Looking for Colour on Greek and Roman Sculpture

• Main Author: Amanda Claridge
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Art History, University of Birmingham 2011-12-01
• Series: Journal of Art Historiography
• Subjects: polychromy; XRF; UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy; gas chromatography; Persian Rider; Alexander Sarcophagus; Peplos Kore; Phrasikleia; Copenhagen Polychromy Network; pigments; circumlitio; Delos; Small Herculaneum Woman; gold-leaf; lead foil; Egyptian blue; madder; organic binders; painting on marble; lacquer; Winckelmann; Pompeii
• Online Access: http://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/claridge.pdf

Review of: Vinzenz Brinkmann, Oliver Primavesi, Max Hollein, (eds), Circumlitio. The Polychromy of Antique and Medieval Sculpture. Liebighaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main, 2010. New scientific methods now being applied to the analysis of traces of pigments and gilding on ancient Greek and Roman marble statuary, and other marble artefacts, have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the relationship between form and colour in antiquity. At present the enquiry is still in its infancy, but the papers delivered at a conference held in Frankfurt in 2008, reviewed here, provide a general introduction to the subject and to a wide range of work in progress.