The Goodwill Roman bust finds a high point in Sask’s career. Art historian


‘I can honestly say that nothing I have learned about the SAMA collection so far is as wild as this collection of real German art from the looting of WWII to the Goodwill story!’

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Growing up in the small Saskatchewan town of Aylesbury, Lynley McAlpine never imagined that her love of history would make her an international media star.

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McAlpine, who is an expert on Roman art, has been working since 2018 to discover more about an ancient bust or portrait, purchased for $34.99 at a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas.

The rare find is now finally on display in an exhibit curated by McAlpine at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) in San Antonio, Texas, where she is an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow. And McAlpine’s phone has been heating up ever since.

“I knew that people would be fascinated by the story when it came out, but I hadn’t anticipated how much it would blow up! In recent days I have spent hours on the phone being interviewed by the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and more than a dozen other local, national and international news organizations. That’s very different from my normal job, which is mostly sitting at my desk reading and writing,” McAlpine said in an email interview with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

Lynley McAlpine, from Aylesbury, Sask., is an expert on Roman art and the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) in San Antonio, Texas.
Lynley McAlpine, from Aylesbury, Sask., is an expert on Roman art and the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) in San Antonio, Texas. Photo by SUPPLIED /Lynley McAlpine

McAlpine was first invited to view the thrift store bargain in 2018 along with other Roman art experts by Laura Young, the art collector who discovered it.

The bust, produced in Rome sometime between the late 1st century B.C. C. and the beginning of the 1st century AD. C., was once housed in a German museum decades ago, after being acquired by the Bavarian King Ludwig I, who displayed it in a full-scale replica of a house in Pompeii (called Pompejanum) in Aschaffenburg, Germany.

The Pompejanum stood for more than a century before it was heavily bombed by Allied fighters during World War II. It is not known how the bust ended up in Texas. The Bavarian government confirmed the authenticity of the find, but told Young that it could not be sold.

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“In January 2019, Laura Young asked me and a colleague from SAMA if we would like to see it again to consider exhibiting it at SAMA once her deal with the German government has been completed. We wanted to show it, but it was a long process, even longer because of COVID, and it finally came to SAMA last month,” said McAlpine.

McAlpine has a Ph.D. in Roman art and archeology from the University of Michigan and worked on researching the history of portraiture, both in ancient Rome and in 19th and 20th century Germany. She is also the curator of the exhibition that shows the bust in SAMA.

“It’s definitely been a lot of fun working on it. My main job at SAMA is provenance research, which is about uncovering the modern histories of the artworks in the museum and making sure nothing has been stolen or looted in the past,” he said.

Texas art collector Laura Young with the Roman bust she found at Goodwill in 2018.
Texas art collector Laura Young with the Roman bust she found at Goodwill in 2018. Photo by Image Courtesy of Laura Young

“It is fascinating work and I have found many interesting things, but I can honestly say that nothing I have learned about the SAMA collection so far is as wild as this collection of real German art, WWII looting and the Goodwill story.

McAlpine attended the Craik School in Saskatchewan, where history “was always my favorite subject,” and then majored in Classics (ancient Greece and Rome) at Western University in London, Ontario.

“I had many wonderful teachers and mentors in Canada. I usually try to get back to Saskatchewan a couple of times a year, but due to COVID I haven’t been there since 2019. I do have plans to go home next August though. Fingers crossed,” McAlpine said.

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“I definitely don’t miss winters, but to be honest, South Texas summers are just as miserable for me. It’s 39 degrees Celsius here today, and it’s only the beginning of May! I really want to go north for part of the summer,” he said on Saturday.

The discovery was just as exciting for Young, who often hunts for rare pieces of art, and took the 52-pound marble bust outside for a closer look under some natural light, he told the New York Times.

“I had chips on base. She had clear repairs. He looks old. I have been to museums. I’ve seen Roman portrait heads before,” Young said.

Young strapped the bust, which still had a yellow price tag on its cheek, to the front seat of his car and took it home, where he decided to follow his hunch and contact the experts.

The bust will be displayed at the San Antonio Museum of Art until May 2023, after which it will be returned to Germany.

The Roman bust that Texas art collector Laura Young found at Goodwill in 2018.
The Roman bust that Texas art collector Laura Young found at Goodwill in 2018. Photo by Image Courtesy of Laura Young /SUPPLIED

with files from the National Post and the New York Times

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