Fayoum Portraits by Panagiotis Maroulis

Panagiotis Maroulis, born in Thessaloniki (Salonika), He studied Film Direction, Fine Arts and Hagiography in Athens. His films, “The Seventh Journey”, “His Goal, To Fly” and “Before the End of the World” received prime distinctions and awards both in Greece and abroad.

Since 1990 he has utilized the technique of encaustic painting, applying the ancient techniques and methods on wood panels, cloth and stone. He is a collaborator of Benaki Museum’s faculty of reproduction and encaustic painting. His work is displayed in private collections in Greece and abroad.

Since 2005 he lives permanently on Amorgos where he continues his artistic activities while also working as a professional organic beekeeper.

Fayoum Portraits

fayoum portrait Encaustic painting is a technique which has been known in Greece since the 5th century BC. The first known practitioner was the painter Aristides of Thebes; the Attic sculptor Praxiteles perfected the technique. Ancient hot wax painting or encaustic (from the Greek εν- and καίω, which signifies the application of heat) constituted one the main methods of painting, and was applied on wood, marble, statues, and ship painting. Information regarding the use of hot wax painting has been passed on via the writings of Roman historian Pliny the Elder, 1st century AD.

The encaustic colouring method is based on the application of beeswax paints, maintained on a heated palette. These are then applied on to the chosen surface where they are reheated in order to blend and acquire a uniform coating reminiscent of enamel.

fayoum portrait Encaustic materials are also amongst the most resilient, since beeswax is extremely resistant to humidity. Hot wax paints therefore don’t disintegrate, or lose their original hue. Pliny lists three tools which were used to apply these paints: the cestrum, cauterium and paintbrush. These were small-sized spatulas which, after heating, were used to apply the how wax paints on to the surface.

The Fayoum portraits, made in Egypt during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD by Greek artists, are the most well-known examples of this method. Their name derives from the Faiyum Oasis where the most important of these artifacts were discovered. The figures depicted in these portraits, with their immortal gaze transmitting a metaphysical power, give viewers the sense that the persons depicted live on in another world.

fayoum portrait The Fayoum paintings are also precursors of Byzantine hagiographic portraits. The first depictions of Christ in painting were made with hot wax paints and are preserved today in Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai.

Fayoum portraits are the pinnacle of the Naturalistic style, which influenced seminal artists of the 20th century; one of these was Yannis Tsarouchis, who studied the portraits in depth.

But Panagiotis works also as an beekeeper manufacturing organic-bee-products > Take a look!