módulo 2 - texto 08 - m. v. antiguidade clássica - gisela richter - polychromy in greek sculpture

7/28/2019 Mdulo 2 - texto 08 - M. V. Antiguidade Clssica - Gisela Richter - Polychromy in Greek Sculpture

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POLYCHROMYN GREEKSCULPTURE

BY GISELA M. A. RICHTER, Curator of Greek and Roman ArtWITH NOTES ON THE COLOR PLATES

BY LINDSLEY F. HALL, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Egyptian ArtThere are few subjects in the field of ancientart that have aroused such heated and pro-longed controversy as polychromy in Greeksculpture. In looking over the archaeologicalliterature of the past century we find thetheme taken up again and again from differ-ent points of view, and we realize how long itwas before the fact became established that theGreeks colored their sculptures. The idea ofpainted statues somehow filled people withhorror, and only after the evidence in its favorhad become overwhelming did the supportersof white, unpainted sculptur'e give up theircase.This strong prejudice was of course natural.Ever since the Renaissance, artists had pro-duced white marble sculpture, in imitation,oddly enough, of the Greek and Roman ex-amples known to them, which in the courseof time had lost their coloring. It was not easyto give up a belief that had been held forgenerations and one that had, moreover,started a new practice; for previous to theRenaissance colored sculpture had been therule. However, as soon as the problem wasattacked in the modern scientific spirit the re-sult was inevitable. The statements of ancientwriters and the actual traces of color on extantGreek and Roman sculptures were too strongevidence to admit of further doubt thatthroughout antiquity marble as well as lime-stone statues and reliefs were painted diversshades. That the colors have so often disap-peared is not surprising when we rememberthe vicissitudes the sculptures have undergone-exposure to the elements, burial for over twothousand years, and often a thorough cleaningon rediscovery. In many cases, moreover,in which color was noted on the sculptures

when they came out of the ground, it vanishedsoon afterwards on contact with light and air.The fact that any color at all now remains isreally more remarkable than that it has dis-appeared in the majority of cases.The Metropolitan Museum has an impor-tant collection of early Attic gravestones' onseveral of which remains of the original color-ing are still visible. On some the traces are soconsiderable that they have enabled us to re-construct the original scheme. They not onlyamplify our comparatively scanty knowledgeof early Greek painting and of polychromesculpture but shed fresh light on several mootpoints.The monuments are of the two types thatwere evidently current in Attica during tfiesixth century-an earlier one with a cavettoor a double-volute capital carved in a separatepiece from the shaft and surmounted by asphinx and a later one with a palmette finialcarved in the same piece with the shaft. Onlyone monument of the earlier, elaborate formhas survived more or less complete, the one il-lustrated on the following page. The others aremere fragments, consisting of parts of crown-ing sphinxes, capitals, shafts, and inscribedbases (see pp. 235, 238, and pls. I-iv). Theyare of marble or limestone. The representa-tions on the shafts and capitals are in relief,incised, or merely painted. Architects, sculp-tors, and painters apparently collaborated toproduce these monuments, which must havebeen made chiefly for the wealthy, aristocraticfamilies of early Athens; for it is only theywho could have afforded such sumptuous me-1 For a discussion of the style and chronology of theseand related monuments see my forthcoming ArchaicAttic Gravestones (Martin Classical Lectures, vol.XI).

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'.-~ ~ -1uGravestone of a youth and his sister, about

