle, as before, the image of a mighty ruler is conveyed by more realistic means - the correct proportions, muscles peeking out from under the clothes.

Also, the legacy of the 18th dynasty is visible in the reliefs: an interest in the landscape, in individual features, especially ethnic types. But all these new features did not violate the basic traditional conventions.

Among the Theban murals, the murals of the tombs of masters who lived in an isolated settlement in the mountains of the Theban necropolis and represented a closed team, the transfer of position in which went from father to son, stand apart. It was also a religious society, because. participated in religious ceremonies, incl. and the cult of death. They were called"hearing the call."

The further development of the art of the end of the New Kingdom was heavily affected by long wars and the weakening of the economy, as well as civil strife. The 20th dynasty of the pharaohs briefly managed to unite the country, but with the loss of former foreign possessions. A little later, the country broke up into a northern one under the rule of the nomarchs of Tanis and a southern one with its capital in Thebes. Large-scale construction ceased after the death of the second pharaoh of the XX dynasty, Ramesses III. During his time, the temple of Khonsu at Karnak and the mortuary temple with a palace at Medinet Habu were built. The tombs gradually decreased in size, the paintings became standard, the position of the artists fell, which significantly affected the quality of the work.

Late Art

(11th century - 332 BC)

The wars waged by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom delayed development. During the 1st century there were constant uprisings of the population, the struggle of slave owners. Starting from the 2nd c. BC. the state collapsed. In 671 BC Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians, the struggle was led by the ruler of the western delta, who acted in alliance with the Greek cities, Asia Minor and Lydia. After the expulsion of the Assyrians, Egypt was united under the rule of the XXVI dynasty with the capital at Sais.

In times of long breakups, large-scale construction was not carried out, it was resumed only in short periods of unification. At such a time, under the Libyan ruler Sheshank and the Ethiopian pharaoh Taharqa, additions to Karnak were made - the construction of another courtyard with porticos and a giant pylon.

During the 11th - 8th centuries. BC. Thebes and Tanis remained the artistic center. Theban art continued the traditions of the New Kingdom, and artistic craft flourished in Tanis. Sculpture of this time - outwardly elegant monuments. Bronze figurines have become widespread instead of expensive stone.

During the reign of the Ethiopian dynasty, a revival began in the art world. Example: a sculptural portrait of Pharaoh Taharka (Hermitage) and Ethiopian princesses (The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts).

Statue of Montuemhat, mayor of Thebes

The desire to idealize its history only intensified in subsequent years, especially when Egypt was united under the rule of the conqueror of Assyria, Pharaoh Psamtik I. Trade routes improved and expanded, construction began again, mainly concentrated in Sais. The builders, like everyone else, imitated the ancient art.Archaization affected all areas: literature and religion, politics.

Despite the severe consequences of the Persian conquest (525 BC) and the short period of struggle for independence, Egyptian artists created beautiful monuments. An example is the head of a priest from Memphis.

After the second conquest by the Persians, and then by the Greek-Macedonians (332 BC), Egypt retained political independence under the control of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, and found the strength to take up art. Temples in Effu, Espe, Dendera, on about. Filet. However, these architectural monuments should already be considered in the context of Hellenism.

The significance of Egyptian culture is great: it is a rich literature (a fairy tale, a story, love lyrics arose), Egyptian science gave us a calendar and signs of the zodiac, the basics of geometry and the first discoveries in the field of medicine, geography and history. This knowledge enjoyed high prestige in the ancient world, and later in the East. The first Greek art was formed under the influence of the art of Ancient Egypt and influenced the minds of young Greek masters.

Sculpture of Ancient Egypt- one of the most original and strictly canonically developed areas of art of Ancient Egypt. Sculpture was created and developed to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, kings and queens in physical form. There were also many images of ka in the graves of ordinary Egyptians, mostly made of wood, some of which have survived. Statues of gods and pharaohs were put on public display, as a rule, in open spaces and outside temples. The Great Sphinx in Giza has never been repeated in full size anywhere else, but the alleys of reduced copies of the Sphinx and other animals have become an indispensable attribute of many temple complexes. The most sacred image of God was in the temple, in the altar part, as a rule, in a boat or a barque, usually made of precious metals, however, not a single such image has been preserved. A huge number of carved figurines have been preserved - from figures of gods to toys and dishes. Such figurines were made not only from wood, but also from alabaster, a more expensive material. Wooden images of slaves, animals and property were placed in tombs to accompany the dead in the afterlife.

