Apostle (Saint Matthew?)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This vigorously modeled statuette portrays an Apostle, possibly Saint Matthew. He holds an open book, one of his symbols, in his right hand, and his left is pressed against his chest, almost evocative of his call from Jesus. The terracotta bozzetto exemplifies a different way of fashioning clay, being in between a clay sketch and a smooth model. The handling of the clay is masterful. Particularly engaging is the spiky head, quickly modeled with few secure strokes and framed by sparse hair. The Evangelist’s powerful stride and arrangement of the heavy mantle, with its deep edgy folds, animate the figure and impart a sense of monumentality and command of space typical of Roman sculpture at the time.

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