What mysteries the 'Egyptian Mona Lisa' hides
Chemical imaging has helped reveal hidden details in ancient Egyptian images. Researchers using cutting-edge technology have discovered hidden details in two ancient Egyptian paintings in the Theban Necropolis near the Nile River that are over 3,000 years old. These ancient drawings are located inside the tombs, in rooms where the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt could gather to honor the memory of the dead.
Using portable chemical imaging technology, the researchers revealed changes made by artists that are rare in ancient Egyptian paintings and are generally considered the result of highly formalized workflows.
As CNN reports, this study also attempts to reverse tradition in Egyptology as the analysis carried out in tombs using modern portable devices, while most research is traditionally carried out in museums or laboratories.
«What's new is how we're trying to use these tools,» said Philippe Martinez, an Egyptologist at the Sorbonne University in Paris and lead author of the study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. – The way these works of art were treated in the past was mostly purely analog and they were taken for granted — nobody really looked at them from an artist's point of view. We want to understand how these paintings were created”.
Chemical imaging technology includes X-ray fluorescence. Most commonly used to check for cracks, X-rays map the surface of a painting down to the molecular level, including its chemical properties. Another process, hyperspectral imaging, analyzes the pattern at multiple wavelengths, such as ultraviolet or infrared, revealing more than what the human eye can see.
Digital technology has been used in two tombs that date from the Ramesside period (1292-1075 BC) in ancient Egypt, according to CNN.
The first picture is in the tomb-chapels of Menna, an official who served under Pharaoh Amenhotep III. The work is considered «the apogee of ancient Egyptian painting», the study notes, and the observed changes are now visible to the naked eye — possibly as a result of chemical changes over time, — but they were hidden when the painting was new.
“Menna looks a bit like the Egyptian Mona Lisa, Martinez notes. – This is one of the best tombs, known for 200 years, very well preserved”.
In one scene, Menna and his wife are worshiping Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt, and Menna raises his hands in front of his face. However, the third hand is hidden under a layer of white background, which makes it clear that the drawing has been retouched.
“We already knew he was there. We have a very clear view of the assist arm, which has since been modified. But we can't say when it was changed or even why it was changed,” Martinez says. – The interesting thing is that even if it was just seen as a bug to be fixed, the way it is fixed is very, very different from the original. Either the owner of the tomb, or a group of artists, or whoever directed the process, saw something wrong in this, but it was corrected with materials and artistic means that demonstrate a completely different thought process.
This a small detail can give new clues about the painting process, notes CNN. While tomb decorations are generally thought to be the work of several people working in parallel, these modifications open up the possibility that the paintings were completed by different groups during different sessions, the study notes.
Another painting is in the tomb of Nakhtamun, a priest. Unlike those in Menna's tomb, these works are undervalued and, according to the study, «simply not available.» Analysis of the image of Pharaoh Ramesses II revealed various changes in his crown, necklace and other royal items, most likely due to some change in symbolic meaning over time.
“Interestingly, this depiction of Ramesses II shows him with a beard coming through,” Martinez notes. – And this is very strange, because we have almost no images of pharaohs with stubble — they usually look fabulous, like superheroes depicted in poses that are kind of timeless. But to show someone with a beard is to show someone at the moment of their life, and this is very rare”.
Philippe Martinez added that some of the details revealed by chemical imaging are particularly puzzling: “The chemical imaging gave us not only different colors, but also different shapes of the king's neck; The Adam's apple was never depicted in Egyptian art, but it is clearly visible here. The fixes also show an image that wasn't perfect. The Egyptians liked perfection and beauty, but this is not the same, because the shape of the scepter is a little strange: it touches the face of the king. It shows how the artist actually worked and how corrections can lead to something less than perfect than before. It should make sense, but it still eludes us”.
By revealing these hidden details through on-site analysis, Martinez and his colleagues want to challenge conventional wisdom about Egyptian art.
“As an Egyptologist, I try to forget what I know, because the knowledge accumulated over the past 200 years prevents us from seeing what is in front of us,” the scientist says. – We have to re-examine the Egyptian paintings and look at them in a new way, because the colors are now very different from what they used to be — hopefully the chemical analysis will help us to really rethink them”.
Martinez adds, that digital tools also speed up a process that would otherwise be unduly slow. «Studying a tomb usually takes 10 to 15 years,» he said. “We think this is too long, because there are about 500 such monuments, so we will never finish”.
Thus, he added, even works that receive less attention, perhaps because they are in worse condition, can also be documented: “Of the 500 tombs in Luxor, perhaps 50 of them have published analyzes, and some those that were less well preserved were left aside. The mission is to ensure that every time we open a tomb, we create the most accurate and complete documentation possible, whether it is broken or very well preserved”.
Joanne Fletcher, an Egyptologist and professor of archeology at the University of York UK who was not involved in the study, says «the results of this new study are exciting as they clearly demonstrate the potential of using such advanced scientific techniques in situ (in situ) to best use ancient Egyptian material.
Lorelei Corcoran, professor of art history and director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archeology at the University of Memphis in Tennessee, who was also not involved in the study, believes that this work is an example of a positive trend: “ it demonstrates the potential value of quantitative data obtained through scientific analysis for a fuller and less subjective interpretation of ancient Egyptian art. And the adaptation of portable (X-ray) instruments as mobile devices for use in the field is a very exciting development in the study of ancient Egyptian wall painting”.