CONTEMPORARY  FAYUM  PORTRAITS

 

Approximately two thousand years ago, the great historian of art E.H. Gombrich (1) expressed the opinion that one of the major needs of the Romans, after conquering Egypt, was to possess “beautiful portraits expressing life”.

These paintings, rediscovered at the Fayum Oasis (Egypt) and preserved today in the principal museums and in private collections throughout the world, are characteristic because the painter has managed “to achieve an expression of life without falling into the trivial”.

These images attract even greater interest due to the fact that the hundreds of preserved portraits represent the only remaining Roman paintings which are not murals.       
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Presently, the Gallery of Contemporary Antique World has the pleasure to offer you the possibility to possess you own portrait bearing the same technical and esthetic characteristics as the original Fayum portraits, painted thousands of years ago.

The mastery and the sensibility of the contemporary author result in the creation of original and authentic Contemporary Antique Master Works. All of these are unique individualized works, which follow strictly the placing of the orders.

The contemporary Fayum portraits are realized with the same original technique of encaustic painting, wax painting, and the same esthetics, with regard to clothing and perspective, possessed by the images painted in Egypt during Roman times

The following images, by courtesy of our customers, represent some contemporary portraits painted on order.

 
      

THE  ENCAUSTIC  PAINTING  TECHNIQUE
The so called encaustic painting technique has developed in the antique Greek art as early as the sixth century B.C. and was widely used in painting, sculpture and architecture. During the first century A.C. it entered Roman mural painting as well (Pompeii, between the first and the second century A.C.).

Described in detail in Pliny’s tract, this technique has its origins also in Byzantine iconography where it continues its dominance until the eighth century. After the iconoclastic period the encaustic technique was gradually replaced by the egg tempera technique and since the tenth century it fell into disuse.

At present there are only a few authors who are masters of this technique because it requires great skill both for the mixing of the painting components and for their application.

The number of methods and means which the contemporary author uses to realize these magnificent works can be specified within the following major points:

- On the wooden plate layers of primer are applied then they are polished until a very smooth homogeneous surface is achieved which is capable of absorbing the pigment and the wax.

- The painting is realized with the help of colored encaustic paste, using an emulsion of wax and agglutinative mineral pigments.

- The plastic development is achieved through various sizes of paint brushes and a spatula which, with the help of the direction of the marks, determines the forms it traces.

- The mixing of the pigment with the wax and the infusion of the wax into the primer of the base ensure the lasting of the colors which surpasses any other technique as it becomes obvious from the colors preserved for centuries in the Fayum portraits.

The colors can be mixed both optically and mechanically and combined with the relief of the marks enrich the plastic expressivity of the color.

(1) GOMBRICH, E.H. (16Rev Ed edition, 1999): The Story of Art. Phaidon Press Ltd. ISBN-10: 071483355X / ISBN-13: 978-0714833552