About

J. Paul Getty started acquiring antiquities in Rome in 1939 and subsequently built an important collection concentrating on Greek and Roman marble statues and reliefs, bronze statuettes, and mosaics. These works were kept in his Malibu ranch house and made available for public viewing beginning in 1954, but the growth of the collection called for a larger space, leading him to design a replica of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum. The new museum opened in 1974, and Getty expanded the scope of its displays, adding ancient Roman frescoes, Greek painted pottery, and other objects. After his death in 1976, museum curators added significantly to the collection, which now includes Neolithic clay figurines dating back to the sixth millennium BCE, Bronze Age marble vessels and figurines from the Cycladic islands and Cyprus, an original Greek bronze statue of the Hellenistic period known as The Victorious Youth, engraved gems, Romano-Egyptian mummy portraits, ancient glass, carved ambers, and gold jewelry.

Resources

  1. The Horse and Rider from Albania: Conservation

    Project

    A small corroded bronze statuette of a horse and rider is being worked on by a curator with cleaning tools

    Study, analysis, and conservation of a freshly excavated, heavily corroded bronze statuette of a horse and rider discovered in an ancient Greek settlement in Albania

  2. APPEAR Project

    Project

    Composite image of a Mummy Portrait of a Woman being analyzed with a scanner in a lab, the original artwork, and a detail of the same portrait pixellated red, green, and blue from a visible light scan

    A collaborative exploration of ancient panel-painting production that facilitates international scholarly exchange

  3. Drunken Satyr Conservation

    Project

    A bronze sculpture of a satyr reclining on a marble rock inside a vast conservation studio with a large shipping crate behind it

    The study, analysis, and treatment of a rare first-century Roman bronze buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, recovered after millennia of burial and restored in the 18th century

  4. Sharing Collections in India

    Project

    A man wearing headphones contemplates the marble statue of a nude woman in a large art gallery

    An international partnership promoting a global understanding of the ancient world through collaborative cross-cultural exhibitions and educational programs in Mumbai

  5. Getty Scholars Program at the Villa

    Project

    Supporting advanced scholarship on ancient arts and cultures

  6. Conserving Bronze Lamps of Ancient Vani

    Project

    Study, conservation, and display of two recently excavated decorated bronze lamps from Vani, Georgia

  7. Art Break: “Unwrapping” the Book of the Dead at the Getty

    Video

    fragment of an Egyptian book of the dead with text and hieroglyphs

    Egyptologist Heba Abd el Gawad and curatorial assistant Judith Barr discuss the treatment of mummified human remains from the 19th century

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  8. Art Break: Conserving an Ancient Bronze Horse and Rider

    Video

    A small bronze statue of a figure on a horse

    Conservator Susanne Gänsicke and curator Jens Daehner discuss the meticulous conservation treatment of this bronze statuette

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  9. Stories on Ceramics: Time, Transformation, and Touch

    Video

    Composite of three ancient vessels

    Three experts examine ceramic vessels from Greek, Maya, and Moche cultures and the role they play in the sharing of stories

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  10. Stories on Ceramics: Pictures, Politics, and Primordial Times

    Video

    Video title card with a composite of three ancient vessels

    Getty curator David Saunders joins Alyce de Carteret and Jeffrey Quilter to examine ceramic vessels from Greek, Maya, and Moche cultures

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  11. Persepolis Reimagined

    Interactive

    Title capture of Persepolis Reimagined, with the logo on top of a scenic background of ancient Persia.

    Explore the capital of ancient Persia at its height during the reign of King Xerxes with this immersive web experience from Getty

  12. The Mummification Process

    Video

    Digital recreation of a wrapped mummy with a panel portrait

    A deep-dive into the ancient Egyptian's sophisticated method to preserve a dead body for the afterlife: mummification

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  13. Horses and Humans: A Partnership Across Time

    Video

    Composite of two Greek amphora featuring horses

    Five experts in diverse disciplines explore the history, art, and archaeology of the horse-human bond

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  14. The Egyptian Book of the Dead—for the Living

    Video

    Getty Book of the Dead title slide featuring a detail of small Egyptian hieroglyphs

    Egyptologists discuss the ways the Book of the Dead assisted the deceased’s transition to the afterlife and served as a book for the living

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  15. The Vesuvius Challenge: Resurrecting a Library of Ancient Scrolls

    Video

    Video still for a talk featuring scrolls in various states of conservation

    Learn about the papyrus scrolls buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the groundbreaking challenge to virtually unwrap and read them

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  16. Portraying Power: Representations of Hellenistic Queens

    Video

    Video title still featuring a pink translucent bust of a woman

    Art historian Patricia Kim explores queenship and power in the era of Alexander the Great and his successors

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  17. Who Were the Thracians?

    Video

    Video title slide featuring an ancient Greek jug with Thracian warriors

    Historian Matthew Sears delves into the rich legacy of Ancient Thrace

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  18. Bacchus Uncorked: Wine in Roman Life–and Death

    Video

    Video title still featuring a Roman sarcophagus

    Explore Roman wine culture, from taverns to private dining rooms, and its role in funerals and monuments

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  19. Bacchus Uncorked: The Ancient Greek Drinking Party

    Video

    Video title slide featuring Greek ruins

    Explore the cultural role of the symposium in ancient Greece and ancient origins of wine

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  20. Close Looking: Stag Rhyton

    Video

    Video title slide reading Close Looking: Stag Rhyton

    How can we connect with the distant past? Conservator Jessie Arista believes one way is to examine an object like this

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  21. Close Looking: Statue of Hercules (Lansdowne Herakles)

    Video

    Video title slide for Close Lookin: Statue of Hercules

    Assistant Curator of Antiquities Nicole Budrovich shows you how this marble sculpture embodies key attributes of the hero

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Get In Touch

Loan Requests

Staff Directory

  1. Judith Barr

    Curatorial Assistant

  2. Nicole Budrovich

    Curatorial Assistant

  3. Sara E. Cole

    Associate Curator

  4. Jens Daehner

    Associate Curator

  5. Kenneth Lapatin

    Curator

  6. Claire Lyons

    Curator

  7. David Saunders

    Associate Curator