The Ideal Man | Connections | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Ideal Man

Prints curator Nadine Orenstein looks for the ideal man in art, from ancient Rome to Hollywood.

He could be a movie star. He could be a statesman. He could be your father.

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Nadine Orenstein
1280852
Statuette of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head) | 1st century b.c. | Greek; copy of a Greek bronze statue by Polykleitos | Terracotta | Fletcher Fund, 1932 (32.11.2)
8021024
Portrait of Rembrandt Leaning on a Stone Sill | 1639 | Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch) | Etching, drypoint and burin; second state of two | H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.107.25)
8091024
Plaque: Warrior and Attendants | 16th–17th century | Nigeria; Edo peoples, Court of Benin | Brass | Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1990 (1990.332)
8591024
Adam and Eve | 1504 | Albrecht Dürer (German) | Engraving | Fletcher Fund, 1919 (19.73.1)
8101024
Front of a cuirass | 4th century b.c. | Greek, Apulian | Bronze | Gift of Estée Lauder, 1992 (1992.180.3a)
10121024
Laceing [sic] a Dandy | 1819 | Anonymous, British, 19th century | Hand-colored etching | Rogers Fund, 1969 The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1969 (69.524.35)
6831024
Laceing [sic] a Dandy | 1819 | Anonymous, British, 19th century | Hand-colored etching | Rogers Fund, 1969 The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1969 (69.524.35)
1021799
Naked Man, Back View | 1991–92 | Lucian Freud (British, born Germany) | Oil on canvas | Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1993 (1993.71)
7651024
Self-Portrait | 1660 | Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch) | Oil on canvas | Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.618)
8561024
George Washington | ca. 1795–96 | Gilbert Stuart (American) | Oil on canvas | Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.160)
8571024
Young Husband: First Marketing | 1854 | Lilly Martin Spencer (American) | Oil on canvas | Private collection, Promised Gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
8521024
Young Husband: First Marketing | 1854 | Lilly Martin Spencer (American) | Oil on canvas | Private collection, Promised Gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
8451024
Self-Portrait | possibly 1620–21 | Anthony van Dyck (Flemish) | Oil on canvas | The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.25)
7341024
Gary Cooper | 1934 | George Hoyningen-Huene (American, born Russia) | Gelatin silver print | Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.293) | © Richard J. Horst
8241024
Young Girl with Portrait of George Washington | ca. 1850 | Southworth & Hawes (Albert Sands Southworth [American] and Josiah Johnson Hawes [American]), Boston | Daguerreotype | Gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937 (37.14.53)
7821024
Portrait of a Gentleman and His Daughter | ca. 1810 | François M. Guyol de Guiran (French, act. America) | Watercolor on ivory and painted paper | Purchase, Gift of The Chester Dale Collection, by exchange, 2001 (2001.95)
1280993
Nadine Orenstein
1280852

My name is Nadine Orenstein and I'm a curator in the Drawings and Prints department.
When you start studying art history there's a lot of talk about artists looking for an ideal figure type.
So that got me thinking about what is the ideal man in art and how
works of art can show you different aspects of what the ideal man might be in different times.
Albrecht Dürer, he was really trying to find a formula of the ideal proportions of men and women. Even he realized that that was not practical at all and later on when he did his proportion book he actually ended up with ideal figure types for different body shapes.
This great cuirass of an ideal chest, you wonder if the person wearing it actually looked like that, then that brings up the whole idea of people
changing themselves to become the ideal man. A wonderful caricature of a dandy and he's got two people who are pulling at his girdle trying to get him into the ideal figure type
and meanwhile, he looks like he's squeezing out the top of his collar.
To Lucien Freud, Leigh Bowery was his ideal man, and he'd made many paintings of this figure who to some people looks large and you can see like all the layers of flesh and fat.
Rembrandt van Rijn made many self-portraits from early in his career to very late in his career and he also put himself in a lot of paintings, so in a certain way he was his ideal man.
George Washington kind of embodies the ideal politician and this Gilbert Stewart painting became the model for the dollar bill and many other images of George Washington.
It used to be that the ideal man was the strong silent type who would take care of everything outside the home, and then the woman would be the one inside the home taking care of the shopping and all of these things, and now of course the image of the ideal man has changed and there's this great
painting that at the time was meant to make fun of him but in fact now, for many women, this would be the ideal man: the guy who goes shopping and he's there with his big basket of vegetables kind of bumbling around.
When I was in high school here in New York City and I came to the Met, I think this portrait of Anthony van Dyke showed my ideal man. He's like such a dream boat with his cute little eyes and his wonderful haircut and looking soulfully out at us.
I think the ideal man can be anything to anybody, and certainly changes so much over time.
Everybody has their own ideas that they read into these images. He could be a movie star, he could be a statesman
he could be your father. I'm always thinking about who it could be and so it's fascinating to see what other people, other cultures
think about this idea of the ideal man.

32.11.2

Statuette of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head), 1st century b.c., Greek; copy of a Greek bronze statue by Polykleitos, Terracotta Fletcher Fund, 1932 (32.11.2)

29.107.25

Portrait of Rembrandt Leaning on a Stone Sill, 1639, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch), Etching, drypoint and burin; second state of two H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.107.25)

1990.332

Plaque: Warrior and Attendants, 16th–17th century, Nigeria; Edo peoples, Court of Benin, Brass Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1990 (1990.332)

19.73.1

Adam and Eve, 1504, Albrecht Dürer (German), Engraving Fletcher Fund, 1919 (19.73.1)

1992.180.3a

Front of a cuirass, 4th century b.c., Greek, Apulian, Bronze Gift of Estée Lauder, 1992 (1992.180.3a)

69.524.35

Laceing [sic] a Dandy, 1819, Anonymous, British, 19th century, Hand-colored etching Rogers Fund, 1969 The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1969 (69.524.35)

1993.71

Naked Man, Back View, 1991–92, Lucian Freud (British, born Germany), Oil on canvas Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1993 (1993.71)

14.40.618

Self-Portrait, 1660, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch), Oil on canvas Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.618)

07.160

George Washington, ca. 1795–96, Gilbert Stuart (American), Oil on canvas Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.160)

L.2011.45.3

Young Husband: First Marketing, 1854, Lilly Martin Spencer (American), Oil on canvas Private collection, Promised Gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

49.7.25

Self-Portrait, possibly 1620–21, Anthony van Dyck (Flemish), Oil on canvas The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.25)

1987.1100.293

Gary Cooper, 1934, George Hoyningen-Huene (American, born Russia), Gelatin silver print Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.293) © Richard J. Horst

37.14.53

Young Girl with Portrait of George Washington, ca. 1850, Southworth & Hawes (Albert Sands Southworth [American] and Josiah Johnson Hawes [American]), Boston, Daguerreotype Gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937 (37.14.53)

2001.95

Portrait of a Gentleman and His Daughter, ca. 1810, François M. Guyol de Guiran (French, act. America), Watercolor on ivory and painted paper Purchase, Gift of The Chester Dale Collection, by exchange, 2001 (2001.95)