Howells (2015) summarizes the research into the Brescia medallion demonstrating its connection to contemporaneous Roman-Egyptian art (in particular the Fayum mummy portraits) as well as linguistic evidence proving the authenticity of the artefact versus the now dubious claim about it being a forgery. The peculiar hair style of the older woman is unknown in Roman portraiture, but can be found on some 3rd-century plaster mummy masks from Egypt.
In particular, the mantle worn by the middle figure is not fastened by a fibula, but instead knotted one parallel for this is a 3rd-century Coptic tapestry medallion, now in the Hermitage Museum, showing the goddess Gaea with her mantle knotted in a similar way. The costumes are more consistent with the contemporary fashions in Egypt than in Rome itself. Stylistically, the painting is closely related to the 3rd-century mummy portraits found in the Faiyum Oasis. Both words of the inscription ( ΒΟΥΝΝΕΡΙ ΚΕΡΑΜΙ) end in iota, possibly indicating the Ancient Greek dialect of Egypt ΚΕΡΑΜΙ, then, means "potter".
Several details indicate the Egyptian, perhaps Alexandrian origin of the medallion. In 1762, Francesco Antonio Zaccaria recalled that he saw it circa 1725. The earliest mention of the medallion comes from a 17th-century inventory. Some 19th-century scholars, including Raffaele Garrucci and Hermann Vopel, suspected the work to be a fake. The medallion is often referred to as a portrait of Galla Placidia and her children, but the scholarly consensus is strongly against this 18th-century identification. The portrait medallion is a part of the ornamentation of the so-called Desiderius Cross, 9th-century processional crux gemmata currently preserved in Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, Italy. Latin: GREGORI SIMPLICI CONRECESCATES ġ7th-century copy of a lost original (perhaps, "Gregory, drink and drink to thine") Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Ĭorning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York Īrcheological Museum, Bologna, Italy
Fayum mummy portraits full#
They are also an unmatched source of information on Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultural traditions.Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, Italy See section below for full account. The mixture was heated and applied quickly, before cooling, to the surface of a wood panel with a brush and tools, leaving a distinctive, richly textured surface.įayum mummy portraits are very important since they represent some of the earliest known, best preserved, and most finely painted portraits in the history of art. The ROM’s Fayum mummy portraits were painted using the encaustic technique that involved adding pigments to beeswax and resin. In contrast to the technique of her “sister’s” portrait, the paint was applied in fine even layers. She is wearing pearl earrings, a beryl and pearl necklace, and a gold necklace. Her finely rendered hair is arranged in ringlets and embellished with a gold wreath. Her features are very fine with high cheekbones, narrow nose, thick red lips, and prominent chin. The woman shown in the second ROM portrait is slightly more mature and matronly. Note the thick application of paint, lending it the appearance of an Impressionist painting. She is wearing a disc and pendant earring and an emerald necklace with gold links and is draped in a tunic and thick mantle both of a dark crimson colour.
Her black hair is puffed out around her head with four separate curls falling over her forehead. The woman depicted in the ROM’s new portrait has the delicate facial features of a young woman with large almond-shaped brown eyes, thick eyebrows, aquiline nose, well-modelled red lips, and a narrow chin. With less reliance on preliminary underdrawings, the artists applied areas of colour that worked together to give each portrait the illusion of volume and depth as well as a sense of character and personality. Our portraits showcase the superb painterly skills of their artists. And now, a century later, thanks to the generosity of the Mona Campbell Endowment Fund and the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust, the two portraits are back together. Later that year, Currelly sold one of the mummy portraits to the National Gallery of Canada. One of these Hawara portraits and a second example, found by Petrie at another burial site in the Fayum, were acquired by Charles Currelly, the ROM’s first director, at a Sotheby’s auction in London in 1912. In 1888, Sir Flinders Petrie discovered 81 mummy portraits at Hawara, an ancient Roman cemetery in the Fayum, Egypt.
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