In this video, expert in historical painting techniques, Dr Lucy Wrapson of the Hamilton Kerr Institute (part of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge), demonstrates how Roman period mummy portraits were painted using the ancient portrait of Demos from Hawara (AD 75-100) held in the collection of the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 33237) as an example. Lucy looks at the types of implements and pigments used, the order in which the features of the portrait was painted and explains the process of the encaustic (hot beeswax) method. This research is based on an analysis of the pigments on the portrait of Demos undertaken by colleagues at the Egyptian Museum Cairo, which you can read more about here.
Arabic subtitles are available with this film. To activate, please select the ‘Closed Captions’ function.
