See some here. This is cool! I’ve always thought of the Greeks as pretty much “white marble” even though I’d read in the past that they were actually quite colorful.
The thing I wonder is whether the Romans knew about all that fabulous color, or whether they emulated and perpetuated what they thought was a pure marble look, the classical Greek statues having faded by then. (OTOH I see one of the colorized statues is of Augustus, not that you’d know it from the article.) How about Michaelangelo and other sculptors around the time of the Renaissance? When did we “forget” that the old statues were once in color?
I really like the pics added in the comments section too.
Similarly, they shine colored lights on Amiens Cathedral at night to show how it used to look:
http://www.iwalku2.com/2008/04/amiens-cathedral-light-show.html
The Romans painted their statues. The Renaissance sculptors tried to copy the old Roman style, and by that point, the old Roman statues had lost their paint, so the Renaissance statues weren’t painted.
What’s with that weird baby man on an egg thing next to his feet? I don’t remember that from art appreciation.
Ah, the art of compromise, or in this case, compromise in art. It’s Cupid riding a dolphin. Basically it’s there to provide structural support for the rest of the statue.
It also symbolizes his supposed ancestry through his adopted father, Julius Caesar, who claimed descent from Venus. Two jobs for the price of one!
It surprised me how much less attractive they look that way.
Then again, I was living in Williamsburg, VA when it came to light that the “traditional” colors of Williamsburg Blue (greyish blue) and Williamsburg Green (greyish green), were actually extremely faded versions of the true original colors, which were, roughly, turquiose and lime green! Quelle horreur.
I think Cracked.com described one work as looking like a Pride Day float collided with Mardi Gras.
Re the Romans- I saw some of these repainted reproductions along with their originals in Los Angeles a few years ago & indeed they did paint them. One item was a head of Caligula.
The tag line of the article says it all, “The color? Always something tacky.”
That’s truly awesome!
Similarly, I understand that the famous black door at 10 Downing Street was only black because of pollution, and was originally bright yellow. Now, of course, it’s so famous that when they refinished it, they just painted it black.
Many sculptures from the ancient world still retain their original color. A relief of Medusa holding Pegasus (and, probably before it was damaged, Chrysaor as well) from Syracuse still retains much of its original paint. Scroll halfway down here (the colors on the website aren’t correct – they’re weighted too blue):
http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~west~greece~Medusa.html
Also, at least one statue of Aphrodite from Pompeii retains some of its color, especially its gilding
I would give a great deal to have seen the Statue of Liberty before she turned green. Not that I don’t like her being green, but how would I know the difference. (Also, didn’t anyone think of that when she was commissioned?)
I think most of the time, the patina process of metals that are subject to it (such as copper) is planned and considered desirable.
Our state house dome used to be verdigris copper, which was very striking and attractive and well known. They did a big restoration project on the whole building more than a decade ago and of course the copper was then copper colored - they said it would be green in five years. It still isn’t. I miss it.
We use a similar technique to photograph ancient documents with a special ultraviolet camera. Occasionally documents considered too damaged to interpret can furnish pretty good readings when they’ve been imaged properly with UV. It’s pretty amazing stuff.
It’s cupid - it shows his “relation” to Venus. Mainly though, it was used as form of structure for the statute. It is very difficult for a statute of this nature to stand on its own.
Yes, they did. She was supposed to turn green.
In the mid-80s when they were refurbishing the Statue of Liberty for a couple of months, I think some people speculated it was going to be copper colored again – but of course it didn’t turn out that way. (For details refer to WILLIAMS, Remo.)