Akhenaton’s influence in art, like his religious beliefs, had antecedents and it would be improper to give him the credit—or blame—for all the art forms which found expression during the period of his reign. Nevertheless, under his inspiration we meet a new type of naturalism, almost an expressionism, coming to full flower. W. Stevenson Smith notes, “Men of ability ... fell in with the ideas of Amenhotep IV and after a few tentative efforts, developed a new style with remarkable speed.”[54] Bas reliefs show that Akhenaton was personally interested in art. He appears on visits to the sculptors’ workshops in the company of Nofretete. Akhenaton’s views of art are reflected in the royal monuments of his reign, the stelae that were erected to mark the boundaries of Akhetaton, and in the tombs prepared for government officials in the eastern desert. Sunken Relief One change in the Amarna Age art was purely mechanical. Sunken relief replaces the traditional raised relief in the ornamentation of the rock tombs. Davies comments on the technique: The rock in which they are hewn is far from having the uniform good quality which would invite bas-reliefs of the usual kind. Nor was Akhenaton willing, it appears, to employ the flat painting on plastered walls which was so much in vogue, and which the artists of Akhetaton also employed at times with good effect. The idea of modelling in plaster was conceived or adopted; and since figures in plaster-relief would have been liable to easy injury, the outline was sunk so far below the general surface as to bring the parts in highest relief just to its level Nor was this the only measure taken to ensure durability. The whole design was first cut roughly in sunk-relief in the stone itself. Then a fine plaster was spread over it, covering all the inequalities and yet having the support of all points of a solid stone core. While the plaster was still soft, it was moulded with a blunt tool into the form and features which the artist desired. Finally the whole was painted, all the outlines being additionally marked out in red, frequently with such deviations as to leave the copyist in dilemma between the painted and the moulded lines.[55] [Illustration: Amarna Style Head. A relief showing the characteristic art of the Amarna Age.] [Illustration: Queen Nofretete. The painted limestone bust shows the queen wearing a conical blue headdress encircled by a band to which the uraeus, symbol of royalty, is attached. The bust was found in the studio of the sculptor Thutmose at Akhetaton.] Realism Akhenaton’s chief contribution to art, however, was anything but mechanical. Under his prodding, the artists at Akhetaton developed a realism—and even a distortion—which contrasts with the conservative, stylizing tendencies of earlier Egyptian art. The chief sculptor Bek describes himself on a stele as one “whom his majesty himself taught.”