Читать книгу Art History For Dummies - Jesse Bryant Wilder - Страница 120

Rameses II, who ruled Egypt for 67 years and supposedly sired 100 children, had a pharaoh-sized ego. This 19th-dynasty egomaniac (1304 BC–1237 BC) wanted to be remembered — maybe he feared he’d get a bad rap from the Bible, if indeed he was the “Pharaoh” of Exodus and Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, where he’s portrayed by Yul Brynner. In any case, Rameses erected colossal monuments to himself throughout Egypt, especially at Abu Simbel, Karnac, and Luxor, the temple districts near Thebes. Four 65-foot statues of Rameses guard the entrance to his massive temple in Abu Simbel, where he could be worshipped as a god. Smaller statues of family members, wives and his chief queen, Nefertari, stand at attention between his knees and feet.

Rameses II also used art as political propaganda. He barely survived the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites, yet he touted it as a great victory on a war monument.

Though they are monumental, Rameses’s temples are not always great art. The execution seems coarse when compared to earlier temples. Maybe Rameses was in a hurry and forced his artists to streamline their work, leaving out details, so they could move on to their next project — another monument to him!