The most violent break with the older convention came in the early years
of Akhenaton's reign. Before the move to Akhetaton, the Theban hillside
was dotted with tombs decorated with the newer art forms and bearing
inscriptions praising the Pharaoh. With the move to Amarna, the art
conventions matured. Artists developed their own distinctive tastes and
at times modified the prevailing tendencies.
The painted stucco pavement which Petrie discovered in 1891 expresses
the love of nature which the Aton cult encouraged. It depicts a pool
surrounded by clumps of flowers in which birds are sporting and calves
playing. Frescoes from the Green Room of the North Palace, excavated by
Francis Newton in 1924, represent the luxuriance of a papyrus thicket
full of beautiful birds, brightened up here and there by blue lotuses.
Some of the finest specimens of ancient Egyptian art have come from the
workshop of the sculptor Thutmose, discovered by Ludwig Borchard during
the German expedition at Amarna prior to World War I. In preparing a
series of heads of members of the royal family, Thutmose chose to refine
rather than to stress their physical peculiarities. Thutmose based his
work on keen observation, augmented by casts taken from life when he
wanted to record the characteristic features of his subject. Among his
masterpieces are the famous painted limestone bust of Nofretete--perhaps
the best known piece of Egyptian art; and an unfinished portrait of the
queen now in the Cairo Museum.
IX
THE END OF AN ERA
The high hopes of Akhenaton's early years met an untimely end. The
Asiatic provinces of Egypt fell away to the Hittites or to local
Canaanite princes who had little sympathy with the Empire. Although
there is no evidence of revolt in Egypt itself, Akhenaton's alienation
from the older priesthood must have resulted in dislocations of the
economy, and difficulties in the smooth running of government.