Bronze statuette of Eros sleeping

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reduced version of a Greek bronze statue of the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. During the Hellenistic period, bronzes came to be appreciated, collected, and displayed for their own sake. Ownership spread most widely in the private sphere, and new types and motifs were introduced to meet the demand. The sleeping Eros had such wide appeal that it was reproduced in bronze, terracotta, and marble in many sizes and was marketed all over the Greek world.

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art