We spent a day exploring the Met’s vast and numerous galleries and revisited some of my favorite works of art. The galley filled with Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture is always on the to visit list and I wanted my son to experience seeing all of the magnificent statues. Having since visited Rome and Florence he has become more interested in learning about history and has become an admirer of ancient art. It was a great feeling to glance over and see him taking photos and reading the museum labels. He shared which were his favorite statues and why he liked them. It was interesting to hear his point of view about what he found beautiful and admirable.

As we wound our way through the galleries we happened upon a Statue of Aphrodite. *Discovered in the 1770s near Rome, the sculpture was first documented in April 1775 in a letter from Gavin Hamilton (1723–1798), the British painter and antiquities dealer living in Rome. Further correspondence between Hamilton and his clients indicates that by December 1775 the statue was acquired by Douglas Hamilton (1756–1799), 8th Duke of Hamilton and 5th Duke of Brandon, and transported to Scotland in 1776. The statue, now also known as the Hamilton Aphrodite, was part of Douglas Hamilton’s distinguished collection of ancient art displayed at Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire, Scotland, for nearly a century and a half. It remained there until the stately home was condemned for demolition and its contents dispersed in 1919 and 1920. The Aphrodite passed through various collections over the next century, including that of the American press and radio magnate, William Randolph Hearst, and the New York–based antiquities dealer, Joseph Brummer. With the sale of Brummer’s estate in 1949, however, the statue disappeared from public view for seventy-two years. Reemerging in 2021 in a Sotheby’s London sale of a private collection, the spectacular piece is now on loan to The Met until 2028.

-source Metropolitan Museum of Art.

How great it was to see the celebrated statue of the goddess of love, Aphrodite! She was captivating in her elegance and modesty. How I wish I could have a copy of her in my home!