Limestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreath

Limestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreath

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fine head with delicately chiseled beard and subtly modeled face reflects the serious, quiet style found in Greek art of the early fifth century B.C. Wreaths were worn at all religious festivals, and the crown of leaves worn by this figure marks him as a worshiper of a god.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Limestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreathLimestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreathLimestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreathLimestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreathLimestone head of a bearded man wearing a wreath

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.