Wall painting

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Return of a mounted warrior In Southern Italy, particularly around Tarentum in the east and Naples in the west, painted chamber tombs were quite common. The closest parallels for this tomb painting are from Paestum. Allowing for differences in scale and technique, the iconography here has much in common with that of the vases. The wreath, foliage, and pomegranates in the upper part of the painting allude to glory and regeneration. The main scene shows a young warrior in Italic armor returning home. As on the hydria 01.8.12 he carries his spears over his shoulder. Welcoming him is a woman with an oinochoe (jug) and skyphos (deep drinking cup), essential for an offering. The medium of painting on plaster permits a fluid handling of line and color not possible in ceramics.

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