Egyptian Mummy Portraits Show Antiquity's Piercing Gaze in New Rome Show

'Absolute masterpiece': Lifelike portraits of Egyptian mummies come to Rome in new show

The 'Faces of Fayum', a series of funerary images dating back to first century Egypt, goes on display in Rome's Ara Pacis museum from Wednesday.

Egyptian mummy portraits show antiquity's piercing gaze in new Rome show

She is one of the 2,000-year-old "Faces of Fayum", startlingly realistic funerary -- or mummy -- portraits painted after Egypt became part of the Roman empire. The fragile portraits dating from the first to third centuries AD -- painted on thin wooden panels and designed to be placed over the face of mummies -- will go on display in Rome in what organisers hail as a "milestone" collaboration between Italy and Egypt. "Egypt and Rome, the Faces of…

2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy portraits go on display in Rome

An elegant woman gazes out from her portrait with expressive eyes, a gilded wreath worn in her hair and a gentle, questioning look on her face. She is one of the 2,000-year-old "Fa...