Bearded Man from Thebes

The artwork

A thick black beard, short curly hair, eyelashes drawn one by one: this man from Thebes has been looking us straight in the eye for almost eighteen centuries. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The face full of life, the black beard, the white tunic and the pink mantle.
• A strong portrait that gives character to a study or a living room.
• A gift for a man who loves history.

It was painted at Thebes, the old city of the pharaohs in Upper Egypt, around AD 250. The painter used encaustic, colours mixed with wax, on a lime wood panel. Like all the portraits we call Fayum portraits, it was placed over the face of the mummy, among the bandages, so that the dead man would keep his appearance in the afterlife.

The middle of the third century is the sunset of this tradition: after those years families stopped having the faces of their dead painted on panels. Yet here the hand is still sure. The painter built the face with light and shadow, set a small point of light in the eyes and drew the lashes one by one, as if to hold a living gaze. The panel entered the Louvre in Paris in 1826.

In a living room or a study it brings home a man of Roman Egypt who seems ready to speak. It is a gift for anyone who loves history.

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