Review: Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples

Abstract

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples ; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; 19 October 2008––22 March 2009; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 3 May––4 October 2009 For most readers of this journal or the general public with an interest in antiquity, visiting the ravaged ruins of popular ancient sites such as Pompeii, Stabiae, or Herculaneum may be somewhat disappointing. For the architecturally inclined, the urban remains of Pompeii with paved roads, public colonnades and blocks of houses are impressive, but by and large, they still require the power of imagination and no inconsiderable knowledge to restore the settings with crisp and colorful art work. Of course at least some sense of this perfection can be enjoyed if one is able to visit the scores of museums across the world where the better-preserved paintings, furniture, and other artistic and everyday objects, pried loose from their architectural contexts (and often restored), are put on exhibition. Visiting Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art provides the visitor a rare opportunity to view some 150 or so of the finest examples of classical art——paintings, sculpture, and decorative objects——under one roof. Organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and shown there in a slightly larger and more lavish manner, it was curated by Carol C. Mattusch (also the primary author of an informative and handsome catalog). Kenneth Lapatin was the guest curator for the exhibition at LACMA. There were masterpieces we recognize such as Plato's Academy , a mosaic panel from the Villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii; a stucco relief of an athlete with a hoop from the Villa Marco in Stabiae; and a superb over-life-size marble statue of Aphrodite/Venus from the Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei at Baia. There were also textbook favorites such as the head of Livia in black basanite from the Louvre and the fresco view of a …