This exciting new look at Classical art starts with the excavation of the buried city of Pompeii, and investigates the grandiose monuments of ancient tyrants, and the sensual beauty of Apollo and Venus. Concluding with that most influential invention of all, the human portrait, it highlights the
re-discovery of Classical art in the modern world, from the treasure hunts of Renaissance Rome to scientific retrieval of artworks in the twenty-first century.
"This is no conventional book on Classical Art, but a critique of Greek art through Roman eyes, analyzing the complexity of the Romans' reception of Greek pictorial and sculptural 'masterpieces, ' most of which are only known today through their Roman versions."--Richard Brilliant, Columbia
University