Study of a Hand

Auguste Rodin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the 1880s Rodin began to subtract parts from completed figures in order to focus on the expressive capacity of fragments. Cast from a full-scale study for The Burghers of Calais, this hand suggests the eloquent emotional complexion of the whole.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art