Posted on 02/26/2006 2:58:29 PM PST by FairOpinion
ATHENS (AFP) - Its austere white is on every postcard, but the Athens Parthenon was originally daubed with red, blue and green, the Greek archaeologist supervising conservation work on the 2,400-year-old temple said.
"A recent cleaning operation by laser revealed traces of haematite (red), Egyptian blue and malachite-azurite (green-blue) on the sculptures of the western frieze," senior archaeologist Evi Papakonstantinou-Zioti told AFP.
While archaeologists had found traces of the first two colours elsewhere on the temple years ago, the malachite-azurite colouring was only revealed in the latest restoration process, Papakonstantinou-Zioti said.
Given the testimony of ancient writers, it is not unlikely that the Parthenon's trademark columns were also coloured, she added.
Archaeologists have been trying since 1987 to remedy damage wrought on the Parthenon's marble structure by centuries of weather exposure and decades of smog pollution.
Principal restoration work on the entire Acropolis citadel, which stands in the centre of the modern Greek capital, is scheduled to be completed by 2009.
Dedicated to the ancient Greek goddess Athena, patron of the ancient city of Athens, the Parthenon was badly damaged during a Venetian siege of occupying Ottoman Turkish forces in 1687.
Much of the temple's eastern frieze was removed in the early 19th century by agents of Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Elgin subsequently sold the sculptures to the British Museum in London, where they are still on display, despite persistent efforts by the Greek government to secure their return for the past 20 years.
Its austere white is on every postcard, but the Athens Parthenon, seen here illuminated at night 17 January 2006, was originally daubed with red, blue and green, the Greek archaeologist supervising conservation work on the 2,400-year-old temple said.(AFP/File/Aris Messinis) Email Photo Print Photo
GGG ping
Art Ping.
Went up there real early one morning to get the sunrise in some pictures and noted there were a bunch of workers spreading marble chips near the walks and paths.....
When asked why , they said everyone wanted a souvenir from the site so the workers collect the marble chips from a quarry a few miles away and "salt" the site for the thieving tourists......:o)
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles for the First Time
John KeatsMy spirit is too weak; mortality
Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
And each imagined pinnacle and steep
Of godlike hardship tells me I must die
Like a sick eagle looking at the sky.
Yet 'tis a gentle luxury to weep,
That I have not the cloudy winds to keep
Fresh for the opening of the morning's eye.
Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
Bring round the heart an indescribable feud;
So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
Wasting of old Time—with a billowy main,
A sun, a shadow of a magnitude.
Art ping!
Let Republicanprofessor, me or woofie know if you want on or off the art ping list.
I'd love to see how those things looked painted.
Me too.
Here's how they looked painted:
The Peplos Kore' - a plaster cast painted with the original colors (which are still faintly visible on the original
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Thanks, that's fascinating. I'd heard somewhere along the line that some of the old statuary was painted, but have never seen a representation of it, or even much discussion of it. Thanks for the image.
I suppose that this practice of painting the figures did not extend to the so called "classical" days of Greek sculpture, Polykleitos, etc.?
I just used the Peplos Kore' because I knew (from that long-ago archaeology class) that some of her original paint survived and figured that somebody had done a reconstruction (and they had.)
This is the copy in Nashville. That's real 24k gold, BTW.
This too, I guess?
Did the Romans paint their sculptures as well?
Thanks
I know that SOME Roman statuary was painted, such as small cult statues. (After all, they took their inspiration from the Greeks, often copied Greek originals, and hired Greek sculptors). Sometimes the eyes in bronzes were inlaid with ivory to make them look real - if somewhat oddly complected < g > but I don't know if for example the portrait-busts were painted. There were quite a number of sculptures excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum that should have been in near-original condition . . . the larger ones (such as the equestrian statues of a consul and his son) were not painted . . . but I don't remember if they were in marble or in bronze.
Beware of Greeks baring glyphs.
:-D
This is the copy in Nashville. That's real 24k gold, BTW.
And note that the little statue in Athena's hand is life size.
Great thread.
Great posts.
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