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1. Portrait of a boy inscribed in Greek with his name "Eutyches", ca. 193 - 211 AD, encaustic on limewood;
38 x 19 cm (7 1/2 x 15 ");
Metropolitan Museum;

2. Portrait of a woman, ca. 117-138 AD, encaustic on cedarwood with added gilding; 41 x 24 cm (9 1/2 x 16 1/8 ")
Musée du Louvre, Paris;

3. Mummy portrait of a woman. The name of the woman, Isidora, is written on the cartonnage, or linen mummy case.
Fayum, Egypt, 100 - 125 AD.
Encaustic and gilt on a wooden panel wrapped in linen
17.2 x 33.6 cm (6 3/4 x 13 1/4 "). 

For thousands of years Egyptian religious beliefs called for funerary portraits; in Pharaonic times these representations were very formulaic. When Egypt came under Roman influence, the Roman taste for highly individualized portraiture altered the style of the Egyptian mummy portrait. Painted on wood panels using encaustic, or wax-based paint, these Romano-Egyptian portraits were created during the subject's life and were hung in the home. At death, the portrait was cut down and fitted into the mummy wrappings. These portraits are often referred to as 'Fayum portraits' because many examples were found in that part of Egypt.

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