The Colours of White
Posted on Wednesday 1 December 2004
Augustus of Prima Porta. Created circa 22 BC, rediscovered in 1863.
Colours reconstructed from pigment traces.
It is an often ignored fact that the
classical statues of Rome and Greece were originally painted, often
using quite striking colours. This reality however jars so much with
our own aesthetics and expectations about classical sculpture - as informed through its rediscovery in the Renaissance - that we
continue to prefer to look at them unadorned. But the world of
antiquity was never just marble white and as we can see from their vividly coloured paintings,
the Romans knew a great deal about pigment
making
and traces of these paints can been still seen on the statues under
microscopic examination.
making
and traces of these paints can been still seen on the statues under
microscopic examination.
I Colori del Bianco
is an exhibition currently being held at the Vatican Museums which displays a
series of replicas of ancient sculpture painted in their original
colours.
"suddenly, a world we had
been used to regarding as austere and reflective
has been turned on its head to become as jolly as a circus"
-- Corriere della Sera newspaper
has been turned on its head to become as jolly as a circus"
-- Corriere della Sera newspaper
Bust of the Emperor Caligula, coloured vs. original
Trojan archer from the Temple of Athena Aphaia of Aegina, 490-480 BC (original)
Stele of Paramythion, circa 370 BC
Peplos Kore, circa 530 BC (original)
UPDATE: Many more pictures from the exhibition may be found here.
Trojan archer from the Temple of Athena Aphaia of Aegina, 490-480 BC (original)
Stele of Paramythion, circa 370 BC
Peplos Kore, circa 530 BC (original)
UPDATE: Many more pictures from the exhibition may be found here.
