Roman Art: A Guide Through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection

by Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paul Zanker (Contributor), Seaan A Hemingway (Contributor)

The collection of Roman art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the finest in the world. It contains more than 5,000 objects, including exquisite cameos, refined silver vessels and utensils, spectacular Pompeiian frescoes, monumental sculptures in stone and bronze and elaborate sarcophagi. This handsome guide features a selection of over 200 of the most important works that exemplify this rich and diverse collection, each presented in detail and illustrated with stunning colour photography. Every work is accompanied by an engaging text written by prominent scholars that establishes the object's significance in antiquity, providing new insights for a contemporary understanding of ancient Roman art.




Acknowledgments; Director's Foreword; Introduction; Roman Copies and Adaptations of Greek Sculpture; The Decoration of House and Villa; Luxury Art; Shrines of the Lares and Offerings to Other Divinities; Roman Egyptomania; Tombs and Funerary Monuments; Imperial and Private Portraits; Gladatorial Games, Sports, and the Military; Architectural Elements; A Selection of Roman Works and their Modern Histories; Bibliography; Index.

424 pages, Hardcover

Published May 29, 2020

About the author

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, (colloquially, the “Met”) is the largest art museum in the United States.

It was founded on April 13, 1870, "to be located in the City of New York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said city a Museum and library of art, of encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and the application of arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, of furnishing popular instruction."

Reviews

[E Vance Shearin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book filled with great photos and illustrations of Roman art housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was visually stunning. The only thing I can say against this book is that I was hoping for more information on the artworks themselves. There was some information the art pieces, but a lot of the book was taken up by a history of the museum and how they obtained the collections. Still good information, but just know what you are getting when you read this book.