Treasures of Ancient Egypt
In this 3 part series Alastair Sooke visits 30 great treasures of Egyptian art, some in Egypt either in site or in the Cairo Museum, others in museums elsewhere.
The Birth of Art
Episode 1 of 3
2014
Duration: 1 hour
Storyline
Tracing the origins of Egypt's unique visual style, he treks across the Sahara and travels the Nile to find the rarely-seen art of its earliest peoples. Exploring how this civilisation's art reflected its religion, he looks anew at the Great Pyramid, and the statuary and painting of the Old Kingdom. Sooke is amazed by the technical prowess of ancient artists whose skills confound contemporary craftsmen.