Encaustic art, one of the oldest art forms, involves using hot wax mixed with pigments to create vibrant and durable works. Here's a brief timeline of major works and periods in encaustic art history:
Fayum Mummy Portraits
https://www.thecollector.com/ancient-egypt-fayum-mummy-portraits/
Initially used to decorate warships, encaustic paintings originated in ancient Greece over 2,000 years ago. The word encaustic is derived from the word enkaustikos, meaning “to burn”.
According to Pliny the Elder, early encaustic paintings applied heated beeswax mixed with pigments to wood, canvas, or stone. Artists used small spatulas (called cestrums) to spread the wax. This wax was applied in layers to create a textured or relief effect, and could be polished for a glossy finish after cooling. Only the upper class of Greek or Roman descent could afford these luxury items.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting
However, the oldest surviving encaustic paintings are Romano-Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt from early 1st century AD. This is primarily due to Romans settling there and fusing their technique with mummification.
The heating process is actually quite labor intensive, so this medium fell off during the middle ages. It was replaced by tempera, fresco, and oil paint, where artists didn’t have to melt paint. It wasn’t until the 18th century that archaeologists began rediscovering encaustic art from Pompeii, and Europeans started to use it for murals.
But The Flag by Jasper Johns was what really revived it. By the 1900s, easy accessibility of electric heating devices helped artists skip the long intensive process of melting wax. If we look closer, we can see newspapers underneath the translucent wax revealing the history behind the flag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting
In the 21st century, modern artists like Lissa Rankin and Daniella Woolf experimented with modern techniques. Rankin combines encaustic with photography, creating mixed media pieces, while Woolf uses abstract encaustic work through collage techniques by layering and texturing.
These works and periods highlight the evolution of encaustic painting from ancient times to modern and contemporary art, showing how the medium has been adapted and revived throughout history.