Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg Florida to open newly renovated galleries October 27, 2020
The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida will open its newly renovated galleries to the public on October 27. Among the items now on display include a 3400 pound carved marble sarcophagus probably from Roman Syria featuring a reclining couple surrounded by Erotes and smaller animal figures. The piece is on loan from a private collection. The museum also displays a 2200-year-old bronze head of Dionysus, also on long-term loan to the museum from a private collector. The newly designed "Jade Room" features jade, serpentine and obsidian works including masks, figurines, and a segmented crown from the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica. Although not ancient, a piece I found particularly interesting is a 17th century pietre dure commissioned by the Medici family that was once part of the decor of a Medici villa outside Florence, Italy. Pietre dure is an intricate process in which colored marbles and other stones are cut in...