Troy: Myth and Reality
Comprehensive exhibition at the British Museum looking at the story of the Trojan Wars, how
it was represented in the ancient world and since.
I had assumed
this show would just look at the story, illustrating it with relatively
contemporary art and discussing whether there was any truth to it but it was
much more. It did start with a look at how the story emerged and them went
through it in dome detailing illustrating it with vases and other objects from
the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. There were some beautiful objects including
this vase of the death of Ajax.
I found the
section on the archaeology of the real site disappointing. I found it’s
narrative of the different layers of excavation confusing and after the
wonderfully created world of the first section in was disappointing that the
real objects were mainly dull, brown pots. The reproductions of the real
treasures from the dig were kept to the end but I know friends who know more
about the topic were disappointed that more of the fine artefacts were not
here.
I loved the
section how the story has been viewed in modern times from John Lydgate’s Troy
Book made for the future Henry V which established ideas of chivalry, through a
Renaissance cassone to a set design by Oliver Messel for “La Belle Helene”. I
was fascinated to find out that the first book printed in English was the story
of Troy and liked the inclusion of a first edition of Shakespeare’s Troilus and
Cressida.
The last section
looked at the themes in the story and how they resonate today. There was a
moving section on what the story had meant to soldiers including a testament
from a PTSD sufferer and another on how the women in the story have become
architypes.
Closes 8 March
2020
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