|
Amarna style.
Ancient Egyptian art style that takes its name from EL-AMARNA, the site of the capital city during the reigns of AKHENATEN (reg c. 1353–c. 1336 BC) and Smenkhkare (reg c. 1335–c. 1332 BC). Amarna-style painting and sculpture were characterized by a move away from the traditional idealism of Egyptian art towards a greater realism and artistic freedom. This new sense of vigour and naturalism is most apparent in surviving fragments of paintings from the walls and floors of palaces (Cairo, Egyp. Mus., and Oxford, Ashmolean; see EGYPT, ANCIENT, §X, 2). The statuary and reliefs, mainly from el-Amarna, Thebes and Hermopolis Magna, represent the royal family and their subjects in a style that was initially grotesque and often crude, as the artists struggled to come to terms with the new approach (see EGYPT, ANCIENT, §IX, 3(viii)). However, they eventually reached a high degree of sophistication and beauty, exemplified by the painted limestone bust of Queen NEFERTITI (Berlin, Ägyp. Mus.) from el-Amarna.
|
|
There are more than 45,000 articles in The Grove Dictionary of Art.
To access the rest of this article, including the bibliography, subscribe to
www.groveart.com.
To find out more about this subject, click on a related article below and
subscribe to www.groveart.com
|
