Final Virtual Exhibition: Art and Architecture Created For Female Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt
Art and Architecture Created For Female Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian women were ahead of their time. They not only had the power to manage the country, but they also had many of the same basic freedoms as males. The purpose of this exhibition is to showcase the creations dedicated to or made for female pharaohs of ancient Egypt as well as to express my interest in Egyptian art and architecture. Some of these works of art were commissioned by the pharaohs at the time while others were simply created in awe of the ruler. This exhibition will feature artwork and architecture of Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra VII.
Hatshepsut is the first recorded female pharaoh in history as well as the first recorded female commissioner for large-scale art and architecture projects. She left behind many artifacts from her reign. This includes sculptures of her in the traditional appearance of a pharaoh with a chin beard and head dress. She made sure her depiction in art was nothing less of a legitimate pharaoh.
Nefertiti was queen from 1353 to 1336 B.C. and may have ruled the New Kingdom outright after her husband’s death. During Neferiti’s rule, Akhenaten, her husband, reconstructed Egypt's religious and political structures around the worship of the sun deity Aten. Nefertiti is most known for her painted sandstone bust, which was found in 1913 and has since become a global symbol of feminine beauty and strength.
Cleopatra was the penultimate monarch of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty, and she utilized her political savvy, personal connections, and limitless capacity for reinvention to become the ancient world's only woman to rule alone. She was adored by her people, so much so that she was still worshiped in Egypt three centuries after her death.
Hatshepsut
No building speaks to the authority of the king more than the mortuary temple.
The mortuary temple of the famous Theban Prince, Mentuhotep II (c. 2061-2010 BCE), was the inspiration for this building. Hatshepsut commissioned her funerary temple soon after taking power in 1479 BCE, and had it designed to depict the tale of her life and rule in greater elegance and grandeur than any other. The building was built at a very extravagant place, the base of an intimidating cliff. Walking through the ground level courtyard, one could go straight through the archways on each side (which led down alleyways to little ramps up to the second floor) or up the center ramp, which was flanked by lion statues. The second level of Hatshepsut's palace was accessed by a relatively long and elaborate ramp that passed through beautiful gardens and an extravagant entry pylon flanked by great obelisk monuments. On the second level, there were two reflecting pools and sphinxes along the path to another ramp that led to the third level. The temple's first, second, and third floors all included a colonnade as well as magnificent reliefs, paintings, and statues dedicated to Hatshepsut. All three levels exemplified the traditional Egyptian value of symmetry.
Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut, c. 1479-58 B.C.E., New Kingdom, Egypt
The form of this sculpture was adopted by kings to depict herself as one. As you can see, this sculpture is symmetrical. There are no gaps separating the arms from the body as well as no space between her legs. The head cloth she wears and beard are both symbols of the king. Her figure lacks feminin qualities such as breasts and petite shoulders. Her projection of herself here is male, however, the hieroglyphs depict her as female. After Hatshepsut had passed, her co-ruler had destroyed all images of her that he could. This would have been very difficult because of the hundreds of images Hatshepsut commissioned of herself during her twenty year rule. In 1926 an excavation was started by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to retrieve the broken pieces of these sculptures. They were reassembled and are now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Thutmose, Model Bust of Queen Nefertiti, c. 1340 BCE, limestone and plaster, New Kingdom, 18th dynasty, Amarna Period (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection/Neues Museum, Berlin)
This impressive bust of Queen Nefertiti is fully colored and life-sized. This sculpture is made of limestone and is covered in a layer of plaster. This allowed for the accurate modeling of her facial features. The plaster of her headdress and neck are much thicker than her face making it easier to sculpt on the design of the headdress and strength in her neck. The movement and smoothness of this sculpture creates a realistic sense of skin and bone. She's created beautifully with high cheekbones, a lengthy neck, and facial symmetry.
In the Neues Museum in Berlin, Nefertiti is being presented as the focal point in an empty, spacious room. She's seated on a stand slightly higher than eye-level which forces the viewer to look up at her. The purpose of this sculpture was to be admired rather than be placed in a tomb. The sculpture was discovered in the studio of Thutmose, the artist who created her. It’s believed that this sculpture of Nefertiti would function as a prototype for other sculptures to be made of her. This is believed because not only was Nefertiti found in Thutmose’s studio, but she is also unfinished.
House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three of their Daughters, limestone, New Kingdom, Amarna period, 18th dynasty, c.1350 BCE (Ägyptisches Museum/Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)
Around this time period, Egyptian art took a change because of King Akhenaten’s switch of the state's religion from worshiping the God of Amun to worshiping the god of Aten, the sun God. Akhenaten and Nefertiti are the only representatives of Aten on Earth. After Akhaneten and Nefertiti die, Egypt returns to their traditional religion. As for this sunken relief carving, it would have been placed in a domestic environment to serve as an altar. The sculpture shows Nefertit, her husband Akhenaten, and their children.The sun at the top of the relief resembles Aten, the sun god. We know this to be true because of the cobra that is present at the base of the sun. The cobra symbolized the supreme deity. You can see the sun rays pouring down and if you look closely, you can see a hand at the end of each ray. Each hand that ends next to the King and Queen’s face holds an ankhs. Ankhs is the Egyptian symbol for life. Essentially, Aten is giving life to these rulers. The altar depicts the relationship between Aten and the royal family. This piece would be considered informal for Egyptian art and was intended to separate the new age and religion from Egypt's past.
Cleopatra VII
Black basalt statue of Cleopatra VII, Ptolemaic period,
This artifact is a magnificent and detailed design of Cleopatra VII, the final Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh.This finely carved black basalt figure may be found in Russia's Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The sculpture depicts the numerous customs associated with Egypt's Ancient Pharaohs, such as the queen wearing a Corkscrew hairdo while holding a cornucopia. In the other hand she holds the hieroglyphic Ankhs meaning “life”. The lines on top of her headpiece resemble uraeus (royal snakes) which are symbols of Egyptian royalty. This artifact demonstrates that Egyptian culture believed the Pharaohs were to be represented as Gods, they had to wear the same dress to every sacred function, and this clothing was an illustration of why they did.
The Bust of Cleopatra VII, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
The Bust of Cleopatra VII is a granite bust currently on display in the Gallery of Ancient Egypt at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). It is believed to have been discovered in Alexandria, Egypt at the site of Cleopatra's sunken palace on the island of Antirhodos. There are many “sister” statues to this one. Statues of Cleopatra have been found created of the same material, with the same headdress and attributes. As it turns out, Cleopatra started the practice of copying earlier statues. The sculpture is said to be an early depiction of Cleopatra as the Egyptian Queen.
I think that all Egyptian art and architecture is very intriguing because most of it has to do with their religion. Egyptian art was always first and foremost functional. No matter how beautifully a statue may have been crafted, its purpose was to serve as a home for a spirit or a god.Tombs of pharaohs were filled with paintings and sculptures to help or guide them in the afterlife. They believed that the phenomena of nature were devine forces in and of themselves. Their attitude towards death was based on their belief of immortality which in some sense I believe as well. I think we are forever unlike our physical bodies, however, the Egyptians thought if they were to mummify the dead the soul would hopefully return to the body, giving it breath and life. Knowing that this never ended up happening, they also believed that their spiritual body would go on living in the afterlife much like their life on earth.
Cummins, Elizabeth. "Temple of Amun-Re and the Hypostyle Hall, Karnak," in Smarthistory, November 27, 2015.
Dunn, Roger. “Hatshepsut: A Female King of Egypt and her Architecture” Bridgewater Review, December 2001.
Harris, Beth and Zucker, Steven "Mortuary Temple and Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015.
Hastings, Christobel. “Who was the real Cleopatra?” CNN Style, January 14, 2021.
Zucker, Steven and Harris, Beth. "Thutmose, Model Bust of Queen Nefertiti," in Smarthistory, December 6, 2015.
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