Acoma polychrome water jar, c. 1890, from Acoma, clay and pigment, 25.1 x 29.8 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); speaker: Brian Vallo, Director, Indian Arts Research Center School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Conservators, scientists, and curators tell the story behind the unprecedented conservation of Tullio Lombardo's Adam. The life-size marble statue of Adam, carved by Tullio Lombardo (Italian, ca. 1455–1532), is among the most important works of art from Renaissance Venice to be found outside that city today. Made in the early 1490s for the tomb of Doge Andrea Vendramin, it is the only signed sculpture from that monumental complex. The serene, idealized figure, inspired by ancient sculpture, is deceptively complex. Carefully manipulating composition and finish, Tullio created God's perfect human being, but also the anxious victim of the serpent's wiles. In 2002, Adam was gravely damaged in an accident. Committed to returning it to public view, the Museum undertook a conservation treatment that has restored the sculpture to its original appearance to the fullest extent possible. The exhibition allows Adam to be viewed in the round and explains this unprecedented twelve-year research and conservation project. It also inaugurates a new permanent gallery for Venetian and northern Italian sculpture. The installation of this gallery was made possible by Assunta Sommella Peluso, Ignazio Peluso, Ada Peluso, and Romano I. Peluso.

Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser’s “Earth Song” is the signature sculpture on display at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Created in 1979 from Alabama marble, it depicts an Apache man singing a song of respect, a prayer to Mother Earth. Houser is considered the Grandfather of Contemporary Native American Sculpture for creating works that are grounded in a respect for all indigenous cultures. Discover more reasons why “Earth Song” is a masterpiece with David Roche, Dickey Family Director and CEO of the Heard Museum. Video by Bank of America. Created by Smarthistory.

Anishinaabe, possibly Mississauga Ojibwa, Shoulder bag (missing strap), c. 1800, tanned leather, porcupine quills, dye, glass beads, silk ribbon, metal cones, and deer hair, Possibly made in Ontario, Canada; possibly made in Michigan, United States; possibly made in Wisconsin, United States, 30.5 × 22.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tiffany and Company’s famous Bryant Vase was meticulously crafted by highly skilled artisans­­—among them, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Eugene J. Soligny—who worked the silver for more than a year. Curator Ellenor Alcorn describes how Tiffany then used the fascinating nineteenth-century process of electrotyping to create presentation copies. View this work on metmuseum.org. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Met curator Constance McPhee on outsiders in William Blake’s The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, c. 1799–1800. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Met curator Seán Hemingway on the purity of love in Bronze statue of Eros sleeping from Greece’s Hellenistic Period, 3rd–2nd century B.C.E. The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible. He is clearly based on firsthand observation. The support on which the god rests is a modern addition, but the work originally would have had a separate base, most likely of stone. This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from the large number of extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and, especially, Roman times. In the Roman period, Sleeping Eros statues decorated villa gardens and fountains. Their function in the Hellenistic period is less clear. They may have been used as dedications within a sanctuary of Aphrodite or possibly may have been erected in a public park or private, even royal, garden.

By hammer and fire (a martillo y fuego), Goldmaking techniques of the ancient Colombians © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.

Evan and Anne discuss a Byzantine depiction of a griffin, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. 2000.81). CC BY 4.0.

Evan Freeman, PhD and Anne McClanan, PhD discuss a Byzantine mosaic of a personification of Ktisis/Foundation, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. 1999.99). CC BY 4.0.

Met curator Marla Prather on motion in Alexander Calder’s Mobile, 1941. Alexander Calder was born to a family of sculptors. His grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder (1846-1923), studied with Thomas Eakins and is famous for the elaborate sculptural decorations of Philadelphia's City Hall. Calder himself had studied to be an engineer at the Stevens Institute of Technology before attending the Art Students League in New York. Like many aspiring artists of his generation, Calder then spent time in Paris where he was inspired by Joan Miró's work and absorbed the playfulness of Dada. Indeed, it was the French artist Marcel Duchamp who christened Calder's hanging sculptures "mobiles." For works such as this one, Calder cut sheet metal into various shapes and assembled these elements in a chain-linked system so that the flat metal pieces move in response to currents of air. This particular mobile was included in the 1942 exhibition "Artists for Victory" at the Metropolitan where the sculpture committee awarded it a prize and recommended it be added to the collection. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Join Gaylord Torrence and Brian Vallo for a closer look at, and in-depth commentary on, a selection of highlights in the exhibition Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection. The exhibition is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, the Enterprise Holdings Endowment, and the Walton Family Foundation. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is situated in Lenapehoking, the homeland of Lenape peoples, and respectfully acknowledges their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to the area. Credits Editor: Sarah Cowan Producer: Melissa Bell Audio: David Raymond Photography: Eileen Travell Music: Austin Fisher. Archival images Carrie Bethel, Courtesy Yosemite National Park Archives, Museum, and Library © 2018 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Follow the conservation treatment and research of “Emblem of Folly,” a painting from colonial Cuzco. This is one of ten paintings in the Cuzco School style that were recently gifted to The Met as part of the Museum’s effort to collect works from colonial Latin America. José Luis Lazarte Luna, Assistant Conservator in Paintings Conservation, who was born and raised in Lima, Peru, says that conservation can “shine a light on those communities or artists that have not had the focus before.” These paintings have many unknowns, from the identities of their Indigenous makers to the materials they used. Committed study of these works can help create a better understanding of Latinx cultural identity and history.

"What does it take to revive a masterwork?" Michael Gallagher on conserving Charles Le Brun's Everhard Jabach and His Family Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690). Everhard Jabach (1618–1695) and His Family, ca. 1660. Oil on canvas; 110 1/4 x 129 1/8 in. (280 x 328 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2014 (2014.250) http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/626692 MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art recently acquired by the Met through gifts and purchases. Discover a new work each month. http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/metcollects Credits Director: Christopher Noey Producer and Editor: Kate Farrell Camera: Sarah Cowan, Kate Farrell, Lisa Rifkind Design: Natasha Mileshina Music: Austin Fisher Explore more on MetMedia: http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video.

The "Portrait of Philip IV" by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) returned recently from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, having been cleaned for the first time in more than sixty years. The gleaming silver brocade covering the king's crimson coat is executed in an extraordinarily free and spontaneous manner, which is almost unparalleled in the painter's production and can now be better appreciated. The treatment by Michael Gallagher, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge of Paintings Conservation, revealed the dazzling original surface that had been veiled by a yellowing varnish. Additionally, the first technical studies of the painting were undertaken, involving microscopy, X-radiography, and infrared reflectography.

The magnificent sixteenth-century Emperor's Carpet from Safavid Iran was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1941, but its condition was so fragile that it was only displayed for public twice over the next sixty years. This video documents the ambitious three-year conservation program that was launched in 2006 to stabilize the condition of the carpet so its lustrous wools and dazzling colors can be displayed the Museum on a regular basis. Related lesson plan: http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators/lesson-plans-and-pre-visit-guides/venice-and-the-islamic-world

Met curator Yelena Rakic on reading into Cylinder seal and modern impression: nude bearded hero wrestling with a water buffalo; bull-man wrestling with lion from Mesopotamia, c. 2250–2150 B.C.E. . Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Depletion gilding (dorado por oxidación). The gold-making techniques of the ancient Colombians. © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.

The daguerreotype is a one-of-a-kind, highly detailed photographic image on a polished copper plate coated with silver. It was introduced in 1839 and became the first popular photographic medium. Created by Getty Museum.

Met curator Jeff Rosenheim on the art of seeing in Walker Evans’s [Subway Passengers, New York City], 1938. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.