Marble funerary altar, carved in high relief with the figure of the deceased, named in the accompanying, elegantly carved Latin inscription as Anthus. The altar was set up by his father, L(ucius) Iulius Gamus. Although Anthus’ age is not given, he clearly died while still a child, since he is referred to as “(his) sweetest son,” and a personal touch is given to the relief by showing Anthus with his pet dog.

The inscription reads: Diis Manib(us) / Anthi / L(ucius) Iulius Gamus pater fil(io) dulcissim(o), meaning “To the Spirits of the Departed. Lucius Iulius Gamus, father, to Anthus, (his) sweetest son”.

1st half of 1st century A.D.

© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble lid of a cinerary chest, fashioned to look like the roof of a barrel-vaulted building with acroteria at the corners in the form of theatrical masks and palmettes. The inscription on the front panel reads:

D(is) M(anibus) / Sex(ti) Flavi / Pancarpi / q(ui) vix(it) ann(os) LXVII

meaning “To the spirits of the dead, [of] Sextus Flavius Pancarpus, who lived 67 years.”

Despite the fact that the inscription mentions only a man, the lunettes at the sides show both male (globe and box of scrolls) and female (mirror and spindle) attributes, indicating that the chest also may have contained the remains of Pancarpus’ wife.

Late 1st century AD

© Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York

Renaissance
By Caroline Knopf

This series was shot for Conde Nast Brides 75th Anniversary Edition. It was produced in conjunction and inspired by the Metropolitan Museum’s Exhibition of  Love and Art During The Italian Renaissance.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue. Among the Top 5 Most Visited Museums in NYC, it’s No. 1. Click through to find out the other four! (Photo: Kate Glicksberg for NYCgo)

David Hockney

Why is it that we love a man in uniform so much? (photo by Jonne Kingma)

“Despertares” (Awakenings) - Raul Martinetto.

This was the first gift accepted by the Museum.

The back and cover of this sarcophagus are unfinished, and its inscription tablet is blank, which may imply that it went unsold in antiquity. Garlands of oak leaves supported by two erotes and four Victories adorn the front and sides. Medusa heads fill the spaces above the garlands, except in the center of the front, where there is the blank inscription tablet. Six erotes hunt various wild animals along the front face of the cover, while two others stand at the corners. On the left end, Eros awakens Psyche with an arrow, and on the right, they embrace.

via

Window (via The Met)

Jacqueline Kennedy and the Mona Lisa

Perhaps no other White House dinner had more personal meaning for Jacqueline Kennedy than the evening honoring French Minister of Culture André Malraux at the White House on May 11, 1962. The First Lady and Malraux had developed a friendship following a tour of Paris art museums during the Kennedy’s state visit to Paris in June 1961. By according him all the courtesies normally reserved for a head of state, the Kennedys hoped to focus national attention on the role of the arts in America and encourage the development of Washington as a cultural center.  

At the end of the evening, Monsieur Malraux whispered a promise to Jacqueline Kennedy that he would send to her France’s most famous cultural treasure, La Giaconda–known as the Mona Lisa–to be displayed at the National Gallery in Washington. In December 1962, Malraux accompanied the painting to the United States where more than 700,000 people saw it at National Gallery of Art  and more than a million others viewed it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

-From the JFK Library 

ancientpeoples:

Terracotta funerary plaque

Attic Greek, ca. 520–510 B.C. (Archaic period)

Prothesis (laying out of the dead); below, chariot race

In the latter sixth century B.C., the elaborate series of funerary plaques set into the walls of rectangular tombs were replaced by single plaques with holes for attachment. The chariot race, a recurring theme in Attic funerary art, may evoke the funeral games held in honor of legendary heroes, such as those in book 23 of the Iliad, when Achilles honored his deceased friend Patroklos.

Source:Met Museum

Office in a Small City, 1953
Edward Hopper (American, 1882–1967)
Oil on canvas; 28 x 40 in. (71.1 x 101.6 cm)

Hopper achieves a very soothing, calm, isolated balance in this piece. The balance is achieve by proportioning the very light and dark elements. While the lighter elements such as the whites and blues take up a larger amount of space they are smooth and easy on the eyes. While the darker elements contain a variety of visual noise that draws your eyes to them, while not over powering the more negative space. This creates a great asymmetrical balance of color, shape, and texture.

@shiningjasmin

Precise geometric pattern on a rams-head: terracotta pot.
East Greece, 6th BC.

Currently preserved at the Met Museum, New York.

Paolo Veronese - Alessandro Vittoria, 1580. Oil on canvas / Gwynne Andrews Fund

Silk carpet, 16th-century, Iran, 241 x 178 cm, Met Museum, New York. Source

Great beasts and flowering plants make up the design of this rich Iranian rug, believed to have been created in the city of Kashan. Unlike other textiles, the central area of the composition is neither symmetrical nor does it feature any repeated patterns. The individual motifs used instead mean that the eye is constantly drawn to new areas of the design.

HOLIDAYS IN THE MUSEUM HALLS

During your winter visit to Sofitel New York, make the short trip uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where this towering and festive fern is now on view. The astoundingly lit, twenty-foot blue spruce presides over an eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity scene, featuring an awe-inspiring array of lifelike figures with silk-robed angels hovering above. 

heavypaint studies from life