Howard Carter: Famous Archaeologist, Not-So-Famous Painter
Didn’t know he was an artist too? "Tut tut!"
- By K. Annabelle Smith
- Smithsonian.com, May 09, 2012
It isn’t often that we hear anything about English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter other than this groundbreaking discovery of King Tut's chamber on November 4, 1922. But as we celebrate Carter’s 138th birthday, we also look to his lesser-known talent as an artist.
((c) Griffith Insititute, University of Oxford)
This falcon is an example of one of the lifelike sketches Carter would create to compare to the hieroglyphics.
“We know that Howard actually visited the zoo in Cairo to make these copies—he mentions it in letters to people things like ‘I went to the zoo today to sketch a vulture or to sketch an eagle.’ This is why he made such good copies,” says Fleming.
The “Horus falcon,” associated with power and connected with several gods is one of the most frequently depicted birds in ancient Egypt.
Comments (3)
This is beautifully rendered, I'm glad this information is now known to us.
Posted by Sarah Jones on May 14,2012 | 09:23 PM
A lovely article, thank you for posting it. A correction: The word is "hieroglyphs," not "hieroglyphics." "Hieroglyphic" is the adjective form, "hieroglyph" is the noun.
Posted by Susannah Challis on May 13,2012 | 05:50 PM
He did a very good job at recreating the images...I never knew he was artistically talented as well...Thanks for sharing.
Posted by ReadingScientist on May 9,2012 | 09:08 PM