Cave Painting at Lascaux

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Hall of Bulls

Lascaux Cave. Dordogne, France. c. 15,000-10,000 BC

Paleolithic

Cave Painting at Lascaux

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Bird-Headed Man With Bison

Shaft Scene in Lascaux Cave. c. 15,000-10,000 BC

Paleolithic

Only painting in the cave that seems to tell a story

Stylistically different from the other paintings

May be an illustration of a myth, record of an actual event, or depicting a vision of a shaman

Prehistoric Sculpture

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Woman of Willendorf

• Statuette made from a large pebble, c. 25,000 BC
• Paleolithic
• Navel is a natural indentation of the stone
• May have been an expression of health and fertility, which ensures reproduction of strong children for the survival of the group
• One theory is that it is a self portrait made by a pregnant woman looking down at her body
• Another theory is that groups of hunters exchanged these statues to signal friendliness, or mating 

Prehistoric Scupture

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Figure With a Lion Head

• Mammoth tusk ivory c. 30,000 BC
• Paleolithic
• Interesting because carver made a unique creature that is part-human part-beast instead of copying nature
• Could be a person wearing a ritual lion mask or a person taking on the appearance of an animal
• People at the time may have thought that humans and animals were part of one group that shared the earth

Prehistoric Sculpture

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Woman of Laussel

• Relief, c. 20,000-15,000 BC
• Paleolithic

Stonehenge

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• Megalithic monument c. 2500 BC (neolithic)
• Went through 8 phases of construction over a millenium and a half
• Circle of bluestone (which had to be imported over 150 miles) and sarsen stone
• Functioned as a place of the dead
• Use of mortise-and-tenon joints
• Believed to be a ceremonial site for burials

Palette of Narmer

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• Pre-dynastic, c. 3100 BC
• Represents the beginning of Egypt's growth and the unification of Egypt
• Employs conventions that would continue in royal Egyptian art from this point on
• Message of the palette: Narmer, as ruler of Upper Egypt, is in firm control of Lower Egypt

Portrait of Hesy-ra from Saqquara

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• Old Kingdom, c. 2660 BC

Great Sphinx at Giza

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• Old Kingdom, c. 2500 BC
• Funerary complex of Khafre
• Colossal portrait of the king with the body of a crouching lion, which suggests merging of human intelligence with animal strength

Three Great Pyramids at Giza

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• 4th dynasty c. 2500 BC
• Erected by (from the left) Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu
• The oldest and largest is the Pyramid of Khufu
• Khafre's is slightly smaller and Menkaure's is the smallest
• Site was planned to follow the sun's east-west path
• Each pyramid is connected to a funerary temple where the dead kings lie.

Seated "Ka" statue of Khafre

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• Old kingdom, c. 2500 BC
• Exudes a strong sense of calm, dignity and permanence.
• When stone is illuminated by sunlight, it glows a deep blue, the celestial color of Horus
• Khafre wears the traditonal royal costume
• Symbolizes the king's power over Upper and Lower Egypt

Standing "Ka" double portrait of Menkaure and his Queen

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• Old Kingdom, c. 2500 BC
• Menkaure is Khafre's heir and the queen next to him is probably Khamerernebty II
• The couple's figures are close in size and are engaged in the stone, forming a single unit
• The Queen's symbolic gesture of an embrace further unites them
• Menkaure is depicted in accordance with Egyptian ideals, standing in a conventional pose

Temple Complex of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri

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• New Kingdom, c. 1460 BC
• Pharoah Hatshepsut was one of few women who ruled Egypt
• Funerary temple  reflects the natual three-part layering in the rise of the landscape-from flat desert, through a sloping hillside, to stone cliffs.
• The temple was constructed on an axial plane

Portrait Head of Queen Tiy

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• New Kingdom, c. 1380 BC 18th dynasty
• Tiy was the chief wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten

