Fayum portrait of two brothers

Distemper painting on wooden panel of Two brothers, from the Fayum, Egypt. 2nd c. A.D. (Cairo: Egyptian Museum). Portrait painting arises from the mummy portrait tradition in Egypt, but removed from context because of an association with the Roman portrait busts. While most examples are from the Fayum in Egypt, we assume that this is perhaps typical of portrait painting elsewhere and still Graeco-Roman in its aesthetic. The technique of distemper on wood used pigments mixed with a casein (milk protein) binder, and the effect was a flat thin color more associated with frescos than the expressive potentials of encaustic painting.