Behold the Man (Ecce Homo)

Traditional Egyptian burials included face masks, coffins, or mummy boards with an idealized image of the deceased. Later, in the Roman Period, much more lifelike portraits represented the individualized features of the embalmed person. These were placed within mummy wrappings directly over the head of the mummy.

Portraits such as this are often referred to as “Fayum portraits” because a great number of them were discovered in the Fayum oasis in Egypt. However, the exact origin of Woman with Earrings and two similar portraits displayed in this gallery is not known.