Statues, as a rule, retain the original shape of a block of stone or a piece of wood from which it is carved. In traditional statues of seated scribes, similarities with the shape of a pyramid (cubic statue) are just as often found.

There was a very strict canon for the creation of ancient Egyptian sculpture: the color of the body of a man had to be darker than the color of the body of a woman, the hands of a seated person had to be exclusively on his knees. There were certain rules for depicting the Egyptian gods: for example, the god Horus should have been depicted with the head of a falcon, the god of the dead Anubis with the head of a jackal. All sculptures were created according to this canon and the following was so strict that for almost three thousand years of the existence of Ancient Egypt it has not changed.

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  Sculpture of the early dynastic period comes mainly from the three major centers where the temples were located - She, Abydos and Koptos. The statues served as an object of worship, rituals and had a dedicatory purpose. A large group of monuments was associated with the “heb-sed” rite - the ritual of renewing the physical power of the pharaoh. This type includes types of sitting and walking figures of the king, executed in round sculpture and relief, as well as the image of his ritual run. The list of heb-sed monuments includes the statue of pharaoh Khasekhem, represented as sitting on a throne in ritual attire. This sculpture indicates the improvement of techniques: the figure has the correct proportions and is modeled in volume. Here the main features of the style have already been revealed - the monumentality of the form, the frontality of the composition. The pose of the statue, which fits into the rectangular block of the throne, is motionless; straight lines predominate in the outlines of the figure. Khasekhem's face is portrait, although his features are largely idealized. The setting of the eyes in the orbit with a convex eyeball draws attention. A similar technique of execution extended to the entire group of monuments of that time, being a characteristic stylistic feature of portraits of the Early Kingdom. By the same period, the canonicity of the full-length pre-dynastic period was established and gave way in the plastic of the Early Kingdom to the correct transfer of the proportions of the human body.

  Sculpture of the Old Kingdom

  Sculpture of the Middle Kingdom

  Significant changes in sculpture take place precisely in the Middle Kingdom, which is largely due to the presence and creative rivalry of many local schools that gained independence during the period of collapse. Since the XII Dynasty, ritual statues have been more widely used (and, accordingly, made in large quantities): they are now installed not only in tombs, but also in temples. Among them, images associated with the rite of heb-sed (the ritual revival of the pharaoh's life force) still dominate. The first stage of the rite was symbolically associated with the murder of the elderly ruler and was performed over his statue, which in composition resembled the canonical images and sculptures of sarcophagi. This type includes the heb-sed statue of Mentuhotep-Nebhepetr, depicting the pharaoh in a pointedly frozen pose with arms crossed on his chest. The style is distinguished by a large share of conventionality and generalization, which is generally typical for sculptural monuments of the beginning of the era. In the future, sculpture comes to a more subtle modeling of faces and greater plastic dissection: this is most evident in female portraits and images of private individuals.

  Over time, the iconography of the kings also changes. By the 12th Dynasty, the idea of ​​the pharaoh's divine power gave way in depictions to an insistent attempt to convey human individuality. The heyday of sculpture with official themes falls on the reign of Senusret III, who was depicted at all ages - from childhood to adulthood. The best of these images are the obsidian head of Senusret III and the sculptural portraits of his son Amenemhet III. The original find of the masters of local schools can be considered a type of cubic statue - an image of a figure enclosed in a monolithic stone block.

  The art of the Middle Kingdom is the era of the heyday of small-scale plastic arts, most of which are still associated with the funeral cult and its rites (sailing on a boat, bringing sacrificial gifts, etc.). The figurines were carved from wood, covered with soil and painted. Often entire multi-figure compositions were created in round sculpture (similar to how it was customary in the reliefs of the Old Kingdom).

