Art History Essay: Comparative Analysis of Artwork Examples

This essay provides a comparative analysis of three distinct art pieces from different historical periods and cultural contexts: the Funerary Stele of Amenemhat from ancient Egypt, the Flight into Egypt from early Christian art, and the Mosaic Mihrab from Islamic art. The analysis explores the iconography, artistic styles, and cultural significance of each piece, highlighting the unique ways in which each culture used art to tell stories, express religious beliefs, and convey messages. The essay examines the use of color, form, and symbolism in each artwork, discussing how these elements contribute to the overall meaning and impact of the pieces. Furthermore, it explores the themes of family, religious devotion, and cultural identity as they are represented in the selected artworks. The essay also considers how the artists' choices of materials and techniques reflect the values and beliefs of their respective societies, offering insights into the evolution of art history across different civilizations.

Running Head: Art History
Art History

Art History 1
Table of Contents
Part A1.........................................................................................................................................................2
Part A2.........................................................................................................................................................3
Part B1.........................................................................................................................................................4
Part B2.........................................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................5
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Art History 2
Part A1
Most of the people have utilized art and history not only as a way of decorations, but they also
utilized it to share their stories with everyone. The way of culture is regularly changing as per the
time passes. Every culture through time had a unique story to tell and a way of telling it. In
Egypt, everyone often watch stories of the celebrations of death and life such as during the
Funerary Stele of Amenemhat from around 2000 BCE. Everyone watched a big image of the
family of four during a celebration where the son and the father face a moment of closeness
embrace both of them (Hauser, 2016). As I evaluate Funerary Stele of Amenemhat, I mostly
consider the story of a family relationship. The painting developed on sandstone concludes that
the son and father, sitting on a coat embrace both of them. Behind them, the mother of the son
sitting on the same coat with her hands on her son. On the other side, the table is covered with
various food offerings provided to both of them. To the right of the table is the daughter who is
feeling emotional with her connection with the family. The lines written in the painting are
looking very smooth, and the figure represents in painting clearly shows emotion through the
placement of hands and eye contact. Painting colors are bright and clean. The family in the
picture is clothed in green and white jewelry. The painter utilizes darker skin tone for showing
males, but body structure of males is not clearly defined. The faces look smiling and upright
which provide the artwork an appearance of love, celebration, and family.
In the art of early Christian society, we watch different stories which are based on iconic forms
portrayed glory and on religious beliefs. Flight in Egypt from the Infancy of Christ Window
shows a moment of joseph journey. Jesus and Mary are on their way to Egypt. The artist of this
picture selects stained glass window like their canvas which performed quite a bit during this
time. The window has covered by bright and dark colors, and I can only think the beauty of the
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Art History 3
window as the sun illuminates and shines into the church. The background of the picture is
covered with dark red color which enforces our eyes to concentrate on the brighter colors of the
window as the trees, donkey, and the characters. The thick bold colors and the smooth lines of
the picture stand out. The donkey in the picture seems tired because his eyes are pointed down
and the donkey's tail seems fit to its back end and looks to be between the donkey's legs. Eyes of
Mary were pointed downward and there is no any happiness on the faces of characters in this
picture. All these are the small description about the emotion of the story.
After watching various Islamic stories and works of arts, it can be said that it portray a lot of
colors, many patterns, and small detailed shapes. Like the work of Christian, most of the Islamic
art concentrates on religion with inscriptions and words from the Koran but instead of showing
people; they select to display words (Yasin, 2013). One of the beautiful examples of Islamic art
is the Mosaic Mihrab from Madrasa Imami. The bright blue stone of the picture shows that the
artist consumes lots of time in designing it. It seems as guidance to prayer for everyone. Instead
of displaying pictures of different individuals, the artist has selected to show words from the
Koran to motivate those who pray near it.
Part A2
The 3 pieces of art discussed in previous part have some unique iconography. Looking at the
work of Egyptian people, we can see that they are mostly using lighter skin colors for the
females and darker skin color for males. Women and men both wear jewelry around their necks.
The style and look of the characters show in the picture are considered quite common in the
artwork of Egypt people. Some of the characters wear accessories which show royalty. Christian
of previous time uses more basic colors and shows humble and basic life when describing the
story of the people. We mostly see that the artist use more of the full face of character instead of
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Art History 4
the side view. In the Islamic artwork, we can see different colors in their pictures. Artist of Islam
displays more patterns and word and less character of people.
Part B1
The Funerary Stele of Amenemhat shows a story of attachment. The father feels embraces with
his son by keeping him in both arms. Behind the son is the wife who has her hands on the head
of her son. The daughter is standing right to the table looking emotional. There is a table covered
with various items next to the father. The story displaying in the picture looks a story of love
which was painted by using bright colors.
Flight into Egypt, from the Infancy of Christ Window, displays the legend surrounding the story
of the Flight into Egypt (Bunson, 2014). The legend shows in the window concludes how during
the journey Jesus ordered a fig tree for Mary. This was done to remove the hungriness of Mary.
This depicts the kindness of Jesus and his love for everyone displayed in a church as an attractive
stained glass window.
The Mosaic Mihrab considered as the attractive example of Islamic art. It is situated in a mosque
and is the niche which shows the Mecca direction.
Part B2
I think that a religious message does not require having images nor does it have to have words.
But the message should convey a feeling of attachment like the Mosaic Mihrab in which the
artist has selected to use intricate tiles for showing attachment with the viewers. Apart of it,
Christian society art describes pictures of angels or people (Overton, 2016). Images mostly used
to motivate viewers. It is necessary to understand the message for conveying it to others in an
effective manner by displaying pictures or words.
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References
Hauser, A. (2016). The philosophy of art history.
Yasin, A. M. (2013). Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd–7th Century AD:
Onassis Cultural Center, New York December 7, 2011–May 14, 2012 Byzantium and Islam: Age
of Transition, 7th–9th Century The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York March 14–July 8,
2011. West 86th,20(2), 245-249.
Bunson, M. (2014). Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Infobase Publishing.
Overton, K. (2016). 13 Filming, Photographing and Purveying in ‘The New Iran’: The Legacy of
Stephen H. Nyman, ca. 1937–42. In Arthur Upham Pope and A New Survey of Persian Art (pp.
326-370). Brill.
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