Hatshepshut v/s Kouros
Ancient Egyptian and Greek statues have many similarities. Hatshepsut in a Devotional Attitude is an Egyptian statue from 1473-1458 BCE. It is almost 8 feet tall and almost 2.5 feet wide. It is made of granite and is a statue of Queen Hatshepsut, the wife of Tutmose III, one of the most dynamic egyptian kings of the eighteenth dynasty. The Marble Statue of a Kouros (youth) is an Archaic Greek statue from 590-680 BCE. It is a little over 6 feet tall and about 20 inches at its widest. It is the representation of a nude male figure and is made of marble. However, the artists of both the statues are unknown. Although both of these statues are human representations , neither precisely depicts what the actual human figure looks like. Both the statues were influenced by the culture in which the artist created them and by their place of origin. Hatshepsut is depicted as a male king wearing a kilt and a linen headdress and a king's false beard, which is a purely idealized form of pharaoh for ancient egyptians. While, Kouros is more realistic in its pose and height, which resembles a typical young Greek man but still the eyes are too large for his head and he wears a feigned smile known as the "archaic smile", which is unconvincing in appearance. The posture of both the statues is very unrealistic. They are very rigid and stiff without a sense of movement; They are extremely frontal and formal. The figure of Hatshepsut is standing with one foot forward and both her hands open and resting on the front of the kilt. Her back and hips are attached to a raised platform and one of her legs is protruding outwards, thus not syncing with the square like shape of her hips. Her hands are both level with one another, however one should be farther in front because it is placed on her thigh. Her movement is confined because she is attached to a block. Archaic Greek Art was influenced by Ancient Egyptian Art. The Kouros is in a similar pose