Bust of Minerva

Elena Pistrucci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Benedetto Pistrucci’s daughters lived in Rome after his death, and it was probably there that Elena carved this cameo, basing it directly on her father’s wax-on-slate model (Museo di Roma), which he had patterned (including the ram’s head on the helmet) after an ancient statue, the Giustiniani Minerva (Vatican Museums). Elena made the goddess’s features abstractly rigid, yet the white stratum, which contrasts agreeably with the deep green ground, evokes the essence of marble.

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