Ancient Faces : Mummy Portraits in Roman Egypt (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications) (Paperback)

by Susan Walker (Author) "The mummy portraits of Roman Egypt were the product of a fusion of two traditions, that of pharaonic Egypt and that of the Classical world..." (more)
Key Phrases: black clavi, proper left shoulder, proper right eye, British Museum, National Gallery, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
When Rome conquered Egypt, two great cultures combined, taking some of the best qualities of each to form an amalgam. The Egyptian belief in the afterlife held strong appeal, but so did the Roman practice of portraiture. As a result, portrait painting was added to traditional Egyptian funerary practices to produce the unique and haunting "mummy portraits," some of the earliest portraits still in existence. The first "ancient faces" exhibit appeared at the British Museum in 1997. When the Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to do its own version, it expanded on the original core group of portraits by adding material from European and North American collections. Walker, deputy keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum, edited the catalog for both shows. Consequently, they are very similar in most respects; five of the seven essays in this volume appeared first in the British catalog. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries not owning the British catalog.
-Mary Morgan Smith, Northland P.L., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
A companion to an exhibition taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this book presents colored panel and shroud portraits of Roman Egypt. Contributors, including R. Bagnall, M. Bierbrier, K. Gschwantler, J. Taylor and S. Walker, give a concise acccount of mummy portraits and their discovery, as well as the Fayum and its people. Extensively illustrated in color, this is a useful book covering a little-known subject. An excellent reference for everyone. Frankie's Bibliography of Ancient Egypt.

A companion to an exhibition taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this book presents colored panel and shroud portraits of Roman Egypt. Contributors, including R. Bagnall, M. Bierbrier, K. Gschwantler, J. Taylor and S. Walker, give a concise acccount of mummy portraits and their discovery, as well as the Fayum and its people. Extensively illustrated in color, this is a useful book covering a little-known subject. An excellent reference for everyone. Frankies Bibliography of Ancient Egypt.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415927455
• ISBN-13: 978-0415927451
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,059,499 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible documentation of topic,plates not true to color, February 26, 2000

By	Ward J. Lamb (slate hill, new york United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This exhibition is a facinating personal document of the Roman mummy portraits and their Egyptian and greek influenced hybrid artworks. The incredible freshness of the works themselves is lost in the printing here. Perhaps the encaustic is difficult to photograph? Anyway the topic and text is wonderful, but the images pale next to the 1st person experience of these vital energizing works of the Roman era.A good book to own, if you saw the show it's better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well presented and full of facts., March 18, 2006

By	ymns (puerto rico) - See all my reviews

The book is large and full of portraits from diferent sites in Egypt, not only the Fayum, which are not always included in other books. It contains several articles from diferent specialists conserning the history, techniques, archaeological facts and findings as well as the dating of these objects, which are very usefull and enlightening. Three fourth's of the book presents the portraits themselves and the study cases of each one of them. Unfortunetly, the portraits are not always full length page and all are placed on a white background. In this respect, the book by Berenice Geoffory-Schneiter, Fayum, is superior. Nevertheless, the book is nicely presented and a good basic book for those interest in the study of this fascinating cultural expression.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent exhibition catalog, December 30, 2000

By	Francesca Jourdan (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A companion to an exhibition taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this book presents colored panel and shroud portraits of Roman Egypt. Contributors, including R. Bagnall, M. Bierbrier, K. Gschwantler, J. Taylor and S. Walker, give a concise acccount of mummy portraits and their discovery, as well as the Fayum and its people. Extensively illustrated in color, this is a useful book covering a little-known subject. An excellent reference for everyone.