April 2008

Going Places: Don’t Miss Roman Art from the Louvre

If you have children older than 8, don’t miss the opportunity to see Roman Art from the Louvre at the Seattle Art Museum through May 11.

Each gallery showcases a different subject – royalty, citizenship, women or war – and each is painted a different color to break the exhibit into manageable pieces for children.

They will be fascinated by the giant head of a woman at the entrance to the exhibit (part of a 26-foot-tall body). You can walk all around the life-sized statues of emperors and empresses, making them very accessible to kids. For a topic of conversation, talk about the difference between the way we wished we looked and our real selves. (Contrast the statue of Caligula with his actual physical description.) You can also notice the idealized way that Romans were depicted and the more roughly hewn features and wild hair of the “barbarians.”

The Gallery of Citizenship has a section on childhood in Rome with scenes from a child’s life and statues of a young boy and girl in period costume. The most dominant theme in the gallery of women is hairstyles and ornamentation. Other sections depict life at home, a soldier’s life, slaves and religion. A huge female muse closes the exhibit.

For more information, call 206-654-3100 or visit www.seattleartmuseum.org.

- Wenda Reed

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