Fayum portraits

If you haven't seen the latest issue of Smithsonian magazine (and really, how many people do get this rather light-weight but always interesting magazine of our own national museums in DC?), then you might not know about fayum portraits, those absolutely exquisite head portraits produced upon a person's death and fixed onto their coffin, or into their mummy wrappings.

See what a small section it is!

I would encourage you to go to the Smithsonian website and look at more examples, or if in New York City go to The Met where the young boy show in the middle above is currently on display in Gallery 38. They are also on display at the Louvre, British Museum and the small and often neglected Brooklyn Museum has one too!

The portraits seem to be largely produced in the 3rd Century AD in Egypt's Fayum region (see map to the left) and blend Greco-Roman portraiture style into their own technique of using beeswax and pigment. Analyses of the pieces have revealed the use of a plant-derived red pigment used for much of the clothing and a combination of a lead white and a blue pigment to create the striking eyes. Gold leaf can also be seen in the portrait above on the far right.

Having just seen the Renaissance portraiture show at the Met, I am amazed at how striking these portraits are. We tend to think of the Renaissance as the time of high-art. This is reasonable given some of the innovations (perspective, anatomy studies), the political support for the arts by the Church (Sistine Chapel) and families (the Medici), as well as the constant energy of the artists (Michelangelo, Botticelli). Nevertheless, these portraits remind us that powerful artistry is present even when least suspected.