Art for the Dead
Ancient Egyptian art can be referred to as "art for the dead" because all art work was completed for the ka, the soul
after death.
The art was made to be everlasting to provide a permanent home for the ka ensuring a long, comfortable
afterlife.
The ka required provisions for an afterlife, mummification of the corpse, image in the round and
funerary paintings.
Tomb paintings or the murals on the walls would link the ka to everyday
life showing him as a dignified protector of the people who was in turn protected by the god Horus.
In all the images
the Pharaoh was shown as separate, higher up on the picture plane, and more dignified then the other people in the
murals.
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