540 B.C. The sphinx is shown in plate i

morials at a time when wealth was not wide-spread and the art of monumental sculpturein stone comparatively new.Lindsley F. Hall's restorations of some ofthese monuments are shown here in fourdrawings and four colored plates. The stoneswere examined by several of us-Miss Alexan-der, Mr. Hall, Mr. Hauser, and myself-andthe restorations are based on our joint find-ings. The reproductions speak for themselves.One need not enlarge on the distinction of thedesigns and the harmonious and vivaciouscolor effects. A few flat washes, effectively cor-related, have produced rich and gay composi-tions, not necessarily based on nature. Theygive us a vivid realization of archaic Greekpolychrome sculpture and painting before theintroduction in the fifth and fourth centuriesof a larger palette and-in the case of paint-ings-of modeling by light and shade.Mr. Hall, in the notes at the end of thisarticle, describes the actual remains of colorthat have enabled him to make his restora-tions. I shall first discuss the new evidencepresented by this material and then review thegeneral subject of polychromy in Greek sculp-ture in the light of this evidence.The colors that occur on these stones-red,black, blue, and green-belong to the regularpalette of the archaic Greek artist, which wasthe same as the Egyptian and Minoan. It included also yellow, of which, however, there isno trace on our stones. The commonest shadeis red, which appears to have withstood bestthe ravages of time. Blue often turned togreen, but brilliant blue and malachite greenoccur side by side on separate bands of a guil-loche pattern (pl. III). Black evidently playedan important part, alternating with red in ef-fective patterns. In the capitals on page 238and in two of our finials (pp. 239 and 240), thescheme was red and black-not red and blue,as we once thought. The black background inplate ii, which recalls red-figured vase paint-ings, is unusual in stone reliefs, the prevalentshades for such backgrounds being red orblue. In marble sculpture the "reserved" whitesurface of the stone took the place of the whitepigment used on limestone and terracotta.

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Though it is now an accepted fact thatGreek sculpture was painted, there is still con-siderable controversy about the nude areas.For it is undoubtedly true that on the greatmajority of marble sculptures on which tracesof color have survived on the drapery or hairnone has been found on the flesh. And manypeople hesitate to believe that the Greekswould have obscured the whole surface oftheir beautiful marbles with paint-as wouldhave been the case, for instance, in nudestatues. Before discussing this important prob-lem we must call attention to a piece of evi-dence presented by one of our gravestones.Mr. Hall was not able completely to restorethe original colors on the chariot scene inplate ii for lack of actual color traces on cer-tain areas. He had to leave the warrior's hel-met and spear white, though they were un-doubtedly red or black, and to make the char-ioteer a ghostlike white figure, though here,too, there must have been some color. Let usexamine this charioteer more closely. He wearsa helmet, like the charioteer of Amphiaraoson a vase in Berlin, and a tunic, which he haspulled over his belt to form a kolpos, orpouch. The pouch is represented in profile tothe right, the folds it causes in full front. Weare familiar with such renderings from con-temporary vase paintings. But in our chariot-eer the bounding lines of the tunic on neckand shoulder are not marked by incised linesand were therefore presumably indicated bythe contrasting tones of flesh and tunic. (Wemay compare the well-known torso no. 599from the Akropolis, where the bottom of thecuirass is shown in relief but the boundingline at the top is omitted.) As charioteers regu-larly wear long white tunics in black-figuredvase paintings-contemporary with our marblepanel-it is likely that our charioteer's tunicwas also white. And if the tunic was "reserved"white, it would follow that the contrastingshade on his arm and neck was a flesh color.How does this observation fit into the gen-eral picture? The cumulative evidence that theflesh in Greek sculpture was not left in thesnow-white color of marble, at least in the caseof male figures, is strong. Both in Egypt and

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in Crete colored flesh for male figures, both inthe round and in relief, was the rule for whitelimestone (white marble was not used). Onewould not expect the Greek artists to breakwith a long tradition in this respect. And wehave definite evidence that they did not. Inthe archaic limestone pediments from theAkropolis, Herakles, Iolaos, Typhon, and oth-ers have rose-colored flesh. On some of thearchaic metopes from Selinus a reddish colorsurvived on the flesh when the reliefs firstcame out of the ground (1822-1823). Naturallyon porous limestone color would survive long-er than on the closer-grained marbles. But alsoin marble sculptures we have undoubted ex-amples with colored flesh, of male figures inthe early periods and of male and female inthe later: for instance, the archaic head B 93in the British Museum; the relief no. 55 fromthe Akropolis (about 470 B.C.);the figures onthe Mausoleion frieze, on a rock tomb at Myra(fourth century B.C.), and on the Alexandersarcophagus (early Hellenistic period); theGraeco-Roman head no. 1597 in the BritishMuseum. These marbles, which include exam-ples in the round and in relief, from archaicto Roman times, can hardly be isolated in-stances, but doubtless follow an accepted con-vention.Ancient writers, though they supply notori-ously little information regarding technicalmatters, give some help in this problem ofhow the nude portions in marble figures weretreated. In a well-known passage about theapplication of red color to the exposed partsof a building Vitruvius says: "Though it [red]keeps its color perfectly when applied in thepolished stucco finish of closed apartments,yet in open apartments, such as peristyles andexedrae or other places of the sort, where thebright rays of the sun and moon can pene-trate, it is spoiled by contact with them, losesthe strength of its color, and becomes black.And if anyone should ... wish the red finishto retain its color he must, when the wall isfinished and dry, rub over it with a stiff brushPunic wax melted and diluted with a littleoil; and afterwards with live coals in an ironvessel heat the wall so thoroughly as to dis-

