ABSTRACT
Egyptian artists at all periods derived inspiration from the past. Usually termed ‘archaism’, this phenomenon has been regarded as a particular characteristic of the ‘Late’ Period, beginning in the twenty-fifth Dynasty. The stylistic influences and possible political motivations have been discussed by William Stevenson Smith (1958, cf. 1981), Bernard Bothmer (1960b: xxxvii–viii), Helmut Brunner (1970), Edna Russmann (1974), Cyril Aldred (1980), Richard Fazzini (1972), and Peter der Manuelian (1983, 1994) amongst others. Some writers have taken a negative attitude to the phenomenon of ‘archaism’. Whilst acknowledging that technically much of Late Period sculpture and relief is of superb quality, they claim that it lacks the vitality, imagination and innovation of earlier periods. These attitudes reflect a more generalized antipathy to the Late Period and its culture that is found in much of the older Egyptological literature, and which is now, to some extent, disappearing. Archaism as a cultural feature was not limited to the visual arts, but permeated literature and official inscriptions as well. Whilst this chapter focuses on the use of the past in the visual arts, this broader context should not be forgotten.
