Pompeii

LACMA has an extensive exhibit of treasures from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The entrance fee included an audio tour, which I find really helpful with these types of exhibits. The organizing theme of the show is the wealthy Roman's typical summer home in the Bay of Naples area. The interesting thing about seeing these treasures this way is that you can get in your car from LACMA, head west to the ocean and go see such a typical house, at the Getty Villa in Malibu. Most of the artwork shows the Romans love of Greek art of all kinds. In addition to the copies or imitations of classical Greek statues (5th century BC, what most of us think of as 'Greek' art), they even used 'archaic' techniques on some statues. Again, you can go to the Getty Villa and see actual classic and archaic Greek statuary and do a comparison. Apparently the homes that these wealthy Romans lived in in the city were kept austere and spare, as they felt this was proper. In their country homes, the social pressure was much less so they went all out on the decoration and trappings in these homes. Some of the pieces retain traces of the colour that we now know these statues once had, although I still find it hard to imagine these beautiful white sculptures with coloured robes and the like.