Egypt unveiled a restored second-century painting known as the "Tondo of the Two Brothers" on Sunday, October 11, 2026. The artwork is part of the Fayoum mummy portraits, a collection of Roman-era funerary paintings that officials announced will travel outside of Egypt for the first time for a temporary exhibition in Rome.
Fayoum mummy portraits were typically painted on thin wooden panels using a technique that mixed pigments with molten wax. These panels were placed over the faces of the deceased within mummy wrappings. The "Tondo of the Two Brothers" is characterized by experts as unusual due to its circular shape and the depiction of two individuals rather than one.
The restoration project lasted three weeks and was conducted by specialists from Rome working with conservators from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir. Aly Abdel Halim, director general of the Egyptian Museum, stated that the work required careful intervention because the painted surface was fragile and the wooden support had been damaged by termites. Restorers were able to recover the facial features of the brother on the right side of the painting.
The collaboration sets a precedent for international technical cooperation between the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Italian specialists. Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities, stated that the project demonstrates how shared expertise can be used to preserve cultural heritage. The use of molten wax pigments, known as encaustic painting, represents a specific artistic tradition that researchers will be able to study more closely following the stabilization of these fragile wooden panels.
The exhibition, organized by MondoMostre, is scheduled to run from November 2026 to May 2027 in Rome. While the specific venue within Rome was not reported, the organizers confirmed the exhibition will include a wide variety of Roman-era Egyptian antiquities alongside the restored Fayoum portraits. Following the conclusion of the Rome exhibition in May, the artifacts are expected to return to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.