A MAGNIFICENT WONDER

A Magnificent Wonder, acrylic on canvas, 2023. 24" X 18"


This artwork is based on a 3D pop-up project done by the artist at college.

Artist's notes

The artist intends to integrate several aspects of ancient Egyptian symbolism into one object, which conveys its mystery and magnificent wonder.

Symbolism References


The painting includes references to various aspects of ancient Egyptian society, including mythology. 

Deities

  • Ra - the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun. Ra was portrayed as a falcon and shared characteristics with the sky-god Horus.
  • Horus - the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun and the sky. He was also most often depicted as a falcon.
  • Anubis - the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a jackal, a dog-like creature.
  • Osiris - the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation. He was classically depicted as a green-skinned deity in pharaoh's attire.
  • Thoth - the god of the Moon, wisdom, knowledge, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art and judgment. In art, he was often depicted as a sacred ibis.
  • Sobek - the crocodile-headed god associated with the Nile River.
  • Kepri/Khepri - the scarab god who represents the rising or morning sun.
  • Sekhmet - the lioness-headed goddess of war as well as goddess of medicine.
  • Bastet - the cat goddess of protection of the home against contagious diseases and evil spirits.
  • Serket - the goddess of healing venomous stings and bites. She is often associated with scorpions.
  • Isis - the motherhood goddess and the wife of Osiris.
  • Ptah - the patron deity of craftsmen and architects.
  • Geb - the Egyptian god of the earth.
  • Ammut - an ancient Egyptian goddess who played an important role during funerary rituals.
  • The four sons of Horus - they were believed to protect deceased people in the afterlife and connected with the four canopic jars that housed the internal organs that were removed from the body of the deceased during the process of mummification:
    • Hapi, the baboon-headed god representing the North, whose jar contained the lungs.
    • Duamutef, the jackal-headed god representing the East, whose jar contained the stomach.
    • Imseti, the human-headed god representing the South, whose jar contained the liver.
    • Qebehsenuef, the falcon-headed god representing the West, whose jar contained the intestines.

Historical figures

  • Ramesses V - the fourth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt.
  • Tutankhamen - the famous teenage pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
  • Imhotep - an ancient Egyptian polymath who was the possible architect of Djoser's step pyramid.
  • Khufu - the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty who commissioned the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
  • Seti I -  the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and father of Ramesses II.
  • Thutmose - the third pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
  • Ptolemy - a Macedonian Greek general, historian and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt.
  • Cleopatra - the last Queen of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt.
  • Ankhesenamen - the sister and later Great Royal Wife of pharaoh Tutankhamen.
  • Nefertiti - a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and mother of pharaoh Tutankhamen.
  • Hatshepsut - the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen.


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