Ancient Fayum Mummy Portrait Gets Fresh Restoration, With Rare Plans to Leave Egypt for Italy

An ancient mummy portrait has received a new restoration in Egypt ahead of a rare voyage abroad.

The work, known as the Tondo of the Two Brothers, dates back to the 2nd century and belongs to a group of paintings known as the Fayum portraits. Discovered in the titular city, they were attached to mummies of elite individuals who lived in Egypt during the Roman Period. They were painted on wooden board using the encaustic technique, in which hot wax is mixed with pigment.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo spent three weeks restoring the tondo, working on the project with Italian conservators from the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome. During that time, the restorers managed to recreate some of the features of one of the figures, whose definition had been lost to time because termites had eaten away at the painting.

The restoration also accounted for previous errors made by past experts who had touched up the painting, fixing, for example, pieces of the painting depicting the figure’s mouth and chin, which had been set in the wrong place. A video released by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities details the restoration process.

The tondo will set sail for a show at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis called “The Power of Portraiture: Egypt and Rome: Faces of Fayum,” opening on November 5 and featuring nearly 60 works. The painting, which has never before left Egypt, is headed there alongside loans from institutions such as the Louvre in Paris.

“The restoration of the Tondo of the Two Brothers is an important example of what can be achieved through international cooperation in the preservation and study of cultural heritage,” Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities, told the Associated Press. “Egypt and Italy share deep historical and cultural ties, and this project brings together Egyptian and Italian expertise to preserve an exceptional work of art for future generations.”