Nude Male Artworks on Display at The Metropolitan Museum

Male nudes are a popular subject in art, dating back to the classical period. In The Metropolitan Museum, there are many artworks depicting unclothed male figures, from ancient sculptures to Renaissance paintings. These artworks provide a glimpse into how artists have depicted the male form throughout history. Male nudes are often used to represent various concepts, such as idealized beauty or the human condition.

Perseus with the Head of Medusa

    This Perseus, purchased by Countess Valeria Tarnowska of Poland, is a replica of Canova's famed marble of Perseus in the Vatican, conceived about 1790 and first shown in 1801.
    Based freely on the Apollo Belvedere, which had been carried off to Paris under Napoleon, it was bought by Pope Pius VII and placed upon the pedestal where the Apollo had formerly stood.
    In the Museum's version, Canova has refined the ornamental details and aimed for a more lyrical effect than in the Vatican Perseus, a stylistic streamlining characteristic of his artistic process.
    This Perseus, purchased by Countess Valeria Tarnowska of Poland, is a replica of Canova's famed marble of Perseus in the Vatican, conceived about 1790 and first shown in 1801.
    Based freely on the Apollo Belvedere, which had been carried off to Paris under Napoleon, it was bought by Pope Pius VII and placed upon the pedestal where the Apollo had formerly stood.

Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children

    Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the heroic central figure in Italian Baroque sculpture.
    The influence of his father, the Florentine-born Pietro, can be seen here in the buoyant forms and cottony texture of the Bacchanal.
    The liveliness and strongly accented diagonals, however, are the distinctive contribution of the young Gian Lorenzo.
    Although about eighteen when he made this work, he already displayed what would become a lifelong interest in the rendering of emotional and spiritual exaltation.

Terracotta amphora (jar)

    The Praxis Group was the first Etruscan vase-painters to develop a simpler version of the true red-figure technique.
    This vase is a good example of their work.
    The amphora shape is directly borrowed from Greek, specifically Attic, prototypes.
    The nude youth leaning on a long walking stick that is repeated on each side is a subject perfectly familiar from the Greek repertoire.
    What is different is the technique.
   Here, rather than reserving the figures (painting up to their outline), they are painted in a red-slip over the black-gloss background; then, interior modeling is achieved by incising lines through the superposed red slip

The Last Judgment

    This majestic scene is divided into heavenly and earthly zones, which are linked by two hovering angels blowing trumpets.
   Christ appears at the moment of judgment in a burst of light and color, surrounded by clouds and putti and flanked by the apostles
   He blesses the saved, shown at lower left, while Saint Michael shepherds the damned into hell burning in the distance at the right

Bronze statuette of a youth dancing

    This beautiful bronze captures a moment when the full achievement of Classical art began to be used for the representation of a single, transitory state.
    The youth is nude except for a crown of myrtle, an attribute of followers of the god Dionysus.
    His pose no longer dictates one primary view, for his torso and legs assume a true contrapposto, and his downward glance reinforced by the direction of the arms makes a rather tight spiral of the whole composition.
    There is a perfect congruence among all parts of the figure, but the shifts in direction evident from every angle maintain an effect of instability and impermanence.

Bronze handle from a cista (toiletries box)

    The solid-cast handle is in the form of two nude male wrestlers.
    Wrestling was a popular sport, and the subject was used often for vista handles.
    Several complete cristae are on view in a nearby case.