Museum Assignment In the following paper I will compare and contrast, as well as describe in detail two works of art from the ancient Egyptian eras. Visiting the museum at The University of Pennsylvania I decided to choose what was called, “Statue of a Man,” which derived sometime between the years of 80-50 BCE. The work of Art that I chose in the textbook to compare against “Statue of a Man,” is “The Colossal Figure of Akhenaten” which was founded somewhere between the years of 1353 and 1336 BCE. I chose to do a compare and contrast piece because as soon as I saw “Statue of a Man,” it immediately reminded me of “The Colossal Figure of Akhenaten.” During the time that the “Statue of a Man” may have been erected we can believe that the ruler in Ancient Egypt at that time was Ptolemy XII who had preceded Ptolemy XI Alexander II to the throne of Egypt. At this time Art and Culture were at the height of its popularity and construction. The time in which Ptolemy II ruled was known as the Hellenistic Period, or the Hellenistic Civilization. Although early on in Hellenistic culture “Statue of a Man” may have been the birth of a bigger picture and a more obtuse range of creativity.
“The Colossal Figure of Akhenaten” much like “Statue of a Man,” is a very borderline depiction of what can be considered a male and/or a female. The same swelling of the chest depicts a quality for a female, the sagging stomach and the inflated thighs match with the spindly arms, and attenuated neck, on which sits the very flamboyant and decorated head. Akhenaten’s facial features are heavily exaggerated and the symbols that he holds in his hands and those of which he wears around his body symbolize his social class and power amongst the people.
Both pieces I believe to have been commissioned by the actual men depicted in the sculptures, as well as devotional pieces to commemorate their lives and the ultimate good that they had brought to the world thus far. Both very androgynous sculptures, they lied years apart but in the same Hellenistic era and I feel as if you can see the progression of how art transformed for the better, and when you look at the two sculptures side by side they resemble one