Marble fragment of a relief with a flying Eros

Marble fragment of a relief with a flying Eros

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A charming winged Eros carrying a parasol flies in the foreground on this small fragment from a decorative plaque. The space and the architectural setting behind him are suggested by varying adjustments of scale and depth of the relief. Such delicate and evocative scenes were popular subjects on ceilings decorated with stucco as well as on marble reliefs such as this one, which were set in the walls of Roman villas.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble fragment of a relief with a flying ErosMarble fragment of a relief with a flying ErosMarble fragment of a relief with a flying ErosMarble fragment of a relief with a flying ErosMarble fragment of a relief with a flying Eros

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.