WEEKLY READING
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Question #1/5 due on MAR 31 @ 6 PM
> Please explain the similarities and differences found in the techniques of painting between the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks. Be as thorough as possible. 1. Include in your essay where did the paints come from? 2. How were they made? 3. How were they applied? 4. And, to what substrates? 5. Your responses should include information from our text readings, in the supplementary YouTube links and other source materials I have uploaded to the blog. 6. Bring in three image examples from our text (minimum).
7. Work cited info to also be included.
Include a WORD COUNT at the bottom of your information.
Students will respond in narrative form, 300 words minimum.
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Chapter 5 Review Response #1/5
Art is something that has evolved for many generations. Painting especially is a popular art medium that is very fluid in a number of ways. There are many different types of paints and there are different ways we can use them. It is quite interesting on how they have been used in the past, particularly in Ancient Greek and Egyptian times. Their civilizations may be lost in time but their techniques are not.
Ancient Egyptians have paved the way for many different ways of living and techniques. Their art was all about the naturalistic observation of the world around them. They also explored a lot with the idea of what happens in the afterlife and used art to show what they believed they knew about it. They even established ways of using symbols to represent different things in their culture. For example, Lower Egypt was represented by the Papyrus plant and Upper Egypt was represented by the Lotus. Their art focused on kings and rulers as well as cultural stories. The Ancient Greeks adopted some techniques from other people, including the Egyptians. Their art, like Egypt, was more naturalistic but it was based on what they observed instead of just showing lives of rulers. They wanted to show regular people, warriors, and began to have a more classical approach. They focused on the human body with its beauty and architectural design.
In this century we can just buy paint but the Egyptians and Greeks couldn’t go to the store so they created their own. Ancient Egyptians experimented a lot with paint and found a number of ways to create it. They mainly used minerals from the Earth to help create different colors. According to ancienthistory.eu, “Black was made from carbon, red and yellow from iron oxides, blue and green from azurite and malachite, white from gypsum and so on. The minerals would be mixed with crushed organic material to different consistencies and then further mixed with an unknown substance (possibly egg whites) to make it sticky so it would adhere to a surface.” This method of creating paint became very durable which caused Egyptian works to still be vibrant even after over 4,000 years. Like the Egyptians the Greeks also created the paint from the Earth. The only problem is that not a lot of paintings from Ancient Greece made it to this century, what we can tell is that they used precious stones and plants. The Greek also didn’t have a very colorful pallet unlike the Egyptians. The Egyptians loved to use a number of colors, especially blue, while the Greek mainly used black and gold.
Greek paintings may be in short supply but there is another way they used their painting skills. The Greeks loved pottery, made from clay, which was used to hold things like wine and food. A good example of these two mediums being blended is an ancient Greek vase-painter called Exekias, according to Marilyn and Cothren “Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of scenes using a clay slip that fired to black, with details created through the incision.” This black-figure technique, otherwise known as amphora, was very popular and a similar technique was created called the red-figure technique. These two became revolutionary in the art world and Exekias became an artistic visionary. Figure 1 is a black-figure technique and figure 2 is a red-figure technique.
Figure 1, Vatican, Exekias, 800-300BCE Figure 2, Untitled, unknown
I a number of ways, very different than the Greek. They decorated tombs with their special paint, it was to symbolize the importance of the person. A good example of this is figure 3, the mask of Tutankhamun. The Egyptians loved to add detail to everything, especially the tombs of Pharaohs and those of power. According to Stokstad and Cothren, Tutankhamun ruled from 1332 to 1322 BCE and was the head of the eighth dynasty.
Art of something that has evolved for many generations. Painting especially has been an ever-changing medium. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians lead the way for artists to use their creativity today. They both had unique styles and techniques with how they presented their art. Their creations will forever be memorized in history and we will continue on their legacy.
Works cited
Exekias, Vatican, 800-300 BCE, Retrived from https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-ancient-greece-chapter-5.html
Mark, Joshua J. “Ancient Egyptian Art.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 28 Mar. 2020, www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Art/.
Stokstad, Marilyn and Cothren, Michael W. “Art: A Brief History.” 6thedition, Pearson,2016.
Unknown artist(s). Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun. Retrieved from https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/02/ancient-egypt.html
Unknown artist(s). Untitled. Retrieved from https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-ancient-greece-chapter-5.html
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Question 1/5
“Explain the similarities and differences found in the techniques in painting between the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks”.
By virtue of the creation of the Greek empire by Alexander the Great that touched portions of Egypt, influences in art and culture appear to be a common factor as opposed to differences by diverging countries. “Alexander the Great created a Greek empire that extended from the Greek mainland to and Egypt across Asia Minor and as far east as India” (Stokstad and Cothren-2016). Parallels and dissimilarities found in the paintings of Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks evolve from the foundation of their worldview, symbolism, access, and variations of tools, acquiring available material, and application of colors and painting methods. Both Ancient Egyptians and Greeks commonly created paintings to reflect memorialization of those of high significance. Tributes and commemorations to kings, queens, deity by the Ancient Egyptians and tributes and commemorations to scholars and warriors by the Ancient Greeks.
