The white lie we've been told about Roman statues
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- Опубліковано 5 чер 2024
- The ancient world was actually really colorful.
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When you think of the ancient world, you probably picture towering buildings of white marble, adorned with statues also made of white marble. You’re not alone - most people picture the same thing. But we’re all wrong.
Ancient buildings and sculptures were actually really colorful. The Greeks and Romans painted their statues to resemble real bodies, and often gilded them so they shone like gods. So why is seemingly every museum on planet earth full of white marble sculptures?
It’s partly an honest mistake. After the fall of Rome, ancient sculptures were buried or left out in the open air for hundreds of years. By the time the Renaissance began in the 1300s, their paint had faded away. As a result, the artists unearthing, and copying ancient art didn’t realize how colorful it was supposed to be.
But white marble couldn’t have become the norm without some willful ignorance. Even though there was a bunch of evidence that ancient sculpture was painted, artists, art historians and the general public chose to disregard it. Western culture seemed to collectively accept that white marble was simply prettier.
Today, art history is more concerned with accuracy than it is with what might look better. So teams of researchers use a combination of art and science to painstakingly create reconstructions of ancient statues, showing us the true colors of classical antiquity.
Most of the reconstruction work shown in this video was done by the Polychromy Research Project, led by conservationists Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann. To see more of their work you can buy their book, “Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World” www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
Also check out:
“The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture” by Margaret Talbot
www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
And the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/prm...
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Watch next: How obsessive artists colorize old photos ua-cam.com/video/vubuBrcAwtY/v-deo.html
Ted Turner?
Thank you Vox. I was inspired, and after watching a few yt vids, I am now colorizing as a hobby. This was the video that started it all
where to find those small sculptures
vox lies, f ck you.
Vox this isn't a lie. It's a historical misinterpretation. You even said it yourselves but you treated this like a lie.
Once in art school our teacher was sick, so a substitute came in, and she went on like a 20 minute RANT about how the sculptures were not white, but colored. She was rlly passionate about that.
nice
i support her
I like her
I mean she's not wrong...
Black lives ma...
Oh wait not that type of color
Now it makes sense why ancient statues never had pupils. They were painted on.
Not every time
Some of them had pupils
Yes, painted or used stones
Brett C they would cut the pupil out as a sort of hole, it looks kinda weird up close, but far away it looks normal(ish)
Brett C there would be holes for stones
"The whiter the body is, the more beautiful it is"
*wait a minute*
true
It is, it looks better
Aki ra marble white statues looks better than bronze or golden
Aki ra are you?
@Aki ra nope... White marble looks better
Next you're going to tell me that the ancient Greeks and Romans didn't speak English with received pronunciation accents.
NOOOOOO...what?
Roman history makes more sense when you think of them as Italian.
@Menelaus, The Red Haired King The concept of "black" and "white" had not been invented yet. That started in the 16th century.
@@kindnessfirst9670 Tamahu was the word. By definition states a difference
Wait... they didn't?!??!?
Wait u guys don't know that? In Italy we get taught that the old statues were coloured, they just lost the colours
So do we in Portugal
Americans... I learnt that too, in Brazil.
Russian, never heard of it until now
A lot of people don't know this surprisingly.
@@u3u36 o amdre young (youtuber brasileiro) fez um video disso, e nos comentarios ninguém sabia.
Colorization of statues should be an augmented reality app for every museum.
Ooh love that idea
I second that!
I started in AR (I am more use of VR dev) and I think this is a good time to start an AR project like that
You shouldve kept this to yourself..
Thats a very good idea.
Ancient World: Full of bright and dazzling colors
Now: B L A C K - W H I T E - G R A Y
It's a world where nuance is dead.
M O D E R N~~
time fades it away
Hopefully 2021 is not 200 bc. Taste and art evolve
art and tastes evolve, I mean these days you'd much rather have a clear white and black interior than an interior full of yellow and reds
Italian: didn't you taught about it in school?
