The Miller Collection of Roman Sculpture

Mythological Figures and Portraits

2004
Author:

Richard Brilliant
Introduction by Dr. Sheree Jones

A tour through an important private collection with one of the world’s foremost art historians

This book describes in detail more than thirty Roman portrait statues, relief fragments, and full figures dating from 100 BC to AD 300 from the private collection of Dr. Michael Miller. Each stone portrait is accompanied by commentary from Richard Brilliant, professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University, who assisted Dr. Miller the assembling the collection for over twenty years.

The ancient Greeks presented a vision of man, rendered in stone, as an idealized, god-like individual. Romans took portraiture one step further, capturing for posterity the likeness of an actual person. Whether depicting statesmen, noblemen, or citizens-about-town, Roman sculptors made a revolutionary contribution by bringing everyday human qualities and characteristics into the realm of Western art.

This book describes in detail more than thirty Roman portrait statues, relief fragments, and full figures dating from 100 BC to AD 300 from the private collection of Dr. Michael Miller. Each stone portrait is accompanied by commentary from Richard Brilliant, professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University, who assisted Dr. Miller the assembling the collection for over twenty years.

Distributed for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

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