For example, in their paintings the Ancient Egyptians would commemorate in two dimensional depictions of kings, queens and group gatherings in hierarchical scale. Paintings were subtractive (carved) on stone or relief pallets. Kings were human forms of Gods and in a hierarchical representation, a person of less importance was portrayed more lifelike. As Ancient Egyptian paintings were represented conceptually, the paintings would be of composite poses, which are impossible to assume. Tonality was also incorporated for gender identification. Colored with earth tones, men were colored with “dark red-brown” and women were colored with “light yellow ocher” (Stokstad and Cothren).
As shown in figure 1 below, the Ancient Egyptian painting named “Ti “ after a government official, encompasses their cultural identifications such as “Ti” as the individual of importance, the “papyrus”, the “anchor line” that symbolizes sacred ground and the relative size of “Ti” in hierarchical scale.
Figure-1
Tomb of Ti, Saqqara
c. 2450 – 2325 BCE.
Dynasty 5. Painted Limestone relief, height, approx. 45”
Photo credit (Stokstad and Cothren-2016)
Distinct in nature, from the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks believed in the “concept of human supremacy and responsibility that required a new visual expression shifting focus that would place emphasis on the commemoration on the “private diversions of heroic warriors as well as identification” (Stokstad and Cothren-2016). Greek paintings capture this cultural belief in multiple media such as ceramics, metalwork and architecture (SP2020.CAZFA111.ARTHISTORYONE).
Unlike figure 1 above, figure 2 exhibits the painting of the two warriors, Ajax and Achilles as opposed to the governmental figure Ti commemorated by the Egyptians. The Greek amphora made of pottery and one of several media used, expresses cultural contributions in the creation of “sculptures such as standing figures and reliefs” (YouTube, History 101-Ancient Greece). Although similar in its subtractive nature to the Ancient Egyptian’s carvings, the amphora’s color come from a process known as “black-figure which is the principal mode of ceramic painting in the sixth century BCE” (Stokstad and Cothren-2016).
In “black figure”, a mixture of clay and water known as (slip) (Stokstad and Cothren-2016) is utilized to “silhouette the shapes of figures against the unpainted clay of the background. Details were incised into the slip with a sharp tool inside the silhouetted shapes. The characteristic colors contrast occurred …when the slip emerged from the kiln as black and the body clay of the vessel turned red. On some pieces, touches of white and reddish-purple gloss, …enhanced the decorative effect” (Stokstad and Cothren-2016).
Figure-2
Exekias (potter and painter) Ajax And Achilles Playing A Game
c. 540-530 BCE.
Black-figure decoration on a ceramic amphora,
height of amphora 24”
Photo credit (Stokstad and Cothren-2016)
However, similarities in paintings are noticeable in that like the Ancient Egyptians, the Ancient Greeks too used various tints and tones to differentiate between genders including artistic convention, “the established ways of representing things in a specific culture.” (SP2020.CAZ.FA111.ARTHISTORYONE) are prevalent. For instance, “the convention of depicting women with pale skin and men with dark skin already seen in ancient Egypt” (Stokstad and Cothren-2016). Also, in similarity are their use of primary and secondary colors and natural properties to contribute to paintings. Ancient Greeks utilized the saffron, from the Crocus flower as a yellow dye for painting in addition to the process of “black figure” which creates secondary colors as a result.
Painting in Different Places.
Painting has been a key part of many cultures and how they show themselves. Both the Egyptians and the Greeks used painting in their culture as a main component. They used painting to tell stories and myths, but also used painting to depict people in their culture. Even though these two cultures are different in many aspects, some including time frame, they have some similarities such as what the paints were about and what the paints were made of.
In ancient Egypt, paintings can be found on many tomb walls. When people would die and were buried, those who could afford it, had painters and sculptors decorate their tombs. According to Jen Pepper, a professor of Art History at Cazenovia College, “Royal families and those with a great deal of wealth often had their tombs painted with images and reliefs. Imagery often was of religious nature, it keep everything in balance - and thus Egyptian culture,” (Pepper Ancient Egypt). The paintings that the Egyptians had were all about people who had lived and the gods they believed in. They would often have depictions of their gods in tombs and places of worship, as they wanted to tell the stories of the gods. To them, that was the base of their society and they wanted to have it written down to please the gods. Similarly, the Greeks would have pottery that contained their myths and important stories. One piece of pottery depicts Hercules fighting a lion as was told in a myth the Greeks believed in. Another important piece is called “Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game.”
It is a depiction of how Achilles won a battle but in a representational way in a game. Both cultures told their stories and myths through their paintings, and would also have similar paints.
