Ancient Egyptian Portraiture: History of an Idea concerns the origin, nature, and removal, the unravelling and explanation of the impasse pertaining to the definition, assessment, and judgement of Ancient Egyptian portraiture. Condensed in the syntagm different from ours, this impasse arises from the polarisation and dichotomy of idealism and realism which characterise the three main Egyptological definitions of portraiture. In offering a transcendental definition of art and portraiture that is anthropologically valid, the overarching aim of this book is to challenge assessments of Egyptian art and portraiture based on historically particularistic concepts that are foreign to its cultural premises and development.