I recently went to The Getty museum in LA. First of all, it was phenomenal. And free! Anyway, I came across this painting of an aging Roman peasant from 1654. For whatever reason, I was transfixed for a good 5 minutes. This face, this woman, was a real person with a family, happiness, sorrow, etc. She would have been completely lost to history had the artist not decided to make the uncommon decision to paint a common peasant. And here I was, staring into her eyes, sharing this odd moment from 350 years into the future.
So, not including abstract or primitive paintings, what is the oldest realistically portrayed face I can look in to? Thanks!
Here are 2000 or so year old funerary portraits, painted to look like the deceased. Lots and lots of them. If the linkdoesnt work, google "funerary portraits middle east" or "Fayum mummy portraits". https://www.google.com/search?q=funerary+portrait+middle+east&tbm=isch&imgil=D1MZAY7UikYTwM%253A%253B2NfPSmwZd7wNOM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.gettyimages.com%25252Fdetail%25252Fillustration%25252Fegyptian-antiquities-funerary-portrait-of-woman-from-stock-graphic%25252F112189116&source=iu&pf=m&fir=D1MZAY7UikYTwM%253A%252C2NfPSmwZd7wNOM%252C_&biw=1009&bih=955&usg=__IpGXuVJHT8g1X3y-nRNtByGty9E%3D&ved=0CDAQyjdqFQoTCM_a3IycoMcCFZY1iAod-sAIew&ei=p33JVY_rJpbroAT6gaPYBw#imgrc=D1MZAY7UikYTwM%3A&usg=__IpGXuVJHT8g1X3y-nRNtByGty9E%3D