Paints in early years were created from earth materials. In Egypt, it can clearly be seen that the colors come from the earth. A majority of the colors the Egyptians used for painting were red, black, some blues and gold. A majority of these colors come from the earth in the form of coral, dirt, lapis lazuli and turquoise. Eventually, these colors would be applied to walls, pottery and many other items using a binding of beeswax. Similarly, the Greeks would create paint from earth materials used on their items such as the “Archer.”
According to Art: A Brief History , by Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren “Most stunning, however, is the diamond shaped patterns that were painted on his leggings and sleeves, using pigments derived from malachite, azurite, arsenic, cinnabar, and charcoal,”(p 106). These colors came from materials found in the earth, as Greece was on the Mediterranean Sea, they had access to trade and the resources found in the ocean such as coral. Both of these cultures found colors in nature and used them to create paint and beautiful works of art. Yet, a difference can be found in the painting the cultures each did on their pottery and some other forms of painting.
Well the Egyptians kept with their relief and painting on walls and other materials, they did not carve into many items. They would carve reliefs in walls and paint over them to create texture but the Greeks had a new way of carving and painting. The Greeks created Sgraffito, which according to Jen Pepper, is “. . . a technique used in painting, pottery, and glass, which consists of putting down a preliminary surface, covering it with another, and then scratching the superficial layer in such a way that the pattern or shape that emerges is of the lower color,”(New Ancient Greece Notes). In this way, the Greeks would put down a layer of paint on the walls or pottery, and would paint over that layer again. After the layers have dried, they would carve out the shapes and images they were creating. This is entirely different from the painting done in Egypt because they never layered their paints or pottery. They carved into these forms of art but never into layers. An example of this form of Greek art is the red figure and black figure pottery. An example of redfigure is “Krater with the Death of Sarpedon.”
This krater is a piece of pottery where the maker used red-figure and carved into the pottery after it was covered in slip and fired. Unlike the Egyptians, this pottery would have a layer of clay and then a layer of slip that would bake into two different colors. Then the maker would carve into the pottery to expose the clay underneath the slip. They would also use paint to create the details in the figures and the design. This was used for painting on pottery and was even used on glass.
It can be seen that both cultures treasured art as an important piece of their culture. They both used painting in different ways but used them to expose their culture to others. From what they painted, to how they painted in patterns, to different techniques, these cultures both saw painting as a way to depict their lives. Painting is a very important part of art and it can help people to understand exactly what the cultures wanted to show.
Work Cited
- “SP2020.CAZ.FA111.ARTHISTORYONE.” SP2020.CAZ.FA111.ARTHISTORYONE, Blogger, 23 Mar. 2020, https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-ancient-greece-chapter-5.html.
- Brinkmann, Vinzenz. “Scalar.” Scalar, Scalar, Aug. 2017, https://scalar.usc.edu/works/ancient-leadership-in-the-era-of-donald-trump/media/polychromy.jpg.
- “ART F261X: World History of Art I.” ART F261X: World History of Art I, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016,
- Pepper, Jen. “Ancient Egypt.” Ancient Egypt, Blogger, 20 Feb. 2020, sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/02/ancient-egypt.html.
- Pepper, Jen. “NEW ANCIENT GREECE Notes > Chapter #5.” NEW ANCIENT GREECE Notes > Chapter #5, Blogger , 23 Mar. 2020, sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-ancient-greece-chapter-5.html.
In our recent studies of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece we have studied many forms of art. While different substrates are used in the two cultures similar styles and ways of creating the art are similar.
In Ancient Egypt reliefs were created on walls and painted from there and later on full real life statues were painted on and sealed with Bees wax. The paint would be earth colors in powder form that would be mixed with heated wax and applied to the statues so that air could not get in the piece and remove the coloration. Poses in the relief carvings were called composite poses which meant that the head was portrait with the eyes frontal, chest was frontal, and the legs portrait view, which is similar to the poses that the Greeks used in their red and black figure amphoras.. This pose was commonly used for Pharaohs as a way to show most of the body and also be seen as a strong pose, whereas commoners or lower leveled people in society had a more naturalistic pose.
Ancient Greek’s would use clay to create pots, which were called amphoras, and fire them to harden them. From there the Greek’s would paint over them with black or red clay called a slip and then once fired again they would scratch into them the designs they had planned for the piece by carving chunks or smalls designs in the background or on the figures. There were three types of art styles used on amphoras, kraters, jars, and vases including red figure, black figure, and geometric style. The geometric was not used as long as the other two types as the bodies of humans were seen as basic shapes like triangles and circles. However, once they moved to red and black figures they turned to the similar posing that Egyptians used called composite poses. They also had similar way of using specific plants in their paintings like the lotus and payrus from Egypt.
Unlike the Greek’s, Egyptians used polychromatic colors in their art, while the Greek’s were more monochromatic. Greek’s would only use black or red with the natural color of the substrate they were using. Greek’s also stayed more towards painting on amphoras while Egyptians would paint on relief carvings, walls, and statues. Egyptians would also used gems or other materials in their paintings like coral, turquoise, sapphires, and glass, while Greeks just used clay for their amphoras.
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