Marble statue of a youth

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roman copy of Greek original. Adaptation of a Greek statue type of the late 5th century B.C. The pose of this statue probably derives from a Classical Greek bronze erected to commemorate the victory of a young athlete. With its sinuous grace, it became an appealing decorative work in this Roman adaptation in marble. All the statues on view in this central courtyard are Roman copies or variations on statue types created some four or five hundred years earlier, during the late Classical or Hellenistic period. While most of the original works were dedications set up in religious sanctuaries, the Roman versions were used primarily to decorate the rooms and gardens of private villas as well as the theaters and public baths that were important features of every Roman city.

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