These extraordinary Egyptian
images produced from Julio-Claudian times through the age of Constantine (the
first four centuries A.D.), seem often to have been commissioned while the
subject was still alive and displayed in the home. At death, the portrait was
inserted into the deceased’s mummy wrappings. Thirteen mummy portraits from the
Getty Museum’s collection are catalogued in this text by Dr. David Thompson,
professor of Classics at Howard University. Placing the works in the context of
other so-called Fayum paintings, Dr. Thompson examines their importance as portraits
and identifies the hands of individual painters. Numerous illustrations
accompany his discussion.