Ancient artists from Roman-period Egypt created portraits on wooden panels to be placed on mummified bodies. The main technique used for these portraits was encaustic (wax) painting. Archaeologists have not yet discovered any artists’ studios or supplies that are directly connected to funerary portraits. However, modern observations allow us to reconstruct the techniques they would have used in Roman Egypt. In this spirit of investigation, Edward Forbes, director of the Fogg Art Museum from 1909 to 1944, built a material reference library known as the Forbes Pigment Collection, which is housed here at the museums. Forbes also taught the Methods and Processes of Painting course (familiarly known as the “Egg and Plaster” course), in which students copied works of art using the materials and techniques described in historical texts and discovered through scientific analysis. Harvard students continue to learn by making to this day: recently, a group gathered to re-create ancient encaustic funerary portraits, trying their hand at a process that took incredible skill on the part of ancient painters. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK: +Visit the exhibition "Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt:" https://harvardartmuseums.org/funeraryportraits + Explore more via the exhibition digital tool: https://harvardartmuseums.org/tour/funerary-portraits-from-roman-egypt-facing-forward-2 --- Video: September 1, 2022. Videographer: John Neely. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at am_divr@harvard.edu.