  Sculpture of the New Kingdom

  In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait appears, especially images of a married couple.

  The art of relief acquires new qualities. This artistic area is noticeably influenced by certain genres of literature that became widespread in the era of the New Kingdom: hymns, military chronicles, love lyrics. Often, texts in these genres are combined with relief compositions in temples and tombs. In the reliefs of the Theban temples, there is an increase in decorativeness, a free variation in the techniques of bas-relief and high relief, combined with colorful paintings. Such is the portrait of Amenhotep III from the tomb of Haemhet, which combines different heights of the relief and in this respect is an innovative work. The reliefs are still arranged in registers, allowing the creation of narrative cycles of vast spatial extent.

  Amarna period

  The art of the Amarna period is remarkable for its remarkable originality, which stems primarily from the nature of the new worldview. The most unusual fact is the rejection of a strictly idealized, sacred understanding of the image of the pharaoh. The new style was even reflected in the colossi of Amenhotep IV installed in the temple of the Aten at Karnak. These statues contain not only the typical canonical techniques of monumental art, but also a new understanding of portraiture, which now required a reliable transfer of the pharaoh's appearance up to the characteristic features of the body structure. The credibility criterion was a kind of protest against the former official art, so the word "maat" - truth - is filled with a special meaning. Images of Akhenaten are a curious example of a combination of authenticity with the requirement of extreme generalization and normativity, characteristic of Egyptian art. The shape of the head of the pharaoh, the unusually elongated oval of the face, thin arms and narrow chin - all these features are carefully preserved and reflected in the new tradition, but at the same time all visual techniques were fixed on special samples - sculptural models.

  The characteristic techniques of depicting the pharaoh were also extended to members of his family. A frank innovation was the depiction of the figures entirely in profile, which was previously not allowed by the Egyptian canon. The fact that ethnic features were preserved in the portrait was also new: such is the head of the pharaoh's mother, Queen Tii, inlaid with gold and glassy paste. An intimate lyrical beginning is manifested in the Amarna reliefs, filled with natural plasticity and not containing canonical frontal images.

  The culmination of the development of fine arts is rightly considered the work of the sculptors of the workshop. Among them is the well-known polychrome head of Queen Nefertiti in a blue tiara. Together with the completed works, a lot of plaster masks were found in the excavations of the sculptural workshops, which served as models.

  "Civilization of Ancient Egypt" - God Atum. Egypt. Items. Pyramids. Civilization of ancient Egypt. Mythology. official religion. Egyptian cities. Ancient Egypt. Demotic. God Ra.

  "State of Ancient Egypt" - The state on the banks of the Nile. Unification of Egypt. Favorable conditions for the formation of civilization. Delta. Fragment of wall painting. Papyrus plant. From primitive to civilization. The floods of the Nile. Prayers. Egypt country. City of Memphis.

  "State on the banks of the Nile" - Flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, the river was divided into several branches. Mediterranean Sea. Mediterranean Sea. States appeared where agriculture became the main occupation. Nile. use of papyrus. Show the Nile River. More than five thousand years ago, states appeared. Silt - particles of half-decayed plants and reddish rocks.

  "Egypt and the Egyptians" - In the summer, Hapi tilts the vessels more strongly and the Nile overflows its banks. Statue of the god Hapi. Narrow dams made of clay and reeds stretched along the large canals. Egypt is a country located in northeast Africa in the Nile River valley. Date palms. Dams surrounded the fields on all sides and retained water.

  "Ancient Egypt Grade 5" - Pyramids. The first of the wonders of the world. Nile Delta Thresholds Papyrus Pharaoh Pyramid Religion. People built for the gods... Writing. Built as tombs for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Historical concepts. 3. A papyrus book rolled up into a tube… The Art of Ancient Egypt. Writing in Egypt ... Review task Find the mistakes.

  "Nefertiti" - They had six daughters in total! Nefertiti means "The Come Beauty". Nefertiti is a queen. The image of Nefertiti can be seen on many decorations. The queen has a high blue wig on her head with a ribbon and an image of a snake. Other images of Nefertiti. Nefertiti lived in the state of Egypt more than three thousand years ago.