Bronze statuette of a hunter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The identification of the figure depends on the conical cap—the felt pilos often worn by hunters—as well as on the pose. The study of movement engaged the artists making small bronzes as much as those who were decorating vases. The hunter's forcefulness derives from the sensitive rendering of the musculature as well as from the projection of his right heel beyond the plinth. His action seems to burst the confines of his allotted space.

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