Dallas Collects Ancient Art

July 8–October 7, 2007

J. E. R. Chilton Galleries

In Dallas Collects Ancient Art, the Dallas Museum of Art presents a selection of thirty Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities from local Dallas collectors to accompany the exhibition of antiquities from the Roman villas at Stabiae. Organized by Dr. Anne Bromberg, The Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, this impressive companion show features vases, sculptures, funerary objects, and architectural decorations that offer a glimpse of the cultural and religious background for the creation of Roman imperial art. Like From the Ashes of Vesuvius, In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite, the exhibition Dallas Collects Ancient Art will open at the Dallas Museum of Art on July 8 and remain on view in the J. E. R. Chilton Galleries through October 7.

The elite Roman upper class was very familiar with Egyptian and Greek art, thanks to their education in Greek classics and the political domination of Rome in the Mediterranean world. The luxurious, sophisticated arts of the first century A.D. in the Bay of Naples area reflect the way in which Roman patrons enjoyed surrounding themselves with representations of Greek myths and with artworks that reflect a rich re-use of earlier artistic traditions.

“It is delightful that private collections in the Dallas area have such attractive objects supplying the background for Roman art,” said curator Anne Bromberg. “This passion for collecting classical antiquities not only complements From the Ashes of Vesuvius, In Stabiano, but adds another dimension to the Dallas Museum of Art’s own classical collections.”

Image: Head of Dionysus, Roman, c. first century A.D., marble, anonymous loan, 14.2007.1