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Borrower: ORC

Lending String: *WEL,VXW,PBB,GZO,ORU

Patron: Higgins, Celeste

Journal Title: Technical studies in the field of the fine arts.

Volume: 8 Issue: MonthNear: 1940Pages: 175-192

Article Author: Duell, P.

Article Title: Evidence for Easel Painting in Ancient Egypt

Imprint: Cambridge, William Hayes Fogg Art Museum

ILL Number: 103641141 IIIII II IIIII IIIII 1111111111 IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII 11111111

Call#: N1 .T4 Location: ART

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Shipping Address: Reed College Library ILL 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd Portland, OR 97202

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l ' JG Rt: 1. -\ cene in relief sculpture from the tomb of the vizier Mereruka at Sakkarah shows him seated .lt tn ea el painting a panel picture representing the seasons; before him stands his son Khenu wh o is to be r l(arded a helping hi father. The scene is from the ixth D yn asty and somewhere around 2600 B.C. The line of thi relief are shown more clearly in figure 2 . Reproduced through the courtesy of the Oriental In titute, l'ntver itr of Chicago, from The M astaba of Mereruka (Sakkarah Expedition, Prentice Duell, tl ld director [Chicago: niver it y o f Chicago Press, 1938]) Part I , Pl. \I.

EVIDENCE FOR EASEL PAINTING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

By PRENTICE DU ElL

It is probable that ancient painting is generally thought of in terms of wall painting or murals, vase painting, and the decoration of archi-tecture and sculpture. The universal easel or studio painting of today is perhaps regarded as a later development, owing to the fact that it seems to be a more sophisticated and in tim ate form of artistic expres-sion, deriving as a corollary from wall decoration . But there is evidence enough that easel painting was practiced in Greece and in R ome 1 and there is no reason for not believing that it is an art as old as mural painting itself. The paintings of Greece were celebrated. They were done in tempera or in encaustic on wood panels and may be regarded as easel pictures; portraiture, which reached a height of great ex-1 There are many references in Pliny to the portable paintings of classical t imes (K. J ex-Blake and E. Sellers, The Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art [London, r 896]). See also Natura/is Historiae, XXXV, I, 24-28. Scenes showing artists at work on panel paintings supported upon three-legged easels, occur in the Pompeiian wall paintings and in other pictorial representations (Hugo Bliimner, Technologic und Termino/ogie der Gewerbe und Kiinste bei Griechen und Romern [Leipzig, r884], III, 226, fig. 37; IV, 429-464, figs 68-73 ; and M . Rostovtzeff, A.d.p.S.R. [Ancient Decorative Painting in the South of Russia], [S. Petersburg, 1914], II, Pl. XCII, no. r). Greek panels are mentioned in Pausanias, !.22.6-7. See also J. G. Frazer, Pausanias' Description of Greece (London: M acmillan and Co., 1913), II, 262 f.; Mary Hamilton windier, Ancient Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, r 92.9), pp. 424 f., and note 14a by Prof. William Bell Dinsmoor. However, the easel paintings of Greece have all perished and any idea of them must be derived from the Romano-Campanian wall paintings principally at Pompei i and Herculaneum which in some instances undoubtedly preserve the main features of old masterpieces while a few may be actual copies. ee J. D. Beazley and Bernard Ashmole, Greek Sculpture and Painting to the End of the Hellenistic Period (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932); Ernst Pfuhl, Ma/erei und Zeichnung der Gr-iechen (Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1923); Ma sterpieces of Greek Drawing and Painting, trans. by J. D. Beazley (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1926); and Swindler, op. cit., pp. 265- 416.

'rEcH~IcA. L STunrEs

cdk:nce in lIellenistic times} \\'ould certainlv infer studio painting. CDpies were rnade of famous masterpieces for disp1 ay elsewhere ~u1d tmuty great pictures were transported to Rome vvhere they brought

n~mdson'le prices. Some '\Vere dedicated in temples} others displayed in . the 14'eru!ni and. !t was suggested that all pictures should he public prnj:n;:rty instead. ofhav1ng them confined to country houses. The pic-

tun~,.; th~n Pansanh.ts, a contemporary of Fiadrian, saw in the Pina~ n:1thet:t~ of the Propylaea on the Acropolis in Athen~ were paintings

~.m \\l'fJod para.'th artd this gallery included a collection of" old ma.ster-s.'

