Nessus Abducting Dejanira

Giuseppe Girometti

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The centaur Nessus, midstream, is carrying the protesting Deianira, wife of Hercules, at the very moment that Hercules, standing on the riverbank facing them, fires the arrow that will kill him. Girometti repeated a relief by the Danish Neoclassical sculptor Thorvaldsen; the Museum acquired a fine marble example of the Thorvaldsen as well as this gem in 2004. Girometti signed the cameo in Greek.

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