Portion of a Pilaster with an Acrobat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Acrobats appear often in medieval art, offering amusing reminders of the world beyond church or monastery walls. Appearing to defy the rules of nature, this contorted figure distracts attention from the capital’s function as an architectural support. Saint-Martin at Savigny was a thriving abbey in the Middle Ages, with numerous dependencies. It was damaged during the Reformation, and its community diminished in size and was ultimately disbanded in 1779. In the wake of the French Revolution that began a decade later, most of the buildings were destroyed and the sculptures dispersed.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art