The human body is a very beautiful thing and no one has captured it more gloriously or magnificently than the ancient Greeks and Romans. The statue of David by Michelangelo alone is the epitome of human perfection, an ideal we all try to live up to centuries and millennia later.
One of my favorite wings at the Metropolitan Museum is the section devoted to Greek and Roman sculptures. I never tire of seeing the human form replicated to exacting detail in marble — you can see the musculature, the curve of a hip, the length of a neck, the strain on the calf. In the female figures that are not nudes, you can see the drapes and fold of cloths as though you are looking at jersey and chiffon when in fact it is marble you are in awe of.
I like classical sculptures as home decor too. I once lucked out and found a replica of a man’s torso on 1stdibs. It’s made of plaster, not marble, but I don’t mind that one bit. I am now obsessed with finding a bust, preferably male. So if you know where I can get one, let me know.
Enjoy the photos and follow me on Twitter: @bluecarreonÂ
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What do you think?
Dennis and Leen has a beautiful male bust that I have as well as a Draped female torso…I love your blog please send me updates.
Thanks so much for the lead and read. I will make sure to go to Dennis and Leen next time I am in LA. You can sign up for updates on my blog. There is a subscribe field on the right side of the screen. Thanks again!
Whenever I’m in this section of the Met I’m always reminded of Baudelaire’s words from “Les Fleurs du Mal”: La, tout n’est qu’ordre et beaute’, Luxe, calm et volupte’. Nowhere else do these words seem more appropriate. I, too have a reproduction of a Greek woman’s head on my mantlepiece and it’s one of my favorite objects.