Terracotta stamnos (jar)

Copenhagen Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, men and women Reverse, men and youths The Copenhagen and Syriskos Painters were characterized by J. D. Beazley, the authority on Greek vase-painting, as "brothers." They belonged to the same workshop, and in some cases as in this stamnos, Beazley was unable to make an attribution to one or the other. Some scholars have speculated that they were one artist. The subject matter shows two aspects of an Athenian citizen's life. The obverse, depicting a seated man with staff or scepter and phiale and a woman with an oinochoe, presents a solemn scene of offering. On the reverse are men and youths, mentors and future citizens.

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