|
Material : Encaustic Painting on Wood
Width : 18 . 5 Height : 34
Period : ROMAN PERIOD
This portrait of a man dates back to the Roman Period (first half of the 2nd century AD) . A great corpus of portraits painted on wood known as the "Fayum portraits" and plaster masks was made during the Roman imperial era . The Roman taste had a particular interest in making portraits that stand for iconographic realism . Such a tendency became the most successful expression of the reciprocal penetration of Egyptian and Roman cultures that were far more integrated in death than in life . While plaster masks were placed on the mummy over the area of the face , portraits were either placed among the bandages wrapping the deceased's mummy or on the linen shrouds .
This example of the Fayum portraits is an encaustic painting skillfully made on wood . With delicate tones , the sad expression on the middle-aged man's face is suggested by the thick slightly-curved dark eyebrows and the large faint eyes . The downhearted gaze is faithful to the sadness the man feels for meeting death at this age . The face is framed with the heavy grey hair with short curls over the head as well as the trimmed beard and mustache . The man is dressed in a white garment . Like other Fayum portraits , there is a great interest in employing the contrast of lights and colors .
|
|
