Detail of a Bronze Statuette of a Youth Dancing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2010

Title: Bronze statuette of a youth dancing

Period: Hellenistic

Date: late 4th century B.C.

Culture: Greek

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: 7 7/8 × 3 7/16 × 2 3/16 in., 2.5 lb. (20 × 8.7 × 5.6 cm, 1133.993g)

Classification: Bronzes

Credit Line: Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971

Accession Number: 1972.118.94


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 Dionysos. 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.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255407?ft=1972.118.94