- Museum number
- EA74704
- Description
-
Portrait of a young man in encaustic on limewood, with a gilded stucco frame: the panel is fissured in the centre from top to bottom. The surface of the gilt frame is very crazed, but the original vine-scroll decoration is visible in places, as is the reddish bole beneath. The frame surrounds the background in greenish grey, but does not extend over the painted drapery. A band, perhaps of shellac, extends across the bottom of the panel.
The subject wears a white tunic with pink clavus, the seam below the shoulder shown as darker pink bands. Over the proper left shoulder is a white mantle, which extends to the back of the neck but it is not shown on the proper right side. The dark brown hair is abundant and curly, with long whiskers in front of the ears, almost joined to a thin beard. Above the full red lips is a moustache. All the facial hair, including the eyebrows, is painted in a lighter brown. The hazel eyes are large and rounded, with prominent upper lashes. The skin is painted in warm pinks and umbers, with thick strokes in a lighter shade.
- Production date
- 150-170
- Dimensions
-
Height: 42.70 centimetres
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Thickness: 0.40 centimetres
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Width: 22.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
The skull belonging to the mummy with portrait Z (Petrie's numbering system) is in the Natural History Museum. See J. Picton, S. Quirke & P. Roberts, 'Living Images. Egyptian funerary portraits in the Petrie Museum', Walnut Creek CA 2007, 62
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There is a slight resemblance to the Emperor Lucius Verus (AD 161-9), and in general the portrait typifies images of young adult males of the middle years of the second century AD.
Bibliography:
W. M. F. Petrie, 'The Hawara Portfolio: Paintings of the Roman Age' (1913), pl. 28;
A. F. Shore, 'Portrait Painting from Roman Egypt' 2 ed. (1972), pl. 10;
K. Parlasca, 'Ritratti di Mummie'. In A. Adriani (ed.), 'Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto greco-romano'. 2 ser. I (1969), 80, no. 198 (bibl.), pl. 48, 4;
E. Doxiadis, 'The Mysterious Fayum Portraits. Faces from Ancient Egypt' (1995), 203, no. 61;
B. Borg, ‘Mumienporträts. Chronologie und kulterelle Kontext (1996), 80, 129, 166;
Doxiadis 1998, 140 no. 18 with pl. p. 58;
M. F. Aubert and R. Cortopassi 'Portraits de l'Égypte Romaine' (1998), 46, 49 no. II;
Parlasca and Seeman 1999, 137 no. 39.
S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, 'Ancient Faces' (1997), 70-1 (47)
S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, 'Fayum. Misteriosi volti dall'Egitt'o, London 1997, p. 90 [64].
'Portraits: De l’Egypte Romaine', Paris 1998, pp.46, 49 [11].
S. Walker, 'Ancient Faces', New York 2000, p. 61 [22].
Temples and Tombs (American Federation of Arts, 2006): 131, cat no. 85
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1997 22 Oct-1998 30 Apr, Italy, Rome, Fondaione Memmo, Ancient Faces
2003 17 Jul-12 Oct, Valencia, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, The Eyesight and the Vision
2006 7 Sept-26 Nov, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Temples & Tombs
2006 21 Dec-2007 18 Mar, Jackonsville, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Temples & Tombs
2007 15 Apr-8 Jul, Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Temples & Tombs
2007 16 Nov-2008 10 Feb, New Mexico, Albuquerque Museum, Temples & Tombs
2009 24 Sept-2010 17 Jan, Rome, Scuderie del Quirinale, Pituura Romana
2011 30 May-24 Jul. Spain,Madrid, Museo Arqueologico Nacional. 'Retratos de le Fayum'. Bussac, Claude.
- Condition
- fair - central vertical crack
- Acquisition date
- 1994
- Acquisition notes
- Formerly National Gallery 1261. This portrait was presented to the National Gallery in 1888 by H Martyn Kennard. See information from the NG on file [Nov 2005, NCS]. AES Archive 548.
- Department
- Egypt and Sudan
- BM/Big number
- EA74704
- Registration number
- 1994,0521.2
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: National Gallery 1261