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TECHNICAL STUDIES

easel or studio picture.4 The scene is on the wa11 inside the entrance and is therefore the first one encountered upon entering the tomb. The name and title of the large figure are not preserved but the size of the figure and the presence of Khenu,5 whose name is given, indicate that 1 :\ st:concl example, inferior to and obviously co pied from the represe ntation in the mastaba of Mereruka, is in the mastaba of Khentika, also c alled Ikhekhi (di scovered hy Cccill'irth in 1923 and according to Jean-Philippe Lauer,' Le Mastaba de Khenti-ka dit Jklu:khi,' Anna/es, XXXVI (1936], p. 73, to be published by R. lVIacrama!tah), n orth of the temple of the Teti pyramid. H ere also, the representation is the firs t scene u pon

. entering the tomb and the large figure is accompanied by his son; again, although the . . names and titles of the large figure are not preserved, he must be tl1e owner of the tomb.

The only other known examples of artists executing paintings see m to l,e a scene of a "' man painti n ~ animals on a panel, or perhaps a case or shrine, from the VI D ynasty

_ :.. (see .-\lexandre Yarille, 'La Tombe de :Ne-enbeh-Pepi a Zaouiyet d-Mayetin,' Memoires de l'hutilut jrm1{ais d'archcologie orimJa/e du Caire, LXX [1 93 8), Pl. XI), a n d an almost identical scene from the Middle Kingdom at Beni Hasan, where two artists are shown decorating the same panel, case or s hrine, one artist drawing a calf and the other a ho\lnd att acking an antelope (see Pierre Montet, 'Notes sur les Tom beaux de Beni-Ilassan,' /Julletin de /'I nstilttf jran~ais d' arc!JCologie orientale du Caire, IX [ 19 I J], p. 7, Pl. YI I). There is also a scene in the tomb of Shedu at Deshasheh of an artist painting

. a door or perhaps it may be a carpenter trimming a door (see 'vV. M. Flinders Petrie, 'Lkshasheh,' ~.Hrmoir ojthe F.g_ypt Exploration Fund [London}, XV [1898], p. 10, Pl. XXI). The individuality of the artist was of little importance and only ra rely was he

permitted to sign his work; however, he sometimes indicated his identit y by including a representation of himsdf in the decoration (see Adolf Erman-Hermann Ranke, ,fegypten und _.hgyplischrs Leben in A/tertum [Tiibingen: J. C. R. Mohr, I

EASEL PAINTING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

it is the figure of l\1ereruka himself. Khenu is described as rviereruka's son, a 'priest of the Pyramid of Teti,' and a 'lector priest and scribe of the divine books.' In one hand he holds a shell and in the other carries a scribe's outfit which consists of a palette with two recep-tacles for red and black pigments, a small pot for carrying water, and a long cylindrical holder for the writing reeds or brushes.6 Khenu is to be regarded here as helping his father.

lVlereruka, in the costume of a lector priest, is sitting on a stool before the easel; on a stand at his side is a cup, presumably holding water; in his right hand is a brush; 7 his left hand holds a shell which serves as a palette. 8 Beh1nd him hangs the palette of a scribe's outfit, the rest of which is attached to a string which goes over his shoulder.

