Bronze statuette of a standing male figure

Bronze statuette of a standing male figure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The statuette is a rare and unusual sculpture best described as a Campanian (west central Italian) bronze of the fifth century B.C. It most likely served as a votive offering to the gods, presented at a sanctuary either in anticipation of divine favor or in fulfillment of a previous promise or vow. The precise identity of the figure is uncertain; both his close-fitting garment and tight-fitting cap adorned with rosettes are uncommon details. The bronze is especially interesting for its remarkable stylistic affinities with both Greek and Etruscan art, characteristic of Campanian works made in a region where Greek, Italic, and Etruscan peoples were living in close proximity.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze statuette of a standing male figureBronze statuette of a standing male figureBronze statuette of a standing male figureBronze statuette of a standing male figureBronze statuette of a standing male figure

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.