See the bright, long-overlooked colors of classical sculptures

[Tanuki]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-vibrant-long-overlooked-colors-of-classical-sculptures-180980321/

"A new exhibition at the Met features brightly hued reconstructions of ancient Greco-Roman artworks...
....

Per a statement, “Chroma” explores four central themes: the scientific and art historical tools used to identify the colors that once adorned ancient sculptures, the reconstruction of these colors, the meaning of polychromy in the Greco-Roman world, and the interpretation of polychromy by later societies. Highlights of the exhibition include reconstructions of a sixth-century B.C.E. marble sphinx finial, whose wings feature red-and-blue feathers and gilded embellishments, and a fifth-century B.C.E. archer’s torso wrapped in gold foil.".....(more)

[UTUSN]

1. Garishly, vibrantly, life-force *GORGEOUS*

[electric_blue68]

2. Ooooo, I read about all this back in ?2020! ...

Showed also kinds of digital recreations!

I remember reading some years maybe 10+ back that they found flecks of red, blue, and yellow chips around The Parthenon giving people a first inkling!


It was quite shocking at first to see the statues recreated!

I don't remember whether The Romans decided to skip the coloring and let the white marble, or other light cream, extremely pale grey stones highlight the human form.

I'll have to make a playdate w my sis.

We're half 2nd Gen Greek-American, so yeah...

ETA:
OK, I'd forgotten that it was the later digging up of statues that had had their colors weathered away that then sparked the highlighting the dorm concept.

And yeah, the article you linked to is part of what I read back in 2020! 👍

[Tanuki]

3. So here is a link to the exhibit, which opens July 5 and runs

through March 26, 2023:
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/chroma

[electric_blue68]

4. TY! Good, it's a long run.

[Lars39]

5. You'd love Athena!

https://www.dinemagazine.com/visit-the-parthenon-in-nashville/

[Aristus]

6. Some of the color restorations are improbable, to say the least.

I'm pretty sure the Romans didn't intend for Augustus' Prima Porta statue to look like this. They wanted their statues to look life-like.




Here is a much more plausible attempt: