Egypt completes restoration of Roman-era Fayum portrait
The restored Tondo of the Two Brothers is planned for a temporary Rome exhibition, which Egypt says will be the painting’s first trip abroad.
Source review period: 2026-10-12
Published: · Updated:
The source does not state the event date; the period shown is the source review period.
Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister said restoration had been completed on the Tondo of the Two Brothers, an encaustic portrait from Roman-era Egypt. At an October 11 press conference, Sherif Fathy described the work as an Egyptian-Italian collaboration involving an exchange of conservation expertise. The circular painting is about 62 centimetres across and less than one centimetre thick, according to the report.
A Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities statement said the painting is set to leave Egypt for the first time for “The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum” at Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum, scheduled for November 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. That loan is a future plan; the reported new outcome is completion of the restoration. Fayum portraits were generally painted on wood and placed over the faces of the dead within mummy wrappings, combining Egyptian funerary customs with Greek and Roman artistic influences.
Data
Restoration and planned loan exhibition
The restoration completion reported at the October 11 press conference and the future exhibition plan in the ministry statement.
- · Occurred
Restoration completion reported
Egypt’s minister reported at an October 11 press conference that restoration was complete; the work’s completion date was not given.
- · Scheduled
Rome exhibition scheduled
The ministry statement says the show is planned through May 2, 2027, and would take the painting outside Egypt for the first time.
Methodology
The source does not state the day restoration was completed, so the article eventDate uses the source-review date. The October 11 date in this event entry is the press-conference announcement, not the completion day.
Updated:
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