What have hitherto hindered an art-historical appreciation of the bust of Nefertiti at the Egyptian Museum Berlin are its popularity, media interest in alleged demands for restitution, and the poor presentation of the original. A decade of familiarity with the Nefertiti bust has allowed the author, who was director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin from 1989 to 2009, to trace the modern history of this world-famous, 3,300-year-old sculpture from its discovery and its reception in art and literature of the twentieth century to current reevaluations and to present his findings. He turns a pretty cover girl into a profoundly touching masterpiece, an exemplar of one of the most interesting epochs of Ancient Egyptian art and history.