Ancient paintings are common in the culture of ancient societies. Ancient societies from several countries today have been in the forefront of this ancient art. Ancient paintings can be found on tombs, walls, wooden panels and potteries that are painted by ancient craftsmen. Most of these paintings depicted their Gods and Goddesses to show respect and reverence.
There are also paintings that are made for burial and tombs to signify safe travel to the afterlife. A lot of these ancient paintings portray several mythological scenes and portraits of their great leaders of their time, as they were considered divine. Only few have been recorded about the ancient painters and most these are chronicled in the classical literature.
Chauvet Cave Art
This review has discussed briefly the famous ancient civilization and societies that are well known for their artworks. These civilizations are considered advanced in their time and their paintings and artistry were marvelled by lesser civilizations.
This review will also discuss briefly the cultures and arts in these societies. Included also are some of their sample paintings and drawings. The review will cover three societies (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Etruscans) during these periods that had made significant contribution to art in generations to come.
Most of these ancient paintings come from these early famous societies:
- Ancient Egypt – The style of paintings for this ancient society had developed in c.5000 BCE to c.300 BCE by the lower Nile valley civilizations. Most of their paintings are highly symbolic and stylized as can be seen on their tombs and monuments. Most of their paintings were focused on the importance of life, death and the preservation of their past knowledge.
Many of these ancient Egyptian paintings portrayed Gods, Goddesses and Pharaohs. Most of the ancient Egyptian paintings survived for several thousand of years because of the extremely dry climate of the region. Most of the paintings were also created to make a pleasant place for their deceased love ones.
Among the themes that these paintings use included journeys to the after world, introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld. There are also paintings that show the activities that deceased had been doing when they were still living. It is common for Egyptian paintings to portray a side view and a front view of a person or animal such as the sample below which portrays the body in a front view while the head is in a profile view.
- Ancient Greece – Arts in Ancient Greece are divided into four periods, which are the Archaic, Classical, Geometric, and Hellenistic. The Geometric era is dated at 1000 BC while archaic style era was dated in the 7th century BC, which is usually associated with a black-figure style of vase painting.
The dividing line between the archaic and classical period was the Persian war which was around 480 BC to 448 BC. The time of Alexander the Great is around 336 BC to 323 BC. It is also the dividing line between the Classical era and the Hellenistic period. Panel Paintings are some of the famous and respected paintings in this era.
These are mobile wooden board paintings that use techniques such as encaustic wax, painting and tempera. Most of these paintings portray figural scenes that include portraits and still life paintings. Among the common painting in this time were the wall paintings, which were mostly produced during the classical and Hellenistic era. Another form of ancient Greek painting are the vase paintings
There are several notable Greek painters in this period but all of their works did not survive to this day.
The following are:
- Apelles – This Greek painter is one of the renowned painters during the ancient Greek era. He was a student of Pamphilus. He was recognized court painter of Macedon when he painted Philip II and Alexander with such success. His famous artworks were:
- Aphrodite Anadyomene
- Alexander wielding a thunderbolt
- A portrait of Antigonus I Monophthalmus on horseback
- A portrait of Artemis
- Echion – This Greek painter who made one of the famous paintings which represented the marriage Alexander and Roxana. It was displayed during the Olympic Games at that time and has won the admiration of the people and one of the judges, Proxinedas.
- Pamphilus – A Macedonian painter and one of the distinguished painters of this period. He was also the Sicyonian School and a disciple of the founder of the Sicyonian School, Eupompus. His works have never been surpassed by any of the known masters of this time.
- Etruscans – This civilization is also famous for its paintings in Ancient times, which were located in Northern Italy between the 9th century and 2nd century BC. Their art and their paintings are religious in nature that is connected to their religion. Unlike the Egyptian Gods, their gods were hostile which brings misfortune so their themes are usually focused on the interpreting their will and satisfying this will. Most of these surviving paintings are mostly from wall frescoes in graves. These paintings are usually painted on top of a fresh plaster. The colours used in these paintings are from stones and minerals that were pounded and mixed into a medium while their brushes were made from animal hair. Most of these paintings portray scenes of daily life and mythological scenes. The Tomb of the Lioness at Tarquinia is one of the most popular Etruscan Frescoes that were found so far.
Etruscan Dancers Wall Painting