Thin Faced Bearded Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2008

Thin Faced Bearded Man
Ca. 160-180 AD
Encaustic on limewood

Accession # 09.181.1

Although the panel shape and palette of these two paintings are very similar, differences in the hair and beards suggest that the portrait of the man with the mole is about a generation earlier than the portrait on the right.

The second man's body is turned more directly toward the viewer. He has bushy black hair, large round eyes, tawny skin, and a thick beard that emphasizes his emaciated cheeks. The use of light and shadow on various parts of the face and neck is very skilled.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.