Funerary images of women in tomb frescos of the late antique and early byzantine period from the central Balkans

Abstract

Unlike Roman Classical art, where private portraits were created like public images in order to imitate Imperial ones, in later periods this type of sculptural modelling had almost ceased.1 Thus, private portraiture transferred to sepulchral art where, in the woman’s case, her clothes, jewellery or certain other attributes were distinguished at the expense of some individual portrait characteristics.2 Well known as decoration of Roman sarcophagi or stelae in late antiquity, portraits dominated the mural painting of tombs. Women painted as motifs, usually as part of the scene of a Roman banquet, are frequently seen in the iconography of the Central Balkans and the Eastern provinces.3 Here Woman can represent the mistress of the tomb or a maidservant who participated in the offering scene/funeral procession.