Ancient Egyptian art refers to paintings, sculptures, architecture, and other arts

produced by the civilization of ancient Egypt between the 31st century BC and the 4th
century AD. It is very conservative, and Egyptian styles changed remarkably little over the
three-thousand-year period.
• Flint and copper tools were used to carve the wood. Pigment, which could be used to
paint either wood or stone, was created from common materials such as ochre from the
desert, gypsum. Blues could also be made from a mixture of desert sand and malachite.
• For more than 2,000 years, Egypt was one of the richest and most civilized lands in the
ancient world. In particular, the ruins of tombs and temples have provided a valuable
record of Egyptian life. The Egyptians were extremely religious, and their belief in life
after death was an important part of their culture.
• Much of the artwork created by the Ancient Egyptians had to do with their religion. They
would fill the tombs of the Pharaohs with paintings and sculptures. Much of this artwork
was there to help the Pharaohs in the afterlife. Temples were another popular place for
art.
• The Nile River was an essential part of ancient Egyptian life. The waters of the Nile
made it possible for people to turn an arid desert into fertile land that could grow crops
and sustain life. Because the Nile River was such a strong influence on daily life, it also
had a big impact on Egyptian art.
• The Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza or just the
Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a
lion and the head of a human. A diorite statue of Khafre associates the Sphinx with
Khafre.
• Canopic Jars were used by the ancient Egyptian during the rituals of mummification
processes. These were used as containers in which to hold the internal organs of the
deceased that was going to be mummified.

Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of
naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures
were generally the focus of innovation.
• Ancient Greek art emphasized the importance and accomplishments of human beings.
• Ancient Greeks did not have a concept of art. They used the word techne, which
translates as 'skill', to describe painting or any skilful act. Artists and architects were
artisans.The main goal for Ancient Greek artists was to depict ultimate beauty and
harmony. They studied every detail of the human body.
• The art of ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods: the Geometric,
Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic.
• Geometric art is a phase of Greek art, characterized largely by geometric motifs in vase
painting.Its center was in Athens, and from there the style spread among the trading
cities. Pottery was the main form of grave goods deposited in tombs, often as "funerary
urns" containing the cremated ashes, and was widely exported.
• Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, during the
Archaic period the Greeks began to carve in stone. Free-standing figures share the
solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more
dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture, as for example the Lady of Auxerre.
• In the Classical period there was a revolution in Greek statuary, usually associated with
the introduction of democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture. Poses became
more naturalistic (see the Charioteer of Delphi for an example of the transition to more
naturalistic sculpture), and the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting the human
form in a variety of poses greatly increased.
• The transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century
BC. During this period sculpture became more naturalistic, and also expressive; the
interest in depicting extremes of emotion being sometimes pushed to extremes. Genre
subjects of common people, women, children, animals and domestic scenes became
acceptable subjects for sculpture, which was commissioned by wealthy families for the
adornment of their homes and gardens; the Boy with Thorn is an example. Realistic
portraits of men and women of all ages were produced, and sculptors no longer felt
obliged to depict people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection.Some of the best
known Hellenistic sculptures are the Venus De Milo, The Dying Gaul.

Roman art refers to the visual arts made in Ancient Rome and in the territories of the
Roman Empire. Roman art includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic
work.Roman sculpture played an important part of the Roman daily life.Indeed, many
types of art practised by the Romans - including, sculpture, fine art painting (murals,
portraiture, vase-painting), and decorative art (including metalwork, mosaics, jewellery,
ivory carving) had already been fully mastered by Ancient Greek artists.
• Although the practical uses of art were distinctly Roman, the art forms themselves were
influenced by the ancient Greeks and Etruscans.The Romans, like the Greeks, carved
both free-standing statues and reliefs that were commonly used to decorate temples. As
one last example of Greek influence, Roman reliefs, mosaics, and paintings very
commonly had Greek mythology as the central theme.
• Of the vast body of Roman painting we now have only a very few pockets of survivals,
with many documented types not surviving at all, or doing so only from the very end of
the period. The best known and most important pocket is the wall paintings from Pompeii
and sites nearby, which show how residents of a wealthy seaside resort decorated their
walls in the century or so before the fatal eruption of volcano.
• The most prestigious form of art besides sculpture was panel painting, i.e. tempera or
encaustic painting on wooden panels.
• Gold glass, or gold sandwich glass, was a technique for fixing a layer of gold leaf with a
design between two fused layers of glass.

