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)
The extinct Scimitar-horned Oryx above, found in Tomb 3 of Khnumhotep III, is an excellent example of Carter’s attention to detail. According to Fleming, his artistic talents were encouraged by his upbringing.
“Carter’s father was a famous animal portrait painter in the Victorian period when it was very fashionable for people to have their pet dog or horse painted,” says Fleming. “Carter would’ve learned at his father’s knee.”
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