The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt
By
Euphrosyne Doxiadis
Thames
& Hudson/248 pages/$50
Reviewed by Ed Voves
It is always a wonderful occasion to catch sight
of a familiar, smiling face in the crowded, bustling galleries of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Whenever I visit The Met, I can always count on such a friendly
reunion in the first floor, Ancient Egyptian wing. There to greet me is a beaming adolescent boy named
Eutyches and a stylish, vivacious young woman whose luminous dark eyes outshine
the gilded wreath which adorns her hair.
The amazing likenesses of
Eutyches and the golden-wreathed woman are known to art history as Fayum
portraits. Painted on thin wooden panels, these images were made to last for eternity, along with the souls of those they depict. A classic study, just republished by
Thames & Hudson, is a moving testimonial to these bids for immortality.
The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt was originally published in 1995. The author, Euphrosyne Doxiades, is an accomplished artist, expert in the encaustic wax painting technique which was used to create many of the Fayum portraits.
The late 1990’s were marked by a
revival of interest in Fayum funerary art, sparked by a major British Museum
exhibition of these ancient paintings. During the winter of 2000, a major collaboration of the British Museum and The Met brought Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Ancient Egypt to New York.
Doxiadis contributed a short chapter on encaustic painting to the catalog of this exhibition. Mysterious Faces is her own, independent study. It ranks as the most definitive book on the Fayum portraits yet published– and likely to remain so thanks to this impressive, lavishly illustrated volume.
Doxiadis analyzed mummies and mummy portraits from a wide range of museum collections in Egypt, Europe and the U.S. Drawing upon her own artistic expertise, Doxiadis writes of the artists who created the Fayum portraits:
The methods used by the painters are of the greatest importance not only for the study of the portraits themselves but because they can tells us more about the technique of the Hellenistic tradition as a whole, of which so few works have survived. The mummy portraits provide a link between the painting of antiquity and that of Byzantium, and it is in the techniques used that this continuity can be seen most clearly.
The welcome arrival of the new edition of Mysterious Faces was graced by a stroke of incredible luck. In December 2022, a major archaeological discovery in the Faiyum region, located 62 miles southwest of Cairo, unearthed a mud-brick necropolis with intact mummies from the Roman-period and several Fayum portraits.
These "new" portraits came to light, too late for inclusion in the second edition of Mysterious Faces. Their discovery, however, adds a note of timely relevance to this insightful account of Egyptian art during the final centuries of ancient times.
The process of deliberately preserving the bodies of deceased pharaohs and members of the Egyptian nobility through mummification began about 2,600 B.C. By the time that painted images of the dead - which we call Fayum portraits - became an accepted technique, the elaborate process of preparing Egyptians for eternal life had been going on for over two millennia!
The Faiyum (or Fayoum) Oasis is one of the most historic sites in the story of Ancient Egypt. It was originally known as Shedit or sea because of its vast expanse. By the time Greek rule of Egypt began with the arrival of Alexander the Great, the waters of the oasis had greatly diminished. With the construction of an elaborate system of irrigation channels, however, the area remained one of the most bountiful agricultural regions of Egypt.
The prosperity generated from the grain trade made for a wider distribution of wealth. This in turn enabled more people than kings and nobles to prepare their mortal remains and ka, their soul, for eternal life.
Although Fayum portraits were made in other regions of Egypt, the Faiyum Oasis favored the creation and survival of this astonishing art form. The oasis was ringed with hilly terrain which remained dry during the annual inundation of the Nile Valley, which extended to low-lying areas of the oasis. On these secure uplands, the mummified remains of the deceased were interred.
Two compelling Fayum portraits, both from the Getty Museum, provide a fascinating insights to the varied levels of artistic technique and resources devoted to Fayum portraiture - and the people immortalized by these paintings.
The first image is of an aristocratic lady named Isidora, who lived around the year 100. Isidora's portrait was obviously painted by an accomplished master, who lavished pricey encaustic pigments on this exquisite work. Four different shades of red were used to convey the coloration of her sensuous lips. Isidora's hair style is an exacting rendition of the tightly-braided, plaited bun favored by Roman ladies during the reign of the Emperor Trajan (98-117).
Mummy Shroud with Painted Portait of a Boy, c. 150-250 AD
By contrast, the almost-expressionless face of a boy with a falcon resting on his shoulder was created "on the cheap." Just tempora paint was used, applied directly on a linen shroud. (Isidora, and most other Fayum portraits, were painted on expensive limewood panels). But we should not judge this as a "primitive" work of art.A hundred years after most of the portraits were discovered, now that we have seen Paul Klee, we are better able to appreciate the schematic and seemingly unsophisticated qualities of portraits such as this; stylistic differences do not necessarily mean differences in artistic merit.
Though Isidora and the falcon-bearing youth appear to be from separate schools of art, both are Greek in spirit. The painterly-style of the Fayum portraits resulted from the naturalism of Greek art, reaching back several centuries to Apelles, the renowned court painter for Alexander. Yet, this obvious fact is not all that easy to grasp. Fayum portraits, in many respects, seem more Egyptian than Greek.
