Egyptian archaeologists have reacted with anger to claims that the “Meidum Geese” painting, on display in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, is a fake. According to a recent study, the scene was in fact created in the 19th century and painted over a real Pyramid Age painting.
Francesco Tiradritti of Kore University, director of an Italian archaeological mission to Egypt, published his findings in Live Science magazine and suggested that the painting may be a forgery.
The painting was discovered in 1871 by the Italian curator Luigi Vassalli in a chapel dedicated to Princess Atet, the wife of the vizier Nefermaat, the son of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Senefru, inside his mastaba tomb near the Meidum Pyramid in Fayoum.
Vassalli took the painting off the wall and put it on display at the then Bulaq Museum. In 1902, the painting was transported with the rest of the Bulaq Museum collection to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square where it has remained until today.
The painting depicts three kinds of geese —white-fronted, bean and red-breasted —and is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art.
Although Tiradritti believes that doubting the authenticity of the painting is a painful step, he spent months on its study and used high-resolution photographs as part of his research.
When he realised that the bean and red-breasted geese were unlikely to have been seen in ancient Egypt, being native to Greece and Turkey, he took a more critical look at the painting. He also found that some of the colours in the painting, especially the beige and mauve, were not used by other ancient Egyptian artists.
