Hard to say...I think that we do not know enough to be able to say.
of Encaustic Painting White Flag, 1955 Jasper Johns (American, born 1930) Encaustic and Collage on Panel
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www.metmuseum.org.Encaustic art, or literally “the burning in” of pigments mixed with beeswax and resin is one of the oldest painting techniques that has survived history to tell its’ story. The preservative properties of encaustic painted onto wood panels allows us to date this technique, from surviving funerary panels back to the 2nd century B.C..
Pliny, the Roman historian (23-79 CE), who documented much of Roman life, writes about the use of encaustic in portraiture and decoration, while Homer mentions the use of wax, resin and pigment for the waterproofing, repair and decoration of the Greek warships. Historians have not dated Homer’s life, however his mention of this rudimentary composition of encaustic suggests its’ development as far back as the 5th century B.C.. Pliny mentions two artists that started out as ship painters, and also refers to paintings as “waxes”.
The discovery of the Fayum Funerary paintings were cited as early as 1615, however just prior to the methodical excavations led by Flinders Petrie in 1888, a Viennese antiquities dealer, Theodor Graf, skillfully bought up and began to exhibit a large collection throughout Western Europe and the United States. These beautiful and mysterious paintings caused quite a stir in the art antiquities world, but unfortunately, much of the history of these Greco-Roman style paintings was less clear once these portraits were separated from the mummies they had been attached to for at least 2000 years. It was the discovery and exhibition of these portraits however that piqued the curiosity of 20th century artists and led to a revival in this ancient and once lost art technique.
William Flinders Petrie and others all aided in the establishment of Egyptology as a science, applying scientific techniques to the study of Egypt. Such techniques stemmed from scientific interest in the subject rather than an interest in grave robbing and collecting artifacts. It wasn’t until Auguste Mariette formed the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1858 that real care in preserving Egyptian cultural heritage started to be taken.
