After Amenhotep IV ascended to the throne of Egypt, he changed his name to Akhenaten, out of respect for the Sun god, Aten. He also declared Aten to be the only god, which greatly disturbed the polytheistic religious sentiments of the kingdom. Further abrupt changes occur in the art commissioned during his reign. Sculptures and carvings begin to depict people, even members of the royal family, with an almost brutal honesty.
The changes during the early period of this era mostly concern Akhenaten himself. Instead of portraying the pharaoh with perfect, contoured features, the artists of this time show him with feminine curves, unusually full lips and a long face and neck. Akhenaten apparently approved of this unprecedented candor, though the same artists continued in the tradition of making the pharaoh's family members, even his wife Nefertiti, resemble him so closely that they appear as clones to our modern eyes.
As time passed, the content of Egyptian art changed just as had the representations. Art of the Amarna period depicts busy family scenes, crowded with figures that evoke a sense of movement. These figures, whether they are of royals or of lesser personages of the kingdom, seem relaxed and more human than the stiff figures of previous periods. Of course, there are many appearances of Aten, or the Sun itself, in works displaying Akhenaten and his family. Remarkable are the odd, elongated skulls of Aten and his children.
Another sudden transition occurs during the Amarna period, which further enhances the honesty and realism shown in artistic works. A man named Tuthmose became master sculptor of the realm and developed composite statuary, which entailed the creation of separate pieces of a statue that were later joined to form a whole. Two-dimensional art changed as well, now depicting the individual members of Akhenaten's family with distinctive, personal features for the first time.