Rest of the world: 👁👄👁
no, i know that and im from Brazil
i’m from the us and i already knew that
I didn't :/
@@anaeyoi4490 but did you learn it in school?
@@datdamndog389 yea i learned it in school
It’s like learning that the dinosaurs had feathers
@idon'tevenknowanymore Everyone single archaeologist is a liar!
Bradley McHugh *paleontologist
@idon'tevenknowanymore oof!
Imagine omniscient invisible ghosts
@idon'tevenknowanymore ok boomer
@idon'tevenknowanymore So like those ancient fossils and bones are...? Dragons? Is it so hard to believe that many years ago animals looked different than nowadays?
I guess it’s not only Roman statues, but also the Great Sphinx of Giza and the Terracotta Army were painted with colours too.
Exactly! Scientists have found out the Terracotta Army of China was painted in color when they were buried! Search it.
@@lowenzahn3976
actually the you can see traces of the white lime stone on the top the pyramid in the middle khafra a portion of the lime stone was even entact until as near as the 1800's
löwenzahn some of them had golden tips!
And the pyramids said to shine white before the lye coroded
@@lowenzahn3976 You can see this and the Sphinx in Assassins Creed Origins
i want a little augustus statue with a painting set so i can paint it, museums should sell them
Me too. I actually used to color photos of ancient sculpture on Photoshop. I really need to get back to that.
@@mirandagoldstine8548 link us to some of your work :) would love to see it
@@RichardHernandez-pz7bt Sadly I have never gotten around to posting my photos online. I’m afraid of scammers but thanks for saying you would love to see some of my works. If I ever figure out how to post videos on UA-cam again I might start coloring the photos again and posting videos of my work.
3D printer
rose their you go, time to start that business going. Great idea.
The museums usually fail to emphasize this enough, the truth is that at least they could put a picture of a reconstructed colored statue next to the statue's description, something they don't normally do.
Imagine Disneyland faded completely colorless and pale in the future.
!!!!
And then imagine people of the future assuming that's how they were made, and the cycle starts all over again.
Ckme on we all know disney will own everything in the future. The United States of Disney. The Disney Federation, The Peoples Republic of Disney. North and South Disney
@@stevethepocket that's literally my art exhibition
and the mickey mouse statue will be the statue of david in the future.😲
Augustus rocked that pajama top.
I know right
😆😆😆
Omg YESSSS
Augustus is a cool guy
The same cannot be said for THE ZUCK
This is literally taught at school in Italy, how you united States citizens talk about this as if it was a secret? 👁👄👁
Edit: I was referring to the smatterer tone the video use, none tried to hide this information just read from a good book. I don't care if you know it ad you are from Genovia or Israel. My point wasn't to bring down someone but to underline the fact that things like this are in middle school books. No need for sensationalism.
Murican culture as is :(
Lol you are right xD like oddio un segreto segretissimo gomblotto
Maybe bc American history is more focused on American history and not Italian?
@@fabioventura2984 Ancient Greek and Roman history are universally interesting. Also, how many years of history has usa 😂
Scriptadiaboly My point was that of course an Italian is going to know more about Italian history than an American. Each country teaches a little global history but then focuses more on its own history. Also there’s a lot to US history, even if we’re a young country.
Keep in mind, that when you paint on a white surface your colors seem brighter! When I paint on my tiny 25mm metal figures for my D & D game, I often paint the entire piece in gunmetal black and then drybrush colors over the black areas - this leaves a natural dark background in the folds of clothing and highlights raised areas of the figurines. If I want colors to be very bright, I paint white on top of the raised areas and then add color.
They teach the fact about colored statues in art schools. Problem is that even though the fact is spoken, it is hardly ever shown. They tell you statues used to be colored and then proceed to show you milions of white statues and thus the historic accuracy remains clouded. I like white marble staues, but art history cannot be about what you like, but about what is true.
