Bronze statuette of Hermes

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hermes—messenger of the gods, the cattle rustler, the inventor of the lyre, the guider of souls across the River Styx, the manly god of boundaries—stands gracefully here rather than moving purposefully. He likely originally held his kerykeion (herald's staff) in his left hand. A pair of wings are strapped to his feet, and the small rectangular cuttings at the top of his head once held wings that sprang from his laurel-crown. The eyes, once inlaid with silver, glass paste, or stone, would have added vitality to the figure. The lack of interest in the specific delineation of the anatomy and the listless elegance of the pose attest to the decorative quality of this highly refined bronze. It is a sophisticated work, executed in a mannered, classicizing style that sets the god apart from the mundane world of the statuette's human owner and invites contemplation of the divine.

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