Man with a Mole on His Nose

The artwork

The painter could have hidden it, but the mole on his nose is there, clearly visible: this portrait had to look like a real man, and it gives him back to us just as he was. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The huge eyes, the black beard, the warm peach-coloured skin.
• A face that looks straight at whoever comes in, perfect in a study.
• A gift for anyone who loves faces, painting and archaeology.

The man lived in Egypt between AD 130 and 150, when the country was part of the Roman Empire. In those years a person's face was painted on a thin wooden panel which, when they died, was placed over the mummy's face among the bandages. These are the portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found, and fewer than a thousand survive in the whole world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which holds the original, explains how it was made. The painter used encaustic, that is colours mixed with wax, on limewood. The body is turned three-quarters, but the head turns towards us. The enormous eyes have tiny highlights and are underlined by a pink line along the lids; the same pink shades the long nose. The portrait is on show in the exhibition Il potere del ritratto. Egitto e Roma. I volti del Fayum, at the Museo dell'Ara Pacis in Rome from 5 November 2026 to 2 May 2027.

In a study or next to a bookcase he is a guest who does not go unnoticed. It is the right gift for anyone who loves ancient history and portraits that seem alive.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass