Image Details

Photograph courtesy of the Worcester Museum of Art

Still casting a spell after 1,800 years, this bronze bust of an unknown woman suggests the Roman genius in capturing—and transcending—reality. Art historians admire Roman creativity in casting portraits and carving relief scenes; other Roman sculptures, however, such as carvings of myths or gods, are generally described as “Roman copies of earlier Greek masterpieces.” Nonsense, says author Miranda Marvin in “Debunking the Copy Myth,” Roman sculptors created their own masterpieces.