Photo courtesy of Irvington Union Free School District
Irvington High School Latin Club students visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Greek and Roman galleries, and specifically the special exhibition “Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color.” Latin teacher Lilah Katz and English teacher Melisa Gacevic chaperoned the trip in which the students toured the Chroma exhibition and viewed painted recreations of original sculptures which showed visitors how the statues would have looked in ancient times.
“I think the students’ favorite activity was looking at a series of three ancient Roman frescoes from Boscoreale and imagining what the people in the frescoes were thinking as they were being painted,” Katz said.
After the guided tour, the students split into groups for a scavenger hunt of the Greek and Roman wing, finding specific pieces, taking photos and sketching the pieces. Students were able to see a larger-than-life statue of Hercules, who was easily recognizable to the students since they have been reading about him in Latin class and club.
“I hope that the students walked away with the knowledge that ancient Greece and Rome were colorful and vibrant societies, and seeing these ancient sculptures in color as they would have been displayed originally brought these ancient cultures more to life for the students,” Katz added.
