You may recall me telling you that I went to Rome on a mission in August of 2026. I made a special trip just to see this gorgeous Hellenistic relief sculpture of The Birth of Aphrodite. I wrote about it here: https://getbacklauretta.com/2026/09/20/palazzo-altemps-museo-nazionale-romano/

But when I got to the museum, this sign told me the sculpture was not on view. (Truth be told, I didn’t notice the sign. I went through the museum looking for the relief sculpture, couldn’t find it, asked about it, and was told it was on loan to Athens. Then I saw the sign. Haha. Typical.)

So, making the best of a trip to Rome to see fabulous sculpture, after filling my eyes, mind and heart with all the gorgeous artwork at the Palazzo Altemps, I left, had a delicious lunch of spaghetti carbonara seated al fresco in Rome, and went on to pay my first ever visit to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, another one of the 4 incredible museums directed by the National Museum in Rome. The Palazzo Massimo is such a treasure house, How fortunate the world is for these repositories!

And, was I ever rewarded!

Just look with this beautiful group of sculpted maenads!

Maenad, priestesses of the god Dionysus

Feast your lucky eyes!

And, in the same gallery, were a few other examples of this period of Greek originals, all as lovely as the one before.

Ah! the loveliness of these figures! But it is the way the draperies are handled that takes my breath away. How mind-blowing it is that they survive at all!