Why were ancient Egyptians always painted side-on?

With the Egyptians, each person and animal is depicted strictly side on, with certain stylized methods used in these depictions. In nearly all types of paintings, these methods are rigidly maintained. Only a few exceptions to this rule exist, and mostly from the Amarna period, during the Akhenaten heresy. read more

Moreover, the Egyptian artists found it hard to visualize either foot seen from the outside. They preferred the clear outline from the big toe upwards. So both feet are seen from the inside, and the man on a relief looks as if he had two left feet. It must not be supposed that Egyptian artists thought that human beings looked like that. read more

The example man looks almost exactly like the man with one eye in the ancient Egyptian artwork. It could be argued the one eyed look of the man in the ancient Egyptian artwork was because the picture is a profile view, which really does show only one eye as highlighted in this picture. read more