Ceres

Niccolò Roccatagliata

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ceres holds a sheaf of wheat in her outstretched arms and wears a helmet decorated with leaves. The bronze statuette entered The Met with its pair, Hercules Carrying His Club (cat. 68B). The figures have opposing contrappostos—she sways gently to her proper right, he to his left—and likely topped andirons, as they have long iron rods plugged into their bases. With their rough surfaces and minimal detail, both are probably serial casts of models designed by Nicolò Roccatagliata.[1] Another Ceres, poorly executed but with more distinct facial features and a slightly different posture, can be found in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, where it is assigned to Roccatagliata.[2] A better version in the Galleria Estense, Modena, has been attributed to Girolamo Campagna.[3] Footnotes (For key to shortened references see bibliography in Allen, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.) 1. See Planiscig 1921, p. 620, figs. 694, 696–98. 2. Inv. 5313; see Balogh 1975, vol. 1, p. 177, no. 236, with other examples. 3. See Salvini 1948; P. Rossi 1968, p. 47.

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