The decoration applied to the walls and ceilings of the royal tombs provided far more than a colourful patina, for the artists were in effect making an eternal world for the deceased king. The exigencies of tombs curtailed and hurried burials may have thwarted this goal on many occasions, but what the artists did achieve stands nonetheless among the greatest art of the ancient world. The process by which these decorations were achieved is quite well understood. In some cases, though not all, draughtsmen laid out the representations using grids made by measuring rods and paint-covered strings snapped against the walls. The images and inscriptions were then applied in red pa