1.
Fayum mummy portraits
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Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits is the modern term given to a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to Egyptian mummies from the Coptic period. They belong to the tradition of painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. In fact, the Fayum portraits are the large body of art from that tradition to have survived. Mummy portraits have been found across Egypt, but are most common in the Faiyum Basin, particularly from Hawara in the Fayum Basin, Faiyum Portraits is generally thought of as a stylistic, rather than a geographic, description. While painted cartonnage mummy cases date back to times, the Faiyum mummy portraits were an innovation dating to the Coptic period at the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt. They date to the Roman period, from the late 1st century BC or the early 1st century AD onwards and it is not clear when their production ended, but recent research suggests the middle of the 3rd century. The portraits covered the faces of bodies that were mummified for burial, extant examples indicate that they were mounted into the bands of cloth that were used to wrap the bodies. Almost all have now been detached from the mummies and they usually depict a single person, showing the head, or head and upper chest, viewed frontally. In terms of tradition, the images clearly derive more from Graeco-Roman traditions than Egyptian ones. Two groups of portraits can be distinguished by technique, one of encaustic paintings, the former are usually of higher quality. About 900 mummy portraits are known at present, the majority were found in the necropoleis of Faiyum. Due to the hot dry Egyptian climate, the paintings are very well preserved. The Italian explorer Pietro della Valle, on a visit to Saqqara-Memphis in 1615, was the first European to discover and he transported some mummies with portraits to Europe, which are now in the Albertinum. Although interest in Ancient Egypt steadily increased after that period, further finds of mummy portraits did not become known before the early 19th century, the provenance of these first new finds is unclear, they may come from Saqqara as well, or perhaps from Thebes. In 1820, the Baron of Minotuli acquired several mummy portraits for a German collector, in 1827, Léon de Laborde brought two portraits, supposedly found in Memphis, to Europe, one of which can today be seen at the Louvre, the other in the British Museum. Ippolito Rosellini, a member of Jean-François Champollions 1828/29 expedition to Egypt and it is so similar to de Labordes specimens that it is thought to be from the same source. During the 1820s, the British Consul General to Egypt, Henry Salt, sent several further portraits to Paris and London. Some of them were long considered portraits of the family of the Theban Archon Pollios Soter, a character known from written sources
2.
Encaustic painting
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Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid or paste is applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas. Pure, powdered pigments can be used, though some mixtures use oil paints or other forms of pigment. Metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint before it cools, today, tools such as heat lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material. Because wax is used as the pigment binder, encaustics can be sculpted as well as painted, other materials can be encased or collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic medium to stick them to the surface. The word encaustic originates from the Greek word enkaustikos which means to burn in, kut-kut, a lost art of the Philippines, employs sgraffito and encaustic techniques. It was practiced by the tribe of Samar island around 1600 to 1800. Artists in the Mexican muralism movement, such as Diego Rivera, the Belgian artist James Ensor also experimented with encaustic. The wax encaustic painting technique was described by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in his Natural History from the 1st Century AD, the oldest surviving encaustic panel paintings are the Romano-Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits from the 1st Century BC. Faiss held two German patents related to the preparation of waxes for encaustic painting, one covered a method for treating beeswax so that its melting point was raised from 60 to 100 °C. This occurred after boiling the wax in a solution of sea water, the resulting harder wax is the same as the Punic wax referred to in ancient Greek writings on encaustic painting. Encaustic art has seen a resurgence in popularity since the 1990s with people using electric irons, hotplates and heated styli on different surfaces including card, paper, the iron makes producing a variety of artistic patterns easier. The medium is not limited to just simple designs, it can be used to create paintings, just as in other media such as oil. Although technically difficult to master, attractions of this medium for artists are its dimensional quality. Artists specializing in encaustic painting include the following, the Mysterious Fayum Portraits, Faces from Ancient Egypt. El Primer Fresco de Jean Charlot, La Masacre en el Templo Mayor, congreso Internacional de Muralismo, San Ildefonso cuna del muralismo mexicano, Reflexiones historiográficas y artísticas. The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques, unique Wax Paintings by Immigrant Artist should Endure 10,000 Years. Los Angeles Times, Oct.19,1952 Birgit Hüttemann-Holz, gedichte und Malerei in Enkaustik - poems and encaustic paintings
3.
