Glyphs a bit closer

Here are the glyphs to the right of the cartouches a bit closer. Next I'll paint the part of the wall on the right of Caesarion's torso.

Guess what? Some more hieroglyphs!

And here are some more hieroglyphs - on top of Caesarion's censer.

Amazing how much faster the painting proceeds now as compared to the beginning stages. I'm beginning to be much more confident when doing the glyphs - they eye-hand coordination has certainly improved. But I still cannot say it is a quick process. Rather painstaking work - as I still haven't a table where I could rest my hand when doing the tiniest details. Just the easel. (And achy shoulders...)

A lot of painting ahead still. Lets see if I manage to finish this in under 100 hours of work. Nearing 70 hours at this stage.

Incense burner closer

Here is a closer look at the incense burner... Parts of it were hacked, but the part near to Caesarion probably was in the form of a hawk's head. And I think in the center we have a sitting god/goddess-figure...

Censer / Incense burner

Now I have added the censer / incense burner in Caesarion's left hand - and the hand also of course. He is burning incense in front of gods and goddesses which are not visible in this painting. (Good heavens if they were - don't dare to think the hours painting this would then have taken LOL).

Sort of feel better now that the human figures are complete. I paint with this "puzzle painting style" = small area at a time because working on the painting as a whole just wouldn't work with all these tiny details.

Caesarion's Cartouches Up Close

And here are the cartouches of Caesarion a bit closer.

Cartouches of Caesarion

Here I have added some stars and hieroglyphs, but most importantly the cartouches of Caesarion.

His cartouche on the left reads:
Caesar living forever, beloved of Ptah and Isis.

And the name tells all there is needed to know of his father.. He was threat enough to Octavian, the heir of Caesar, to have Caesarion killed after Cleopatra's death (I just saw an interesting program about how it was not possible for her to have died of a snake bite as quickly as the story says... And that in all probability Octavian killed her too. The whole snake story would have been a fabrication - but ironically enough it was the very thing that has kept her memory alive.)

Octavian conquered Alexandria on the 1st of August. Octavian named the eight month (Sextilis) after himself, because it was both the month when he received the title "Augustus" and the month in which "Imperato Caesar [Octavian] freed the commonwealth from a most grievous danger". (source: Joyce Tyldesley: Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt)

This most grievous danger was Cleopatra, of course.