In 1836, the French government decided that the group of baboons from the base of the obelisk that Egypt had given them was “so outrageous” that could not be displayed in a square and “relegated” to the Louvre, where he has gone for the first time ever to be exhibited in Spain, at CaixaForum Madrid.
The conservative head of Egyptian Antiquities from the Louvre Museum, Hélène Guichard, presented today at a press conference by the Deputy Director of the Caixa Foundation, Elisa Duran, “Animals and pharaohs. The Kingdom animal in ancient Egypt, “430 works from Paris, of which 260 have been expressly restored for display in Madrid.
Fourteen mummies, steles, vases, pitchers, watercolors, paintings, murals, chests, amulets and sarcophagi representing 60 species of animals, grasshoppers ibis, crocodile bulls, occupy the showroom CaixaForum with a “spectacular” scenery, but the star piece is the sculptural group of the base of the eastern obelisk of Luxor Temple.
“This group decorated the south eastern side of the obelisk, which remained there, and with another obelisk, which was placed on the Place de la Concorde, was donated to France, but in 1836 it was decided that they should be in the museum because baboons, represented standing, had a ‘highly expressed’ genital part and that was a scandal, “explained Guichard.
The set is “spectacular” because baboons, dated between 1279 and 1213 BC, are sculpted in pink granite from Aswan and the obelisk that belonged represents the first ray of sun “from the creation of the world” .
To get into the CaixaForum six tons, more than three meters wide and one and a half high and two feet deep was accurate “almost a work of engineering,” said Duran, who praised the “spectacular scenery” that is designed for the exhibition.
The group of baboons and the head of a canine statue of a god, in polychrome wood, between 664 and 332 BC, are objects that had never left the Louvre, with this exhibition “consolidates” his collaboration with CaixaForum, explained Duran and Guichard.
The show, according to French conservative, intended to detail “most clearly” the relationship that the ancient Egyptians had with the animal kingdom, from observation in their natural environment deification.
In nine sections can be seen to pets, animals that served as support in everyday life, which were related to subsistence or who had, like cats, built amulet .
“Then Egyptian art seizes the animals to make people understand natural or metaphysical phenomena thanks to the comparison and even assimilation through metaphors and appropriate them to explain the divine and all-powerful pharaohs were “explained Guichard.
The animals were mummified, as the 14 specimens exposed because they become sacred, and are depositing a small portion of divinity representing “sending them to the afterlife was a way also make intermediaries between the dead and God. ”
On the occasion of this exhibition has been made TAC for each of the mummies, also for the first time in its history, and it was found that some are not internally rather than textile, without any organic moiety although most do is the whole animal.
The common denominator of “Animals and pharaohs” which runs until August 23, is the quality of the pieces, the exhibition approach innovative and informative purpose, attention to everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment