Ancient Paintings

Ancient paintings survive on tomb walls, pottery, and wooden panels from Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Nebamun's tomb-chapel paintings connect offerings, banquets, birds, and plants with Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife. Greek vase painters use contrasting colors to tell stories around curved vessels. Roman frescoes at Boscoreale create the illusion of architecture and depth, while Fayum portraits from Roman Egypt place individual likenesses within funerary commemoration.