Marble portrait of a young woman

Marble portrait of a young woman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The hairstyle, deeply drilled eyes, and expression, all point to a second century A.D. date for this private Roman portrait of a young woman. Moreover, the high polish of the flesh and the oval shape of the looped knot of hair in the back are found on portraits associated with the court of the emperor Lucius Verus, who reigned from A.D. 161 through 169.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble portrait of a young womanMarble portrait of a young womanMarble portrait of a young womanMarble portrait of a young womanMarble portrait of a young woman

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.