What survives from the ancient Greeks and Romans? There are certainly architectural ruins, statuary, funerary monuments, steles, coins, jewels, and even glassware. But everything made of paper, wood, and other materials that disintegrate over time are gone without a trace. And so much that has survived has been damaged.

One of the surprises of my visit yesterday to the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades was a whole gallery dedicated to a small bronze statuette of a horse and rider that was discovered in Babunjë, Albania, in 1939. At the time, that part of what is now Albania was a Greek colony. Although the lower legs of the horse are lost, the statuette is an almost perfect expression of the Greek élan in horseback riding.

Here is an even better view of the figure:

It’s a pity that the exhibition has closed—yesterday was the last day—because I would have loved to study it some more. Oh well, ars longa vita brevis.