Art is often born through inspiration. From the lavish use of colour and decorative patterns, to the abundance of creative themes in life, artists are people who wholly immerse themselves in their surroundings.However, inspiration does not always come from the day-to-day. To expand their aesthetic imagination, artists have often looked toward the ancient world. The ancient world, particularly ancient Egypt, combined artists’ interest in biblical themes with novel archaeological details that were never found in their own times, writes Stephanie Moser, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton, in her book ‘Painting Antiquity’. Ancient Egypt was often alluded to in European art. Specifically, the significant discoveries, excavations, and public exhibitions on archaeology that were explored in-depth during the 19th century in the British press served as a major source of inspiration for a new form of archaeological art that was pioneered by painters such as Alma-Tadema, Edward Poynter, and Edwin Long. These artists, like many others, were enthralled by museum exhibitions, where artefacts provided a deeper insight into ancient life. Alma-Tadema, Poynter, and Long’s Egyptian-inspired paintings were heavily influenced by artefacts on display in the British Museum’s “Mummy rooms,”…
