(2014)
Found on the Museum Mile on the East Side
of Manhattan, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has an extensive collection of all
things beautiful. It holds a little over seventeen thousand Greek and Roman
artifacts tucked away in a corner of the museum. Appreciating these works is
very easy, as there are no clumsily placed statues or friezes, and symmetry is
appreciated as much as natural lighting. While the parts most remembered are
probably easy to spot –The
White Court filled with a collection of Roman statues, a running fountain in
the center and a massive Ionic column - some hidden treasures are too often
overlooked.
Soft lighting and quiet chatter brings us
to the Stavros and Danae Costopoulos Gallery, a small room among many others in
a row along the right side of the hallway that greets an entering visitor.
Though smaller in size than some other rooms, there is no lack of history or
integrity found there. The gallery presents early fourth to the late fifth
century artifacts ranging from delicate pottery to meticulously carved marble
statues and jewelry. Most artifacts on display are made of terracotta, the
typical media used in ancient Greek pottery with the exception of one bronze hydria described as a water jar. The eye
is immediately drawn to the artifact, poised in the center of the room behind a
glass case and hovering over smaller jars and plates that lie with it. While
the jug is worn and mostly covered with an oxidized green layer, the
beautifully curved handles and spout remain. Other jugs in an adjacent case
show the ancient Greek love of color, preserved in what seems to be a lacquered
surface of several jugs and cups. They are painted by hand with streams of yellows
and bright blues.
In the same room there are several marble
statues, one being the head and torso of the goddess Athena, patron of Athens.
Several parts of her body have been broken off, her arms and nose for example.
However the tradition of honoring the gods is evident in the time and care that
went into creating the gentle curves of Athena’s dress. This style had made its
way from the fifth century B.C.E.
Across the hall in the Carolyn, Kate,
Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jonathan Wiener Gallery, there are even more artifacts
that sit carefully on their perches. Like the Costopoulos Gallery, this one is
also small, and also holds a marble statue of a lion. Lions represented
protection and safety, and this particular lion statue-like so many others- was
used as a tomb monument to stand guard. Though the important idea of safety
could have been a priority in the carving of a lion, the aesthetic is not compromised,
as shown in every muscle’s curve and careful toe indentation. There were few
people who passed this lion, among other marble statues, and did not stop in place
to examine the workmanship of this masterpiece.
The brilliance of most of the items in
the exhibit are so closely analyzed and appreciated because the skill and
patience required to make a full sized bronze water jug or a life sized marble
lion are not seen in today’s world to such a caliber. Every piece in the
Greco-Roman art gallery was made, preserved, found and presented in the same
way, and though a huge impressive column could seem worth more of one’s time, a small painted
cup could hold just as much beauty.
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