sented here is not the son of Mereruka but rather the artist of the tomb who in this manner indirectly declared his identity (see Ware, op. cit., p. rgo); moreover, Firth speaks of the relief of Khenu as 'inserted,' but its appearance does not wholly convince one that this was so, especially since the composition of the scene seems to be arranged to include the figure. 6 Egyptian drawing and writing were closely allied and the scribe's outfit when depicted as a hierog]yph signifies 'write,' 'paint,' and 'scribe.' 7 The brush l'vfereruka is using appears to be of the usual Egyptian type-sticks of fibrous wood of various thicknesses, the ends of which were frayed out and cut either round or in the shape of a wedge. It seems that each brush was kept for its own particu-lar use. For a discussion of brushes and the various articles used by the painter, see A. Lucas, Ancient Exyptian Materials and Industries, ?.d ed. (London: Edward Arnold and Co., r934), pp. IJ2-IJ4i also N. de Garis Davies, 'Five Theban Tombs,' ~femoir, Archaeological Survey o/ Egypt (London), XXI (r913), pp. 5 f. and PJ. XVII; Nina M. Davies, dnciwt Egyptian Paintings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), IIIJ xxxii f.; Clarke and Engelbach, op. cit., fig. 265, for a photograph of artists' brushes tied together with a string dipped in pigment, and for brush strokes, see Caroline Ran~ som Williams, The Decoration if the Tomb of Per-nib (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1932), pp. 35 f. and Pis XVII-XVIII. 8 Such a shell, containing azurite, was in fact found at Meidum; cf. W. M. Flinders Petrie, 1l.fed{'tm (London, I 892), p. 29 and Pl. XXIX, fig. 17. A shell was the earliest form of artist's palette, each shell presumably containing a separate color. The typical Egyptian palette of a later period, a rectangular block of wood, the top of which has oval receptacles hollowed out to receive the various pigments, undoubtedly developed from the series of shells. However, the author has heen informed that shdls containing pigments have been found in the excavations of the .;\gora in Athens, and so this prac~ tical use of the shell continued to some extent at least through the Greek period.

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J80 TECHNICAL STUDIES

The stool is covered with a cloth and an inner moulding, bent at the corners, forms a connection between the seat and the legs. The picture or panel is placed upon an easel which consists of two uprights, one of which is shown in front of and the other behind !viereruka, while the panel itself extends across them. The subject of the painting, however, is confined to the area directly before him. The panel rests upon horizontal supports projecting from the uprights, the upper edges of the supports being notched to hold the panel in position and also to permit its being placed at an angle. Two other supports, lower lknvn on the uprights and projecting in the opposite direction, are no doubt meant to serve when a larger picture is being painted, in which case the supports would be turned to the front and the upper ones would be turneJ inward. The supports are to be considered as a t t ached to the uprights for, if they were removable, the showing of them in opposite directions would be meaningless. Although the n otches in the supports vary in number, the difference is n ot significant.

The picture tviereruka is painting depicts the figures of the three seasons in to which the Egyptian year was divided, each sitting on a low-backed stool which is covered with a heavy cloth. Each figure holds in the left hand an oval containing four 'month' signs, a season hning four months; the right hand is extended forward and open in the act of receiving. Above each figure is t he name of a season: (a) right-feminine,' inundation'; (b) middle-feminine, 'season of grow-ing, winter'; (c) left-masculine, 'season of drought, summer.' Below ca

FIGURE J. The easel, the stool, and the stand with a cup presumably holding water, shown in the drawing above (figure 2), are here transla ted into modern perspective.

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FrccRE 4 An attempt is made here at the reconstruction of the easel shown in the relief of Mereruka painting a panel picture in figures I and 2 and translated into perspective in figure J. The position of the panel is indicated by dotted lines.

. .'

TECHNICAl, STUDIES

There is much to be said for the Egyptian method of delineation. Tbc direct representation of objects aimed at by this mode of drawing in which ail elements are represented in profile or elevation has certain advantages. In figure J, an attempt has been made to 'translate' the scene into perspective and, as may be seen, the modern method fails to portray some part of it; in fact, were the figures of J\lereruka and Khenu included, a good part of the easel would be hidden from view.10

S\ln temple of King ~e-user-ra at Abu Gnrob where the figures of the seasons are shown staJHiin~ and behind each, in the usual rows, are scenes representing what should occur in that season. He repeats the suggestion made by Sethe that the scenes from life on tne

lis of private chapels may have been intended to represent similarly the three seasonal divisions of the rear. What we see in the scene of Mereruka painting a picture is prob-ably a hieroglyphically abbreviated reference to an elaborate representation such as the one at .-\bu Gurob. The dead, by virtue of the tomb endowment, had a vital and almost legal interest in the culture of the land and in this scene, the first to be encountered upon entering the tomb, 1\.Iereruka in the role of an artist is invoking the seasonal gods to protect his estates, the fullness of which is depicted on the wal1s of his chapels. For

