The Greek word “encaustic” means “to burn in”. Encaustic refers to the process of using a heat source to fuse the wax – a process which originally was accomplished with the use of charcoal braziers during the fifth century B.C. in ancient Grecian and Egyptian times. Encaustic painting was a method of hot wax painting in which pigments were added to molten beeswax, applied to a surface, and reheated to fuse the layers of wax paint.

Encaustic was used for artistic and practical applications. During the fi rst century A.D., Roman historian, Pliny, wrote that this process was used to create portraits and paintings of mythological scenes. Because of the natural, preservative quality of wax, the Greeks used wax and resin to weatherproof ships. They, later, added pigments to the wax to decorate warships with tar brushes. In stone masonry, it is described that pigmented wax was used to color and decorate terra cotta works, highlight and tint marble in Greek monuments and figures and for the creation of architectural murals.

After Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt, a large population of Greeks settled in Egypt and adopted many of their customs including the practice of mummifying the dead. During the first and second centuries A.D., Greek painters in Egypt created what is now considered some of the most well known encaustic art works in history—the Fayum funeral portraits. These works depict portraits of the deceased as memorials that covered the mummy. The preservative quality of wax has been proven in the more than 600 intact encaustic portraits that have been excavated since the early nineteenth century.

There is evidence of the use of encaustic methods and materials in ancient Rome. It is believed that the artist, Timomakos, was commissioned by Julius Caesar to create encaustic paintings. The Christian Court of Constantinople regularly commissioned Greek artists to create encaustic art works. This painting medium flourished throughout the sixth and seventh centuries, giving way during the Middle Ages to other mediums including tempera, frescos, and oil paints.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, encaustic methods experienced a significant decline. It became a lost art and was only temporarily revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Due to twentieth century technological advances and the invention of portable heating elements, the medium of encaustic painting has been reborn. It is a versatile, unique, artistic medium that offers artisans an unlimited range of textural, dimensional, and color possibilities.


Copyright 2008 by Jason McGrady & Donna Thomas ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4363-1208-0