Except for a very few exceptions, Greek painting from antiquity has been obliterated by the unforgiving hand of time. The arid conditions of Egypt have preserved over 1,000 Fayum portraits, making them the largest surviving body of paintings from ancient times.
After Alexander's death in 323 B.C., Egyptians and Greeks resident in Egypt were ruled by the Greco-Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty. During the generally-benign regime of the Ptolemies, both groups borrowed freely from each other. If Egyptians adopted this Greek artistic style, many Greeks were inspired by the profound concepts related to the afterlife of their new neighbors.
From the evidence of the Fayum portraits, it is apparent that numerous Greeks buried their dead in the hope of immortality according to the rites and rituals of eternal Egypt.
Doxiadis calls the Fayum portraits "mysterious faces." One of the mysteries about them, or perhaps irony is a more accurate term, is that the heyday of Fayum funerary art occurred under the Pax Romana, established by Caesar Augustus in 31 BC.
What interested the Romans about Egypt, particularly the Faiyum Oasis, were the abundant crops it produced. And yet, the reign of Tiberius, (AD14-37) marked the real beginning of the three century-long period when Greek artists created a human face for the Egyptian quest for immortality.
There are a number of ways to approach the study of Fayum portraiture. But in a short review like this, it is important to focus on what is absolutely essential. In considering a Fayum portrait the most important feature, transcending all others, is the treatment of the eyes.
The eye figured prominently in Egyptian religious belief and practice for thousands of years. The "eye of Horus", inscribed on protective amulets, was an omnipresent feature of Egyptian life.
Egyptian artists, in order to show the eye in its fullest and most perfect form, almost always featured it on a face in profile. Their Greek counterparts, by contrast, depicted the eye with absolute scientific fidelity. On the Fayum portraits,however, the eyes are often presented much larger in proportion to the rest of the face, than would normally be so.
When one looks at Fayum portraits in a museum gallery, you often have the peculiar sensation that Eutyches, Isidora and Artemidorus are intently peering at us. Normally, this sensation can be pleasurable, in a curious sort of way. However, when I visited the Ancient Faces exhibition at The Met in 2000, the experience was unnerving.
To put it bluntly, I was unnerved, rattled by all of those faces of dead people. Dead people who are somehow still alive and aware - on some level - of us.
After reading The Mysterious Fayum Portraits, I discovered that I was not alone in my reaction to an uncanny presence in these ancient works of art.
in the introduction to her book, Euphrosyne Doxiades writes:
Looking at the most beautifully painted among the Fayum portraits is a unique and enriching experience. They transgress formal, cultural and physical barriers. The depicted person lives on in spite of mortality, decay and the span of millenia... An experience I had in Berlin convinced me of the power inherent in the best of the Fayum faces: I was left in a storage room on my own with about twenty portraits, and when the door closed behind me I felt a strange sensation - that I was not alone...
The author's reaction to her Berlin storage room experience is revelatory. Doxiadis is anything but an impressionable savant. She felt the inherent power of religious works.
For that is what the Fayum portraits were intended to be and remain so, even when displayed in museum gallery cases.
The real mystery in these "mysterious faces" is why, after a thriving three century span, the creation of Fayum portraits began to decline and eventually ceased. This "fade-out" is part of a vast shift in consciousness which - among many other significant developments - saw realistic portraiture lose its appeal over much of the world during the Middle Ages. This was especially true in regions ruled or influenced by the Byzantine (East Roman) Empire.
These complex and compelling changes of life and thought were brilliantly analyzed by Peter Brown in his 1971 book, The World of Late Antiquity. Thames & Hudson recently republished this impressive work in a fully illustrated new edition (World of Art series/239 pages/$24.95). Brown's book is essential reading for anyone interested in ancient history. What follows are some reflections, inspired by The World of Late Antiquity, on the factors which led to the eventual disappearance of Fayum portrait painting.
Symbolical imagery began to edge-aside works of naturalism during the third century. This was the Roman Empire's first great time of troubles. Ceaseless military coups and assassinations, Germanic invasions across the Rhine and Danube and the menace of a revived Persian Empire nearly brought Rome to its knees.
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Rome's political power survived, battered but resilient. So too did the traditional forms of Greco-Roman culture, including naturalistic painting. At least outwardly, that is, as testified by the Brescia Medallion (above). This miniature masterpiece, only 2.4 inches in diameter, of gold glass engraving is clearly related to Fayum portraiture.
The reassertion of Roman military power in the final years of the third century concealed hidden currents of fundamental change. An undertow of social, cultural and religious transformations included an unprecedented new conception of the nature of morality.
This innovation in humanity's outlook was, in the words of Peter Brown, "that most fateful legacy of Zoroastrian Persia to the western world - a belief in the absolute division of the spiritual world between good and evil powers, between angels and demons."
Brown comments further:
The sharp smell of an invisible battle hung over the religious life of Late Antique man. To sin was no longer to err: it was to allow oneself to be overcome by unseen forces. To err was not to be mistaken: it was to be unconsciously manipulated by some invisible malign power.
