"They are the earliest painted portraits that have survived; they were painted whilst the Gospels of the New Testament were being written. Why then do they strike us today as being so immediate? Why does their individuality feel like our own? Why is their look more contemporary than any look to be found in the rest of the two millennia of traditional European art which followed them? The Fayum portraits touch us, as if they had been painted last month. Why? This is the riddle.” -- John Berger, from “The Fayum Portraits”

Source:  http://bluehued.tumblr.com/post/58488181973/they-are-the-earliest-painted-portraits-that-have
 (More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayum_mummy_portraits)