after: 'DEATH MASK OF AN UNKNOWN YOUNG WOMAN' - 2nd Century AC, British Museum, London, England.
This is an unknown portrait from the 2nd Century AD, presumed to be a death mask from the Fayyum oasis. The ancient Egyptians placed these ʻidealisedʼ portraits of their deceased on the mummified body within the tomb, along with other symbolic items to carry with them into the next world.
after: ʻSELF-PORTRAITʼ (?), Michiel Sweerts - 1656, Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Michiel Sweerts (1624-1664), the enigmatic son of a linen merchant from Brussels, is a highly respected but little known Flemish Baroque painter. Always on the move, Sweertsʼ career blossomed briefly in Rome, where he received the title of the Knight of the Vatican. He also taught briefly at the Brussels Art Academy. Sweerts abandoned his profession in a failed attempt to become a lay missionary in the Far East. He died in a Jesuit monastery in Goa, India. His portraits are defined by stillness and melancholy. This is believed to be a self-portrait of the artist.