Two marble portrait heads from a relief

Two marble portrait heads from a relief

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The sculptural style of these heads, characterized by smooth features and fashionable hairstyles, is one of refined Augustan classicism. The portraits, probably of mother and daughter, are from a funerary relief that might have included likenesses of other members of the family.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two marble portrait heads from a reliefTwo marble portrait heads from a reliefTwo marble portrait heads from a reliefTwo marble portrait heads from a reliefTwo marble portrait heads from a relief

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.