At the Block Museum, mummies look as alive as you or me.
T
he impulse to render human likenesses of one kind or another has been with
us for 40,000 years, since Paleolithic people first scratched figures onto
the walls of their caves. But the idea of portraying individuals was
thought to be a relatively modern phenomenon until the beginning of the
20th century, when the mummy portraits of Roman Egypt were excavated in the
Faiyum region just south of Cairo.…
At the Block Museum, mummies look as alive as you or me.
T
he impulse to render human likenesses of one kind or another has been with
us for 40,000 years, since Paleolithic people first scratched figures onto
the walls of their caves. But the idea of portraying individuals was
thought to be a relatively modern phenomenon until the beginning of the
20th century, when the mummy portraits of Roman Egypt were excavated in the
Faiyum region just south of Cairo.…