solve the wax and make it smooth; then rubit down with a candle and clean cloths, justas nude marble figures are treated. This proc-ess is termed ganosis in Greek. The protectingcoat of Punic wax prevents the light of themoon and the rays of the sun from licking upand drawing the color of such polished finish-ing." This description is repeated by Pliny,who ends "as one treats marble figures to makethem brilliant." Perhaps an echo of these de-scriptions is found in Plutarch's statement,"The ganosis of the statue [of Jupiter Capi-tolinus] was necessary, for the red ocher withwhich they used to color statues in olden timessoon fades."To explain this evidence a belief becamecurrent and is still widely held that an ap-plication of wax and oil on the marble gaveit an ivory tone approximating the color offlesh. However, practical experiments haveshown the fallacy of this belief. Wax, heatedand applied according to Vitruvius's receipt,does not change the color of marble, but leavesit white. Moreover, that the purpose of thewax application was to preserve the color isclearly implied in Vitruvius's description ofganosis and in the fact that Punic wax, knownfor its purity, was used.

We must therefore find another way out ofthe dilemma-we must accept the fact of col-ored flesh in Greek sculpture, but we mustfind some means of coloring which did notobscure the surface of the marble and was notlong-lived. Practical experiments in this Mu-seum have shown (1) that a flesh color, if ap-plied as a thinnish wash, does not obscure thesurface of the marble, and (2) that a waxcoating-the ganosis referred to by Vitruvius-is necessary to prevent such an applicationfrom being affected by water. Without a waxcoating the thinly applied color could easilybe removed with a wet rag; when protected bya wax coating, it could not. In sculptureplaced out of doors a wax coating was there-fore a necessity. In the course of time the waxwould, of course, disintegrate. A thinly ap-plied color would then naturally disappearmore quickly than a more thickly applied one,especially if put on the smooth, polished sur-

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face favored for nude areas, instead of theslightly rough ones used for hair, drapery, andbackgrounds of reliefs.The exact procedure can only be conjec-tured, for we know little about ancient mediaand vehicles. In our experiments we used redand yellow ochers for our colors, egg for themedium. For the wax coating we heated bees-wax and added a small amount of olive oil(as Vitruvius and Pliny prescribe), rubbed thsolidified mixture lightly over the dried paint-ed surface, and then applied heat sufficient toremelt the wax by holding a hot flatiron closeto the surface; after wax and marble hadcooled, the wax was lightly polished and thewhole acquired the sheen of flesh. In anotherexperiment we added the color to the liquidwax, applied the mixture while still warmwith a stiff-bristle brush, and later appliedheat with the iron. WVeound the former ex-periment easier to manipulate.That wax was used in the application ofcolor on ancient sculptures and buildings isknown not only from the description in Plinyand Vitruvius but from other literary and epi-graphical evidence. In the building inscrip-tion of the Erechtheion (408-407 B.c.) "en-caustic painters" (yxzauraC) are mentioned ashaving decorated a marble molding. The term"encaustic statue maker" occurs in a Roman in-scription. Plutarch speaks of "encausters, gild-ers, and colorers of statues." In the Hellenistictemple inventories of Delos purchases of waxand oil are listed for the treatment of statues,sometimes for the same statue in differentyears, indicating that the wax application hadto be periodically renewed.Moreover, traces of wax have been found inactual examples: for instance, together with aflesh color, on the face and neck of the mar-ble head of a woman in the British Museum(no. 1597) and on some of the painted orna-ments of Greek marble temples. Furthermore,we know from the statements of ancientwriters and from inscriptions that in paintingsan "encaustic" technique was used from thefifth century B.c. down. And the dry climateof Egypt has preserved for us Graeco-Romanexamples of such paintings in the mummy

