Man with Curly Hair

The artwork

Tight black curls, thick eyebrows and a direct gaze: in this portrait the paint is so thick that the hair seems to stand out in relief. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The curls, the beard, the golden eyes and the white tunic with its red stripe.
• A strong and vivid portrait that gives character to a study or a living room.
• A gift for a man who loves art and history.

It was painted in Egypt around AD 150 to 170, when the country was a province of Rome. The painter used encaustic, colours mixed with hot wax, laid directly on the lime wood, without a ground layer. Like the other portraits we call Fayum portraits, it was placed over the face of the mummy, among the bandages.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which holds the panel, has studied it closely. The painter laid the paint thickly on the face and hair, incised the lashes in the wax and worked the curls with a cestrum, a small tool like a palette knife. The colours are iron earths, madder red and lead white. The panel, thin and curved, has its upper corners cut like the portraits from Er-Rubayat, a village in the Fayum.

In a living room it brings home a man of Roman Egypt painted with the strength of a sculptor. It is a gift for anyone who loves art.

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