Jean-Christophe Bailly’s “A Silent Apostrophe” is a lyrical interdisciplinary study of the Fayum mummy portraits from Roman Egypt. This “truly remarkable essay,” in the words of art critic John Berger, explores the ongoing fascination with these nearly 2000-year-old images and, in so doing, tells an origin story of portraiture as we know it today.
Drawing on a wealth of historical materials, Bailly shows how the Fayum portraits, painted during the first three centuries of the Common Era, preserve certain aspects of ancient Egyptian funerary tradition while bringing to full fruition a new form of Greco-Roman mimetic practice.
With over 60 beautifully reproduced images, the reader will experience an unforgettable face-to-face encounter with the Fayum mummies.
