Paint the all unutterable

doctorwho: Yeah, he does.

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:27:36 -0400

Yeah, he does.

workman: The common perception is that the great statues and...

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:32:52 -0400

Trojan archer from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina, Greek, c. 490-480 B.C. He is probably Paris, who killed Achilles with an arrow to that famous heel.

Grave stele of Paramythion, Greek, c. 380-370 B.C. from the Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich. The stele appears as is (left), as it was, and as is under ultraviolet light.

The head of Caligula (looking innocent), Roman, A.D. 39-41.

Juxtaposition of the colored reconstruction and the weathered original of a bronze head in the Munich exhibition.

Naked Greeks battle Persians on the so-called “Alexander” sarcophagus, Greek, c. 320 B.C., Archaeological Museum, Istanbul.

Warrior's head from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegin. Left: Color reconstruction. Right: Original sculpture in ultraviolet light, showing scales on the helmet.

Torso of a warrior, Greek, c. 470-460 B.C., Acropolis Museum, Athens. Color of the cuirass is speculative, both yellow and gilt reconstructions were made; some ancient statues certainly were gilded

Athena. Reconstruction has been restricted to areas whose original appearance may be determined with some certainty.

The “Peplos” kore, Greek, c. 530 B.C. Right: drew criticism from those who say ancients painted only ornaments and details, never a whole sculpture. Left: limited to colors thatcan be determinedsurely

Left: Lion from Loutraki, color reconstruction. Center: Original. Right: Detail of mane and eyebrow hair visible with the naked eye on the original sculpture.

workman:

The common perception is that the great statues and buildings of ancient Greece and Rome were all pure unpainted stone or green tarnished bronze, but researchers have been arguing that this may not been what these classic monuments really looked like back in the era of their creation. That, in fact, these statues were quite alive and vibrant, full of color.

Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity is a travelling exhibition of varying format and extent that has been shown in multiple cities worldwide. Its subject is ancient polychromy, i.e. the original, brightly painted, appearance of ancient sculpture and architecture. It features more than 20 full-size color reconstructions of Greek and Roman works, alongside 35 original statues and reliefs.

The color reconstructions are based on close examination of the originals and on scientific analysis of the scarce traces of paint remaining on them. Ultraviolet light, says Ebbinghaus, “brings out ‘paint ghosts,’ differences in the surface structure of the stone caused by different paints and by the weathering of the paints. It can often give you an idea of patterns, even if no pigments survive.” The paint on these reproductions of stone sculptures appears flat, lacking the depth of, say, oil. “We can identify the colorants—mostly minerals and some plants,” says Ebbinghaus, “but binding media are hard to identify. Egg has been used for the reconstructions. If the minerals were ground more finely, a different binding medium used, the paint polished or covered with a protective coating, the effect would be quite different.”

“We now assume that almost all Greek marble sculpture was painted,” she says. “These reconstructions can only be approximations,” but at least they dispel a popular misconception—that most statues of antiquity were plain old white. Plain would not be thought ideal until the Renaissance.

Researchers believe, particalurly Vinzenz Brinkmann who has been doing this research for the past 25 years, that artists used mineral and organic based colors and after centuries of deterioration any trace of pigment leftover when discovered, would have been taken off during any cleaning processes done before being put on display, washing the historical art clear of its true colors.

The findings of this research completley changes the commonly held modern ideas of the ancient world, and the way we view modern sculpture and art today, much of which was based on those classical Greek and Roman styles.

Sources: x x x x.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for Cover Man May 2013

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:05:51 -0400

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for Cover Man May 2013

theeuropeanpost: London poster for Pedlars by Jim Datz

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:38:21 -0400

theeuropeanpost:

London poster for Pedlars by Jim Datz

Jaime&Brienne + touching

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:11:14 -0400

Jaime&Brienne + touching

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for Cover Man

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:43:51 -0400

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for Cover Man

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:16:43 -0400

justakidgrowingup: Fuck batman I know this !

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:49:18 -0400

justakidgrowingup:

Fuck batman I know this !

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:22:12 -0400

aniseshaw: ‘The Great Gatsby’ Still Gets Flappers...

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:54:50 -0400

aniseshaw:

‘The Great Gatsby’ Still Gets Flappers Wrong

Through their writings, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald—the young, glamorous literary couple du jour—defined the Jazz Age as we know it. Scott declared his Southern belle wife, whom he married in 1920, “the first American flapper.” The inspiration for Daisy Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby,” Zelda was known for her wild antics, like drunkenly jumping, fully clothed, into the fountain at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Even as a kid, she was always creating a scene: She stole a car when she was 8; she went swimming in a flesh-colored bathing suit in her teens….

But Zelda, as fearless and trail-blazing as she was, can’t even embody the flapper movement fully. For one, it was not all white women, as NYU’s Modern America reports: “For the time being, the bob and the entire Flapper wardrobe, united blacks and whites under a common hip-culture.” Secondly, the flapper’s rebellion against Victorian sexual mores didn’t start among the high-society debutantes, but in “working-class neighborhoods and radical circles in the early 1900s before it spread to middle-class youth and college campuses.”

Pictured: African American Flappers at a football game in Washington D.C. from the Smithsonian Institute.