Amarna art

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See also: Art of Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptian art style known as Amarna Art was a style of art that was adopted in the Amarna Period (i.e. during and just after the reign of Akhenaten in the late Eighteenth Dynasty, and is noticeably different from more conventional Egyptian art styles.

It is characterized by a sense of movement and activity in images, with figures having raised heads, many figures overlapping and many scenes are crowded and very busy.

The illustration of hands and feet were obviously thought to be important, shown with long and slender fingers, and great pains were gone to be show fingers and finger nails. Flesh was shown as being dark brown, for both males and females (contrasted with the more normal dark brown for males and light brown for females) - this could merely be convention, or depict the ‘life’ blood. As is normal in Egyptian art, commoners are shown with 2 left feet (or 2 right feet).

The depiction of the Royal Family is often seen as being informal, intimate and with a family closeness, but this hides the conventions of the style. Central to most scenes is the disc of the Aten, shining down on the Royal Family and literally giving life and prosperity to Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Royalty are shown with left and right feet, each with a big toe.

[edit] Tombs

The decoration of tombs of non-Royals is quite different from previous eras, with not many agricultural scenes, and the image of the king being central, rather than that of the actual owner of the tomb.

Obviously, the lack of depiction of gods other than the Aten makes the style of decoration quite different from the standard tomb decoration.

[edit] Sculpture

Sculptures from the Amarna period were a lot more relaxed and depicted people as they really were and not focusing on just some of their features. Excellent examples of sculptures from the Amarna period can be found at the M.A. Mansoor Amarna Collection (http://www.mansooramarnacollection.com/) website.

[edit] Architecture

Not many buildings from this period have survived the ravages of later kings, partially as they were constructed out of standard size blocks, known as Talatat, which were very easy to remove and reuse.