The Eye of an Artist

This portrait has been on display in the Egypt Centre since it opened in 1997, apart from a little trip which it did to Madrid in 2011. Such items are commonly known as Fayum portraits, from the area in Egypt in which they are found. We knew ours was damaged. If you look you can see a crack down the middle where the parts don't actually meet properly. It looks damaged as though a piece has been added in.  However, yesterday an artist (Donna Wilshere) visited the Centre and pointed out something we hadn't considered before. The portrait is actually two halves of different portraits put together to make one. That is, these are portraits of two separate individuals, presumably made up to look like one in Victorian times.

The portrait/s date/s from the Roman Period in Egypt and probably from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. Such portraits are usually found in the area of Lower Egypt settled by Greeks and then Romans, largely the Fayum. This example comes from Hawara. The sitters were usually descendants of immigrants from Greece who had settled in Egypt. Such people had come to Egypt in search of employment after the invasion of Alexander the Great (332-323 BC). It may be that during the lifetime of the sitter, such paintings were displayed in the house. After death they were put in mummy wrappings.

Donna Wilshere noticed that actually we have here two separate people:

The left looks like the face of a woman with slightly pointed jaw. The right looks more like a more rounded face. The hairline, earring, jaw and even the paint shading do not match. Obvious isn't it! But we didn't realise this.

Further Reading

Borg, B.E. 2010. Painted Funerary Portraits. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology.

Walker, S. and M Bierbrier 1997. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. British Museum Press.

What did Egypt ever do for Rome?

OK, I'm preparing a short talk for tomorrow for some members of the public learning Latin. It's called 'Latin in the Park' and I think its a great way to get people involved in learning Latin. I've been asked to show a group around the Egypt Centre pointing out the Roman things in the Centre. I thought it would be a really good idea to highlight things the Egyptians gave to the Roman world (apart from grain and taxes). So among the many things I'm pointing out will be: alabastra vessels, papyrus, Nile related objects (so I can talk about Nilotic scenes decorating Roman houses), Isis, Serapis, Harpocrates, Coptic textiles, connections with early Christanity and of course Cleopatra VII as an archytypal exotic foreigner of low morals....

The list seems to get longer the more I think about it.

While Wendy's away

Wendy Goodridge, the assistant curator, is away collecting our Fayum portrait from Madrid. This is the portrait:

http://www.egypt.swansea.ac.uk/index.php/collection/294-w646

Here is a link to information on the exhibition:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=47827

It will be back on display in the Centre very shortly.

This morning has been very hectic. We have a Brownie group from Somerset taking part in group activities with our volunteers. The dummy mummy, as always is extremely popular. (I didn't know Brownies weren't brown anymore! They are dressed in pink. I suppose this shows my age.) As well as the Brownie group, today is the first day of our children's summer workshops. There has been a lot of noise with them practicing their musical instruments. As well as that, with it being the start of the summer holidays, we have lots of 'normal' visitors. As we are a small museum, the place is very noisy and crowded.

But it's good that we are busy. Lots of people enjoying the collections. Let's hope it is the start to a good summer.