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Archaeologists Armed With Analyzer Change Paradigm of Ancient Egyptian Art

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“No, no, no. His arm is in the wrong place,” the master of artwork in a tomb in the Theban Necropolis about 3,300 years ago rebuked some miserable underling.

Or maybe the master kindly said nothing and personally handled the fix. Or maybe the master made the mistake – we can only speculate. But in any case, the position of a high official’s arm in the painted tomb chapel of Menna by the Nile was painted, and then changed forever more.

Not by much, but it was – which flies in the face of assumptions about the rigidly structured process of creating ancient Egyptian wall art, according to research published Wednesday in PLOS ONE. The study was conducted by Philippe Martinez of the Sorbonne University in Paris and colleagues at the University of Liège, who analyzed the tomb art with the help of a mobile chemical imaging device.

Actually, the repositioning of Menna’s arm is visible to the naked eye if one is observant. The final arms are colored brick red, while the errant one was whited out like a typo.

Look closely at the man’s left arm. Behind is is the ‘ghost’ of the originally painted armCredit: Oved Cohen

The change may not have been noticeable back in the day, but it is now, thousands of years later, possibly due to chemical changes in the paints they used. The correction of the arm’s position was, however, proved by a groundbreaking technological development: bringing portable chemical imaging technology to the necropolis to view the walls in situ.

Generally, ancient wall paintings are analyzed, insofar as they are, at museums or academic labs. After all, one does not typically lug advanced machinery to the field. So they hardly ever are, leaving the art “somewhat estranged from this primary physical understanding,” as Martinez and the authors put it. Throughout, this was one of the most amusing papers this author has ever read.

In this case, the technology was brought to the art, enabling on-site analysis of paint composition, layering, and the chemical composition of pigments. It also permitted the researchers to identify alterations in the two sites the team chose to check, both tombs from the Ramessesan II period.

“The Pharaonic Civilization offers the most extended cultural continuity of the ancient world. Its highly formalized painting style is easily recognized,” the authors write, adding that the consistency over centuries has been assumed to stem from an organized, regulated – in a word, rigid – workflow.

The system was thought to have worked like this: Sketch on the smooth plaster wall in ocher, maybe on a grid; apply background; then add color, layers, and a final outline. Cover up any colors that spill beyond the outlines with white.

But archaeologists have previously found examples of post hoc alterations, prompting the suspicion that apprentices, mistakes, and alterations were part of the Egyptian artistic process after all. The tomb of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut bears 200 almost-identical engravings of variable quality.

Presumably, they should have been identical, indicating a range in the skillsets of the artisans. Analysis also noticed retraced chisel lines, indicating fixes there too.

But this may have happened more frequently than thought; in fact, with their mobile machine, Martinez and the team identified additional substantial artistic alterations in the tomb of Nakhtamun, chief of the altar under Pharaoh Ramesses II, about 3,100 years ago.

The thing is that until now, Egyptian art has been studied almost entirely by visual observation. Now the team could dig deeper without moving a molecule for the first time, permitting speculation as to why the fixes were made. They also write that the alterations found to date could be the “tip of the iceberg.”

Menna’s extra arm

Menna wasn’t a pharaoh or even a royal. He was a scribe and an official in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, unusually serving dual religious and administrative roles. He was buried in an elegant tomb in the Necropolis of Thebes.

The multiple rooms leading to the burial chamber were sumptuously decorated, using themes from his professional life and depictions of his anticipated transition from powerful official to influencer in the afterlife. His tomb was found in 1888.

The altered arm position appears in a scene showing Menna and his wife, the noblewoman Henuttaw, adoring the god Osiris. It shows Menna raising his hands (all three, really) before his face. The third arm, presumably drawn earlier, was whited out. But it positively blazes with fluorescence under the device’s ultraviolet light, while the final arms look black, the archaeologists found using their mobile chemical imager.

Why the concealed arm fluoresces is chemically unclear. It’s possible that the paint contained a specific ingredient or degradation product that reacted to the rays.

In any case, the archaeologists confess that they have no idea why the correction was made. That conundrum remains “frustratingly puzzling because the factual reasoning behind this alteration remains difficult to define precisely.” The change is very slight, they point out, and it doesn’t seem to change Menna’s stance, but there it is.

The team qualifies that they can’t say when the alteration was made – whether during the initial painting process or later – let alone who was dissatisfied with the initial arm position. Based on the cohesion between the white overlay and the background, the indication is that the correction was done during the initial stage of decoration.

Artwork depicting Anubis weighing the hear in the tomb of Nakhtamun.Credit: Nina M. Davies / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

There’s a snag in that theory, though: the pigments aren’t the same. But conclusions must remain elusive for the nonce. Chemicals in the lower layer could have reacted with chemicals in the upper one, the authors point out. Tomb decoration would involve many people; the modifications may indicate that it was built and decorated over quite some time.

They also point out the conclusion of separate work: that the paintings in Menna’s tomb were split between masters and less-skilled artisans. In the case of Hatshepsut’s tomb décor, there, too, the teams suspect that apprentices handled some of the figures and did the kind of job that apprentices do, requiring repairs.

The pharaoh’s scepter

We move to the burial of Nakhtamun, whose tomb features a portrait of Ramesses II. The archaeologists explain that they were particularly intrigued by the fact that Ramesses’ portrait shows a protrusive Adam’s apple, unique in the known annals of Egyptian art. This prompted them to seek other weirdness.

Analysis of pigment layers and chemical signals shows the pharaoh’s scepter began its career much broader than it wound up; initially, it would have touched or almost touched the figure’s chin. The pharaonic crown also seems to have been changed, and mainly, his necklace appears to have been replaced outright.

Art depicting Nakhtamun’s funeral procession in the tomb of Nakhtamun.Credit: Nina M. Davies / The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The visible neckwear is the famed wesekh type of necklace – a flat collar, common during the 19th dynasty. But analysis of arsenic distribution in the paint layers indicates, possibly, the initial illustration of a shebyu necklace consisting of chains of gold beads, typical of the earlier period of Amenhotep III (whose reign began 3,390 years ago) and Amenhotep IV, but not in the reign of Ramesses II (which began 3,279 years ago).

The team elaborates on what the hypothetical shebyu might indicate, including speculatively, “when the anachronistic or symbolically problematic nature of this piece of jewelry was recognized, the original composition was adjusted and simply repainted, in a fashion that made the former shebyu necklace completely invisible to the naked eye.” But not invisible to their mobile chemical imaging device.

Collar-type shebyu necklaceCredit: BOOCYS/Shutterstock.com

At the end of the day, Martinez and the team do not purport to have a clue why the pharaoh’s portrait was retouched; maybe there is deep significance, or perhaps it was due to lousy initial composition.

So what have we? The ancient Egyptians were thought to have worked on their art in a rigid fashion that is being repudiated, most recently by bringing advanced technology to their tombs, in a huge step forward for – well, still not understanding.

“One can also note that seemingly meaningless corrections recently revealed on sculpted decoration at the Ramesseum, in places that are rather inaccessible even to the naked eye, show that we remain clearly ignorant of what was really important and significant for the ancient Egyptian eye and mind,” the team clarifies. But the technology has proven its worth.

 

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A misspelled memorial to the Brontë sisters gets its dots back at last

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LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.

More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.

The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.

They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.

“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”

It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.

Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”

Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.

“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

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In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone – BBC.com

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone  BBC.com

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