Sunken Relief of Akhenaten and his Family Seated

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• New Kingdom, c. 1355 BC
• Amarna style relief sculpture
• Rather than composed serenity, this artist has conveyed the fidgety behavior of children and the loving involvement of their parents in a manner not even hinted at in earlier royal portraiture
• The sun disc represents Aten giving blessings, whose rays end in hands that offer ankhs before their nostrils, giving them the "breath of life"
• The daughters' elongated shaved heads conform to the newly minted figure type

Sunken Relief of Akhenaten and his family worshipping the Aten

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• New kingdom, c. 1355 BC

Portrait Head of Queen Nefertiti

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• New Kingdom, c. 1350 BC
• Proportions too ideal to be human

Painted Papyrus page from the Book of the Dead for Hunefer

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• New Kingdom, c. 1285 BC
• Scrolls commissioned by family members containing magical texts or spells to place among the wrappings of the mummified bodies
• Depicts a last judgement consisting of two tests given by Osiris. First they are questioned about their behavior in life, then there hearts are weighed on a scale against an ostrich feather
• If they past the test, they are accepted into the underworld; if they do not pass, they are eaten by Ammit, the "Eater of the Dead"

Coffin Cover and Golden Mask of Tutankhamen

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• New Kingdom, 18th dynasty c. 1350 BC
• Sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun, the son of Akhenaten who returned to traditional religious beliefs and moved his court back to Thebes. He died young
• The features on the coffin and mask suggest the continuing vitality of some Amarna stylizations
• Coffins and the mask were gold inlaid with glass and semiprecious stones

Temple Complex of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

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• New Kingdom, 19th dynasty c. 1280 BC
• Not a funerary temple
• The monuments are carved directly into the living rock of the sacred hills
• A second temple is carved into natural rock dedicated to his principal wife Nefertari and Hathor
• Ramses II was a king-god of Egypt, ruler of a vast empire,a virile wonder who fathered nearly one hundred children
• The larger temple is dedicated to Ramses and the Egyptian gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah

Votive Figures from Ur

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• Mesopotamian, c. 2700-2500 BC
• Sumerian religious art
• Images dedicated to the Gods
• Individuals would set up figures of themselves in a shrine before a larger, more elaborate image of a god
• Served as a stand-in for the donor with locked in eye-contact with the god, caught perpetually in the act of worship
• Sculptors followed important conventions in Sumerian art

Bull Lyre from a Sumerian Royal Tomb

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• Mesopotamian (Ancient Near Eastern) c. 2500 BC
• Harp-like instrument with shell inlay and gold. Rested over the body of the woman who played it during the funeral for the royal figure buried nearby 
• Panel has an illustration of 4 scenes
• Top register is of the hero strangling bulls, which suggests the rejection of the mother goddess for male sky gods
• Other 3 scenes of animals personifying activities of humans
• The scenes in the panels are related to the Epic of Gilgamesh, Sumer's greatest contribution to world literature.

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

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• c. 2300-2200
• The concept of imperial authority
• Memorializes one of Naram-Sin's military victories, and is one of the first works of art that celebrates a specific achievement of an individual ruler
• Naram-Sin is hieratically scaled and wears a horned helmet-crown associated only with gods, speaking to his religious and political authority as leader of the states
• In ancient Mesopotamian culture, male potency and vigor were directly related to political power and dominance

Hittite Lion Gate from Hattushash, Anatolia

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• c. 1400 BC 
• Megalithic
• The apotropaic guardian lions possess a sense of both vigor and permanence
• The Hittites are noted for their imposing palace citadels with double walls and fortified gateways

Lamassus from the palace of Assurbanipal II

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• 9th century BC
• A Lamassus is an apotropaic guardian meant to intimidate and instill awe

Lamassus from the Citadel Gate of Sargon II

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• 8th century BC
• Sargon's palace demonstrates the use of art as political propaganda
• Apotropaic guardians at the gates that one must pass through to enter the royal throne room