Art almost always reflects the historical events during which it was created, and in many instances the two depends on each other. In the case of the Roman Portraits exhibit at the Palmer Museum of Art, this could not be truer.

"This is a truly outstanding exhibition and it will be a long time until we get (artifacts) like these," said Karen Arbitman, museum curator.

Artifacts collected from an era ranging from about 625 B.C. to the early third century in the Roman Empire, give the viewer an overview of the types and the uses of the classic portrait.

The show was originally put together but not shared by the museum of University of Iowa a year ago. Randy Ploog, assistant curator at Palmer and a graduate of University of Iowa, heard about the exhibit through the alumni newsletter. Soon after, Ploog set up a date to showcase the artifacts on the Palmer Museum calendar and got the ball rolling, or in this case, the head.

Ploog deserves much of the credit for re-organizing the show because after the Iowa museum created the exhibit and wrote a correlating catalog, it disbanded the whole project. The invaluable works were returned to their respective owners. Ploog had to re-request the statues and antiquities from their holders and practically start from scratch.

Richard Daniel De Puma, who wrote the catalog, will visit Penn State and talk about the works on display in a lecture, "Portraits and Politics: Imperial Images as Propaganda." It will be presented at 8 p.m. March 8 in the Palmer Museum first floor.

Not all the portraits were originally created as art works. The Etruscan portraits on display are primarily funeral urns meant to hold the ashes of the dead.

"The Etruscan representations indicate some concern to capture the likeness of the deceased," Ploog said.

"The battle scenes that ornament the funeral boxes are probably how they died or some correlation to the religion or history that occurred at the time, but we're unsure how it relates to the person," Ploog said.

Greek influence on Roman art has not been left out of the exhibit. Ploog placed two pieces together to show this significance. One is a Roman copy of Grecian conqueror Alexander the Great done in the third century.

"The piece was reproduced after the Republic age but reflects the importance of Greek works of art on the Romans," Ploog said.

The art of the Roman Republic is also represented in a dynamic way. The portraits at this time are representative of the true-to-life person, and reflect the freedom of expression that the Republic offered.

Unknown Republican Man, dated to the first century B.C., exemplifies the art of the time: the detail and fluidity of the facial expression denotes the labor that was put in to the work to make it an accurate description of the artist's subject, probably as a memorial.

As the Roman political state changed so did the art work and its purposes. The republic was changed to the empire, and its first emperor, Augustus, acted the part. He used artwork for his own purposes as propaganda to lift himself to the people as a young, strong, peace-loving conqueror.

"Augustus was the first emperor who depicted himself as an idealized warrior-leader and set a precedent for others," Ploog said.

Other portraits of great interest are from Roman provincial states such as Syria and Egypt.

"In the Roman portraitures in provinces, the styles vary differently. The Syrian works are cruder and not as well done as the Roman, and they are more stylistic," Ploog said.

Ploog said the Roman governors assigned to the province adapted the local styles of artwork and also continued supporting the Roman traditions.

The pieces are a collection from many different museums and private collections: two from the Nelson Museum in Kansas, one from the Detroit Art Museum, one from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, three from various galleries in New York, and 16 from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Reilly, which makes them the main contributors to the show, Ploog said.

"There is a lot in this exhibit for everybody. It speaks of religion, ancient burial rites, memorials and propaganda. This is a show that is very understandable and everybody will go away with a grasp of the topic," Arbitman said.