Roman Blown Glass

These are some of the beautiful blown glass objects on permanent display at the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Glassblowing is a glassforming technique of inflating molten glass into a bubble using a blowpipe or blow tube. This technique was developed in the Syro-Palestinian region in the early first century B.C. and is believed to have come to Rome with craftsmen and slaves after the area's annexation to the Roman world in 64 B.C. 

Black-and-White Mosaic Tile Floor of the Greek and Roman Galleries in the Met

When the Greek and Roman Galleries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art were being renovated, a subject of debate was whether to retain the existing black-and-white mosaic tile floor bordering the gallery which was part of the space designed by architects McKim, Mead & White. The Met finally decided to fix the cracks and keep it. The images of the gallery were captured with an iPhone 4 and processed with Camera+.

Marble Statue Of A Bearded Hercules

The Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features a magnificent marble statue of a bearded Hercules (Roman, Flavian period, A.D. 68-98. The statue and the over-life-sized statue of young Hercules across the courtyard in all probability were made as a pair to decorate one of the great spaces in a large public bath. Although they are much restored, their stance and attributes are essentially correct and are variants on long-established statue types that are probably originated in images of the Greek hero Herakles dating to the fourth century B.C. They were part of the large collection of ancient sculpture made in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century by a wealthy Genoese banker, the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani. (from the gallery caption).

Artemis and a Deer

Part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Greek and Roman Galleries is this Roman statue of Artemis and a deer (late Hellenistic or Early Imperial, ca. 1st century B.c. - 1st century A.D.). Artemis, known to the Romans as Diana, stands with her weight on her right leg, her left foot trailing. She wears a short chiton, appropriate to her role as goddess of silver, and elaborate sandals. Originally, she would have held a bow in her left hand. In other statues of similar type, the goddess is striding, but here she stands as if in epiphany, an impression that is emphasized by the high classicizing style of the figure, with its wind-blown drapery and strongly idealized features. A deer stands to her left, and there was possibly another small figure on her right, possibly a dog.

The statue and its base were cast in several sections by means of the lost wax method, as was characteristic in antiquity, and those parts were then joined together with flow welds. The artist and his workshop maintained a particularly high level of craftsmanship. The statue is said to have been found in Rome near the church of Saint John the Lateran, and it likely would have decorated a peristyle garden of one of the large ancient Roman villas or town houses in that area. The most important sanctuary of Diana for the anncient Romans was located at Aricia, some eleven miles outside of Rome, on the shore of Lake Nemi. That lake was known as the speculum Dianae (mirror of Diana).

Coins in the Fountain at the Met's Greek and Roman Court

Although the fountain in the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court for Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was "designed to rrecreate the ambience of a Roman court," it has become a receptacle for coins. Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and even coins from other countries. Why do people throw coins in fountains? In an article published in the New York Times, Joan Mertens, the Met’s curator of Greek and Roman art, came up with a story, appropriately enough, from ancient Greece. Amasis, the king of Egypt in the sixth century B.C., predicted trouble for his ally Polykrates unless Polykrates showed some humility. Amasis, Ms. Mertens said, told Polykrates he should throw into the sea his most valued possession: an emerald ring. “Sort of as proof or a sign, someone in Polykrates’s household came in with a big fish who had the ring in his stomach,” she said, “so it came back to him.” From that, she said, came the notion of “casting away something that is meaningful to you, and if you’re lucky, you will be reunited with it.” The story still doesn't answer the question because people throw something of very little value into the fountain, and not valuable possessions.

Young Hercules

On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's newly renovated Greek and Roman Galleries is this statue of YOUNG HERCULES. The youthful Hercules is depicted with the two items most associated with him -- his club and the skin of the Nemean lion. The lion's skin represents the first of Hercules' twelve labours, where he had to slay and skin the lion that had been terrorizing the area around Nemea. The lion had skin so thick that it was impervious to weapons, even Hercules' club (made from an olive tree that he pulled out of the ground. In the end, Hercules choked it to death eventually managed to skin the beast. Thereafter, Hercules wore the impenetrable hide as armor. The sculpture itself dates from the Flavian period (68 - 98 AD), and most likely was excavated from public baths near the Pantheon in Rome which were constructed under rule of Nero.

Sketching APHRODITE

These are some of the scenes that I captured at the Greek and Roman Galleries when I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art last Sunday. The two gentlemen were sketching the marvelous marble statue of APHRODITE.

NEW GREEK AND ROMAN GALLERIES AT THE MET

Last Friday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its new Greek & Roman Galleries, 15 years after the project was initiated. The galleries house art created between about 900 B.C. and the early fourth century A.D., highlighting the evolution of Greek art in the Hellenistic period and the arts of southern Italy and Etruria. Natural light from skylights and arched windows of the main atrium made photography of the displays easier when we visited the galleries earlier this afternoon. Shown above are images I made of some of the astonishing displays - a marble statue of a youthful Hercules (A.D. 69-98), a sarcophagus (tomb) decorated with forty human and animal figures carved in high relief. The central figure in the sarcophagus is that of the god Dionysos seated on a panther. He is surrounded by larger standing figures of sturdy youths who represent the four Seasons. Other prominent displays that I found fascinating are the beautiful glass bottles, the bronze Etruscan chariot from the 6th century BC and fresco panels from the bedroom of Boscoreale. It is truly amazing to see these works that are among the most complete to survive from antiquity.