It's not shown because there are no more traces of it, all the paint on the originals got away and the copies are in unpainted marble
Nonno Yes but what we’re saying is that it should be made more clear that they were originally painted
Michal Ocilka nope. But I learned it from a paper I found while doing research. There’s a professor somewhere I forget the school who’s studied this. Vox I think got this from her studies or paper I believe. I’ll add a link to her work if I find it
@@awos6559 right in the description of the video
"Art history cannot be about what you like, but about what is true."
But did Romans have arms?
no they were actually snake people
well this Vox study is gonna show you how you have been in fact lied all this time and they actually had arms :OO i know i was shocked, oh yeah also wh*te arms.
Nah arms weren't invented yet
nah, they used their legs to hold things
"Arms grow back"
*no they dont*
5.4k people: "imma pretend i didn't hear that"
Ha, You have 54 likes, and said 5.4k.
Why is it that whenever the statue of Augustus is painted, his breastplate is white, shouldn't it be gilt bronze?
Actually, I've heard It was either pure or plated gold. Obviously not worn in battle probably ceremony.
@@mikethewise2000 Even if he wore it "in b a battle", Augustus (Octavius) was a patrician general in ancient Rome. He led the battles from behind, remaining in camp or off the field to coordinate and strategize. He never had need for armor outside the ceremonial sense.
And even if he did enter battle, wearing heavily decorated armor has been the norm for high officers since the dawn of civilization. Just because something looks pretty doesn’t mean it was cerimonial: fancy armor was their BMW, their Rolex.
“Blame it on Michelangelo”
Hey leave that ninja turtle alone.
So who eat our pizza?
@@fajaradi1223 some bady touche mAh pizzah!
This made me laugh way too much
FRISHR ok
This is a rat race, but I ain't no rat
I just played Assassins Creed Odyssey where the game set in Peloponessian War, I wonder why the statues are colored. I hv no idea developer really made the effort to make the statue accurate based on history. Wow kudos to Ubisoft
At least they did one of the easiest thing possible
Really? No way? I gotta play that game to see it
Very nice, they got 1 thing right out of the other 200 things that is competely historically innacurate
Ubisoft did AMAZING with their recreation of Alexandria, so well that one of my classics professors in college used it as a resource and example of superb reconstruction and polychromy (recoloring).
And yet every time you criticize Valhalla for being inaccurate you get the "AC was always fiction not based in reality!" defenders
They kinda look cooler and more mysterious when they’re in their colorless marble form in my opinion lol.
Yeah right
@@prada4bratz how one comma can change everything.
Yeah, but knowing what they once looked like makes me realize how much character in these statues was lost to time.
It's also much easier to see and appreciate the sculpture's structure without the colors. This is why black and white photography is still around.
I think so too, it looks more like history in all white.
I love how you talked about cloth color and ignored most of the controversy hinged on which was skin color
Unlike vice
Controversy? What?
Yeah give them.a few years when they can admit they werent white
@@salmineo4132 yeah they were clearly africans lol
@@salmineo4132 the romans were what we would consider white. But back then no one really categorized people based on skin color so the Romans thought of themselves as roman and not *white*.
I always asked that question; why are movies of ancient Rome, Egypt etc always shot with the depiction of the ruins today? I'd love to see a movie showing how lively the places actually were because they weren't living in museums.
hopefully in the future movies set in ancient times depict the places with colors
"Rome" by HBO is one of the most faithful representations of republican Rome I've ever seen.
Watch "Rome", an HBO-BBC production. It's amazing in that regard.
Also the movie Alexander has the statues in color
HBO rome is good as others have said, but its kind of freaky that they exclusively cast white british people. The new assassins creed odyssey, is honestly amazing for its representation of the ancient world. Some college professors have even started using screen shots of the in game Parthenon in lectures because it is painted and all that stuff. And the ruins in the game were already ruins in 5th century bce which is wild to think about.
