Marble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus Genetrix

Marble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus Genetrix

Kallimachos

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copy of a Greek bronze statue of the late 5th century B.C. attributed to Kallimachos This goddess wears a sleeveless, ungirt chiton of thin clinging material that reveals every curve of her body. Her pose—between standing and walking—was developed by the sculptor Polykleitos in the mid-fifth century B.C. She originally lifted one edge of her himation (cloak) with her right hand and probably held an apple in the other.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus GenetrixMarble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus GenetrixMarble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus GenetrixMarble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus GenetrixMarble statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus Genetrix

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.