Gods in color

We often think of ancient statues as the white stone figures that have long dominated museum collections.

Imagine a stroll through ancient Athens among colorful statues and brightly decorated temples—in contrast with the colorless stone ruins that survive today. This exhibition presents full-size copies of Greek and Roman sculpture whose painted decoration, faded over the millennia, has been painstakingly reconstructed. The color reconstructions—based on close examination and scientific analysis of the scarce traces of paint remaining on the surfaces of the originals—include a number of well-known masterpieces, such as the Peplos Kore from the Athenian Akropolis, pedimental sculpture from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina, and the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus. The exhibition opens up a world of richly attired deities, proud warriors, and barbarians in dazzling costume and dispels a popular misconception of Western art: the white marble statue of Classical antiquity. A brochure accompanies this exhibition.

Gods in color

Although the classical ideal usually evokes unadorned bronze and white marble sculptures, the art of ancient cultures was often painted to dazzling and powerful effect. Thanks to modern science, we can discover what pigments were used and how these sculptures would have originally looked. Gods in Color presents reconstructions of well-known sculptural works from ancient Greece and Rome to uncover their original colors and uncover the spirit of classical civilizations as never before. These are complemented by original antiquities from the Mediterranean world and early nineteenth-century watercolors that provide a more comprehensive view of polychromy in ancient cultures. To find out more about the exhibition, explore this digital offering from our friends at the the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt. The art of ancient cultures was often painted to dazzling and powerful effect. Polychromy — the painting of objects in a variety of colors — was a regular feature of sculpture in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Aegean, Greece, and Rome. When antiquities were rediscovered after prolonged exposure to the elements, their colored surfaces had often faded to invisibility. As a result, later sculptors such as Michelangelo who were inspired by Greek and Roman sculpture left their own marble and bronze surfaces unadorned, perpetuating this inaccurate classical ideal. Gods in Color emphasizes how ancient sculpture is incomplete without color. White or monochrome sculpture would have been as strange to the ancients as the color reconstructions might seem to us.

Experimental color reconstruction of the two bronzes from the Quirinal hill in Rome, Liebieghaus Frankfurt. Read Edit View history.

Its subject is ancient polychromy , i. The exhibition is based on the conclusions drawn from research on ancient polychromy, conducted especially by the Classical archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann since the early s, based on earlier works by Volkmar von Graeve. It displayed copies of ancient sculpture in their reconstructed and painted appearance that had been produced during his studies, as well as new reconstructions created especially for the exhibition, in conjunction with the originals or comparable ancient sculptures. Soon, the exhibition began to travel to other cities in Germany and beyond. Since , the exhibition and underlying research has received support from a foundation created by the government of Bavaria , as well as private donations. After the original German catalogue produced for the Munich exhibition, new editions were issued for later showings, most recently for the one in Frankfurt.

Account Options Ieiet. Gods in Color : Polychromy in the Ancient World. This stunning book uses 21st-century technology to reveal the original colors of ancient sculpture. When Renaissance artists sought to imitate ancient sculpture, their medium of choice was pure, white marble, but little did they know that the works they emulated were originally painted in dazzling and powerful hues--from red ocher and cinnabar to azurite and malachite. By illustrating painted reconstructions of well-known sculptures in relation to original examples, this volume reveals how ancient artists in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Aegean, Greece, and Rome brought unexpected and breathtaking color to their artworks. Accompanying these reproductions are watercolors of Greece's landscapes dating from different years, which show how our perception of ancient art has changed over time. Generously illustrated, this book testifies that the study of ancient sculpture is incomplete without an understanding of the many ways that color was employed to bring such art to life.

Gods in color

In ancient times , when approaching the Temple of Aphaia on the Greek island of Aegina, one would have seen a sculpture of a young archer, painted in bright colors to look as lifelike as possible. Contemporary writings on art, including a book by Roman author Pliny the Elder, mention the fact that sculptures in ancient Greece were painted and not left with the white marble exposed. Yet many people today are surprised to learn that classical statues were bursting with color. So how and why did this myth of colorless marble statues begin? Renaissance artists thought statues from antiquity were bare marble and fashioned their works accordingly, thus helping to create the myth. The colors on most ancient statues had faded by the time they were initially excavated , so it was assumed they had always been colorless. But even as new knowledge emerged, the truth was intentionally withheld from the public to fit with the ideals of society, Brinkmann explained. Brinkmann and his wife, archaeologist Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, created the exhibition " Gods in Color ," which has been touring the world since It features over sculpture replicas painted in bright hues based on ideas of what the originals might have looked like; modern technologies were used to detect traces of color.

Penta transaction

As a result, later sculptors such as Michelangelo who were inspired by Greek and Roman sculpture left their own marble and bronze surfaces unadorned, perpetuating this inaccurate classical ideal. So by the end of the 19th century it was clear: Antiquity was not white. Puppy love: Canine loyalty, friendship and status explored in new exhibition From cuddly pugs to hunting dogs and three-headed canines guarding the gates of hell, to the storied pets of David Bowie, Queen Elizabeth II and Catherine the Great, "Loyal Friends" celebrates our puppy obsession. The lack of color made the figures lose their sensuality, said the archaeologist. But as the exhibition shows, colors were used diffusely in the ancient world, with the Greeks and Romans painting their sculptures, not only for decoration, but to elaborate the story of each work. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gods in Color. Article Talk. Experimental color reconstruction of the so-called Winckelmann -Artemis from Pompeii next to the original marble statue, Frankfurt Liebieghaus. A brochure accompanies this exhibition. Travelling exhibition. Norway Germany 2 3.

Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation.

Imagine a stroll through ancient Athens among colorful statues and brightly decorated temples—in contrast with the colorless stone ruins that survive today. When archaeologists dug them up after two and a half thousand years in , some of the colors were still fresh and dazzlingly beautiful," said the archaeologist. Experimental color reconstruction of the bronze statue called Boxer at Rest from the Quirinal hill in Rome, detail head, Liebieghaus Frankfurt. Read more : Germany returns antiquities to Mexico. So by the end of the 19th century it was clear: Antiquity was not white. Experimental color reconstructions of the marble portrait of Roman emperor Caligula in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek , Liebieghaus Frankfurt. After the original German catalogue produced for the Munich exhibition, new editions were issued for later showings, most recently for the one in Frankfurt. Polychromy gave increased depth of cultural and artistic expression. West and East pediment of Aphaea Temple on Aegina. In focus. Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 A. Examples of colorful sculpture in this survey include Cycladic figures of the third millennium BC, reconstructed examples of Archaic-period Greek marble and bronze sculptures, and marble portraiture by Roman artists.