Why is all ancient Egyptian art done in exactly the same style?

Question

I know that there are different historical periods of art in which certain styles come in and out of popularity, but why does it seem like all ancient Egyptian art is done in the exact same style for all of its history?

In: 3

Answer 1

Short answer: It’s absolutely not.

Longer answer:

I’d recommend looking into Middle Kingdom sculpture for starters. You will see some hyper realistic portraits of pharaohs such as Senwosret, and these sculptures are over a thousand years older than some of the other works I’ll bring up. When looking at some of these sculptures, it’s like you’re looking at the actual pharaoh rather than an idealized version done in the typical style of the era. If you look at a typical portrait of Hatshepsut, for example, you won’t feel like you’re seeing the actual woman, but a sculpture of Senwosret is actually more similar to Roman veristic sculpture which didn’t come until 2,000 years after the sculpture of Senwosret.

Next, check out Fayum portraits (also known as mummy portraits). These were done about 2,000 years after the Middle Kingdom sculptures, during the Roman era. They are paintings, clearly influenced by Greco-Roman painting styles. These will give you a very clear look at the person whose body is mummified within the coffin.

Even within the relief sculptures found in tombs throughout Egypt, there are very distinct styles that formed over the millennia. For some very brief examples, you may wish to look at mastaba reliefs from the old kingdom and then reliefs from the Amarna period. Everything from the craftsmanship, visual styles, iconography, etc. is quite varied between periods of Egyptian art.

You may also wish to watch some of John Romer’s documentaries about ancient Egypt, particularly the one about Deir-el-Medina, an ancient village of artisans who were responsible for the carvings/paintings within the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is often presented in mainstream documentaries and books as this highly mysterious period of history that we know very little about, but that is hardly the case and Deir-el-Medina is a great example of that. We know the names of the residents, which homes they lived in, who they fell in love with, how they experienced things like love, childbirth, etc. There is actually very little mystery surrounding these people and that is such a beautiful thing.