. commentaries on scenes depicted in Old Kingdom tombs, see Pierre Montet, Les Scenes ;/( l tl l'ie prhle dans les Tombeaux A'gyptiens de /'Ancien Empire (Strasbourg: Librairie l stra, l

EASEL PAINTING 1 !\' Axcr Er\T EcYPT

The chair and the stand with the bowl of water have been moved somewhat nearer to the easel and the uprights of the easel itself have been placed at what seems to be a reasonable distance apart. The panel has been shown at its full length but somewhat tilted upon the

. notched supports. In figure 4, an attempt has been n1ade to reconstruct the easel.

The uprights would certainly have been fixed to a base so that the easel would be firm and that it could be readily moved about to catch the proper light upon the picture.U But it is difficult to judge from the scene whether the uprights were round or square in cross section. The edges of all reliefs arc somewhat rounded but in both these in-stances the degree of roundness varies considerably frmn top to bot-tom. If the uprights were round they could have been set in sockets sunk in the base and turned to bring either the upper or the lower supports to the front. However, the uprights of such an easel would have been unstable unless they were heavy, and the easel as depicted

that the uprights were either square or rectangular and fixed to the base. Horizontal members connecting the uprights would have been essential and presumably they would have come at the respective heights of the two sets of notched supports. According to the lower pair, these supports turned inward which would have been more prac-tical than turning outward and projecting at either side of the easel; hands; but there is no consistency in the way hands are shown when holding objects. The size of different figures has reference to their relative importance and thus Khenu, in the above scene, is shown considerably smaller than his father. See also Dows Dun-ham, 'Some Notes on Egyptian Drawings,' Bulletin of the ll1useum of Fiue Arts (Boston), XXXVll (1939), pp. 62-64, with drawings by .:Vliss Suzanne Chapman. u SchMer (op. cit., pp. I f.) states quite rightly that the uprights seem to he merely set into the ground and he assumes that they can be turned. Despite the ancient artist's depiction, it would seem hardly likely that an easel would have been fixed in the ground; moreover, it seems improbable that whenever one wished to make a painting the easel would first have to he erected. The ancient artist did not feel it encumbent upon him to show anything hut the essential elements of a scene, and in this one the form of the easel itself is important-not the details of its construction (sec n. 10).

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184 . 'TECHNICAL STUDIES ~ . . .

therr fim:nis metallic and they could have been of copper, and turned ~v1; .. ~,.~ !'! I'~;'"t'cf"' .. C~f.,t J' rl ''o ~'"k. e"t. ~ 12 a t1a c-}lucl to tl" c 'Llt)l:l ahts . I 11 b(tth ~ . J.;i: .o;- - -~-.f.'. :J:f,:t'i .. ' '..' :~:. v , __ ,~ .... ~);. -~1'-t,.;,, ' 0 \-.... ' ..... ~ . \,.,. '' .. . l. t . t:>' ~. " . . .

. cRses the supports could he turned against the horizon ta.l conneetirig memhe~, the faces of\vhich could have heen set back slightly to . . reet!iVe them. Either p < t~ritire $t~ene but t his wouldtrtake at\ easel unduly wide. H owever> the .

picttlt~~ that J\1et'(!tuka is p~tinting js somewhat less than half this . W~!dtl;.{' ~ tl'.j ti\ rll ... t .... At"~hri"' ,.:.,. '"h '"" u, ... ,..; ,,.'J.. +-s hav.o . b ... en 1'"\c 1 ') i'Prl r ) t- 'Vl)~ t- "tXf()l'f k l : ----~~'\.o.k- , '-~" \..l.~~~- "'". ~~ u.,.~\-;"~ -~t;t,O : -t..1 ~ j-'_t _10l1 \. . .1 Y'- "-' ..t-./ .1.,,.._-.., ~V'-1- L-\. '"-" "'J w."-' f -~"' ""'., -- $e~mtf whidt the pat:td \vas huhg upoh the waH, is still in place in (H1.e 6 the two perfo'ratio.hs at the t~p; 1t is . the oldest poitable. painting

