Heads and Tails Tales and Bodies: Engraving the Human Figure from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period

Heads and Tails looks at a selection of archaeological artifacts that have only very rarely been presented to a broader audience, presenting an impressive gallery of masterpieces of miniature sculpture, such as coins, medals, plaques and statuettes, in which man always takes pride of place. The perception and depiction of the human figure by artists of different periods, the development of artistic styles, and the close links between the iconographic repertoire and mythology, religion, history, literature and philosophy of the classical world are discussed by international specialists, among them Henry Maguire, a longtime associate of Dumbarton Oaks and currently Professor Emeritus in the History of Art department at Johns Hopkins University; and Maria Mavroudi, Professor in Byzantine Studies at the Department of History at UC Berkeley. The book accompanies a 2016 exhibition at The Pushkin Museum in Moscow.