Marble statue of an old fisherman

Marble statue of an old fisherman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copy of a Greek statue of the late 3rd century B.C. The effects of hard work and age are powerfully rendered in this representation. A more complete replica in Rome preserves the head and a basket of fish on the left arm, indicating that the stooped figure must be a fisherman. Since his voluminous cloak seems ill-suited to work, he is probably headed for a festival, as is the statue of an aged woman carrying chickens and a basket of fruit, which stands nearby. During the Hellenistic period, genre statues of this type were dedicated in temples and sanctuaries, sometimes in landscape settings. Wealthy Romans often placed their copies in gardens and parks. Displayed between the nearby columns is a small head of an elderly man wearing a peasant’s cap that comes from a similar statue and may also represent a fisherman.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble statue of an old fishermanMarble statue of an old fishermanMarble statue of an old fishermanMarble statue of an old fishermanMarble statue of an old fisherman

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.