This a pair of photo's taken at the current National Gallery of Art show, "Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and culture around the bay of Naples." The volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD preserved a snapshot of patrician life at the peak of the Roman empire. Here is a life-size marble portrait of a daughter of Marcus Nonius Balbus, a senator, governor of Cyrenaica (modern day Libya) and Crete, and supporter of Octavian before he became Emperor Augustus. It is surprisingly life-like; - you do not get the impression of looking at a marble abstraction. It looks like an actual person; - a "big girl." I call this digital photo, taken in October 2008: "Balbus."
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	This is another view of the Balbus portrait. I call this photo, taken at the same time: "Balbus - 2." The show runs through March 2009. It is Hellenic, Arcadian, and Dionysian.
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First posted: 10/30/2008