One of Kate Smith’s favorite works at Harvard Art Museums is more than 2,000 years old. The piece is a wall fragment, originally painted close to the ceiling of a villa near Naples, Italy between 10 B.C.E and 1 B.C.E. “The original wall was part of a grand villa made for the emperor’s grandson, and the whole structure was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79 C.E.," she said. "When the villa was discovered and excavated in the early 20th century, the recovered fragments went to various museums and this single piece came to Harvard.” One of the elements of the painting that would have been difficult for original viewers to see so high up on the wall, is sparrows. “The birds would not have been very visible up near the ceiling, they were minor decorative elements,” the Senior Conservator of Paintings said. “Though they have suffered some paint loss, they are still recognizable and so lifelike; standing in a puddle of water, one is drinking and splashing.” Swipe to see the sparrows on ...