Painted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figures

Painted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figures

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man with ochre flesh and pale yellow garment is seated in the center on a raised stool. In a traditional gesture of farewell, he clasps the hand of a tall woman dressed in a pale chiton and himation. Another man wearing a dark violet himation stands behind him. The background is divided vertically into two areas, grey on the left and violet on the right. The style and subject matter of this quiet, well-balanced scene derive from Greek grave reliefs of the 4th century B.C. Although this stele was found resting against the wall in an underground tomb, its large size and the tenon cut at the bottom suggest that it was originally set in a base, above ground.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figuresPainted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figuresPainted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figuresPainted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figuresPainted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figures

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.