kt1(.J\V:n.~ . 'rh'~ t:hindls t11a.de till ft\~

The oldest portable painting known is this painted wood. panel round in the the Lady Meri. at l)eshasheh on the edge of the desert near the F~tyyum .. dadng

part of theSixrh Dynasty. On eat~h side there is a painting, Me ofst'rvnnt~ food and the Other of men in boats upon the Nile. In one of the t\\'operf'or;i-

the to)) a part of the origillal s ning remains h y .means of which it WRS h u11g. through the courtesy of the (hientai Institute l\'1nseum, Uni,.ersity of

where it is no. 2os4 of th(~eoUe.ctiotr.)

tS6 .. ,.1. s . . . . .. ECHN1CA.L .... :rcDTES

. a11d. is approximately 0-735 meters long by o .J40 rneters high ~ 14 On ~;it"h side there is a painting; one of servants preparing food and. the ..

. rJthcr t:).frnen itlhoats 11pon the N ile, one boa t with monkeys in the . rJggi:ttg(tigures f and 6); in the latter, servants bearing food are a !St) .

~lh(1'\Vh. :;tl6ntt. with two necklaces which appear betvvcen the servants .. . . - . . . . .

... andthi:hnuer hi..J:a:t. ]'llt> mall at the bo\v of this bo~tt is en titled ~ . the . .. .ruler o{the~fottress of the pyramid l\:1en-nofer, the royal friend, the .

. . .. $:UJH~dntertdent of pdests, Ivle"iau (?).q5 Following the conventiot1 in . .. (lnrietit il-f'tyrhe. hotlies oftlle .men are red and tllose of t he wornenare

~~eU!.J'tv. t'he tt5stttmes ofthefigut~es ~tr~ white and the boats ~vith th~ir -:."':'::-~- - ... _:. - . . .- _.- -.-- . :- . . : ._. ~ . . _ ... ...

.. . sails .an: -\yhite .alsg. Other portiohs of the pa:,in ti11gs are browrt~ hlue, . . ixttd~Jitf~rt. All fi.gnres 11nd ribjects hppear to have been outlined.i tl

. J)hpi\t~ ;fhe ~olors were a}1_plied in . tempera directly to . t he . wood arid ....

.. ~~#\r~i:t-r~~~ia.tiye ~ftheattist's palette at this tini~. 1 6 . . . : .. , .. . . . .< j.~ I~t~n~t~tt~~fttfft:il)i j~>lln A. WHscJn1 director of the Orien t ;t] lnstitute .of tht~ Univ~r~- ..

. ;~HJttt Ci1lc~go1 ~utd, tt} Dr \;-~tScitl lk1yes, secretary of the Oriental Institute Mnse iJm~ tititiHe hy the Egypt Exploration Society. . . . .. . .. .. .

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TECHNICAL STUDIES

Although this panel painting was discovered in the tomb of the Lady l\leri, it is improbable that it was originally intended for the purpose of burial with her. She is not represented in either scene, whc.:n:as the owner of the tomb was customarily present in tomb derora tion; and moreover, despite the string at the top, the panel was resulting shades; a purplish hue was most likely ob tained by calcining red ochre. The tarl icst hluc used in painting seems to be known from a single surviving occurrence (not analpcd) in the rii Drnasty tomb of Hesire at S ak karah (J. E. Quibell, T!te Tomb of llo)' [Cairo: Jmprimait de /'lnsJitut Frtm(ais d'L1rcMologie orientale, I

