Young Woman in Red

The artwork

Behind this young woman a gold background once shone, and it was not mere decoration: it said that in death she had become like the gods. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The black curly hair, the dark red tunic, the pale face that seems lit from within.
• A painting in warm colours, lovely in a bedroom or a living room.
• A gift for a young woman, or for anyone who loves ancient art.

The young woman lived in Egypt between AD 90 and 120, when the country was a province of Rome. Her face was painted with colours mixed into wax on a thin limewood panel which, when she died, was placed over the mummy's face among the bandages. It is one of the portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found.

For the Egyptians the skin of the gods was made of gold, and whoever passed the judgement of the afterlife became like them: that is why the background of the panel was gilded. The painter built everything else to make the face stand out. The black hair, the shadowed neck and the dark red tunic surround it, while the large, serious eyes, with long lashes, look straight at us. A few locks fall along the neck, and a wreath and gold jewellery once shone in her hair and on her chest.

The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which acquired it in 1909.

In a bedroom or a living room the red of the tunic warms the wall. It is a gift for a young woman, or for anyone fascinated by ancient Egypt.

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