Ancient Egyptian painters knew about repentance

On the portrait of Ramses II, the position of the scepter had been subtly modified, more than 3000 years ago: scientific imagery has revealed artistic retouching hitherto invisible on works from ancient Egypt, a sign that painters of the time knew how to free themselves from the rules of the art. Since the 19th century, Egyptology has considered Pharaonic art as very conventional, responding to restrictive stereotyped codes, recalls a study published Wednesday in PLOS One, the American journal of the Public Library of Science. The painters who worked in funeral chapels “did not escape these prejudices”, according to which they would have been content to transfer predefined patterns onto the walls of the walls, note the authors. But by exploring the tomb paintings in the Valley of the Kings, scientists have discovered traces of hitherto unsuspected inventiveness. In particular in the tomb of the priest Nakhtamon, decorated with a representation of Ramses II painted around 1200 years before our era. The Pharaoh is depicted in profile, wearing a headdress and necklace, armed with a royal scepter. Behind the visible image hides a completely different composition, revealed by new portable imaging and chemical analysis techniques, which allow the works to be studied on site, without damaging them.

The tools are arranged on a small robot moving along the painted walls. Thanks to its vision at different light wavelengths (X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, etc.), the robot can “scan matter” in depth, like a medical scanner, explains to AFP Philippe Walter, researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-author of the study. After only a few moments, features appeared completely invisible to the naked eye: an underlying necklace and headdress that “does not have the shape that we see today”, describes the specialized chemist in the study of cultural heritage materials. The position of the royal specter had also been retouched, to follow a new outline of the shoulders of Ramses II - much lower than in the first version. "We did not expect to see such modifications on a representation of pharaoh supposed to be very formal" and frozen in time, says Egyptologist Philippe Martinez, CNRS researcher and co-author of the study.

The investigation carried out by an interdisciplinary team unearthed similar alterations in a burial dating from approximately the same period (between 1400 and 1200 years before our era): the tomb of Menna, where a painting represents this nobleman of Luxor the two arms outstretched towards the god of the dead Osiris, as a sign of adoration. Implicitly, we guessed the presence of a "third" arm, which the study confirmed: during the design, Menna's arm was moved to get closer to his face. Chemical analyzes further showed changes in the pigments used for the color of the character's flesh. How many years passed between touch-ups? Were they made by the same painters? Difficult to know, but scientists consider them important enough to see in them a “freedom of creation”. This shatters the vision of an art “where the entire layout is prepared in advance and where the artist would not invent anything facing the wall”, analyzes Philippe Martinez.

The Egyptologist, on the contrary, assumes a complex approach. Whether by a sponsor or by the painter himself, she came to correct a "work that was not judged nefer", a term meaning perfection in the ancient Egyptian language - which does not contain any known word to designate art. Because he changes "the very composition of the image", the artist makes "a coherent choice", bringing a personal touch which has nothing to do with the restoration of a painting, adds Philippe Walter. "We find this same complex approach in the great painters of the Renaissance: Titian who changes the angle of his faces, Raphael the position of the leg of Christ...", notes the expert. If the practice were confirmed in other works of ancient Egypt, Pharaonic art would then come closer to our "current aesthetic standards, nourished by Greco-Roman art", suggests Philippe Martinez.