The Main Idea of Ancient Egyptian Art

The honor the deceased. In reliefs, they displayed more of a representational idea of what was happening, rather than a detailed realistic image. During the time of the Ancient Greek, their art focused on the anatomy and perspective of the human form. The difference in time periods causes for different views on naturalism and realism. But the common similarity both share is the shape of a masculine body. The ancient Egyptian art form was used to mark the past and in a way keep their history alive. The Part of a Procession of Gods with Inscription, 2145-2055 BCE, describes a scene of just that.

Made of painted limestone, the artwork is measured at 24 x 20 ½ in. The image depicts two Gods, Wepwawet and Gen, during a procession. The inscriptions in this piece of artwork allow their names to be determined. These men are holding scepters and ankhs (life signs). They are wearing detailed broad collars and long wigs. There is a striping detail in the cloth wrapped around their waists. The paint would have been used to accentuate these materialistic details. Due to the positioning of the cloth around their waists, it looks to be etched on top of the surface. There is no flow or draping that hits high points of their figure, showing more of just the concept of clothing. As far as view, their heads are profile while their shoulders, torso and legs are shown in composite. Even though their heads are in a profiled view, the visible eye is composite as well. These figures are flat and hardly extend off of the background. Because of this, there is little to no depth.

The limbs of these men are rounded. Their chests are smooth and lack any specific detail to muscle. This suggests that the artist wanted to show a more idealistic composite of their bodies, rather than natural. On the other hand, Ancient Greek art shows more of a naturalistic and idealized version of the human body. Apollo and Artemis, 50 BCE, is a dedicatory offering on the Athenian Acropolis (Walters Museum). This is made of marble, measuring at 17 1/16 x 12 5/8 x 2 15/16 in. Apollo’s body shows detail of naturalism. In his legs, you can see a calf muscle and detail in the Achilles tendon area. His ribs and abs are showing to be coming from under his skin instead of on top of the surface. Around his arms and shoulders seems to be a scarf. This scarf is draped over his arm with his hand sitting on his hip and looks to be flowing a bit as he walks. In his other hand he holds what appears to be a long spear. During this time, women were sculpted in clothing unlike the men.

Order custom essay The Main Idea of Ancient Egyptian Art with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

The goddess, Artemis, is wearing a long dress of some sort. The dress hits her rear figure and continues to flow, showing the amount of naturalism portrayed. In one hand she holds a piece of cloth from her dress and in the other holds a torch. The flame of the torch is blown backwards indicating that they are walking forward. This is also indicated by Apollo’s stance with one foot forward and the other slightly raised behind. The relief of this sculpture is high. On what would be the left side of their bodies, when looking at them straight on, is in a higher relief than the right side. For example, Apollo’s left arm and leg are raised higher than his right side. The shadowing of the nose, lips and jawlines show a sense of depth that further show the level of naturalism. On their heads is a hat, which looks to be tied at the back.

Although these two pieces of artwork come from different periods in time, they do have some similarities. Both may have a different level of relief in terms of how far they raise off of the surface, they are still in high relief. Both emulate masculine body shapes. This is shown with the broad shoulders from the Egyptian time period and the idealized muscular body from the Greek time period. Another similarity would be that both are sculpted from a type of stone. These slabs of stone made it harder for the artwork to be destroyed.

In conclusion, with these selections of art work coming from eras that had different views on how to portray the human body, they do offer some similarities. It is easy to point out the differences between the two ( time period, ideas on realism, materials used). But, the main thing that was found in common between the two would have to be the emulation of masculine body shape. The level of detail used to portray this varied but overall, is understood in both pieces of artwork.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer