A long ways away from home

I have been to the Getty Villa in Malibu over the weekend. It's my second visit to this place. The first time I was there in 2006, I didn't spare enough time to see all on display because I wasn't at all expecting this much depth or so much to see.

This time I took my time and found myself in the deep ocean of ancient art. In the section of Egyptian art, there was a mummy displayed in the middle of the room. They didn't open it but they did a computerized tomography and showing the skeleton inside. The face is painted on wood there are two different techniques to paint the face in both cases they paint it on wood but one is 2-d and the other technique is 3-d. The eyes as always big bold and painted thickly with black. The soul is there you look and each mummy looks back at you and follows you in the room.

Most of the other rooms are inspired from Italian basilicas and the marble work down on the floors are as much of an art itself as the sculptures of many famous ancient figures of the B.C. and A.D.

The ancient coins, jewelery, wine holders made up of clay, each has stories carved or painted on their surfaces.

The sculptures are mainly made up of marble in some cases gilded with gold and amber pigment on their faces and hair.

The wide use of pigment made me think of the pigments my husband found in the land of our soon to be house last summer. The pigments formed from the root of trees and plants over centuries hiding inside rocks. When you separate it from the rock or stone you can paint with it as the way it is or crush it and mix it and turn it into paint.

Everything on display in this Villa is either from Greek, Italy, now called Turkey, Egypt and the surrounding seas. They were separated from their original sites and came all the way up to the hills of Malibu in Southern California.