Portrait of a Youth with a Surgical Cut in One Eye 

This painted panel showing a young man with a surgical cut in one eye was made in Egypt between approximately 50 and 250 AD. It’s a so-called Fayum portrait. These portraits are powerful examples of cultural exchange under the Roman Empire. They combine Egyptian funerary customs with Roman portraiture styles. The image is naturalistic and vivid. The man's gaze is direct, his features are carefully modeled with highlights and shadows. This technique is clearly influenced by the Greco-Roman tradition of painting. But this panel was clearly intended to be placed over the face of a mummy, so it retains a strong connection to Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife. The image tells us a great deal about the integration of Egypt into the wider Mediterranean world and the emergence of new social practices. To understand this fully, we can draw upon sources such as archeological reports, Roman histories, and studies of Egyptian religion. Art is always contingent on these wider contexts.