Romano-Egyptian mummy portrait of a young man with curly hair and a beard
Created during the Roman era in Egypt, this mummy portrait - worked in encaustic (pigmented wax) - shows how much Roman realism affected the funerary art in at least this one part of Egypt, the Faiyum. The bearded young man wears a funerary white tunic and perhaps a toga or himation. The eyes are large and soulful.
The first step in producing a mummy portrait was to sketch the outlines of face and garment on a wood panel that had been prepared with distemper, transparent glue, or dark wax. Then, a mixture of beeswax with powdered pigments was prepared. The wax could be used hot or cold. When used in molten state, the wax was either pure or supplemented with resin, glue, egs, gum, or oil. The molten beeswax/ pigment mixture was laid on quickly with long even brushstrokes, employing a thinner mixture for the background and garments and thick creamy paste-like paints for the facial features. When the wax cooled, a hard tool was used to blend the various flesh tones of face and neck.
When used cold, the wax had to be made suitable for painting by a process called emulsification, in which alkalis were added that allowed the wax to be suspended in egg or oil. The ancient writers appear to refer to this as "Punic wax." Emulsified wax paints are said to dry more slowly than molten wax paints, giving the painter greater control, and time to correct and adjust during the painting process. Mummy portraits that show only brushstrokes, no hard tool marks, are thought to have been created with emulsified cold wax.
Many modern artists who paint in encaustic actually employ a heated tool to fuse paints, hence the term encaustic, which means "burnt in." Ancient painters probably did not use such a technique.
Faiyum, Egypt
ca. 160-181 CE
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Romano-Egyptian mummy portrait of a young man with curly hair and a beard
Created during the Roman era in Egypt, this mummy portrait - worked in encaustic (pigmented wax) - shows how much Roman realism affected the funerary art in at least this one part of Egypt, the Faiyum. The bearded young man wears a funerary white tunic and perhaps a toga or himation. The eyes are large and soulful.
The first step in producing a mummy portrait was to sketch the outlines of face and garment on a wood panel that had been prepared with distemper, transparent glue, or dark wax. Then, a mixture of beeswax with powdered pigments was prepared. The wax could be used hot or cold. When used in molten state, the wax was either pure or supplemented with resin, glue, egs, gum, or oil. The molten beeswax/ pigment mixture was laid on quickly with long even brushstrokes, employing a thinner mixture for the background and garments and thick creamy paste-like paints for the facial features. When the wax cooled, a hard tool was used to blend the various flesh tones of face and neck.
When used cold, the wax had to be made suitable for painting by a process called emulsification, in which alkalis were added that allowed the wax to be suspended in egg or oil. The ancient writers appear to refer to this as "Punic wax." Emulsified wax paints are said to dry more slowly than molten wax paints, giving the painter greater control, and time to correct and adjust during the painting process. Mummy portraits that show only brushstrokes, no hard tool marks, are thought to have been created with emulsified cold wax.
Many modern artists who paint in encaustic actually employ a heated tool to fuse paints, hence the term encaustic, which means "burnt in." Ancient painters probably did not use such a technique.
Faiyum, Egypt
ca. 160-181 CE
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York