EASEL PAiNTiNG iN ANCiENT 1:' ,....., r ........ ~ 1"-lll'l ,Q .... .lO')

not hung upon the wall. Since i\lezau (?)is the only one who appears in the paintings, it seems more likely that the panel originally be-longed to him. 'rhe scenes depicted on the panel are usually present also in tomb decoration, and the necklaces themselves are represen-tative of tomb equipment. The panel may therefore have been in-tended for the purpose of burial with :\lezau (?). This priest of high rank was probably a relative of the Lady 1Vleri, and owing to the meagerness of her own equipment made this contribution to her tomb. It was a significant addition 17 and, moreover, no small contribution for, aside from the paintings themselves, the panel was valuable, wood Ptolemaic or Roman period consists of madder dye fixed on a gypsum base by a mordant to form an opaque lake (A. P. Laurie, Tlze Materials of the Painter's Craft [London, 1910}, pp. 24-26, and Lucas, op. cit., p. 289). Since the madder plant is a native of Greece) its use may well have been ]ntroduced into Egrpt by the Greeks in Hellenistic times. Madder appears to be the first organic material used for a pigment in ancient times, all those antedating the Ptolemaic period having been prepared from earths and minerals. A vegetal yellow lake also has been reported (Laurie, op. cit., pp. 25, 32, and 44). The pink lake is not to be confused with another pink, found in XVIII and XIX Dynasty work, which was unquestionably derived from red ochre. For studies of Egyptian pig-ments, their composition and use, see: Lucas, op. cit., pp. 282-299; \VilJiams, op. cit., pp. 20-37; Laurie, op. cit., pp. rG-32; Spurrcll, op. cit., pp. 28 ff.; and \V. J. Russell, in Medfim (Petrie), pp. 44~48. 17 The only other objects present were wooden models of two pairs of sandals and a solid block head-rest painted and grained (Petrie, op. cit., pp. 20 and 46). The figures of the servants and of the boats depicted on the panel could be regarded as substitutes for wooden models of the same subjects which are sometimes found in tombs of the period; or, the paintings could be regarded as a substitute for the usual decoration that adorns the walls of the mastabas. Such tomb decoration was apparently designed to sustain the dead in felicity. The tomh was the house of the deceased where he continued his earthly existence, pursued his daily activities, and received the gifts of food and drink which, while living, he had been so anxious to assure for himself. The scenes of daily life and bringing of gifts were thus presumably meant not only to provide p1eas~nt surroundings but also to insure the perpetual enjoyment of the things portrayed, the depictions, in some magical or mystical way, making real and permanent the things depicted. The scenes were evidently intended to suppJement or replace, in case of need, actual gifts and ceremonies expected or hoped for from the living, upon whom the deceased was so dependent. Thus, by means of magic charms pronounced over the paintings on the panel they supposedly became, in the career of the deceased really and actually what they merely represented. The scenes on the panel could therefore he interpreted as the preparation of food for the Lady Meri by her servants and possibly the conveyance of these gifts to the tomb (see n. 9) by boats; or, perhaps, in the latter instance the Lady Meri herself could be regarded as sailing in a boat upon the Nile.

TECHKICAL STUDIES

being rare and expensive.1s But an indiv idual painting such as this one was not a part of the usual tomb equipment, and the panel is unique in that it is the only portable painting ever found in the vast number of mastabas and tombs that have been excavated.

The importance of the panel, however, does not lie in whether or not it was actually intended for tomb equipment. Its real significance is that it was obviously pain ted to be hung upon a wall. Some years he fore this panel was made, 1\:fereruka was represented painting a similar panel upon an easel, already of a highly developed form. It seems not unlikely, therefore, that the wood panel was p ainted upon an easel such as lVlereruka is using and that it was one of many easel paintings made even before this time. These easel paintings would have been on similar wood panels, or on the much cheaper papyrus/9

both perishable mater1als. They were not for t ombs but were pre-~umably intended to hang in shrines or upon walls 1n h ouses, a nd, with the houses themselves and their furnishings, have d isappeared. This is nnderstandabie when one considers t he fact that the great number of easel paintings which were made in Greece and Rome, more than two thousand years later, have all perished 20 except for

