Comparison Between Menkaure and His Wife, and Nike from Samothrace
Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movements of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries. One example of Naturalism is the artwork of American artist William Bliss Baker, whose landscape paintings are considered some of the best examples of the naturalist movement. Idealism is the attitude that places special value on ideas and ideals as products of the mind, in comparison with the world as perceived through the senses. In art idealism is the tendency to represent things as aesthetic sensibility would have them rather than as they are. In ethics it implies a view of life in which the predominant forces are spiritual and the aim is perfection. In philosophy the term refers to efforts to account for all objects in nature and experience as representations of the mind and sometimes to assign to such representations a higher order of existence. It is opposed to materialism. Menkaure and his wife, and Nike from Samothrace are based of the same idea, idealism, but at the same time they do have few naturalistic qualities.
The statue of King Menkaure and his Queen exhibits with clarity the Egyptian devotion of art to cannon of proportions. Its strictly frontal view point, the rigid poses of the figures, and a faithful accordance to rules and established customs can be interpreted as manifesting the nature of the Pharaoh’s authority over his subjects while at the same time exemplifying the highly regulated, hierarchical structure of ancient Egyptian society. The measured grid of verticals and counterbalancing horizontals, the stiff artificial postures and the overall idealized shapes of the bodies combined with naturalism is indicative of Egyptian taste for art and a representation of the character of Egyptian culture. Menkaure’s stance appears assertive,
The statue of King Menkaure and his Queen exhibits with clarity the Egyptian devotion of art to cannon of proportions. Its strictly frontal view point, the rigid poses of the figures, and a faithful accordance to rules and established customs can be interpreted as manifesting the nature of the Pharaoh’s authority over his subjects while at the same time exemplifying the highly regulated, hierarchical structure of ancient Egyptian society. The measured grid of verticals and counterbalancing horizontals, the stiff artificial postures and the overall idealized shapes of the bodies combined with naturalism is indicative of Egyptian taste for art and a representation of the character of Egyptian culture. Menkaure’s stance appears assertive,