Ancient art in color
This goes into the “something I never thought of or learned, but probably should have” category.
This weekend, I was reading Harvard Magazine, and came across the article “Dazzlers: Ancients reborn in bright array,” about a recent exhibit at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. This exhibit, Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, is showcasing the fact that the Greek and Roman sculpture - you know, the famous white sculptures that you’ve seen a million times - all used to be in color. They were painted!
After reading the article, this seems like something I should have known or realized or learned along the way, but I really didn’t. It did make me feel a little better to find that other people were discovering this for the first time, too. According to the article “Athenians in long lines were fascinated and shocked” when the exhibit was in town. And Susanne Ebbinghaus, Hanfmann curator of ancient art at the Harvard University Art Museums, had this to say: “I knew, of course, that Greek and Roman sculpture was once painted, but there is a big difference between this abstract notion and actually attempting to imagine what the sculptures might have looked like.”
The color versions of the sculptures are based on scientific analysis of the traces of paint remaining on them, assisted by the use of ultraviolet light. There is more information about the process that was used in the press release, and the exhibit has two instructional videos about the testing and examination process if you want to understand more of the science behind the art. But I’m more fascinated by the images.
“Alexander” Sarcophagus - how it looks today
Alexander Sarcophagus in color, detail
The three versions of this grave stele represent the current sculpture, the way it may have looked when it was created, and how it appears under ultraviolet light.
There’s another cool before and after here.
Tags: art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gods in Color, Harvard, Harvard Magazine, museums, Play, sculpture
