Nymph and Satyr

Inspired by last night's rant, here is one of my favourite bits of ancient art: a mosaic of a Nymph and Satyr in (some variety of) flagrante, from the Casa del Fauno in Pomepii. This is the same house in which they discovered the glorious mosaic of Alexander the Great doing battle with Darius III, which I daresay tells us the original owner was bloodthirsty as well as a misogynist. Oh well.

Isn't it lovely? I now head straight for this when I am in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, one of my very favourite places in the world. (The Museum, that is, and not Naples, a city where the mafia are responsible for collecting the rubbish and mostly don't.) I'm sorry to have to admit that I was especially drawn to the rather plump-bottomed, black-haired and white-skinned nymph because I fancifully imagined that's what I might look like if I were rendered by a sympathetic mosaist. You can view snaps of just about all the Museo's exhibits from here. It is quite a resource for fans of the Museo, though tragically the website doesn't serve you lemon granita in a marble colonnade under the bright blue sky and blazing sunshine of an Italian summer's day. Nor, on the other hand, does it smell of garbage.