In this highly-charged moral atmosphere, it was no longer sufficient for an individual seeking salvation to simply sacrifice to the gods or make careful preparations to insure the transit of one's soul to the afterlife. Each person must seek the aid of a divine savior or prophet and then join in the struggle against the forces of evil, visible and invisible.
Gradually, the two-thousand year traditions and rituals of Egyptian religion lost their appeal. Artists turned their skills from painting realistic portraits of the dead to imagined likenesses of Jesus and holy men like St. Menas.
The wheels of time turned. Antiquity faded, the medieval age of monotheistic faiths took its place. The wheels of time revolved again and again. Brief years of enlightenment were followed by dark ages of war.
Interred beneath the sands surrounding the Faiyum Oasis, Eutyches, Isidora and the unnamed others slept the sleep of eternity. And then, they were awakened to grace the gallery walls of our museums.
There they greet us with a smile or a faint look of reproach, reminding us of the kinship of all human beings, ancient and modern, living and dead.
***
Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved reserved
Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd.
Introductory Image: Cover art of The Mysterious Fayum Portraits by Euphrosyne Doxiadis. Courtesy of Thames & Hudson.
Fayum portraits: Portrait of the Boy Eutyches, 100–150 AD. Encaustic on wood: h. 38 cm (14 15/16 in); w. 19 cm (7 1/2 in) Metropolitan Museum of Art # 18.9.2. Portrait of a Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath. 120–140 AD. Encaustic on wood with gold leaf: H. 36.5 x W. 17.8 cm (14 3/8 x 7 in.) # 09.181.7 © Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gallery view of Ancient Faces: Mummy
Portraits from Ancient Egypt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. © Metropolitan Museum of Art
Anne Lloyd, (Photo 2019) Portrait of a Young
Woman in Red (detail), c. 90-120 AD. A.D. 90–120. Encaustic on limewood with gold leaf: H. 38.1 x W. 18.4 cm (15 x 7
1/4 in.) Metropolitan Museum of Art. # 09.181.6
Cover art of The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown. Courtesy of Thames &
Hudson.
Mummy Portait of a Woman (Isidora), c. 100 AD. Encaustic on linden wood, gilt, ( Entire Assemblage): 48 × 36 × 12.8 cm (18 7/8 × 14 3/16 × 5 1/16 in.) Portrait : 33.6 × 17.2 cm (13 1/4 × 6 3/4 in.) Getty Museum #81.AP.42
Mummy Shroud with Painted Portait of a Boy, c. 150-250 AD. Tempera on linen: 62 × 52.5 cm (24 7/16 × 20 11/16 in.) Getty Museum. #75 AP 87
Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait, c. 80-100, AD. Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait of a Youth. Panel portrait: encaustic on
limewood. Mummy: L. 169 cm (66 9/16 in.); W. 45 cm (17 11/16 in.); Panel as
exposed: H. 38.1 cm (15 in.); W. 18 cm (7 1/16 in.) Metropolitan
Museum of Art # 11.139. Mummy of Artemidorus in a Cartonnage Body Case, early 2nd century AD. Panel Portrait: Encaustic on wood with gold
leaf: British Museum #EA21810 © British Museum.
Greek inscription on the cartonnage body case of Artemidorus, reading
"O Artemidorus, Farewell" (British Museum Collection) For details,
see above entry.
Anne Lloyd, (Photo 2019) The Boy Eutyches (detail), c. 100-150. For full citation see above.)
Wedjat Eye Amulet, Third Intermediate Period, c. 1070-664 BC. Faience, aragonite: L. 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.) Metropolitan Museum of Art. # 26.7.1032
Fayum portraits from the era of Hadrian & Antoninus Pius (2nd Century AD). Head of a Woman, c. 130 and 160 AD. Encaustic with gilded stucco on wood panel: 17 5/8 × 9 3/4 inches (44.8 × 24.8 cm) Detroit Institute of Art # 25.2. Portrait of a Woman c. 117-138 AD. Encaustic on wood: 35.3 × 22.5 × 2 cm (13 7/8 × 8 7/8 × 13/16 in.) Harvard Art Museums/ Sackler Museum # 1923.60
Gallery view of Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Ancient Egypt, showing showing Portrait of a Woman in Tempora & Encaustic, AD 70-100.
Portrait of a Roman Soldier, Antonine era, 138-192. Encaustic painting on wood: 40 x 20 cm. Myers Collection, Eton College.
The Brescia Medallion. Gold glass engraved portrait, 4th century AD. Gold leaf, enamel and glass: Diameter - 6 cm. (2.4 inches) Collection: Santa Giulia Museum in Brescia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galla_Placidia_(rechts)_und_ihre_Kinder.jpg
Icon of Christ embracing St. Menas, from Apollo Monestary, Bawit, Egypt, sixth- seventh century. Encaustic on panel:
Art Eyewitness Image A collage of Fayum portraits, from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the British Museum.
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