In sculpture, a bust is the representation of that portion of the human figure which comprises the head and the upper part of the body. During the literary period of Greece the portrait busts of the learned formed an important branch of art, and in this way we come to possess faithful likenesses of Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, etc, in which the artists show great power of expressing the character of those represented. The number of busts belonging to the time of the Roman Empire is very considerable, but those of the Roman poets and men of letters have not been preserved in nearly so large numbers as those of the Greeks. The first bust that can be depended upon as giving a correct likeness is that of Scipio Africanus the elder. Research Bust
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