More Superb Hellenistic Art at the Met

​The Pergamon Exhibition at the Met in New York City took my breath away this past June! The statuary was spectacular. Heroes, soldiers, generals, hermaphrodites...In these statues, every muscle, torso, arm and leg was carved so perfectly I thought these figures might come to life as I walked past them. Who knew the Hellenistic world achieved such realistic beauty? Earlier Greek statuary is stiff and formal. These statues, created after the death of Alexander the Great, are created in a much more dynamic, realistic style. 

​The busts of Julius Caesar and Pompey in particular caught my imagination.  Unlike the traditional busts of Roman ancestors, these portraits emanated personality. Caesar is shown with his long nose and rather homely features, but still conveying strength and charisma,  while the portrait of Pompey the Great looked much less haughty and imperial with his round face and almost smiling expression.

Of course most of this statuary was copied by Roman sculptors. The original statues and busts were the work of amazingly talented court artists who lived much earlier--in the few hundred years between the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) and 146 BCE when Rome conquered the Greek mainland. That was the heyday of Hellenistic Greece when the great centers of culture were concentrated in Alexandria and Antioch, Pergamon (now in Turkey), and other cities--not so much in the former city states of Greece. You still have a few days to see this exhibition if you are in New York City, since this blockbuster exhibition continues through July 17.