World

What We Are Reading Today: ‘A Silent Apostrophe’ by Jean-Christophe Bailly

Jean-Christophe Bailly’s “A Silent Apostrophe” is a lyrical interdisciplinary study of the Fayum mummy portraits from Roman Egypt. This “truly remarkable essay,” in the words of art critic John Berger, explores the ongoing fascination with these nearly 2000-year-old images and, in so doing, tells an origin story of portraiture as we know it today. Drawing on a wealth of historical materials, Bailly shows how the Fayum portraits, painted during the first three centuries of the Common Era, preser