Dr Campbell Price, 17th October 2026
At his lecture, given at the Cooper Gallery, Dr Price tackled the question “Why Are we so Fascinated by Ancient Egypt?” His answer was informative, fascinating and entertaining. Drawing on his own childhood experiences at school and at the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow, he suggested that our fascination begins early and many, I’m sure, would identify with that. This fascination partly reflects the “hiddenness” of much of Egyptian culture; the inherent secrecy of the Ancient Egyptian world. After all, he pointed out, tombs were not meant to be opened!
Whilst part of the fascination has been a fearful glee at the life and death of the ancients, the consistency of Egyptian Art has provided easy recognition of Egyptian culture in sculpture, coffins, mummies and papyri: the Egyptian artefacts are instantly recognizable.
Dr Price went on to suggest that part of the appeal of Egyptian artefacts is that they are so often “tastefully incomplete”. Missing noses, missing bodies, missing arms all add to the mystery of “what is not there” and “what might have been”; and this excites our imagination.
Despite the often-incomplete nature of Ancient Egyptian Art there is no doubting its beauty, which is extremely appealing. This, of course, has led to such artistic treasure having enormous monetary value. And yet the beautiful representations of the ancient Egyptian face may never have been a true reflection of the sitter’s appearance in life; Rameses II may never have actually looked like his myriad representations in stone – a suggestion that led to some very interesting discussion after the lecture. We eagerly await Dr Price’s forthcoming book on this subject, a book which will be based on his current academic research.
It was a real joy to welcome Dr Campbell Price to the Hapy Society for the second time, and we thank him for his time and efforts.
Andrew Ward
Views: 4