Art in Roman Life.

By what seems a miracle, a collection of rustic 8th century B.C. huts on a hill gradually grew into a kingdom, a republic, and finally an empire that dominated three continents. At its height in the 2nd century A.D. Roman territory stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf and from the British Isles to the upper reaches of the Nile. Nothing can recreate the splendor and scale of Rome's achievement. What can be evoked are some specific aspects of that achievement. The exhibition on which this book is based attempted to provide a setting for a diverse collection of Roman portrait sculptures donated to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art by Tom and Nan Riley in 1996. This book documents the original exhibition, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, held at the CRMA from September 2003 to October 2005. After the close of the exhibition, a smaller version of the show was installed in December 2005 and will be on display for the foreseeable future. This new installation exhibits all of the Riley sculptures and a selection of artifacts from the original exhibition. We hope that this book will be used not only by all who visited and remember the original exhibition, but also by those who visit the museum to see the Riley collection of portrait sculptures for the first time. (from the Introduction by R.D. De Puma)