Arcadópolis
Portrait of a Thin-Faced Man
Fayum mummy portraits, 140–170
What you see
The man looks straight out from the top of a long, narrow panel with a curved top. A wreath of gold leaves rests on his dark, tousled hair. His brows arch over large eyes, his nose is long, and a thick beard covers his cheeks and chin. Below, a white tunic opens in a V at the chest.
Behind his head, patches of gold leaf survive, uneven and worn. The brushwork shows clearly in the beard and in the loose white strokes of the tunic. The lower half of the panel has gone dark, almost black, with traces of gilding, and a narrow strip of wood juts out on the right. Look at the lines that knit his brow.
About Fayum mummy portraits
The Fayum portraits are some 900 portraits painted on wooden panels in Roman Egypt between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD by artists whose names we do not know. They were placed over the face of the mummy, held in place by the linen wrappings, and painted in encaustic (beeswax mixed with pigments) or tempera with striking realism. They are one of the largest groups of panel paintings to survive from classical antiquity, and their frontal gaze foreshadows icon painting.
More by Fayum mummy portraits
Portrait of the Boy Eutyches
Portrait of a Young Woman in Red
Funerary Portrait of a Young Girl
Portrait of a Thin-Faced, Bearded Man
Portrait of a Man with a Mole on His Nose
Portrait of a Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath
Funerary Portrait of a Woman
Funerary Panel of a Man
Elderly Man Flanked by Egyptian Gods
Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait of a Youth
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