Howard Carter, Painter

I just discovered, from The History Blog, that before Howard Carter became a famous, tomb-opening archaeologist he was an artist. In fact it was artistic skills that got him to Egypt; he first traveled as a "tracer", employed to make copies of ancient paintings and reliefs, and then as artist to various expeditions. Above, Under the Protection of the Gods, 1908.

One of his renderings of Egyptian works, a painting in the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

Queen Ahmes, 1896.

Given this background it is perhaps not surprising that Carter's excavation drawings are among the most beautiful you will ever see. Above, Tutankhamun's coffin in its nested sarcophagi; below, collars on the kings mummy. These are from the Griffith Institute.