Fayum Portraits: Greco-Roman Egyptian Mummies?
The Fayum mummy portraits emerged from a time of great change in Ancient Egypt—a time of decline in the ancient Egyptian religious traditions. Alongside this decline, there was also a rise in Greco-Roman influences on the aesthetic values of Egyptian art—through the first century BCE to the first centuries CE—particularly those that were used in religious rituals, such as temples, wall paintings, and the actual adornment of the mummies themselves. Abandoning the preceding use of bright colors and patterned designs of the cartonnage, coffins, and sarcophagi, we see a focus on the patterns of the linen wrappings of the body and the individual depiction of the deceased. Through this new style of …show more content…
Formerly, in past kingdoms, the tradition would have been to cover the face and head of the mummified body with a sculpted funerary mask, often gilded, with brightly saturated pigment. (Fig. 1) In contrast, the Fayum mummy portraits were painted on a flat panel or canvas surface, with a subtler color palate, which lead to a more naturalistic style. No longer were the dead depicted with symbolic imagery attributed to the gods and pharaohs. These new foreigners brought their own religious views, which caused the visual representation of the dead as the god of the dead Osiris to become less prominent, though the gods were often included in motifs painted on the cartonnage covering the body. This meant that the focus was instead on the image of the deceased themselves, rather than trying to impose a divine identity on them for the afterlife. Incidentally, there was a shift towards a more naturalistic style in the Fayum portraits. There was an increased awareness in proportions and the modeling of the face, executed in the shading of the skin and in the folds of their clothing. This was vastly different than the flat composite images of figures in past Egyptian styles. Additionally, there was an increased attention to detail, which resulted in more individualized …show more content…
Both are wearing colorful drapery, much like the clothing style of Greece and Rome. The 55 CE portrait is adorned with much simpler gold jewelry, only earrings and one necklace; whereas the figure on the 110 CE portrait is ornamented with elaborate jewel-encrusted jewelry. This figure might be of a higher class, with wealth to accommodate the mass of necklaces encircling her neck. She is wearing several layers of jewel-abundant necklaces in addition to jeweled gold earrings. She also has a golden band in her hair, as well as two hairpins placed in her elaborately styled
The Fayum mummy portraits emerged from a time of great change in Ancient Egypt—a time of decline in the ancient Egyptian religious traditions. Alongside this decline, there was also a rise in Greco-Roman influences on the aesthetic values of Egyptian art—through the first century BCE to the first centuries CE—particularly those that were used in religious rituals, such as temples, wall paintings, and the actual adornment of the mummies themselves. Abandoning the preceding use of bright colors and patterned designs of the cartonnage, coffins, and sarcophagi, we see a focus on the patterns of the linen wrappings of the body and the individual depiction of the deceased. Through this new style of …show more content…
Formerly, in past kingdoms, the tradition would have been to cover the face and head of the mummified body with a sculpted funerary mask, often gilded, with brightly saturated pigment. (Fig. 1) In contrast, the Fayum mummy portraits were painted on a flat panel or canvas surface, with a subtler color palate, which lead to a more naturalistic style. No longer were the dead depicted with symbolic imagery attributed to the gods and pharaohs. These new foreigners brought their own religious views, which caused the visual representation of the dead as the god of the dead Osiris to become less prominent, though the gods were often included in motifs painted on the cartonnage covering the body. This meant that the focus was instead on the image of the deceased themselves, rather than trying to impose a divine identity on them for the afterlife. Incidentally, there was a shift towards a more naturalistic style in the Fayum portraits. There was an increased awareness in proportions and the modeling of the face, executed in the shading of the skin and in the folds of their clothing. This was vastly different than the flat composite images of figures in past Egyptian styles. Additionally, there was an increased attention to detail, which resulted in more individualized …show more content…
Both are wearing colorful drapery, much like the clothing style of Greece and Rome. The 55 CE portrait is adorned with much simpler gold jewelry, only earrings and one necklace; whereas the figure on the 110 CE portrait is ornamented with elaborate jewel-encrusted jewelry. This figure might be of a higher class, with wealth to accommodate the mass of necklaces encircling her neck. She is wearing several layers of jewel-abundant necklaces in addition to jeweled gold earrings. She also has a golden band in her hair, as well as two hairpins placed in her elaborately styled