Another Reason to Cook
A couple of months ago, Zach and I hosted a dinner party, and one of our guests that night—a friend of a friend we were meeting for the first time—was a lovely man who happens to be an art conservator at the Getty Museum.
If you haven't been to the Getty—and you should go, even before you go to Pazzo Gelato—you may not know that it has one of the finest art-conservation operations in the world.
We had a wonderful time that evening—great company and great food is always a form of alchemy, elevating the whole experience to something rare and memorable—and in the course of our conversations, our new friend offered to give us a private tour of the Getty Villa, which houses the museum's antiquities collection and is where he mainly works.
Naturally, we accepted on the spot.
Zach's mom's visit seemed to be the perfect opportunity, and this afternoon—the first clear day all week—we headed up to Malibu for what turned out to be a jaw-dropping experience.
Our host first gave us a talk on one of the current exhibits, Reconstructing Identity: A Statue of a God from Dresden, which tells the fascinating story of the re-restoration of an ancient statue that arrived at the Getty in hundreds of pieces.
The statue had at least two different heads (male and female) and two different right arms over the course of its existence. Its identity was a riddle. Was it Alexander the Great? Emperor Hadrian's lover? Bacchus, god of wine? All three?
Part mystery, part science (think "CSI"-style technology), part history, part philosophy—it was a tale that would put many page-turner novels to shame.
And our new friend was one of the key players in this art-history thriller!
As if that wasn't enough, he took us back to the cluster of labs and workshops where he plies his craft and showed us some of his current (top secret!) projects.
We were Charlies to his Willie Wonka—wide-eyed, fascinated, enthralled, at times uncomprehending. It was an incredible privilege, and an afternoon we won't soon forget.
We took lots of not-for-publication photos, but I can share this one of the three of us at the end of our visit—taken by our friend Gary, who was able to join us for this magical experience:
If you haven't been to the Getty—and you should go, even before you go to Pazzo Gelato—you may not know that it has one of the finest art-conservation operations in the world.
We had a wonderful time that evening—great company and great food is always a form of alchemy, elevating the whole experience to something rare and memorable—and in the course of our conversations, our new friend offered to give us a private tour of the Getty Villa, which houses the museum's antiquities collection and is where he mainly works.
Naturally, we accepted on the spot.
Zach's mom's visit seemed to be the perfect opportunity, and this afternoon—the first clear day all week—we headed up to Malibu for what turned out to be a jaw-dropping experience.
Our host first gave us a talk on one of the current exhibits, Reconstructing Identity: A Statue of a God from Dresden, which tells the fascinating story of the re-restoration of an ancient statue that arrived at the Getty in hundreds of pieces.
The statue had at least two different heads (male and female) and two different right arms over the course of its existence. Its identity was a riddle. Was it Alexander the Great? Emperor Hadrian's lover? Bacchus, god of wine? All three?
Part mystery, part science (think "CSI"-style technology), part history, part philosophy—it was a tale that would put many page-turner novels to shame.
And our new friend was one of the key players in this art-history thriller!
As if that wasn't enough, he took us back to the cluster of labs and workshops where he plies his craft and showed us some of his current (top secret!) projects.
We were Charlies to his Willie Wonka—wide-eyed, fascinated, enthralled, at times uncomprehending. It was an incredible privilege, and an afternoon we won't soon forget.
We took lots of not-for-publication photos, but I can share this one of the three of us at the end of our visit—taken by our friend Gary, who was able to join us for this magical experience:
posted by Jody Rosen Knower at 9:34 PM
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