B l11dt:ed, the poor quality of the coffin of the L ad y Meri attes ts the scarcity of wood (sec n. r J). Egypt possessed nearly all materials for the important industries except wood. ~one of the local trees furn ished good timber and large trees, moreover, were

bckin~. The Palermo Stone states that as earl y as the III Dynasty, Snefru sent a flee t of forty vessels to the Phoenician coast to procure ced ar logs from the slopes of Lebano n (Brcastld, op. cit., pp. fJ5 and JJ 5, and Ancient Rtcord.s of Eg)pt [Chicago, 1906], I, (i_i f.). For wood in Egypt, imported and domestic, see Lucas, op. cit., pp. :376-396. 19 The panel upon which l\lereruka is painting h as a wide border at each side. Schafer, op. dl., p. r ) raiscs tht: question as to whether these borders might n ot suggest the llllrollcd ends of a piece of papyrus fastened to a board. 'Vhen papyrus was firs t m ad e is not knnwn, hut f.mallpapyr\IS doc\lments from b oth the V and the VI D ynasties are in the Cairn :\luscnm (see Lucas, op. cit., p. 1J8). 2'' One rec-nrdcd instance is a masterpiece br Apclles, a contemporary of Alexander the

(;rc:tt, that had been dedicated by :\ug ustus in th e temple of C aesa r in R ome. In the nmrse pf rime, the panel fell into decay nnd Nero substituted for it a nother picture (l'linr, S tlfUrflli.r Jli .rtoriac, I, iJO-

EASEL PAlNTlNG I~ ANCIENT EGYPT

the Ha wara port rat ts, also on wood panels, which hung in pnvate houses and were buried with their owners.21 It is likewise owing solely to the fact that the Egyptian panel was placed in a tomb that it exists

today~a lone survivor of the easel paintings of the Pyramid Age. J'OGG MUSEUM 0 F A R T

21 These paintings were found by Sir Flinders Petrie in the Fayyum in Egypt. The people seem to have lived in or near :\rsinoc, the capital of the Fayyum province, and their favorite burial place was near the pyramid of Amenemhet III of the XII Dynasty at Hawara, who was venerated as the great benefactor of the province. The district was colonized under the Ptolemies and the inhabitants were mostly Greek settlers and some Romans, but owing to their contact with the Egyptians they adopted the prac-tice of mummification of their dead. However, instead of using the anthropoid coffin, they placed a portrait of the deceased over the face of the mummy. These portraits were painted on thin wood panels, about IJ inches wide by 15 inches h1gh, in tempera or in encaustic, and sometimes in a mixture of both. They were painted from life, framed, and hung upon the wall; some of them still have the cords for hanging in the perforations at the top. Upon the death of the individual the portrait was taken down, trimmed to fit above the head of the mummy, and was fastened into place by means of the outer bandages of the mummy wrappings. The mummy stood in the house along with other mummies as long as its presence was desired by the family, and then with a group of ancestors was taken to the cemetery and buried. These paintings, made in the first century after Christ and down to Coptic times, are the work of a small pro-vincial town surrounded by desert; but artistically their average is fairly high and, to some extent, they may be regarded as reflecting the great portraits of Hellenistic times. See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Hawara, Hiahmu and Arsi11oe (London, r88g); Raman Portrrtt"ts and Memphis, IV (London, 191 1); The Hawara Portfolio: Paintings of the Romau Age (London, I9IJ). But, perhaps, the small painted wood panels or pinakes in the ~ational Museum at Athens should be mentioned. They were found in 19.14 in a tave near Pitsa, not far west of S1cyon, along with quantities of other votive offerings, mostly broken terra-cotta figures and clay "'essels ranging from the VII to the III cen-turies H. C. One of the panels is almost completely preserved, the colors seemingly having lost none of their brilliance. A procession of wreathed figures, led by a priestess, is depicted approaching an altar. The panel was consecrated to the Nymphs and painted by an artist of Corinth whose name is lost. It is a fairly thick piece of cypress measuring about 13 inches wide by 6 inches high; the surface was first covered with a white slip upon which the colors were then applied in tempera. The painting is finely executed, with a purity and simple harmony of color. Unfortunatelr, the other panels, painted by different artists, are preserved only in fragments. The date of all the panels is after the middle of the VI century, apparently about 540-20 B.C. These small votive tablets can hardly be regarded as easel paintings, but they are the sole remains of archaic Greek painting and in their extjuisite quality are indicative of how great is the loss of the

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