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shot. Not really possible, but they often mous single floor panel.
came close. The scene shows eight female athletes
In a way, Bruegel had it easier. He doing athletic things: Thowing a ball, car‐
could cram as much into his “Peasant Wed‐ rying hand weights (just like the ones we
ding” as his canvas could hold. It’s doubtful have at home), preparing to hurl a discus.
any actual Dutch wedding of the 16th cen‐ Their movements are lively, their muscula‐
tury would have featured all these ele‐ ture beautifully defined. And they’re all
ments at once: the kid licking the plate, the wearing skimpy red bikinis. I’m serious: red
guy pouring beer into a flask, the pipers bikinis. Where’s the beach? Where’s the
ready to play, the guys carrying bowls of volleyball?
soup, and on and on and on. And yet, I’m Like Bruegel, the Roman mosaic artists
certain all those elements were real. All of have convinced you that these women were
them could be seen sometime at a peasant alive. Or women very much like them were
wedding if you could go back in time. alive. And that you are looking directly into
And that’s the wonder of the Villa. Like the past, like you’ve stumble onto some
Bruegel’s painting, the mosaics are vibrant, crazy time portal and you’re looking at a
colorful, and detailed. On those floors, the cover shoot of a Roman "Sports Illus‐
artists crammed in everything they (or trated” (or should we say a "Ludis Illus‐
their masters) could think of. Creating tratur”).
snapshots of the 4th century AD. Snapshots Mr. Breugel, you’re still the master of
of the way the villa-owners lived and what my favorite painting, but when it comes to
they valued. Gods, myths, warriors, fisher‐ works of art — which I suppose are always
men, fish, birds, oxen, lions, semi-clothed snapshots of another time, and another
goddesses and women Lots of semi- mind — the mosaics at the Villa Romana
clothed goddesses and women. are your equal.
Which brings us to the Villa’s most fa‐
Photo by Brainslav L. Slantchev
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