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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Last Supper in Pompeii: From the Table to the Grave

May 7 – Aug 29, 2021
100 34th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121, United States

When Mount Vesuvius blew in 79 A.D. it sent stone, ash, and gases 12 miles into the sky. This horrible geyser was followed by a flow of red-hot matter that instantly ended all life in its path. The unfortunate people of Pompeii were stilled in their last activities, much of which centered around preparations for lunch. “Last Supper in Pompeii” looks at food from that last day—actual carbonized bread, eggs, almonds, and figs—and also food as it was sumptuously portrayed in the myriad frescos and mosaics that Vesuvius preserved. Kitchen utensils, a re-creation of a Roman banquet, the snobbish upsmanship of feasting, all this and more are on view. —L.J.

Paolo Cordoni, “Sculptures on Landscape Against Sky,” Pompeii. Getty Images/ courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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