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This new publication brings a welcome focus to the creative individuals behind the artistic achievements of the New Kingdom. Building on a 2022 conference in Madrid, the collection’s 12 papers examine a broad range of interconnected themes: the role and social positions of artists; the creative dimensions of their work; negotiations between patrons and makers; the mobility of artists; the transmission of motifs and styles; and the identification of workshops and authorship. Together, they present an informative overview of artistic production during a dynamic period in ancient Egypt.
The identity and role of the artist forms a core thread throughout the volume. Alisée Devillers reassesses the iconographic and textual evidence for defining the ancient Egyptian ‘artist’, while Lonneke Delpeut interprets tomb imagery as a sophisticated mode of communication between creator, patron, and viewer. Shifts in artistic patronage receive particular attention in Kathlyn Cooney’s contribution, which traces the evolution of sponsorship at Deir el-Medina during the Twentieth Dynasty, from state-funded commissions to increasing dependence on the Amun temple economy.
Deanna Kiser-Go’s examination of the tomb of Amenwahsu (TT111) highlights both collective workshop styles and the idiosyncratic practices of individual painters, offering valuable insight into the daily realities of production. Gema Menéndez turns to sculptors, drawing on rare depictions of workshop scenes to reassess their training, collaboration, and professional standing within the artistic hierarchy.
Collectively, these contributions present recent research on New Kingdom artistic practice, revealing artists not merely as transmitters of tradition, but as active agents of creativity and innovation.
The illustrations are carefully chosen, with high-quality photographs, clear line drawings, and well-executed reconstructions. Clever Minds and Expert Hands is a well-researched and thoughtfully assembled volume, and it deserves a place on the shelf of anyone interested in the individuals who shaped one of history’s most remarkable artistic traditions.
REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW
Clever Minds and Expert Hands: Egyptian Art and Artists in the New Kingdom
Edited by Gema Menéndez, Immaculada Vivas Sainz, and Benedict G Davies
Abercromby Press, 2025
ISBN 978-1-912246-35-9
Hardback, £64.95
