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Home to the Getty Museum’s antiquities collection, the Getty Villa invites you to experience ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art in an intimate setting that recreates a first-century Roman villa. – ok me again… this is old art… no Picassos or Warhols here. This is Before Christ Old… and FASCINATING… Impossible to photograph everything, I did the best I could. Just amazing and overwhelming and give yourself HOURS!
I will do the best I can…
Leda and the Swan, Roman, AD 1-100, Marble
Jupiter, king of the gods, disguised himself as a swan in order to seduce Leda, a mortal queen of Sparta. Their mythical union produced Helen, whose abduction by the Trojan prince Paris led to the Trojan War. This Roman version of an earlier Greek statue was discovered in 1775 on the Palatine Hill in Rome, the site of the
imperial palace. It was subsequently restored with a head from an ancient figure of Venus, the goddess of love. J. Paul Getty acquired the sculpture, as well as the statue of Hercules displayed nearby, from the Lansdowne collection in 1951. Ancient sculpture Ancient head from a different statue, added in the eighteenth century
The Lansdowne Hercules, Roman, about AD 125, Marble
One of J. Paul Getty’s most prized possessions, this sculpture contributed to his decision to build a museum in the style of an ancient Roman villa. The statue represents the hero Hercules with his trademark lionskin and club. It was unearthed in 1790 near the villa of the Roman emperor Hadrian (ruled AD 117-138) at Tivoli, east of Rome. Shortly after its discovery, the statue was reworked in Rome, probably by Carlo Albacini (active 1780-1807), a prominent restorer. In 1792 it was purchased by William Petty- Fitzmaurice, and Earl of Shelburne and ist Marquess of Lansdowne, and joined his extensive collection of ancient sculpture. Getty acquired the figure in 1951 and eventually donated it to his museum.
Harp Player, Cycladic, 2700-2300 BC, Marble
With his face lifted in song, this man plays a frame harp, a stringed instrument that originated in the Near East. He rests his right hand on its sound box.
The sculpture is a remarkable artistic achievement, skillfully shaped from a block of solid marble and then ground down with pumice and emery, locally available abrasives. It is also one of the few known representations of a musical performance in Cycladic art.
Venus, Roman, AD 100-200, Marble
Discovered in Rome before 1509, a famous sculpture created by Praxite around 350 BC.
Basilica
The Roman architectural historian Vitruvius (active first century BC) used the word basilica to describe a large
room that usually served as a public hall. Occasionally a basilica was constructed as part of a private house and used for gatherings or worship. The Getty Villa’s Basilica represents such a private space. Eight white marble columns divide the room into a wide nave and two side aisles. This basic plan was adopted by early Christians for their churches. The recessed window panels are made of honey-colored onyx, and two of them allow light into the room. The vaulted ceiling is decorated with intricate stuccowork patterns derived from several buildings in Pompeii, and many of the marble elements are copied from Herculaneum
Incense Burner, Greek, made in southern Italy, 400-300 BC
Marble with traces of pigment
Scented smoke rose through the pierced lid of this elegantly shaped incense burner used in religious rituals. It is thought to have been discovered with the three marble plates exhibited at left.
Winged Lion, Iberian, 500-400 BC, Bronze
Style and technique suggest that this remarkable winged lion was made in Iberia, a region where bronze sculptures were produced in large numbers. Struts behind the head show that it supported a three-sided object, possibly a ceremonial tripod. The mythical creature was likely introduced to Iberia by the Phoenicians, who founded settlements in the region to exploit the deposits of precious tin and silver. The mixture of local features, such as the stylized ears and teeth, with the traditional Phoenician treatment of wing feathers demonstrates the influence of immigrant craftsmen on a native Iberian workshop.
Roman, AD 50-100, Marble
Roman, AD 100-200, Bronze
Sarcophagus with the Life of Achilles, Roman, made in Ath, Marble
The lid of this monumental sarcophagus shows a man and a woman, representing the deceased, reclining on a couch. Their unfinished faces would have been completed and individualized at the time of purchase. Three episodes from the life of Achilles, the greatest Greek hero of the Trojan War.
Tablet Inscribed with Instructions for the Underworld, Greek, probably made in Thessaly, 350-300 BC, Gold
Those who were initiated into the mysteries (secret
cults) of the wine god Dionysos and the mythical
musician Orpheus believed they would enjoy a happy and peaceful existence in the afterlife. Inscribed gold
tablets such as this one were buried with the deceased to provide instruction in the Underworld. Written in verse, the text is a ritual script for the initiate, who must answer questions posed by a guardian, called the Ever-Flowing Spring. Many similar tablets have been discovered in tombs throughout Greece, southern Italy, and Sicily.
ATY’AI AYOE ETO KAMOAAYMAI
A1AA TIE MOY KPANAE AIEIPOO
TIC AESI IIO AECI TAD VIOL EIMI
KAI OYPANOY AZTEPOENTOE
AYTAP EMOI TENOE OYPANION
(Initiate): I am parched with thirst and perishing!
(Spring): Then come drink of me, the Ever-Flowing
Spring, on the right–a white cypress is there. Who
are you? Where are you from?
(Initiate): I am the son of Earth and Starry Heaven
But my race is heavenly.
Drinking Horn in the Form of a Horse, Greek, 200-100 BC, Silver with gilding, garnet, and glass
The Greek fashion of using precious metal drinking vessels terminating in animals was adopted from the Near East, where such objects were viewed as marks of prestige and high status. This large drinking horn (known as a rhyton in Greek) is the work of a master silversmith.
Rings – I didn’t take a picture of the placard 🙁
Mummy of Herakleides, A.D. 120–140, Unknown artist/maker
This Romano-Egyptian mummy combines the millennia-old Egyptian tradition of mummification of the dead with a strong Greek heritage handed down through the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Roman tradition of individualized portraiture. The blending of these three socio-cultural traditions was characteristic of the ethnic and religious diversity of the population of provincial Roman Egypt during this period.
The painted mummy portrait depicts a young man with a light mustache and loose, curly hair. His name, Herakleides, has been written above his toes facing up towards his face.. Some areas of the portrait – such as the background, the wreath, and the decorative square surrounding the panel –have been enhanced with gilding, added after it was bound in the linen wrappings. Belonging to a small group of mummies wrapped in shrouds painted red (a color associated with life and regeneration in Egyptian religion), this one is decorated along the length of the body with religious figures connected with Egyptian funerary rites. They include Osiris, Horus, and a winged goddess combining the identities of Nut, Nephthys, and Isis. One depicts an ibis; a CAT scan has revealed a mummified ibis inside the mummy wrappings, suggesting that Herakleides may have been associated with the Egyptian god Thoth, and therefore possibly a priest, scribe or worshipper.
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