Ancient Roman mummy portraits

[Colin_Fraser]

I have always been fascinated by these superbly realistic portraits that were used on mummy cases in the Egypt of the later Roman Empire. They were done in encaustic (tinted wax). Truly a window on the past and similar in technique to today's portraiture. There are many in the various museums of the world and you can see lots by searching google images. It would be cool to do a portrait in miniature and paint it in this style.

 

[peedee]

We tend to refer to them as the ancients, but these paintings always made me think you could share a park bench and pass the time of day with any of them tomorrow.

Thanks for posting this.

Psul