Connections: Touch

Curator of European sculpture and decorative arts Ian Wardropper on the profound relationship between touch and sculpture.

"We don't let people touch for good reason, but it fascinates me what that means."

Curator of European sculpture and decorative arts Ian Wardropper on the profound relationship between touch and sculpture.


Painting of the a forest, with dark green painted trees, and brown colored rocks stacked on top of one another. There is a shaded. mountain in the background.
A sound recordist imagines the auditory world of Caspar David Friedrich’s landscapes.
Martyn Stewart
January 31
Met security guard Armia Khalil crosses his arms and smiles while standing across from his artwork in gallery, a carved bust of a woman with a scarab in her hair.
Video
A chance encounter and a friendly chat led to the inclusion of Armia Malak Khalil’s art in a major Met exhibition.
January 23
A bearded man wearing a sweater with stripes, glasses, and an orange beanie smiles while holding up a fabric with a multicolored diamond pattern.
Video
Join designer Todd Oldham behind the scenes at The Met’s Costume Institute.
November 21, 2024
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Pope Innocent X, Alessandro Algardi  Italian, Bronze, on a later plinth, Italian, Rome
Alessandro Algardi
ca. 1690
The Intoxication of Wine, Clodion (Claude Michel)  French, Terracotta, French, Paris
Clodion (Claude Michel)
ca. 1780–90
Saint Sebastian, Alessandro Vittoria (Alessandro Vittoria di Vigilio della Volpa)  Italian, Bronze, Italian, Venice
Alessandro Vittoria (Alessandro Vittoria di Vigilio della Volpa)
1566
Paris, Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi)  Italian, Bronze, partially fire-gilt, silver inlay, Italian, Mantua
Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi)
ca. 1518–1524
Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children, Gian Lorenzo Bernini  Italian, Marble, Italian, Rome
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Pietro Bernini
ca. 1616–17
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673–1729), Unknown Artist, Swiss, Austrian, or German, active Russia ca. 1703–4, Red pine (pinus sylvestris), with wrought-iron clips, Russian, St. Petersburg
Unknown
probably shortly before 1704
Wine cooler (one of a pair), Ignaz Joseph Würth  Austrian, Silver, Austrian, Vienna
Ignaz Joseph Würth
marked 1781
Marsyas, Balthasar Permoser  German, Marble on a black marble socle inlaid with light marble panels, German, executed Rome or Florence
Balthasar Permoser
ca. 1680–85
Cabinet with personifications of the Five Senses, Satin worked with silk and metal thread, purl, chenille, seed pearls, coral beads, and mica; tent, knots, rococo, satin, couching, and detached buttonhole stitches; woven metal thread trim; silk and paper lining; wood frame; turned wooden feet, British
British
third quarter 17th century
Belisarius and His Guide, Antoine Denis Chaudet  French, Bronze, mounted in a bronze circlet with floral ornament painted to resemble gilt bronze, into which is fitted the original rotating mechanism, French, Paris
Antoine Denis Chaudet
1794
Rothschild lamp, Andrea Briosco, called Riccio  Italian, Bronze, on a later wood base, Italian, Padua
Andrea Briosco, called Riccio
ca. 1510–20
A Hypocrite and a Slanderer, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt  German, Tin alloy, Austrian, probably Pressburg (Bratislava)
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
ca. 1770–83
Pair of eyes, Bronze, marble, frit, quartz, obsidian, Greek
Greek
5th century BCE or later
Pygmalion and Galatea, Jean-Léon Gérôme  French, Oil on canvas
Jean-Léon Gérôme
ca. 1890
Torso of a Ptolemaic King, inscribed with cartouches of a late Ptolemy, Basalt
80–30 B.C.