Collection
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Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The God Osiris

ca. 595–525 B.C.E.

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Object Label

This picture was never completed, but the composition provides a fascinating glimpse of George Inness’s rapid working process during the initial stages of painting. The background was first tinted overall with a gray-brown midtone. This was followed by a linear charcoal underdrawing, especially visible in the tree branches. Inness’s expressive brushwork further defines the image with both wet and dry dragged paint, bold color, rubbing, and even the apparent use of the brush handle to define the ox’s foreleg. This looser, more freely brushed style signals the direction of his mature work under the inspiration of French Barbizon art, which celebrated unidealized representations of nature.

Caption

The God Osiris, ca. 595–525 B.C.E.. Greywacke, 8 1/16 × 5 1/16 × 2 11/16 in., 4 lb. (20.5 × 12.8 × 6.8 cm, 1.81kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.163. Creative Commons-BY

Gallery

Not on view

Title

The God Osiris

Date

ca. 595–525 B.C.E.

Dynasty

second half of Dynasty 26

Period

Late Period

Geography

Place made: Egypt

Medium

Greywacke

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

8 1/16 × 5 1/16 × 2 11/16 in., 4 lb. (20.5 × 12.8 × 6.8 cm, 1.81kg)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

48.163

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • This piece is identified as Osiris. Do you know what physical characteristics on this head would allow an Egyptologist to end up with this conclusion?

    Osiris has a pretty standard appearance, he usually wears some version of the White Crown of Upper Egypt. The unique feature here is in the uraeus, which is the snake that appears on the crown--his is a pretty long snake versus the more standard shorter one. Are you familiar with the uraeus?
    Yes, I am. But this is the first time that I see a uraeus like the one on the head of Osiris. Does his uraeus always have that long snake? Is there any one else who tends to wear a crown with a similar uraeus?
    I believe Osiris' uraeus is always on the longer end of the spectrum. Royalty almost always wore a uraeus, either on their crowns or in their hair. Other versions of the uraeus are shown either coiled at the forehead or with the body wrapped around the head rather than outstretched.

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