Panel with Lovers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Carved in relief on one side of a bone panel, a man and woman incline toward one another. Both are preserved in a fragmentary state. What remains of the man’s nude body is, however, carved with careful attention to proportion and musculature. The woman turns toward her partner; her facial features and hair are worn smooth, perhaps as a result of use. The woman’s seemingly intimate embrace contributes to the panel's long-standing designation as a pair of lovers. In contrast to her partner, the woman’s draped lower body may convey modesty, as seen, for example, in the so-called Venus "Pudica Type."

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