Bronze portrait bust of a man

Bronze portrait bust of a man

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The man is shown with the beard and short-cropped hair typical of the third century A.D. Likewise, his toga has the broad fold across the chest that is found on many life-sized marble portrait busts of the period. Although this bronze bust displays a high degree of individual characterization, the subject has not been identified with a known historical figure.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze portrait bust of a manBronze portrait bust of a manBronze portrait bust of a manBronze portrait bust of a manBronze portrait bust of a man

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.