Egyptian and Greek Art History - Essay Example

Egyptian and Greek Art History Early civilizations in Greek and Egypt have contributed in many fields of studies. Major contributions have been felt in the field of medicine, architecture, and art. Greek and Egyptian arts share many similarities and differences based on meaning and representation. Both Egyptian and Greek art history have been divided into specific periods that share similar characteristics. The paper compares and contrasts the Egyptian and Greek art history. The practice of art in Greece is defined by three evolving stages, which are the Archaic Period, Classical Period, and Hellenistic Period (Smith and Plantzos 45).

The Archaic period was from 650- 480 BCE, and the Classical period from 480-323 BCE, and the Hellenistic period from 323- 27 BCE (Smith and Plantzos 45). On the other hand, the Egyptian art developed in over 3000 years. The period is divided into Early Dynastic Period, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, Armana Kingdom, Intermediate Period, Ptolemaic Era, and the Roman periods (Robins 23). The periods range from 26802258 BCE to 395 CE, which means Egyptian art started earlier that Greek art.

Greek Art can be traced from 650 BC, which coincides with the intermediate period in the Egyptian art history. The earliest forms of art in Greece are found in the archaic era. The different forms of art were pottery, sculpture, architecture, and painting. In comparison to Egyptian art, the Greek art was underdeveloped. The Egyptians had already made breakthroughs in the construction of the pyramids by the time the Greeks started acknowledging architecture. The painting in Egypt is governed by the use of specific colors that have specific meanings.

Egyptian art was limited to the use of six colors (Robins 56). This was not the case of early painting in Greek, which focused on pottery. Artists were allowed to express themselves freely. Greek artists were allowed to be creative and pass a message using art. This was not the case in Egypt where artists were hired to work as a part of a team. The lead artists did not receive any credit for the work. All the credit went to the person who had commissioned the painting. It also explains why most Egyptian paintings contained particular messages as opposed to Greek art, which was a free expression of the human form as the artist wanted it.

Civilization in Egypt was deeply rooted in religion, which explains why most works of art were inspired by religion. Many artworks all through the history of Egypt represented gods and goddesses in Egyptian culture. This led to the development of strict rules on how humans and gods can be represented in painting. Greek’s art was inspired by creativity, which is evidenced by the expressions seen in their sculptures (Smith and Plantzos 15). Greek sculptures emulated real life expressions and human anatomy.

On the contrary, Egyptian arts had large heads and faces with no expression because of the strict rules of Egyptian art. In conclusion, Greek, and Egyptian arts were inspired by different things. The Egyptian art had religious inspiration while the Greek art was inspired by creativity and civilization. Egyptian art started very early compared to the Greek art. The Egyptian art was already developed by the time archaic era started in Greek art history. The one similarity between Greek and Egyptian art histories is that they were both influenced by the rulers.

Works Cited Robins, Gay. The Art of Ancient Egypt. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008. Print. Smith, Tyler Jo and Dimitris Plantzos. A Companion to Greek Art. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.