Compare/Contrast Essay Assignment
There are many differences and similarities between the following two pieces of art; the Toreador Fresco and the Egyptian Fowling Scene. The Toreador Fresco is a fresco depicting a bull-leaping ceremony. It is from the palace at Knossos(Crete), Greece and from around 1450-1400 BCE. The Egyptian Fowling Scene is a mural painting from the tomb of Nebamun. It is from Thebes, Egypt and from the 18th Dynasty, ca. 1400-1350 BCE. The styles between these two periods are very different, but there are still a few similarities found between the two pieces of art.
The Toreador Fresco depicts a bull in the center, and a man leaping over its back. There is a woman on each side of the bull. Unlike the Fowling Scene, this fresco includes a border. In the Egyptian Fowling Scene, Nebamun is standing in his boat, flushing birds from a papyrus swamp. He is holding his throwing stick in one hand and three birds in the other hand. He is accompanied by his wife and daughter who are both shown holding lotus flowers. In the Toreador Fresco, the bull is the central figure of the painting while in the Fowling Scene every space was filled with lively details such as lotus flowers and butterflies. As for the depiction of the human figure, in the Toreador Fresco, the human figures have stylized shapes with pinched waists and they are highly animated. Also, in order to distinguish between male and female, the artist painted the young women with fair skin and the man with dark skin. This was a widely accepted ancient Minoan convention. This is very different from the depiction of human figures in the Fowling Scene. The skin color of Nebamun, his daughter and his wife are all the same dark color. The artist scaled down their figures in proportion to their rank. The wife and daughter were much smaller than Nebamun. Also, in the Fowling Scene, the animals show a naturalism based on careful observation. One similarity between the