Byzantine art originated and evolved from the Christianized Greek culture of the Eastern
Roman Empire; content from both Christianity and classical Greek mythology were
artistically expressed through Hellenistic modes of style and iconography.
• Generally speaking, the main characteristics of Byzantine art include a departure from
classical art forms that were highly realistic in nature. Byzantine artists were less
concerned with mimicking reality and more in tune with symbolism, religious symbolism
in particular.The purpose of Byzantine art was to glorify the Christian religion and to
express its mystery.
• All of Byzantine art is filled with a kind of spiritual symbolism--things on earth are meant
to stand for the order of heaven.Byzantine artists developed a new interest in
landscapes and pastoral scenes, and the traditional mosaic-work (of which the Chora
Church in Constantinople is the finest example).
• Religious art was not, however, limited to the monumental decoration of church interiors.
One of the most important genres of Byzantine art was the icon, an image of Christ, the
Virgin, or a saint, used as an object of veneration in Orthodox churches and private
homes alike. Icons were more religious than aesthetic in nature. Eg: Madonna and Child
enthroned.
Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France in the 12th
century AD. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Southern and Central Europe.
It continued to evolve until the late 15th century. Initially it was called French work.
• Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass,
fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture,
on the walls of Cathedrals. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic
form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip,
and showing the refined manners of a well-born aristocratic courtly lady. Majority of the
works were commissioned by the church.
• With the growth of cities, trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be
members of a painters' guild—as a result, because of better record keeping, more artists
are known to us by name in this period than any previous; some artists were even so
bold as to sign their names.
• Famous paintings were Madonna and Child with saints by Sano di Pietro, Madonna
Enthroned by Giotto Di Bordone.

Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by the

French word renaissance, literally “rebirth.” Rather, historical sources suggest that interest
in nature, humanistic learning, and individualism were already present in the late medieval
period and became dominant in 15th- and 16th-century Italy concurrently with social and
economic changes such as the secularization of daily life.
• There arrived a Humanist philosophy which meant that man's relationship with humanity,
the universe and with God.
• The Characteristics of Renaissance Art are So Very Interesting: Naturalism,
Individualism, Focus on perspective, Complex formal arrangements, Realism and a
sense of emotional expression.
• Most medieval art is religious for decorating churches. Most Renaissance art was
commissioned by nobles and rich families.
• Style: Medieval art was mostly flat and dark of human religious figures. Renaissance
style is Realism with an emphasis an nature, beauty, shadow and light.
• Some of the major paintings in this era were:
- Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo
da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most
written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.” The
Mona Lisa is also one of the most valuable paintings in the world.
- The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian artist Leonardo da
Vinci. Due to the methods used, a variety of environmental factors, and intentional
damage, only little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration
attempts. The Last Supper specifically portrays the reaction given by each apostle
when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different
reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock.
- The Vitruvian Man which is translated to "The proportions of the human body
according to Vitruvius”. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human body
proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius
- David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501
and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo.
- The Creation of Adam is a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms
part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the
Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man.
 - The Birth of Venus is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the
goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the
sea fully-grown.

The Baroque is a highly ornate and often extravagant style of architecture, music, dance,
painting, sculpture and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th until the
mid-18th century.
• Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur,
sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a
tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.
• Renaissance art was a combined influence of nature, classical learning, and individuality
of man. The key difference between these two forms is that while Baroque art is
characterized by ornate details, Renaissance art is characterized by the fusion of
Christianity and science in order to create realism through art.
- Death of the Virgin is a painting completed by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio.
The painter makes use of the nuances of light and shadow to model the volumes of
the objects, figures, and clothing. But above all he accentuates, through this process,
the physical presence of the Virgin, struck by a dazzling light. The artist creates the
illusion of depth through a series of lighter areas.
- The Jewish Bride is a painting by Rembrandt, painted. The painting gained its current
name in the early 19th century, when an Amsterdam art collector identified the subject
as that of a Jewish father bestowing a necklace upon his daughter on her wedding
day. This interpretation is no longer accepted, and the identity of the couple is
uncertain. The ambiguity is heightened by the lack of anecdotal context, leaving only
the central universal theme, that of a couple joined in love. Rembrandt's portraits of
his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are
regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His self-portraits form a unique and
intimate biography.

Romanticism as a mind-set. Romanticism may be best understood not as a movement,

but as a mind-set. The artists, poets and musicians of the Romantic period were united by
their determination to use their art to convey emotion or provoke an emotional response
from audiences.
• Some of the main characteristics of Romantic literature include a focus on the writer or
narrator's emotions and inner world; celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination;
rejection of industrialization, organized religion, rationalism, and social convention;
idealization of women, children, and rural life.
• Some of the major paintings of this era include:
- The Desperate Man is an 1843-1845 oil on canvas self-portrait by Gustave Courbet.
- Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is an oil painting in1818 by the German Romantic
artist Caspar David Friedrich. It has been considered one of the masterpieces of
Romanticism and one of its most representative works.Some believe Wanderer Above
the Sea of Fog to be a self portrait of Friedrich. The young figure standing in
contemplation has the same fiery red hair as the artist. The figure stands in
contemplation and self reflection, mesmerized by the haze of the sea fog as if it were
a religious and spiritual experience.