Caesarion's Legs a Bit Closer

Here are the legs a bit closer - it seems I took the pic at an angle, the soles of his feet are on the same level in the painting.

There seem to be sandal straps in Caesarion's right foot, but I did not see them on the left one. Barry's reference photo was excellent and I really did look carefully.

Like I mentioned before my own ref photo has the sunlight coming at a different angle than all the other photos I have received. It seems even the slightest change in lighting conditions brings out new details - and can hide others. Real detective work is sometimes need to get the details right.

Caesarion's Legs

A busy week behind - only today I found time to paint some more. This time I did Caesarion's legs.

They were covered by a pleated "skirt" - took some thinking to plan how to make that effect show...

Caesarion's Ka

Managed to squeeze some time to paint today. This time I concentrated on Caesarion's Ka.

The pics are a bit yellow again - artificial light...

Last time the details were about those 30 captives Caesarion was about to smite to kingdom come -this time it was the little "scales" on the Ka's kilt. (sorry, no better photo, thanks to poor light...)

The two hands on Caesarion's head are of course the hieroglyph for Ka. The left one is a bit damaged from elbow to wrist.

Caesarion's Kilt

Ok, now I moved on to Caesarion's kilt. An egyptology-student-friend, Barry Burnett, visited Denderah last month and I finally got detailed enough photos to see what was depicted on the kilt.


And this brought a bit of a dilemma - putting in all those details might make the overall "painting" look suffer a bit. Still - considering who might be interested in this kind of a painting, I'd say people who already knew something about Egypt. And those people would love to see details. Also I have been striving for details all through this painting.


So I kept the outlines visible and made the kilt a bit darker than it is in real life, so that the details showed.


And I really wonder why did they not settle with the good old pharaoh-smiting-AN-enemy...

Caesarion had a handful of them - 30 to be exact. Just imagine doing 30 captives in quite a small area of a painting! Sheesh, I repeat I must be nuts to do this...

Here is the kilt in detail:

Hieroglyphs a bit closer

And yesterday's hieroglyphs a bit closer. Some of them had suffered a little, but all in all this spot of the wall was pretty well preserved.

Hope I got the spelling right!

Some more hieroglyphs

Goodness, what a week! Had no time to paint until today.


So here you have some more hieroglyphs added between the figures. I have to say I am glad we use the Western alphabet... If I am not much mistaken the amount of hieroglyphs was a lot bigger during the Ptolemaic dynasty than it was in the Old Kingdom. I have to admit here on Denderah wall I have seen hieroglyphs I have never seen before. (Not that I was any expert in hieroglyphs, though)


So far I have used 50 hours into this painting, and I suppose it will take almost as much to finish... Slowly but surely...

A block of stone

Painted a little of the stone between Cleopatra and Caesarion. And now I'm off to read a book about the rise of civilization in the Nile Valley...

Caesarion's torso a bit closer

And a little closer... You may see the arch-shape on Caesarion's waist if you look carefully. I am not sure what that is...

Caesarion's torso

I had a little time to continue with Caesarion this morning. Painted the stone on the right of his face and his torso. I could make up these ever-so-faint forms along his waist, but I am not sure what they were...

Again took ages to make those little chisel marks on his "skin". Cleopatra was a lot easier!