Demonstrating The Ancient Greek Encaustic Technique

Not too many years ago, Francisco Benitez, an artist who divides his time between Santa Fe and Europe, turned from oil painting to encaustic. What made his switch in mediums unique was his extensive background in Classical Greek art and literature. The combination of interests led him to emulate the painting techniques and color palette of the “enkaustai,” the Greek encaustic painters of the Fayum funeral portraits. He has since given encaustic presentations in collaboration with Euphrosyne Doxiadis, the author of The Mysterious Fayum Portraits.
Benitez recently visited us at R&F and gave a demonstration of his working method. He applies the paint with a brush, but models, blends, and fuses the paint with our heated horn in the manner of the Greek painters using heated bronze spatulas. This gives markings in the paint similar to those we see in the Fayum portraits. His color palette is based on the “austere” tradition, known as tetrachromy. The Greek painters of that school relied on the use of only four colors: white (either lead or chalk), black (a very bluish black from charred vines), yellow ochre, and red ochre. From these four colors the entire spectrum was mixed. It is a rigid discipline, but the economy of color produces a beautiful harmony.
Below is a detail of the quick sketch Benitez did showing the marks made with the heated horn along side the marks in a Fayum portrait.