A Young Warrior

Tullio Lombardo

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This youth clad in antique-styled armor may represent Saint George or Saint Theodore, Christian warriors who were especially venerated in Venice. He would have led a lance in his right hand and may have guarded a tomb. His energetic pose, twist of his head, and tensely held arms convey the alertness required of a guardian figure. Truthfulness to classical examples was esteemed in Renaissance Venice; this sculptor paid particular attention to rendering the delicately textured scrolling vines that decorate the breastplate, and even carved the laces that hold the metal sleeves together. He left the back unfinished, which indicates it was originally installed in a niche or against a wall.

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