Art History For Dummies. Jesse Bryant Wilder
fortress with his tusks. Bulls were often used to depict the might of pharaoh.
The Egyptian Style: Proportion and Orientation
Though it’s a very early work, the Palette of Narmer (see the preceding section) set the standard for all later Egyptian art. Once established, the Egyptian style hardly ever changed. Notice that part of the pharaoh is shown in profile, while the rest of him is represented in frontal view. In 3,000 years of Egyptian art, the pharaoh never changes his pose (in side-view reliefs and paintings). The pharaoh’s legs are always shown in profile, with the flat left foot planted in front of the right. The chest and shoulders are in frontal view, while the face is in profile (except for the right eye, which you see head-on, so to speak).
Consider these consistent aspects of Egyptian style:
Relative size does matter: Egyptian artists were ultra-conservative, probably because the main purpose of art was religious, and the Egyptian religion didn’t change much — not until the reign of Akhenaten in the New Kingdom (see “New Kingdom Art,” later in this chapter). All artists followed a canon of proportions when representing the human figure, sizing a man with an 18-unit grid. The unit could be based on a man’s shoe size or his fist. The knees, belly button, elbows, and shoulders had to be a specified number of units from the feet. This is why Egyptian royals look so much alike. The pharaoh was considered perfect and unchanging, like a god; therefore, his proportions had to be unchanging in art, regardless of the king’s actual dimensions. Only the lower ranks could be shown in more realistic poses, like the men harnessing the lionesses in the Palette of Narmer, whom you see from strict profile (except for their eyes) in more naturalistic positions.
Facing front, or not: Artists used the same canon of proportions to sculpt statues, but the figure was depicted frontally rather than in partial profile. Also, the left leg of the statue steps forward, more so in men than women (the more testosterone, the bigger the step), as in the statues of King Menkaura (sometimes spelled Menkaure) and his queen from the fourth dynasty. (You can see the statues online at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, mfa.org). Despite their stoic faces, the statues reflect the intimacy and sculptural harmony of the pair. They look like they were made for each other. King Menkaura and his queen, who seem as durable as the pyramids, represent the stability of the Old Kingdom.
Excavating Old Kingdom Architecture
Old Kingdom pharaohs ruled Egypt liked gods on earth. Their power and financial resources must have seemed limitless to people who saw the Great Pyramids, colossal statues at Abu Simbel, and the mighty Sphinx of Giza. The Sphinx has the body of a lion and the head of Khafre, the fourth pharaoh of the fourth dynasty. Even after four and a half millennia of dust storms, the majestic 65-foot-high sphinx still stares boldly at the world (though its eyes are eroded).
Early mastabas and step pyramids
The pyramids grew in steps, literally. They began with small mastabas, which seemed to grow with the prestige of the pharaohs during the first and second dynasties. A mastaba is a mud-brick rectangular slab with doors and windows. It included a mourning room for visiting relatives and a sealed chamber for the deceased person’s soul. The mastaba was attached to an underground tomb by a long shaft cut into rock.
The evolution of pyramids took advantage of the mastabas as a base:
During the third dynasty, stone stairways to heaven called step pyramids were erected over the mastabas to ensure their permanence and give kingly tombs a grander appearance. The greatest is the Step Pyramid of King Djoser (2667 BC–2648 BC), the second king of the third dynasty.
Until about 2690 BC, Egyptians used primarily mud brick, wood, and reeds to build mastabas and temples. The first totally stone structure was Djoser’s Step Pyramid, raised in the necropolis (city of the dead) at Saqqara, just south of modern-day Cairo.
Turning to stone
Erecting the first all-stone structure took an innovative brain, someone with the vision to think outside the mud-brick mastaba. Imhotep, whose name appears at the base of a tomb statue of Djoser in the Step Pyramid, was that kind of guy. He is the first known artist and architect in history and was referred to as the “Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, the first after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, the High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep, the builder, the sculptor, woodcarver” (try fitting that on a nametag).
Imhotep’s Step Pyramid is similar to a Mesopotamian ziggurat (see Chapter 5). It seems to be a spiritual launchpad, designed to give the pharaoh’s soul a boost into heaven, one step at a time. In the fourth dynasty, the Step Pyramid evolved into the familiar four-sided pyramid like the Great Pyramids at Giza.
Making the architecture great
Khufu (aka Cheops), who ruled Egypt between about 2589 BC and 2566 BC, erected the oldest and biggest of the Great Pyramids, completed in about 2560 BC. Khufu’s pyramid took roughly 20 years to build, stands 450 feet high, and is built on a 13-acre square base! Originally the pyramid stood at 481 feet, but its polished limestone veneer, which added about 30 feet to its height, has deteriorated.
Interesting points about the Khufu pyramid’s structure include these features:
Alignment: The sides of the pyramid are equilateral triangles that face due north, south, east, and west. They are aligned perfectly to one-tenth of a degree to the cardinal points on a compass.
Purpose: The pyramid is part of a vast funerary complex that includes two mortuary temples, three smaller pyramids for Khufu’s wives, another small pyramid for Khufu’s mother, a causeway, and mastabas for nobles linked to the pharaoh.
Shape: The pyramid shape duplicates the sun’s rays streaming through an opening in a cloud. Because Egyptians believed that a deceased pharaoh rode to heaven on the sun god’s rays, the perfect pyramid may have been designed to facilitate his skyward ascent with a more direct route than the Step Pyramid offered.
The second largest pyramid is Khafre’s at 446 feet. The base covers 11 acres. It is accompanied by the Great Sphinx and a temple complex similar to Khufu’s. Menkaura’s pyramid, the third of the three Great Pyramids, is a dwarf compared to the other two, standing at just 203 feet.
Spending life preparing for death
The pharaoh spent much of his life preparing for death. A new pharaoh built his own tomb — which was considered his second or eternal home — as soon as possible. (Who knew when he’d have to move in?) He stocked the tomb with provisions that he would need in the hereafter, including clothes, toiletries, jewelry, beds, stools, fans, weapons, and even chariots. (King Tut was entombed