
Bronze statuette of a nude youth
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The stance, nudity, and hairstyle of this fine bronze remind one of large-scale kouroi, the famous commemorative statues of youths set up in Greek sanctuaries and cemeteries. The Etruscan artist focused more attention on the facial details and less on musculature than Greek artists typically did. The figure once held an object in his right hand.
Greek and Roman Art
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
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.