Cooper Union
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Inspired in 1830 when Peter Cooper learned about the government-supported École Polytechnique in France, Cooper Union was established in 1859. The Cooper Union originally granted each admitted student a full-tuition scholarship, following its own financial crisis, the school decided to abandon this policy starting in the Fall of 2014, but each incoming student receives at least a half-tuition merit scholarship. The college is divided into three schools, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, the School of Art, and it offers undergraduate and masters degree programs exclusively in the fields of architecture, fine arts, and engineering. It is a member of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, until 2014 Cooper Union was one of the very few American institutions of higher learning to offer a full-tuition scholarship – valued at approximately $150,000 as of 2012 – to every admitted student. Cooper Union has historically been one of the most selective colleges in the United States, both the art and architecture schools have acceptance rates below 5%. Cooper Union received 2,536 applications for the 2014–2015 academic year, as a result of its record low acceptance ratio for the fall 2010 incoming class, Cooper Union was named by Newsweek as the #1 Most Desirable Small School and #7 Most Desirable School overall. The Cooper Union was founded in 1859 by American industrialist Peter Cooper, who was an inventor, successful entrepreneur. Cooper was a son who had less than a year of formal schooling, yet went on to become an industrialist. Cooper designed and built Americas first steam engine, and made a fortune with a glue factory. After achieving wealth, he turned his skills to successful ventures in real estate, insurance. Coopers dream was to give talented young people the one privilege he lacked and he also wished to make possible the development of talent that otherwise would have gone undiscovered. According to The New York Times in 1863, Those only are supposed to pay anything who are abundantly able, discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or sex was expressly prohibited. Since the opening of this institute all who desire, and particularly those who work for their own support, can avail themselves, free of charge, of all the advantages the institution affords. The early institution also had a reading room open day and night, and a new four-year nighttime engineering college for men. A daytime engineering college was added in 1902 thanks to funds contributed by Andrew Carnegie Initial board members included Daniel F. Tiemann, Peter Coopers dream of providing an education equal to the best has since become reality. Since 1859, the Cooper Union has educated thousands of artists, architects, after 1864 there were a few attempts to merge Cooper Union and Columbia University, but these were never realized. The Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, was founded in 1897 as part of Cooper Union by Sarah, Eleanor, Cooper Unions Foundation Building is an Italianate brownstone building designed by architect Fred A. Petersen, one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects. It was the first structure in New York City to feature rolled-iron I-beams for structural support, Petersen patented a fire-resistant hollow brick tile he used in the buildings construction
4.
