PORTRAIT OF WOMAN FROM HAWARA
Your purchase will also include a FREE Egyptian Style Oil lamp, created by Potted History.
potted-history.co.uk/products/egyptian-frog-oil-lamp
The Fayum mummy portrait tradition fused Egyptian mummification practices with the realism of Greco-Roman portraiture, to preserve their subjects for eternity. A costly, time consuming process, only the elite in society were able to afford to have their relatives preserved in this way. There's definitely a formulaic element to these paintings- which were originally intended as an outer face covering on mummy cases. But an individual's status was indicated by their dress and jewellery.
The subject of this painting appears to have a quiet, refined elegance and intelligence. She wears a plain ivory coloured tunic, under a magenta mantle, folded and draped around her shoulders. She has circular hooped earrings with pendant pearls and a pair of necklaces. The upper necklace has emerald beads, interspaced with smaller gold beads. The lower necklace is made up of twists of chain. Her dark hair is neatly curled and dressed away from her face, with a central parting.
The original portrait was excavated in Hawara and is thought to be from 160- 80 AD. It can be found in London's British Museum. It was painted using encaustic (wax and resin) paint, coloured with lead white, ochres and arsenic colours. But for everyone's health and safety, this replica version has been created using modern Artist's Acrylics - which are of course non- toxic.
In encaustic painting the molten coloured waxes are applied with brushes and various fine spatula tools, using cross latching to build up a sense of form and shape.
Modern Artists Acrylic is an excellent, non toxic substitute for the original paints used for such works. Many of the pigments still used today by professional artists are exactly the same earth colours used in history, just sourced and ground commercially, rather than by the individual painter in a pestle and mortar. Acrylic polymers act as the binding material for the colours.
The original version of this painting had suffered disfiguring damage, so this replica has restored that damage, to reproduce the subject's appearance as it may have originally appeared. It can be found in London's British Museum. This replica was painted on modern wooden ply gesso board, which provides a fine, smooth painting surface and a very durable support. Gesso board has been the favoured material for paintings for millennia, as it is such a good surface to work on, and the fine white surface allows the colours to remain bright and clear. It is extremely durable, as demonstrated by the number of paintings created on such boards still hanging in galleries all round the world.
SIZE
Painted gesso board 36.4 x 23.3 cm
It is ready to hang and framed in a bespoke solid wooden frame, with a dark “distressed” finish, to resemble bronze to emulate a simple classic Roman style frame. There is no glass required, as it has been finished with two layers of UVA protective matt varnish, to protect against light and mechanical damage. The outer dimensions of the framed work is 44.7 x 31.7cm wide by 2.8cm deep.
