Ars gratia artis

Search Works of Art at the Met

These links come from one of my favorite places in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY (the Met). The works of art search function seems very effective. To start, under "Thematic Category" you'll find "Greek and Roman Art in the Ancient World" which is a large and fascinating collection.

If you want to find later works inspired by Classical themes, I suggest going to "Title of Work of Art" and begin typing in a name. For example if you begin to type "Socrates" the site will guess that you're looking for Jacques-Louis David's "Death of Socrates" and you'll be taken to that painting's site.

N.B. Make sure when you are trying to find something by title that you don't have anything selected in the "By Time Period" or "By Region" searches unless you're absolutely sure. Otherwise it may not find what you're looking for.

A few of the pictures of the paintings seem a little dark compared to the real thing, but the images are sufficient, and they're accompanied by useful artistic and historical information.



The Met's essays on related topics

Many of these essays aren't even about the art directly, but rather let you fully explore all the different social, religious and political movements that reflect in the art. Economics, architecture, fashion, music, it's all here. Some of it's really broad, for example giving you an overview of a whole dynasty of Roman emperors. And some of it is very specific, such as Roman silverware.
A good friend of mine worked as an intern for the Met and I know from her that this site is constantly being updated and revised. They make sure all the links keep working and keep thinking of new related links to list on the left side. You can count on this site.

The two works of art I've posted are David's "Death of Socrates" and August Rodin's "Orpheus and Eurydice."