Color of ancient sculptures

Ancient Greek sculptures were originally painted bright colors; they only appear white today because the original pigments have deteriorated. References to painted sculptures are found throughout classical literature, including in Euripides's *Helen* in which the eponymous character laments, "If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect/The way you would wipe color off a statue." Some well-preserved statues still bear traces of their original coloration and archaeologists can reconstruct what they would have originally looked like.

By the early 19th century, the systematic excavation of ancient Greek sites had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably multicolored surfaces, some of which were still visible. Despite this, influential art historians such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann so strongly opposed the idea of painted Greek sculpture that proponents of painted statues were dismissed as eccentrics, and their views were largely dismissed for more than a century.

It was not until published findings by German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late 20th and early 21st century that the painting of ancient Greek sculptures became an established fact. Using high-intensity lamps, ultraviolet light, specially designed cameras, plaster casts, and certain powdered minerals, Brinkmann proved that the entire Parthenon, including the actual structure as well as the statues, had been painted. He analyzed the pigments of the original paint to discover their composition.

Brinkmann made several painted replicas of Greek statues that went on tour around the world. Also in the collection were replicas of other works of Greek and Roman sculpture, and he demonstrated that the practice of painting sculpture was the norm rather than the exception in Greek and Roman art. Museums that hosted the exhibit included the Glyptothek Museum in Munich, the Vatican Museum, and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, et al. The collection made its American debut at Harvard University in the Fall of 2007.

Brinkmann said that "no other aspect of the art of antiquity is as little understood as is the polychrome painting of temples and sculptures", and that modern sculptures, ostensibly inspired by the Greeks but left unpainted, are "something entirely new".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Brinkmann, Vinzenz (2008). "The Polychromy of Ancient Greek Sculpture". In Panzanelli, Roberta; Schmidt, Eike D.; Lapatin, Kenneth (eds.). The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present. Los Angeles, California: The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute. pp. 18–39. ISBN 978-0-89-236-918-8.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Gurewitsch, Matthew (July 2008). "True Colors: Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Prisco, Jacopo (30 November 2017). "'Gods in Color' returns antiquities to their original, colorful grandeur". CNN style. CNN. Cable News Network. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
4. ↑ Gurewitsch, Matthew (July 2008). "True Colors". Smithsonian: 66–71.
5. ↑ October 2007, Colorizing classic statues returns them to antiquity: What was really on that Grecian Urn? Harvard University Gazette.
6. ↑ Brinkmann, Vinzenz (2008). "The Polychromy of Ancient Greek Sculpture". In Panzanelli, Roberta; Schmidt, Eike D.; Lapatin, Kenneth (eds.). The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present. Los Angeles, California: The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute. pp. 18–39. ISBN 978-0-89-236-918-8.