Fayum portrait of a young man

A young man looks slightly to one side on this painted wooden board. He wears a white robe with broad purple stripes and a cloak over his left shoulder. The treatment of his face and clothing belongs to the naturalistic portrait tradition of Roman Egypt. Such boards were placed over a mummy’s face and held by the bandages. They fulfilled a protective role comparable to that of an Egyptian funerary mask. A Roman style of painting therefore accompanied an Egyptian burial practice. The portrait was part of the preparation of the deceased’s body, rather than an image made only for display on a wall. The term Fayum portrait comes from the Egyptian region where many examples were first discovered. Others have been found in burial grounds elsewhere in Middle and Upper Egypt. The ancient findspot of this board is unknown. It once belonged to the Gregor Stroganoff collection and entered the Vatican Museums through Federico Zeri’s bequest in 1999.