His Excellency the Ambassador of Greece
And Mrs. Alexandros P. Mallias

Invite you to the presentation

The Greek Legacy on the Roman Bay of Naples
on the occasion of the current exhibition at the National Gallery of Art
Pompeii and the Roman Villa
Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples

by Prof. Carol Mattuch
Professor of History of Art, The George Mason University
and curator of the exhibition

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Embassy of Greece
2217 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008

Kindly reply to: [email protected]

The first collections of classical art formed by wealthy Romans were brought to Italy from Greece as booty. By the first century B.C., when the great villas were being built around the Bay of Naples, art in the archaic and classical styles was being made in Italy. By the first century B.C., many Greek artists had begun to move to the Bay of Naples to fill the many orders for statues, busts, and paintings produced in the Greek artistic tradition.

Augustus in his new empire sought to revive the notion of the golden age of fifth-century Periklean Athens. His interest in art showed the same focus. And so also did the collections of Roman villa-owners, who favored classical styles for their statues, reliefs, mosaics, paintings, and luxury arts. They bought portraits of Greek thinkers and famous statues of athletes, and they chose Classical heroes and myths to adorn their walls and tableware.

Image: Head of Pheidias's Athena Lemnia from Pozzuoli, Parian marble. Early 1st century A.D.