The lecture will aim at characterizing forms and functions of the uses of Middle Kingdom art in royal and court productions during the Thutmosid Period. In order to assess this artistic phenomenon as a conscious revival and not just a survival of the Past and of the tradition, the analysis will start with a brief examination of the disruption that was felt and expressed during the Second Intermediate Period. It will then go on investigating the evolution of the references to Middle Kingdom art from the dawn of the 18th Dynasty to the time of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, when some sorts of artistic quotations replaced a global renaissance of Middle Kingdom forms of expression. A special attention will be paid to the relationship between creativity and archaism under the reign of Hatshepsut, leading to some theoretical deductions on the study of Ancient Egyptian archaism and a tentative definition of how innovation was conceptualized in Ancient Egyptian culture.

Dimitri Laboury is Research Director of the FNRS, the National Foundation for Scientific Research of Belgium, at the Université de Liège (ULg), where he teaches Ancient Egyptian Art History, Archaeology, History and History of Religion, as Associate Professor. He took part in several archaeological expeditions in Egypt, notably in the Theban area and in Amarna, and co-directs the Belgian Archaeological Expedition in the Theban Necropolis. A Research Incentive Grant of the FNRS, has enabled him to direct the project “Painters and Painting in the Theban Necropolis during the 18th Dynasty”, studying Ancient Egyptian artists, their practices and social statuses in Pharaonic Egypt.

! Attention !
The number is of seats is limited, so coming in time is advised. Our doors open at 5:30 and close at 6:15 or earlier in case the lecture room has reached its full capacity.