Polychromy in ancient sculpture

[Bartc]

This article goes into the controversy surrounding recreation of color painting on top of ancient marble sculptures. While the scientifically verified certainty is that much of the "white" statuary was actually painted, I too find these recreations jarring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/arts/design/reproductions-museums-sculpture-met-brinkmann-antiquity-polychromy.html?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20220826

Part of my problem is not about doubting the accuracy, rather about what those colors obscure. Firstly, even using verifiable pigmentation, those colors are so chromatically saturated and flat that they almost make the statues lose some of their 3D qualities to my eye; certainly in photos, if not also in person.

Much of the real genius evident in the best ancient statuary is in the extraordinary ability to suggest skin, the drape of fabric, bodies underneath garments, and compositional dynamism. Those become really apparent when you see them live without paint. To my view the paint obscures those effects too well.

Imagine you painted a masterpiece, then covered it over with layers of dense varnish that had yellowed. I guess that implies that when overpainting sculpture you are doing the reverse of over-varnishing (or aging varnish) on paintings, but the effect for my taste and view is essentially the same: something good is lost!

See what you think.

 

[Hermes2020]

For some reason the link does not work for me, but I agree with you that the thought of colouring ancient sculptures is repugnant. I suspect that part of the reason is that we've been conditioned to accept pure white Greek sculptures as examples of good taste; interior designers like Syrie Maugham (Somerset Maugham’s wife) are largely responsible for this. I must admit, though, that I am very much in favour of their efforts to steer us away from busy Victorian interiors.

 

[Bartc]

Try this link instead:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/arts/design/reproductions-museums-sculpture-met-brinkmann-antiquity-polychromy.html

Or this one (not the same article):

Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World

Although not widely known, antiquities were colored to dazzling and powerful effect. Polychromy—the painting of objects in a variety of hues—was a regular feature of the sculpture and architecture of most ancient cultures, especially in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Aegean, Greece, and Rome.

www.famsf.org

 

[Artyczar]

I'm not fond of it either.

 

[Triduana]

Yes I agree with you Bart, the colours are too strong and it detracts from what the sculptors managed to achieve. All the fine details such as drapery practically disappears.

 

[Rich53]

"Gilding the lily", anyone?

--Rich

 

[Marc]

I'm doubtful as to the recreations of the polychromes on classical and earlier sculptures. Always flat and monotonal within each colour. Surely it it must have been more like the higher quality medieval polychromed statues. That is with the colours molding with tone the very nature of the surface. Rather the same way that wargaming figures are usually painted today.

 

[Bartc]

I'm doubtful as to the recreations of the polychromes on classical and earlier sculptures. Always flat and monotonal within each colour. Surely it it must have been more like the higher quality medieval polychromed statues. That is with the colours molding with tone the very nature of the surface. Rather the same way that wargaming figures are usually painted today.

Marc, I don't know how far the researchers took the chemical analysis of the scant examples of pigmentation on the statues. If they only analyzed the pigments themselves they would end up with flat colors. However, if they analyzed the binders used and they discussed this with artists, they might have concluded something like what you're suggesting. Oil painting as we know it wasn't the thing until the Renaissance, but oil mixed with pigments appears on cave walls, so it's remotely possible. But if you look at wax based paints - well known in the ancient world from at least 2000 years ago, those could have carried the kind of subtlety we associate with painting today. So could fresco, a technique well known and heavily utilized in the ancient world. So you may be onto something with regard to the flatness of the recreations. I wonder if anyone ever asked these questions.... You'd figure the museum curators would have, but then, curators aren't necessarily artists themselves.