![]() He also describes the expansion and loss of display space within the Museum: how under Robinson’s direction the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White constructed two wings culminating in a sky-lit Roman court that, in Robinson’s words, “is composed of homogeneous elements from different sources, the colors being copied from originals in Pompeii and neighboring towns. Picón rightly singles out the key players who built the finest collection of ancient art in the United States: Edward Robinson, John Marshall, and Gisela M.A. ![]() Included are well known masterpieces and less familiar recent acquisitions (over ninety from the past two decades), as well as some works that have long languished in the Museum’s basement.įollowing a brief foreword by Montebello, curator-in-charge Picón presents a twenty-page illustrated history of the classical collections, tracing their growth from the Museum’s first acquisition in 1870-a Roman garland sarcophagus donated by Abdulla Debbas, the American vice-consul in Tarsus-to the 2006 agreement to return the Euphronios krater and a hoard of Hellenistic silver to the Republic of Italy. Here 476 artifacts-marbles, bronzes, coins, gems, jewellery, gold and silver plate, ivories, ambers, glass, frescoes, weaponry, vases, terracottas, etc.-are lavishly illustrated in large color photographs. The book’s glory, like that of the Met’s collections themselves, lies in the high quality objects therein and the elegance with which they are presented. This hefty tome “celebrates the fulfillment of a major goal,” according to Metropolitan Museum of Art director Philippe de Montebello: the inauguration of the entire suite of galleries for Greek and Roman art, completed in Spring 2007, after almost fifteen years of reinstallation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |