The Severan Tondo or Berlin Tondo from c. 200 AD is one of the few preserved examples of panel painting from Classical Antiquity, depicting the first two generations of the imperial Severan dynasty, whose members ruled the Roman Empire in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. It depicts the Roman emperor Septimius Severus with his wife, the augusta Julia Domna, and their two sons and co-augusti Caracalla and Geta. The face of one of the two brothers has been deliberately erased, very likely as part of damnatio memoriae.
Severan Tondo
Detail of Septimius
Another example of dynastic portraits on an aureus of Septimius Severus, minted in 202. The reverse feature the portraits of Geta (right), Julia Domna (centre), and Caracalla (left).
Another image of the tondo, better for detail
A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not painting directly onto a wall (fresco) or on vellum. Wood panels were also used for mounting vellum paintings.
The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck and his brothers, 1432. A large altarpiece on panel. The outer wings are hinged, and painted on both sides.
Fayum mummy portrait of boy in 2nd-century Greco-Roman Egypt. Encaustic on wood—note the cracks.
The Frankfurt Paradiesgärtlein, a German panel painting from c. 1410
Russian icon by Andrei Rublev, early 15th century, on a three-piece panel. The raised edges are probably gesso rather than wood.
