When did they forget how to paint?
This painting was a revelation. It is from the 2nd century. AD. In Egypt the cultures of the ruling Greeks and Egyptians had melded and the Greeks were being mummified. A portrait of the deceased was placed in the linen wrappings. This is of a freed slave. When you think of the faces painted in the 13th and 14th centuries, they are not nearly as lifelike as this young man’s. I found this amazing.