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| Via Labicana Augustus |
This museum held many other works of art that I loved. There was a Portrait of Caracalla and I was so happy because the one that is usually shown at the Centrale Montemartini was put away the day we went (which was yesterday). Even though Caracalla wasn't the best emperor, far from it actually, I love his portrait because of the way his forehead and eyebrows are always depicted. There were many wall paintings, too, most notably the garden scene from the Villa of Livia. This one is so detailed and beautiful; it was my favorite. When I was looking at all the villa paintings there was a sense of awe that they couldn't be real. I have studied the different styles of wall paintings the Romans had done and seeing these in person gave me the feeling I studied these things for a purpose and I felt more connected to the artwork I was observing.
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| Caracalla |
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| Villa of Livia |
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| Discobolus |
There was one final floor that I hadn't seen. I went down there with only ten minuets left because I had spent most of the time looking at the Discobolus or Augustus. The last floor has a lot of coins and pottery. These were interesting but I didn't have time to stop and read a lot of what was going on in that period of history. I finally made it to the final room where there was a lot of jewelry on display. At that point I only had three minuets left so I was semi rushing through the jewels. I made it to the back of the room when I turned to see the last of the jewels and instead of jewels there is a mummified girl behind me. Of course I was shocked, and I possibly gave out a terrified gasp when I saw her, but after that passed I couldn't believe I was looking at a mummy! It was an eight year old girl that was more than likely an aristocratic. I've never seen a mummy so I was fascinated and slightly terrified when I was looking at her. I didn't come to Rome expecting to see a mummy but it's amazing that I did!
Good post Rachel! I like that you have a lot of pictures on here. I thought the mummy was cool myself. Also, you are right about the Augustus statue, he does look more human more so than a god or a really high ranking individual. That museum was pretty cool, the statues were alright but the mosaic paintings on the 3rd level were awesome, to me at least.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites was the wall scene, the Villa of Livia! It was so pretty and it just had a nice feel and calm aspect. And like Aaron mentioned- there was a little bird cage in the painting that was kind of interesting. I guess the bird cage showed that humans were still in control by placing that in the picture. I also thought the mummy of the eight year old girl was cool. Although It seemed sort of random to me, to have a mummy inside a museum where it was mostly statues, frescoes, coins, and jewelry. It just popped out to me, mostly because I wasn't expecting it. I also thought it was a little sad, too, How an eight year old girl had to be mummified. To me thats a little too young. Do you think it was common for children to die at a young age in that time period?
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