Roman sculpture is famously linked to Greek art, often preserving renowned Greek works like the Apollo Belvedere through its own copies, yet it is now celebrated for its unique contributions. Its main strengths lie in powerful, character-driven portraiture—eschewing idealization for realism—and dynamic narrative relief scenes, with many examples enduring in stone, unlike much Roman painting. These sculptures, appearing as raw stone today, were originally vibrant and brightly colored, adding to their lifelike quality when first created. Evolving from Etruscan and Hellenistic influences, Roman art frequently employed enslaved Greek sculptors, utilizing portrait busts, such as the Republic-era "Capitoline Brutus," as significant ancestral memorials and instruments of imperial propaganda.