This ancient Egyptian painting from the thirteenth century B.C. was taken from the tomb of Sennedjem in Deir el Medineh, Thebes. The painting portrays the dead man and his wife kneeling before the Egyptian sky-goddess, Nut. Ancient Egyptians viewed the sky as three different variants: as an animal, as a woman, or as a tree. The sky-goddess functioned in all three cases as a dispenser of life and as a goddess of the dead. In this case, the artist has combined two of the three variants - tree and woman. The body of the sky-goddess is shown growing from the trunk of a tree as if the goddess and tree are one.
As this painting shows the personification of nature's
elements, it strongly supports the belief that religious thought
was essential in forming the five basic periods of Western art.
By giving human characteristics to the elements of nature, such
as the sky, this painting is truly evidence of how the religious
beliefs of the Ancient World commanded the art work in this
period.