During the 1850s, American artists and writers formed a community in Rome. Among them were Salem-born William Wetmore Story, Louisa Lander, and Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Story had abandoned his distinguished career as a Boston attorney to become a prolific sculptor. In his Cleopatra and Libyan Sybil, he sculpted strong, sensuous, controversial women and earned international acclaim. Louisa Lander had just begun her career as a sculptor when she met the Hawthornes in Rome. Her provocative marble bust of Nathaniel became a source of scandal and gossip abroad and at home in Salem.

Tickets are $20 for the general public, and $15 for Gables members.