Egypt to loan Fayum portraits for first time after restoration
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Egyptian and Italian restorers recently finished work on the Tondo of the Two Brothers, a painting from the 2nd century that will travel to Rome.
The painting is one of the Fayum portraits, funerary paintings created on wooden tablets and placed over the faces of mummies in ancient Egypt. These portraits blended Egyptian artistic traditions with Greek and Roman influences.
The Tondo of the Two Brothers presented unique conservation challenges because of its delicate wooden support, which had suffered extensive damage from wood-boring insects like termites and previous, incorrect restoration attempts. Conservators from Fabrica Conservazione e Restauro in Rome worked with Egyptian specialists at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for three weeks to stabilize the damaged areas and restore missing fragments. They used lightweight filler and balsa wood supports to reattach pieces without altering the original artwork.
This restored portrait will be featured in the exhibition “The Power of Portraiture. Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum” at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome, opening to the public until May 2, 2027. The exhibition marks the first time Fayum portraits from Egyptian museums will travel internationally, with over 110 objects also coming from institutions like the Louvre, the Getty Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
Egyptian and Italian officials celebrated the collaboration, hoping to strengthen cultural exchange between their countries.
