The Priest Aaron

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sculpture of Aaron and the opposite figure of Moses form part of a rare ensemble of key figures from the Hebrew Bible. They symbolically prefigure the redemption offered through the sacrificial death of Christ, and with other statues originally flanked an enthroned Virgin and Child that still survives in the Gothic cathedral at Noyon. The sculptures are distinguished by garments of weighty fabric arranged in swelling volumes stretched around the body. Here, the Levite priest Aaron covers his head with a veil and holds a scroll. After their removal from the cathedral in the wake of the French Revolution, the sculptures were affected by different environmental conditions.

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