Historical Art Figures in Museums - Essay Example

Museum Paper This paper provides a of historical art figures, which include the Egyptian Museum’s Hesire,the Greek museum’s Acropolis, and Muslims arts like paintings and the Ceramics. My first work of art is Hesire. I chose to describe Hesire because am interested in studying facts and fiction about him including his life history in the ancient Egypt. This piece of art is displayed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Hesire is made of wood and it measures 114cm by 40cm. It is also 8cm thick (El-Shahawy & Farid 63). This piece of art depicts the life of a Hesire, who lived in the Egyptian Old Kingdom, 3rd Dynasty. In the Egyptian history, Hesire was the first overseer doctor and scribe who allocated duties in the Pharaoh Djoser’s third empire. He was laid to rest in a complicated grave in Saqqara. He earned titles such as the “Chief of Royal Scribes”, Governor of Buto”, and “Chief of Dentist” (El-Shahawy & Farid 67). The three panels, bearing these titles, are among the six remaining panels, which were discovered decorating the interior of niches that were cut from the west wall of the large gallery, below Hesire’s mastaba (El-Shahawy & Farid 67). The six panels depict him in different costumes and present his titles and names carved above him (Kamrin 32). They are carefully sculptured in low relief and the inscribed hieroglyphs are equally written with care and precision. They highlight the aesthetic value of each element in the panel, particularly Hesire’s body and his accessories, which are represented with respect to the conventions of Egyptian art (Kamrin 17). Hesires historical art figure is in the form of wooden panels that were set for his remembrance. The wooden panels were initially eleven, but only six of them are currently available. These remaining panels are examples of elevated implementation of hieroglyphs on corpse, and they have several forms of Egyptian language hieroglyphs (Kamrin 27). The remaining wooden panels were used to plaster his mud brick grave and were curved in different postures and ages with the facts of grave’s owner. For example, Hesire, as a middle-age person, was depicted to be standing, but his left leg always onward. A weighty wavy wig, which resembles his real hair, is placed on his head. His right hand is holding a ” harp” that signifies authority and dignity while his left hand is holding scribal tools that have a palette with two inkwells and a skin bag for supply (Gardner & Kleiner 98). A kit with a belt is tied around his waist. Kamrin has had the opportunity to translate the four vertical corners. He says the “Elder of the Qed-hetep” is translates to a “father of mine and the doctor of the majestic scribes” (Kamrin 44). Hesire in the old age is sited on a Lions paws chair that is made of block of stone and a contribution counter on his front. He is wearing a twisted hairpiece and an extended piece of clothing is covering his entire body excluding his right shoulder and arm. He has an arm that is extended towards the contribution table, and his left arm is folded on his chest (Kamrin, 48). The hieroglyphic inscription gives out the term and title of Hesire. Hesire, as a youth man, is presented standing with his hands free while his arms placed extending from his body. He is also wearing an undersized twisted wig with the scribal tools being shown on his right shoulder (Kamrin73). Hesire’s frame can be perceived in a number of ways, which include two-stacked golden rectangles with one being horizontal and the other one vertical, or a square sandwiched between two horizontal golden rectangles (Gardner & Kleiner 57). Careful examination of the panels also portrays a significant correlation between the images and the Egyptian culture in the Third Dynasty. The art on Hesire’s tomb is a quintessential example of how Egyptians used relief sculpture and painting in representing their art. Egyptians considered death as the beginning of the next which caused them to decorate the tombs of important individuals in the country. The Egyptians decorated the tomb walls using reliefs to depict painted scenes of the individual in the tomb. The scenes also depicted the individual’s trade and expertise while he was alive (Robin 41). The paintings were the Egyptians way of illustrating their certainty on the perpetuity of life. When used in temples, the relief art used to depict the important ceremonies that took place there and a store of the deeds that took place in the temple. The third dynasty in Egyptian traditions marked the beginning of the dynastic traditions in the empire. The tomb of Hesire clearly illustrates this. The tomb has mural paintings that show the funerary equipment used in the transportation of Hesire into his tomb (Robin 53). The murals in the wooden panels were created with the finest low relief that existed at the time as shown in the Egyptian museums. The Egyptian people created the mural decorations in paint depending on the quality of the stone. They used paint when the stone was of quality stones while they used relief for walls with good quality stone (Ranke 24). The creators and architects of the tomb of Hesire used relief because the tomb contained stone that was of good quality. The mural decorations in the tombs in ancient Egypt were often left unfinished. Most were sketches and part carvings of the time of burial of the individual in the tomb. The incomplete scenes in the murals illustrate the methods Egyptians used in laying out the tomb walls while decorating (Ranke 27). Egyptians continued to use relief sculpture and painting in the dynasties after the death of Hesire. The existence of relief murals from the 25th and 26th dynasties clearly illustrates this fact. The pigments used in the murals or paintings were resistant to strong sunlight, which is characteristic of Egypt. There is still no information regarding the medium that was used in the binding the paints. In my research, I found that Egyptian historians suggest the used of egg tempera and resins as the binding mediums. The Egyptian paintings in the tomb of Hesire and many others survived thousands of years due to the binding mediums used in the painting. The painters used created the murals to show a profile and side view of the individual inside the tomb. The colors that were prominently used by the painters were red, blue, gold, green and black. The murals of the tomb of Hesire survived many generations due to the dry conditions in the country (Ranke 68). The paintings main aim was to create a pleasant afterlife of the individual. The 3rd dynasty’s, together with its following dynasties, paintings were filled with the theme of the afterworld which hinted at the religious beliefs of the Egyptians at the time. The painters also painted their deities on the paintings on tombs. The deities were symbolically used to protect the individual in his afterlife. The tomb of Hesire at Saqqarah lacks the images of any deities even that that of Osiris, which was the most famous of this period (Robin 71). The individual’s life was also a theme in the tomb murals and it showed the individual’s work while he lived. Hesire’s tomb is full of the tools he used while he practiced dentistry in 3rd dynasty Egypt. The painters of the murals also showed Hesire’s desire to continue his work as a “Doctor of Tooth” in his afterlife. The Tomb of Hesire is full of symbolism that points to his time as a physician and member of the Pharaoh Djoser kingdom. His tomb shows the traditions and cultures of his people the Egyptians who sought to send their deceased with honor and grace. The architects and painters who created Hesire’s tomb were thorough in depicting the life of the world’s first physician. In conclusion, the tomb of Hesire allows us to admire the art of 3rd dynasty’s architects, painters and sculptures. The tomb of Hesire is full of iconography and balance characterizing the old kingdom. Egyptian art and sculptures show the innovative spirit of this generation which is still admired to date. Their technique in preserving their art still amazes historians to date. Works Cited Bloom J. M. & Blair S. S. (2009). Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Print. Campbell, Matthew (2007-11-18). "Vangelis Papathanassiou fights Greek gods of demolition". Print. Top of Form El-Shahawy, Abeer, and Farid S. Atiya. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo: A Walk Through the Alleys of Ancient Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: Farid Atiya Press, 2005. Print. Top of Form Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardners Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2014. Print. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Kamrin, 2004. Titles and Filiations on Monuments, Object 6: Wooden Panel of Hesyre. Print. Ranke, H. (1936). The art of ancient Egypt: Architecture, sculpture, painting, applied art. 340 reproductions: rotogravure and colour plates. Vienna: Phaidon Press. Robins, Gay. The Art of Ancient Egypt. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2008. Print. Read More