Today we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. I think my favorite part of such museums are the galleries with ancient art. It seems like there’s always a lion from the side of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace; an Assyrian bas relief of a warrior with a massive, braided beard; and Grecian urns.
What I hadn’t seen in person elsewhere are Etruscan sarcophagi like the one pictured below. I’m no expert in ancient Greek or Roman art, but it seems to me that in both, it’s rare to see depicted this kind of affection between a man and wife. I think it’s touching.
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I actually have a photo of that sarcophagus lid in my Rome slide show. (Yes, I’m still using old-fashioned slides rather than PowerPoint. I wonder if the current stock of slide projectors will beat me into retirement.)
I think it’s a great sculpture. But the wife looks peaceful and resigned, and the husband’s face conveys almost the opposite emotion. Though generalizations are nearly impossible about classical paganism, the ancients tended to think that the next life wouldn’t be a very pleasant place, and that’s one reason why this is a moving piece of sculpture.
I remembered that you had a sarcophagus lid, but I didn’t know if it was the same one.