This highlight proposes a quick approach to the Roman Portraits from Egypt [Further reading]
Located some one hundred kilometers south of Cairo, Fayum is a green and
fertile region in a vast circular depression. Its diameter from east to west is
approximately 60 kilometers, northwest of the lake of Birket Qarun.
The ancient Egyptians called this region Mer-our (The Great Lake). Fayum played
a significant role during the 12th Dynasty, and later under the Ptolemies.
The Fayyum portraits conflict in an intriguing manner, scattered as they are
around the world in museums and collections and, which, here, bring together the
image to be viewed as a whole. An ideal museum, which may be visited city by
city, to which we soon become attached, to the extent that, during the visit,
already familiar traits await us, as one of this art's truly ambiguous features
is its ability to multiply effigies which, at first sight, quickly, even too
quickly, elicit a feeling of déjà-vu.
Here is the work belonging to the Basel Museum.
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General information:
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 Bāle, Antikenmuseum , encaustique sur bois - 0,37x0,20, Le Fayoum |
