In the Metropolitan Museum almost all the pieces are very impressive. Due to the aim of my visit I spent most of my time with the eight pieces our list. After my visit I decided to write about two sculptures; "Enthroned Virgin and Child" and "Portrait of Emperor Caligula".
Firstly, in the "Enthroned Virgin and Child", the Virgin was breast feeding Jesus. The sculpture can be seen as having two purposes. The sculptor tried to express himself to God as a good religious person or perhaps he wanted to show the next generation how the Virgin and Jesus look like. In both possibilities the aim is the expression of sculptor's desire to do something for God as a good Christian. .
The medium of this sculpture is ivory and I think sculptor used ivory as a material because of its hard and shiny surface. The surface of the sculpture is also very shiny and smooth. The surface of sculpture, allows its details very clear. An example of this is seen in the wrinkles of the clothes and faces.
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The sculptor sculpted the very natural form of feeding a child, which is known by almost everybody in the world. Also, I believe the bible and all the books the sculptor read about Christianity helped him form the images of Jesus and the Virgin in his mind.
I was expecting this sculpture to be bigger than it is. A bigger sculpture however wouldn't be more impressive than this one because the details on this small sculpture are very depictive and smooth. When you see the sculpture you can see the admirable talent of sculptor.
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There are only two figures in the scene and you are not interested in what is around them because the focus is only on the Virgin and Jesus. .
Secondly, "Portrait of Emperor Caligula" is portrait of one of the Roman Emperors. The purpose of this sculpture was, in the time of Roman Empire, to give information to the citizens about their emperor. In every empire it was really hard to see the emperor, so citizens had a chance to see their emperors only by the sculptures.