Today, she is an icon of beauty, her face known to millions. But it nearly wasn't so.
Her husband left her his one God and his throne. His enemies murdered her and tried to wipe her out of history. But thanks to the devotion of a supremely talented artist, she lives on, her face and name familiar to millions more than 3,000 years after her death.
This is the story of Nefertiti, Great Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, the world's first monotheist. The evidence shows that she became increasingly powerful during her husband's lifetime, eventually serving as co-pharaoh. After his death, she reigned as Pharaoh under the name 'Smenkare'. Egyptologist Joann Fletcher has unearthed evidence that suggests that she was assassinated and her body further mutilated after her death.
But the images of the beautiful queen that linger with us are the magnificent sculptures by the artist Thutmose, stunning in their realism, a thousand years before the classical Greeks. Most haunting of all, of course, is the famous bust, which was found among plaster models of body parts in the ruins of the sculptor's studio. Ironically, it may have survived the desctruction of Akhenaten's capital simply because it was hidden among what was deemed to be 'garbage'. But why was it left there? Could it be that the artist couldn't bear to part with it? Was it left unfinished so that he had an excuse to keep it? Was the artist in love with the beautiful, unattainable Queen?
This is their story, as told from the artist's point of view.
Her husband left her his one God and his throne. His enemies murdered her and tried to wipe her out of history. But thanks to the devotion of a supremely talented artist, she lives on, her face and name familiar to millions more than 3,000 years after her death.
This is the story of Nefertiti, Great Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, the world's first monotheist. The evidence shows that she became increasingly powerful during her husband's lifetime, eventually serving as co-pharaoh. After his death, she reigned as Pharaoh under the name 'Smenkare'. Egyptologist Joann Fletcher has unearthed evidence that suggests that she was assassinated and her body further mutilated after her death.
But the images of the beautiful queen that linger with us are the magnificent sculptures by the artist Thutmose, stunning in their realism, a thousand years before the classical Greeks. Most haunting of all, of course, is the famous bust, which was found among plaster models of body parts in the ruins of the sculptor's studio. Ironically, it may have survived the desctruction of Akhenaten's capital simply because it was hidden among what was deemed to be 'garbage'. But why was it left there? Could it be that the artist couldn't bear to part with it? Was it left unfinished so that he had an excuse to keep it? Was the artist in love with the beautiful, unattainable Queen?
This is their story, as told from the artist's point of view.
