Bronze statue of the emperor Trebonianus Gallus
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This bronze monumental statue is one of the very few nearly complete Roman bronze statues of the third century preserved today. It is a reminder that many of the disembodied portrait heads displayed in these galleries were once attached to freestanding sculptures, whose original appearances were undoubtedly quite different. Portraits of the emperor served the highly important function in imperial propaganda of presenting the ruler to the public and of projecting the personality with which he wished to be perceived. Leadership and military strength are evoked in the heroic nudity of the figure and in the pose, which recalls the famous statue of Alexander the Great with the Lance by Lysippos. In contrast to the idealized body, the portrait head represents the emperor with brutish realism. Trebonianus likely would have cradled a parazonium, or short sword, in his left arm, and held a spear in his upraised right hand. The statue has undergone several campaigns of restoration since its discovery in the early nineteenth century and was examined in great detail as part of the conservation treatment in preparation for its display here. Visual examination inside and out, combined with x-radiography, made possible the clear identification of ancient and restored areas, which are indicated in the accompanying illustration. At least three-quarters of the statue is ancient. Despite the discrepancy in scale, the head belongs to the body. Although the mantle draped over his left shoulder is a modern restoration, cast edges beneath it confirm that the statue had a similar embellishment in antiquity. The left foot with its elaborately decorated open-fronted boot appears to be ancient but may not belong.
Greek and Roman Art
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
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.