Miranda Marvin, Professor Emeritus of Wellesley College died on July 2 at her home in Wellesley. She was 71 years old and the cause of death was a heart attack. Miranda Marvin was professor of art and classics and director of the inter-departmental program in classical and Near Eastern archaeology at Wellesley College. She was a magnetic and inspiring teacher and an insightful and influential scholar. She has taught at Boston University, and twice as Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor of Art History at the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art. She has been a Getty Research Institute Scholar, a fellow of the Clark Art Institute, and a Trustee and Resident in Classic Studies of the American Academy in Rome, She has participated in excavations at Corinth Gezer(Israel) and Idalion (Cyprus) where she was Field Director of the Idalion Survey. She was also a significant contributor to numerous archaeological publications, including Archaeology, American Journal of Archaeology, National Gallery Studies in the History of Art, and Sculpture. Her crowning achievement was a beautifully produced book by Getty Publications in 2008: The Language of the Muses: The Dialogue between Greek and Roman Sculpture "Looking at Ancient Sculpture with New Eyes". In this volume, Miranda Marvin argues and illustrates a new interpretation of the relationship between Greek and Roman ideal sculpture.
Miranda was predeceased by her father Walter R. Marvin, an expert on American railroad history, and her mother, Beatrice C. Marvin, Headmistress of the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio. Miranda graduated from Bryn Mawr magna cum laude with honors , from American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1964, and received her Ph.D. from Harvard Classical Archaeology Department in 1973. She is survived by her cousins, John Borden of Princeton, NJ and Linda McKean of Rumson, NJ. A memorial service will be held on September 15 at 3:00 PM in Jewett Auditorium, Jewitt Arts Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. Contributions in her memory may be sent to Wellesley College, Green Hall, Wellesley MA. 02481.