This Roman marble bust portrays the Greek goddess Tyche (by her Greek name; and known to the Romans as Fortuna). She faces the viewer with a regal attitude, confident and serene, prepared to receive the obeisance and veneration owed her. Atop her head, she wears the classical crown associated with the goddess Tyche, often depicted as turreted. Her hair is parted at the middle and swept back, divided in long plaits. Scholars have gradually come to realize that most ancient Greek and Roman statues were actually painted in lifelike detail to increase their realism. But since most of this sculpture has arrived in our hands denuded by the ages of its original pigments, many simply assumed that classical tastes preferred bare marble, an assumption that sparked a trend within neo- classical artistic schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And so despite the absolutely impeccable and simplistic beauty of such sculpture in its unadorned state, we can only imagine what her countenance must have looked like when it was new, with lifeline pupils staring through the hearts of her supplicants, her red lips appearing ready to speak a benediction, and her generous Italic eyebrows framing her eyes and replicating an expression of beauty that was certainly common throughout the ancient Mediterranean. Even in this bust’s unadorned state, her countenance is the embodiment of beauty through perfect proportion.

Antiquities
Ancient Roman