Art Movements: Egyptian Temple Sculpture
Throughout the Egyptian Empire, art was a very important part of the religious life an Egyptian. Sculpture was the main medium of Egyptian religious art. High relief, low relief, and freestanding sculpture were very popular types of sculpture and were also used together.
This first and probably most common type of sculpture in Egyptian religious art is low or sunken relief. Low relief sculpture is mostly seen in tombs. They are used to inscribe things with hieroglyphics and small figures acting out these scenes. Seen above, Pharaoh Akhenaten (center) and his family worshiping the Aten. Sometimes, low relief sculpture was also used alongside other types of sculpture. For example, sometimes a freestanding sculpture had low relief carvings on the side with explanations.
Freestanding sculpture was almost always of royal figure, and because Ancient Egyptian royalty were believed to be divine figures than they were also considered religious. The majority of royal statuary were found in temples or tombs. Ancient Egyptians believed that their royalty were divine figures and were also gods. Offerings were made to these sculptures.
Much like at the temple Abu Simbel, above, in many depictions of pharaohs and their families in sculptures, the pharaoh is much larger than all the others. Abu Simbel was a temple to Rameses II and Nefertari. This is just one example of this type of depiction.
DownUnderPharaoh Egyptian art - Cleopatra dressed as the Goddess Isis. Down Under Pharaoh, downunderpharaoh.patternbyetsy.com/listing/882309239/egyptian-art-cleopatra-dressed-as-the. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.
Strudwick, Helen. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. New York, Metro Books, 2013
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