The massive sculpture of a Lion Attacking a Horse hasn’t left Rome in over 2,000 years, but it feels right at home sitting in the Atrium of the Getty Villa. The giant marble, on loan through January 2013 as part… More»
“Take a look at Herakleides. What do you see?” My tour group gathers around Herakleides, the Romano-Egyptian mummy in the Getty Museum’s collection, taking their first good peek at the 2,000-year-old body beneath the glass case. The motifs of ancient… More»
I’m often struck by how transformative a place the Getty is. Throughout the day a great deal can change. While the crowds do come and go, I’m often most transfixed by the subtle shifts of light, the surprising movement of… More»
The ancient Greeks had a recumbent approach to their (male-only) dinner parties, as I discussed in a previous post: elite men reclined, propped on pillows, to drink, converse, and—sometimes—overindulge. The practice of reclining and dining continued into ancient Rome, but… More»
While working on the show The Getty Research Institute: Recent Print Acquisitions (in the GRI Gallery until September 2), I had the pleasure of getting to know one Édouard Gautier-D’Agoty. Every bit the late-18th-century gentleman-artist and rendered in velvety soft… More»
When Edgar Garcia participated in the Getty Foundation’s Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program in 1999 with a position at the Los Angeles Conservancy, little did he think his supervisor would become his boss at a different organization several years later. But… More»
This coming weekend, NASA’s latest Mars Rover, Curiosity, is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet to begin two years of scientific discovery, helping scientists unlock some of the planet’s as yet undiscovered secrets. Interestingly, the same technology being… More»
The Getty Museum is full of fabulous furniture, splendid sculpture, and of course, powerful paintings. What if you were asked to hunt for some of the most interesting details and objects in these works of art? Would you be able… More»
Novelist Lindsey Davis has devoted her career to entertaining readers with zesty whodunits set in ancient Rome. Famed for her ability to evoke ancient life down to its sounds and smells, as well as for her clever plots full of… More»
Remarkably realistic for medieval illuminated beasts, which were often fabulous admixtures of fantasy and fur. The unicorn is clearly drawn from life, for example.