Fragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skin

Fragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The finely incised lion's skin drapped over the arm of this figure identifies him as Herakles. In his left hand, he may once have held apples, a common attribute of bronze statues of the type. After Herakles slew the Nemean lion and skinned it by using its own claws, the hero consistently wore the lion's skin over his shoulder.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skinFragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skinFragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skinFragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skinFragmentary bronze statuette of Herakles with lion's skin

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.