Question

What is the "proportional system" in Egyptian art? What effect did this have on Egyptian art?

Answer 1

The Egyptians proportional system enabled them to build projects from small statues to the Great Sphinx. The system could also be used for paintings, reliefs, and free standing sculptures. It was a very workable system, and we still use it in art today. It had to include certain proportions in order to work on different scales.These proportions were based on the human body. There were originally eighteen grids that were later changed to twenty-one. Grids made a framework on which to create an art project. It is the relationship between the grid, and the project that make it possible to create the piece of art. The design is divided into grids both vertically and horizontally. This allows for an aesthetically pleasing piece of art, and it allows an artist to make duplicate copies or adjust its size up or down

Answer 2

The Egyptian artists represented the pharaohs and the gods in a serene position, almost always facing each other without showing any emotion. They thus intended to translate an illusion of immortality. To this end they too often exaggerated the proportions of the human body, giving the depicted figures an impression of strength and majesty.