Tunic
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A tunic is any of several types of garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the ankles. The name derives from the Latin tunica, the garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome, which in turn was based on earlier Greek garments that covered people around their waist. The Roman tunica was adopted by the Roman citizens in the 3rd century BC and it was worn by citizens and non-citizens alike, citizens, though, might wear it under the toga, especially at formal occasions. The length of the garment, the presence or lack of stripes, as well as their width and ornamentation, Roman senators, for example, used the Laticlavus, with broad purple stripes, and members of the equestrian class wore the Angusticlavia, with narrower stripes. Soldiers, slaves and manual workers generally had tunics to a little above the knee, the tunic or chiton was worn as a shirt or gown by both genders among the ancient Romans. The body garment was loose-fitting for males, usually beginning at the neck, a womans garment could be either close fitting or loose, beginning at the neck and extending over a skirt or skirts. Tunics were also worn in ancient Greece, whence the Roman version was adopted, later Greek and Roman tunics were an evolution from the very similar chiton, chitoniskos, and exomis all of which can be considered versions of the garment. In Ancient Greece, a persons tunic was decorated at the hem-line to represent the city-state in which he lived, similar tunics were eventually taken up by the Romans, and found their way into the Byzantine Empire. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the long sleeved Celto-Germanic tunic continued to be worn, being used by both Vikings and Normans, the garment continued as a general male garment into the Middle Ages, still being used in Norway as late as the 17th century. The tunic continued to be the basic garment of the Byzantine Romans of both throughout the medieval period. Except for the military or riding-dress, men and women of higher status wore tunics that came down to the ankles, tunics were often dyed or richly embroidered, although the plainer ones could be used when layering different types. Beyond the reduced empire, the continued to be worn with varying sleeve. Often reaching the knees or ankles, it was worn over underclothes consisting of a shirt. It may be accompanied by hose, wool and Linen were common fabrics used, though the wealthy sometimes wore fancy silk tunics, or a lesser fabric with silk trim. Tunics worn during the Early Middle Ages often featured decorative embroidery or tablet-woven braids along the neck, hem and this was the case, for instance, with tunics worn by both rich and poor Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest. Around 1830, small boys began to be dressed in sashed or belted tunics over trousers, during the Crimean War in the 1850s, it was realized that the waist length jackets which had been worn by British soldiers since Napoleonic times were unsuitable for fighting in winter conditions. A new longer jacket was introduced which reached down to the mid thigh and this type of jacket soon became standard for most armies. In Western culture, its use primarily in a religious
5.
Tapestry
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Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous, the artisan interlaces each coloured weft back and it is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colours worked over portions of the warp to form the design. Most weavers use a warp thread, such as linen or cotton. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton, but may include silk, gold, silver, the earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek
6.
California Academy of Sciences
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The California Academy of Sciences is a natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 26 million specimens. Completely rebuilt in 2008, the building covers 400,000 square feet and is among the newest natural history museums in the United States, the primary building in Golden Gate Park reopened on September 27,2008. The Academy Fellows are, in turn, ominated by their colleagues, underlying these operations is a staff of hundreds of employees who operate the day-to-day functions without which the Academy could not offer its programs. The operations branch of the Academy is divided into three departments, Building Operations, Guest Operations, and IT Services, in fact, unbeknownst to most patrons, research and administrative facilities occupy nearly 50% of the Academys physical structure. Prior to being replaced, the old Academy building attracted approximately half a million each year. As has been the case from the start, the main thrust of the exhibits is natural history, Morrison Planetarium - features the worlds largest completely digital planetarium dome measuring in at 27. There also is an emphasis on environmental concerns, with all the various departments collaborating closely to focus on systematic biology. Academy researchers study life around the world, a 2011 expedition to the Philippines discovered an estimated 300 species new to science, the Academy publishes the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, as well as Occasional Papers, Memoirs, and Special Publications. The California Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in 1853, only three years after California joined the United States, becoming the first society of its kind in the Western US. Its stated aim was to undertake a systematic survey of every portion of the State. It was renamed as the more inclusive California Academy of Sciences in 1868, in 1892, Alice Eastwood, a botanist, was hired by the Academy and worked there until she retired in 1949. Fortunately, the 1905-1906 scientific collecting expedition to the Galápagos Islands already was underway, in 1916, the Academy moved to the North American Hall of Birds and Mammals in Golden Gate Park, the first building on the site that was to become its permanent home. In 1923, the Steinhart Aquarium was added, followed in 1934 by the Simson African Hall, the post-war years saw a flurry of new construction on the site, the Science Hall was added in 1951, followed by the Morrison Planetarium in 1952. The Morrison Planetarium was the seventh major planetarium to open in the United States and featured a one-of-a-kind star projector, the Academy Projector produced a remarkably natural-looking star field. It projected irregularly shaped stars, rather than the circular stars projected by many optical star projectors, the irregular shapes were created by placing variously sized grains of silicon carbide onto the glass star plates by hand, then aluminizing the plates, and brushing away the silicon carbide grains. In 1959, the Malliard Library, Eastwood Hall of Botany, in 1969, another new building, Cowell Hall, was added to the site. In 1976, several new galleries were opened, and the year, in 1977. Prior to the old building being torn down in 2005, there was a Life through Time gallery, housing a display on evolution
7.
Copts
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The Copts are an ethno-religious group that primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination. Copts are also the largest Christian adherent group in Sudan and Libya, historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken during the Roman era. The Coptic language is a focus of Coptology and remains in liturgical use, Copts in Sudan constitute the largest Christian community in Sudan, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Sudanese population. Copts in Libya constitute the largest Christian community in Libya, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Libyan population, most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Coptic Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Catholic Church. The Coptic word is in turn an adaptation of the Greek term for the people of Egypt. The Greek term for Egypt, Aigýptos, is derived from the Egyptian language. This Mycenaean form is likely from Middle Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ, literally Estate of the Spirit of Ptah, the term is thus ultimately derived from the Greek designation of the native Egyptian population in Roman Egypt. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt, it restricted to those Egyptians adhering to the Christian religion. In Coptic Egyptian, the Copts referred to themselves as ni rem en kīmi en khristianos, which literally means Christian people of Egypt or Christian Egyptians. The Coptic name for Egyptians, rem en kīmi, is realized in the Fayyumic dialect as lem en kēmi, or rem en khēmi in the Bohairic dialect, cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ. The Arabic word qibṭ has also connected to the Greek name of the town of Coptos. It is possible that this association has contributed to making Copt the settled form of the name, in the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense. The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation state, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 10–20% of the population, though estimates vary. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was the first in a chain of patriarchs. The main body for 16 centuries has been out of communion with both the Roman Catholic Church and the various Eastern orthodox churches, the legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa, the Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest catechetical school in the world, however, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects, science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there
8.
Illuminated manuscript
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An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period 400 to 600, produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire. The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles – one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it. Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests. The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles
9.
Coptic Museum
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The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities, the museum traces the history of Egypt from its beginnings to the present day. It was erected on 8,000 square meter land offered by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Coptic museum houses the worlds most important examples of Coptic art. The Coptic community was generous in their support of the museum, donating many vestments, frescoes, and icons. In 1931 the Coptic Museum became a museum, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Antiquities. These were housed in the New Wing, completed in 1944, because of damage, the Old Wing was closed in 1966, and the entire museum was renovated between 1983 and 1984. The foundations of the museum were strengthened and reinforced between 1986 and 1988, which helped the museum survive the 1992 earthquake, further renovations took place in 2005-06. Marcus Simaika Pasha was followed by Dr Togo Mina and then by Dr Pahor Labib, besides the museum buildings, there are gardens and courtyards and the area is surrounded by old Coptic churches. There are six churches, some which have origins as early as the 5th century AD and these old edifices include the of the Virgin Mary and the church of St. Sergius. The Coptic Museums grounds are a peaceful and tranquil place and its airy building is paved with mosaics and decorated with old mashrabiya screens. The museum houses a collection of objects from the Christian era. The museum was renovated in the early 1980 with two new annexes, which with the aisles, houses the collection of 16,000 artefacts arranged in chronological order through twelve sections. The Coptic Museum contains the worlds largest collection of Coptic artifacts, Coptic monuments display a rich mixture of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman traditions, linking ancient and Islamic Egypt. The objects are grouped into different mediums, such as stonework, woodwork, metalwork, textiles, the total number of objects on display is around 15,000 objects. The Coptic Museum also houses a corpus of 1,200 Nag Hammadi manuscripts in an open to specialist researchers only. Coptic Cairo Coptic art Coptic Orthodox Church Coptic history Coptology Coptic Museum website Kamil, Coptic Egypt, History and a Guide. Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity, Simaika, Samir M. Markus Pasha Simaika
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