portraits from the Fayfim. There is thereforeno difficulty in supposing that the techniquespostulated by us-or similar ones-were usedin ancient times.In our discussion we have been chiefly con-cerned with predicating a flesh color for malefigures. Whether the flesh of female figureswas also tinted is another question. To judgefrom the present evidence it was perhaps leftwhite in the archaic period, colored in thelater periods. We must remember that in thesixth and fifth centuries B.c. female figureswere regularly draped and that the undrapedportions were therefore not extensive. Thoughin Egyptian paintings the flesh of women isgenerally yellow or light brown and only ex-ceptionally white, in Minoan paintings itseems to have been regularly white. On black-figured Corinthian and Athenian vases of theseventh to the fifth century the convention iswhite for the flesh of women, black for thatof men. In a sacrificial scene on a recentlydiscovered sixth-century wooden panel thewomen have white flesh, the boys brown.In archaic terracotta statuettes and plaquesthe flesh of women is white, that of men yel-low or brown. The same applies to earlyEtruscan mural paintings. And on a late sev-enth-century limestone sphinx in this Museumwhite pigment is preserved on the flesh. Theaccepted convention in the archaic periodseems therefore to have been white flesh forfemale figures, with color only on lips andeyes (and possibly occasionally on cheeks).By the fourth century, however, when nudestatues of women were common and a nat-uralistic rendering had taken the place of theearlier conventions, it seems likely that theflesh of women was regularly tinted. We haveimportant witnesses of color application onthe flesh in the Hellenistic marble gravestonesfrom Thessaly in which the flesh of the womenas well as that of the men is naturalisticallycolored, in the Graeco-Roman marble head inthe British Museum, which has a pinkish colorpreserved on the face, in a Hellenistic marblesarcophagus in Florence where the Amazonshave light-colored flesh, in the later Greek andEtruscan terracottas and mural paintings

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Cavetto capital from a gravestone, about 560-540 B.C. In these drawings by Lindsley F. Hallthe black areas are shown solid, the red dotted.The black areas above are conjectural.where the women have pinkish flesh, and inthe pinkish female statues which are occasion-ally represented in Graeco-Roman murals.To impart the delicate, variegated tonesthat in the later periods had taken the placeof the archaic flat washes was evidently a fineart, and great painters were engaged to colorthe statues. According to Pliny, when Praxi-teles was asked "which of his marble statueshe prized most highly he replied 'those towhich Nikias [a famous painter] had put hishand,' so much did he prize the circumlitioof that artist." And Lucian, in his descriptionof an imaginary portrait of an ideally beauti-ful woman, calls in first Pheidias, Alkamenes,and Praxiteles to impart the form, and thenthe great painters Polygnotos, Euphranor, andApelles to add the colors and to apply to theflesh a tint "not too white, but just suffusedwith red."To sum up our findings: Marble as well aslimestone sculptures were regularly coloredthroughout antiquity. We have strong evi-dence that this coloring included the flesh ofmale figures from archaic times down. In thecase of female figures the evidence at presentavailable favors colored flesh in the later pe-riods, possibly white flesh in archaic times. In

trying to visualize the original appearance ofGreek and Roman sculptures we must, there-fore, bear this evidence in mind and add thevanished colors in our imagination.NOTES ON THE PLATES

The principle followed in the water-color cop-ies reproduced here was to restore a given areafrom existing traces of color however slight.Corresponding areas, even where no trace re-mains, have also been colored, for examplemany of the twists and dots in the guillochein plate III. In the record of colors given be-low, the following terms are used: "Abun-dant" color describes an area on which thecolor is preserved in a wash or in mottling soextensive as to suggest the original effect."Traces" are small, easily discernible patches."Faint traces" are patches readily found andidentified with the magnifying glass. "Veryfaint traces" are particles of color which werediscovered and identified only after careful

Volute capital from the gravestone shown onpage 234. About 540 B.c.

