Sicily: Culture and Conquest

Fascinating exhibition at the British Museum on the history and art of Sicily focusing on the Greek and Norman periods.

This was a well set out and explained exhibition and I loved the inclusion of large scale photographs of the main sites to give you a real sense of being there.

Like the Sunken Cities show though the show was stolen by some stunning objects. In the Greek section was a pottery basin on a stand from 1400BC that you could have put in your garden now it was so perfect. This was near to a near perfect flat gold bowl with bulls on it. I loved the gorgon head gable end and think we need to revive them.

Most intriguing was the section on the cult of Persephone and the female ceremonies which seemed to involve lots of alcohol and piglets! I loved the little statues of goddesses with small pigs! Book me in!

I loved the Norman section as I had studied this at A Level. I hadn’t realised that a lot of the original palace still existed. I was interested to see how they used Byzantine imagery to establish themselves as rulers of the island. This section included the oldest paper document in Europe.

It was a lovely touch to finish with a beautiful painting by Antonello de Messina who was credited by Vasari with bringing oil painting to Italy. It gave a hint of life in Sicily when the Normans left.

I wonder how many people rush off to book holidays in Sicily after seeing this show. It’s a great advert!

Closed on 14 August 2016.

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