Thursday, March 25

Yes, I have a cold and now have a decision to make – have a running faucet for a nose or take some Dayquil and fight thru the drowsiness it will bring. I choose the later.

While we are waiting at our usual gathering spot, one of the women in our group begins to stroke my hair (which I am wearing down this morning) like I am a cat, in full view of her husband. He looks at me and says, “She never does that with my hair!” (Which would be hard since he is nearly bald.)

… Okay! … The Hair Incident will continue to be a topic of conversation for several days.

Today we will look at the art of the Greeks, Romans and their forbearers, the Etruscans.

We take a tour through the stylistic history of Greek sculpture.

Then a look at Roman sculpture. They seem to have a lot of busts of Hadrian and his Greek lover Antinous. After the unpopular Antinous’ untimely death, Hadrian seems to have had made a lot of busts of his lover. We join the crowds around the Venus de Milo. Dr. Hunt shocks us by stating that she is probably a Roman copy of a Greek statue, perhaps a bronze. We see a lot of busts of emperors good and bad alike.

Onto the grave materials of the sensual loving Etruscans. We see the famous sarcopha-gus lid of a couple seated together. This piece has become an iconic image of the Etruscans.

We end the day with a neoclassical sclupture, Antonio Canova's famous "Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss", 1787.

Despite not feeling well, this has been a fun day with some of my favorite subjects.

About the images:

1. A view of the outside from the inside. A brief moment of sunshine.

2. Dr. Hunt discussing a sclupture.

3. A bust of Antinous.

4. Venus de Milo.

5. An Etruscan couple.

6. "Psyche revived by Cupid's Kiss".