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scrutiny with a strong glass. In the drawingsthe areas shown as in reserve have been givena color to approximate that of the weatheredsurface of the stone.PLATE 1. Sphinx from the gravestone shownon page 234. About 540 B.C. Painted marble.Red is abundant on the hair, diadem, neck-

lace, some of the alternate breast feathers andand flight feathers, the end of the pisiform bone,and the border of the abacus. There are tracesof red on the remainder of the alternate feath-ers and on the irises of the eyes. Traces ofblue are on alternate flight feathers, exceptone or two, and were also found on a sufficientnumber of alternate breast feathers to indi-cate that they too were painted blue. Thereare traces of blue on the tuft of the tail. Abun-dant black paint outlines the flight feathers,and faint traces of black appear on the eve-brows. There are no other color traces on theareas shown in the drawing. Red has beenarbitrarily added to the lips, and black to thepupils of the eyes. It is obvious that there is ameander on the red diadem, but the surfaceis much encrusted, and the exact pattern, aswell as any color traces that might be on it,is obscured.PLATE II. Warrior mounting a chariot, from

the gravestone shown on page 235, about 535-525 B.C. Incised and painted marble. Black ispreserved in extensive mottling over the wholebackground and is also well preserved on thehorses' hoofs and on the manes of the whitepair. Faint traces are discernible on the eyesof all the horses, and the hub of the chariotwheel is black. From faint traces of blackfound on the lappets of the warrior's cuirassthe whole garment has been restored. Thereare traces of black on the central part of thecrest. Red shows in abundance on the bandsabove and below the scene and also on themane, legs, and tail of the tallest horse; on itsface there are very faint traces. Traces of redare found on the mane, face, chest, belly, andlegs of another horse and faint traces on itstail. There are faint traces on the chariot,chariot pole, harness, and reins, and on thecharioteer's goad and the warrior's shield, andvery faint traces on the chariot wheel and on

Palmette finial of a gravestone, reconstructedfrom three fragments, about 530-525 B.C.the sleeve and skirt, the crest, and the crestsupport of the warrior. The yoke, red in theillustration, shows no trace of color exceptwhere the reins cross it. The warrior's leftfoot, though properly sculptured, was paintedblack like the background; in the copy it hasbeen left in reserve. Certain areas, such as thehelmets, where we should expect color, havebeen shown in reserve for lack of evidence.

PLATE in. Part of the gravestone of a war-rior shown on page 235. About 535-525 B.C.Painted marble relief. Red in abundance cov-ers the background of the relief and the faceof the ledge on which the figure stands; there239


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are plentiful traces of it on one of the threestrands of the right-hand guilloche border.The left border shows only two very fainttraces at the bottom. Traces of blue occur onthe greaves and on the warrior's spear and onone of the guilloche strands in the right bor-der, and traces of green in several places onthe third strand of this border. Though notrace remains, in the drawing blue and greenhave been applied to the left border in thesame order as on the right. There is abundantblack on many of the dots of both borders.

PLATE IV. Part of a sphinx, perhaps from agravestone. About 560 B.C. Painted limestone.Red is abundant on the narrow raised bandsoutlining the breast and the wing coverts. Ablob of red is preserved at the center of mostof the feathers of the wing coverts. On thebreast no color is preserved, except that a redspot occupies the center of each feather of the

top row. On the flight feathers abundant redoccurs as a heavy central stripe on the pri-maries. Traces of black are found only on theflight feathers. Black above and below the redstripe appears on the primaries, and there arefaint traces of black on the secondaries. Bothare outlined in reserve.The archaic gravestones discussed here to-gether with Mr. Hall's colored restorationsare shown in the current Exhibition of GreekPaintings in Galleries D 8-io. A tentative re-construction of the chariot scene shown inplate ii (with helmets, spear, belt, and fleshalso colored) is used on the cover of the Pic-ture Book illustrating the exhibition. In thepractical experiments of applying colors tomarble I have had the expert help of Mur-ray Pease, Cordray Simmons, and Charles Wil-kinson.-G. M. A. R.

Finial of a gravestone, about 510 B.C.

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módulo 2 - texto 08 - m. v. antiguidade clássica - gisela richter - polychromy in greek sculpture

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