Maverick Kings: Three Visionary Pharaohs of Egypt's Golden Age

Maverick Kings: Three Visionary Pharaohs of Egypt's Golden Age is on view September 6 through December 6, 2026, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibition focuses on three rulers of Egypt's 18th Dynasty, Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, and Akhenaten, and the ways they used artists and architects to advance their objectives. Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's few female pharaohs, founded the 18th-Dynasty artistic style and built towering temples and obelisks depicting herself as king, though her images were later destroyed and her name erased from history. Drawing primarily from the MFA's collection of ancient Egyptian art, the show includes the only royal sarcophagus from the 18th Dynasty outside Egypt, dedicated to Hatshepsut, and large statues of deities in animal form.