14 ON VIEW: LEISURE & LUXURY IN THE AGE OF NERO ON VIEW LEISURE & LUXURY IN THE AGE OF NERO: THE VILLAS OF OPLONTIS NEAR POMPEII FEBRUARY 3–AUGUST 13, 2017 THIS GROUNDBREAKING EXHIBITION CENTERED on the ancient town of Oplontis on the Neapolitan coast, a site that was buried and preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. Leisure & Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii featured more than 200 masterfully restored artifacts from two adjacent archaeological sites—one an enormous luxury villa (“Villa A”) that once sprawled along the coast of the Bay of Naples, the other a nearby commercial-residential complex (“Villa B”), where products from the region were exported. SCMA was the sole East Coast venue for the exhibition and the last of the three-stop U.S. tour of works that were seen for the first time outside Italy. Ongoing excavations of the villas at Oplontis have revealed a spectacular wealth of art, including sculpture that adorned the villas’ gardens, jewelry and ornate coins, as well as everyday objects such as utensils and drinking vessels. Seen together, these beautifully preserved artifacts demonstrated the disparities of wealth, social class and consumption in Roman life. In addition, the exhibition included fragments from extensive, detailed frescoes up to 20 feet high; mosaic and marble floor coverings; and statues and busts, some—such as one of Hercules—in remarkable condition. To date, 50 statues and busts of gods, centaurs and others have been unearthed in Villa A, and the show incorporated photos from this area in Italy, which has become a popular tourist site since its discovery in the 1960s. In advance of the exhibition, SCMA organized an Associates Trip to Naples and Oplontis with Director Jessica Nicoll ’83, providing members with a unique opportunity for an in-depth tour of Pompeii and its environs. THE OPLONTIS EXHIBITION PRESENTED MANY possibilities for connecting our campus and local communities with the exhibition’s objects and ideas. Through direct engagement with the works of art, hands-on art making, documentary film presentations and interactions with knowledgeable scholars and each other, program participants were able to connect with the experiences of ancient Romans. The programming also presented opportunities to build and deepen ABOVE: Bettina Bergmann, Helene Phillips Herzig ’49 Professor of Art History, Mount Holyoke College, leads a public Spotlight Gallery Talk entitled “Living in a Kaleidoscope: Wall Paintings of Villa A” in the Oplontis exhibition