Marble bust of a youth

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The bust may be seen as a funerary portrait. The unusual addition of the lion’s skin, associated with the semi-divine Hercules (Herakles), between the bust and the circular base probably signifies the parents’ wish to glorify their son. Moreover, he is unclothed in a heroic manner. The youth is portrayed as an older boy but his features are still childlike. When acquired by the Museum a century ago, the bust was heavily covered with accretions and was long regarded as authentic. However, after radical cleaning in 1984, the antiquity of the bust was questioned, and it was removed from display. Recent study and re-evaluation, including the identification of the marble as coming from a quarry not far from the city of Aphrodisias in ancient Caria (present-day Turkey), have prompted the sculpture to be reinstated.

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