Fayoum Mummy Portraits to Travel Abroad for First Time After Restoration

Egypt has unveiled a restored version of the “Tondo of the Two Brothers,” a prized 2nd-century painting from the famed Fayoum portraits.

Specialists from Rome collaborated with conservators from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir for three weeks to restore the artwork, officials announced Sunday. The Fayoum mummy portraits, typically painted on thin wooden panels and placed over the faces of the deceased, blend Egyptian funerary traditions with artistic influences from the Greco-Roman world.

A major part of the collection will be lent to a temporary exhibition in Rome, a move that signifies the first time these artifacts will travel abroad. "The restoration of the Tondo of the Two Brothers is an important example of what can be achieved through international cooperation in the preservation and study of cultural heritage," said Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities. "Egypt and Italy share deep historical and cultural ties, and this project brings together Egyptian and Italian expertise to preserve an exceptional work of art for future generations."

Experts describe the painting as unusual due to its circular shape and its depiction of two individuals. Restorers were able to recover the features of the brother on the right, employing a technique where pigments are mixed with molten wax. Aly Abdel Halim, director general of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, noted that the conservation required careful intervention because both the wooden support, damaged by termites, and the painted surface were fragile.

The portraits are scheduled to be featured in an exhibition in Rome from November to May 2027. This exhibition will reportedly bring together over 110 objects, including painted panels, funerary shrouds, masks, marble portraits, plaster casts, and ancient jewelry, according to Tomaso Radaelli, chairman of MondoMostre, the exhibition’s organizer.