This particular Palazzo had originally been constructed as a Jesuit seminary in the 1880's. It was acquired by the State in 1980, restored, and inaugurated a part of the National Roman Museum in 1995 -- even though the restoration was not completed until 1998.
The archaeological artifacts in this museum are from the period of the Roman Republic, the Empire, and late-Empire -- so 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD. We learned how to discern the dates of sculpture based on the hairstyles, and the realism applied to the face and body.
There was much to see in this museum but the piece de la resistance was up on the third floor. There, the museum had placed the original frescoes, stucci and mosaics from fabulous Roman villas. The most special was a room from Livia's Villa outside of Rome at Prima Porta. Livia was the wife of the Emperor Augustus (from 38 BC until his death in 14 AD), and a very important woman in the empire in her own right -- the first Roman Empress. Before air-conditioning, Romans would descend to a room in their villa that was built underground during the heat of the day. This particular room in Livia's villa was frescoed on all four sides, from top to bottom, to appear as if one were actually outside. The fresco was discovered in 1863 and dates back to the 1st century B.C. The painting, that of a luscious garden, with actual species of various types of trees, flowers, fruits, and birds encircled us. It was very fine work. What's more, it wasn't a busy day and we had this room all to ourselves. Nancy said this work was on her "top 10" to see in Rome list. We learned about the colors used. Anyone who would have entered this room at the time would have known that it was incredibly costly. The use of blues and greens is most prevelent. This at a time when black, white and yellow were the usual decorative colors used. Producing blues, greens and reds was 15 times more expensive.
Did you know that marble statues carved during the Roman empire were never white? All the statues of emperors and nobles were painted to resemble the person. For example, the hair could be blond, the eyes brown, the toga blue. Years later when the statues were found, the colors had worn off and in the middle ages there was no way of knowing that these sculptures had once been painted. More recently, with improved scientific methods of testing the surface, scholars have been able to reproduce the color palate that would have been used on many of these artworks.
Also in this museum are a few bronze statues. When Nancy described the process required for casting a bronze statue, they became all the more impressive. There are two bronzes on the main floor which are so life-like they almost take your breath away.
We finished by 1pm and I took a cab over to Via delle Coppelle to meet Josh for lunch. It had turned into a beautiful day -- Josh was right, I should have ridden my bike as he had. We ate at Maccheroni, a restaurant we had been meaning to try. We weren't disappointed. It was good food with a great, local vibe. Since we were just around the corner from Piazza di Sant Agostino, I took Josh over to the Angelica library after lunch to show him what I'd discovered on one of my earlier Nancy walks.
Then, since it was so nice out, I walked home...it took about an hour but I made it just in time to go get the kids from school.
Tonight I took Charlotte and her friend to swim practice, so I could take my -- still sore from skiing five days -- body into the hot wet sauna to hopefully work some of the kinks out. What I discovered on the scale in the locker room was just what I suspected: five months in Italy and I don't gain a kilo (in fact, I think I lost 2 kilos but I have no accurate data to support that); one week in France and I gain 3 kilos!!! What on earth are they putting in that sauce?!?
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