The ancient Egyptian artist, a non-existing category?

The article aims at questioning the Egyptological communal opinion that “in ancient Egypt, there was no artist in the proper sense of the word”, as stated in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie (III, 833). It starts with a brief historiography of this assumption before addressing the issue of the definition of art and artist, in general, and more specifically from an ancient Egyptian point of view. After a broad statistical overview of the numerous Egyptological data which allow us to trace members of the trades recognized as artistic by ancient Egyptians themselves, it analyses how one may study their social profile and perception in Antiquity, before concluding on the necessity to re-integrate the concept of artist in the discourse of Egyptology.