Bottles and glasses, found at Pompeii 

Curator: The etching before us presents a still life titled "Bottles and glasses, found at Pompeii," created by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. It showcases the beauty and simplicity of ancient Roman glassware unearthed from the ruins of Pompeii. What's your initial reaction to this print? Editor: It's strangely melancholic, isn’t it? Those objects, rescued from ash, sitting there with that hazy background. Like ghosts at a party that never ends. Curator: Absolutely. Piranesi, deeply immersed in the aesthetics of Neoclassicism, was fascinated with classical antiquity. He saw Pompeii as a window into the daily lives and material culture of the Roman Empire. Editor: I get the feeling he wanted more than just a snapshot. There’s this dreamlike, slightly gothic edge. I can almost smell the smoke, you know? As if he’s pulling us back into that very moment. It makes you think about impermanence. Did these glasses hold wine once enjoyed in loud company, or did they gather dust in the quiet of someone's home? Curator: Indeed. Beyond their aesthetic qualities, these glassware remains prompt questions about ancient Roman society, their craft, and how the disaster affected their society as a whole. Glassmaking techniques and the social contexts of dining rituals are areas of interests triggered from these artifacts. Editor: You are right, the glasses tell us a story beyond the tragedy, it show us what everyday life used to be. This picture isn’t about death as much as about how objects retain memories, or create them anew in the viewer. You have an object, found after thousands of years, memorialized again into this beautiful etching. They might’ve wanted to just show off some pretty old glasses, but to me, there's something profoundly moving about their attempt to keep the past alive, in front of you. Curator: Precisely! It shows how a piece of art carries the weight of collective memory, trauma, and how artistic representation revives these remains. Editor: Well said. Makes you thirsty, though, doesn’t it? For answers, for remembrance... maybe just a glass of something strong.