This is not unique to Ancient European sculpters though. Indian statues of primarily Buddha and Mahavir were once believed to be colorless and people, to defend this hypothesis, said that adding colour might have been too 'worldly' for these statues but today, after painstaking works by archaeologists, scientists and Historians, we do know that they had an array of colour on them
It's not surprising because statues of Buddha were probably first created by Graeco-Indian settlers influenced by their own Greek idols
The aztec and mayan architecture and art was also very colorful, and with chemical discoveries, we are also discovering what colors there was
TheNeoYouth not wholly true. Standing Buddha statues are definite signs of Indo-Greek/Bactrian influence, as Greek gods are usually portrayed as standing. However, there are hundreds of examples of older statues of the Buddha, usually showing the point where he achieves nirvana (sitting with one hand touching the ground and one facing palm outward).
@@maxx1014 that's true but Here is the thing, they only started the Gandhara tradition in North West. There was also the Mathura Tradition in North India. Even though it is still largely considered the starting of the tradition in the subcontinent, it was largely left untouched and Greek elements slowly started to fade. I am talking about statues well into 7th century CE when Greek elements were almost invisible. British Historians made the mistake of over emphasizing the Greek elements and hence their studies are not considered perfect today by experts in India and abroad
@@Pantsinabucket Not expected someone called Nutlord to know about this stuff
The lost art of sculpture painting has fascinated me since I discovered that it was a lost art while working as a security officer at the Getty museum.
As a Warhammer 40k miniature painter, I can say that her job on Caesar at the end is tournament ready lol
I’ve got to admit, the white marble looks pretty sick
Ur cancelled bro
sir MCnugget i know you’re being satire but its shocking how there’s actually people who think like this
U saying Canova statue are not awesome?
@@alessandro.calzavara ok so when someone says he likes something that automatically means that he cant like something else. Makes sense
@@sirmcnugget7748 I didnt mean that, I probably misunderstood the meaning of the word "sick" since English is not my first language
If you ever find yourself in Oxford, there’s a room in the Ashmolean Museum that has painted replicas of classical statues. So interesting to see and well worth a visit!
Also available in the Orsay museum in Paris. They were made by Jean-Leon Gerome, a neoclassical artist who insisted on historical accuracy in sculpture but never managed to make painted statues a thing.
Glyptoteket in Copenhagen has some on display as well (including some of the ones shown in the video).
@@Beaverthing What!? I've wanted to go, but now I have to!
Wow! I’ll have to look next time I’m there - luckily only an hours drive for me!
@Gracchus Babeuf what's that??
more accurate title: things you didn’t know because you didn’t care, but now that you know you think it’s surprising
Spot on! lol
Most romans were black trans women
Indeed.
😂😂😂😂
"really? in the past people didn't use color for marble statue?"
"Shhh, don't make me do extra work"
Probably some renaissance artist
We learn they cut corners for the sake of budgeting
Lol I feel that tho
Yeah And they scrubbed the melanin off some of those statues too!!
@@pm6796 are you suggesting that ancient rome was black?
@@pm6796 🤣🤣🤣🤣 here we go they where all black.
Can you proof it ?
Look at the terracotta warriors in China, the fact two thirds of them are still buried because we still don't know how to properly preserve this paint and stop it from fading with exposure to UV.
iona we also don’t know if lead was used and other toxic chemicals, and they are trying to figure out if it’s safe for us to even open the actual tomb!!
@@FangirlRandomscrew... Not entirely. Sure there's a lack of technology. But, from what I've heard, there's also the Chinese government mandating that the tomb should never be opened.
@@Corsuwey Well... the dude filled his tomb with lakes and rivers of lead, so maybe it's better to keep it closed for now. At least we know where the tomb is, it looked like a mountain before the excavations began.
This is true.
They are coloured (faded) when the soil is first remove and they turn earth brown over the next 48 hours...
ADRIAN SMITH wasn’t it filled with mercury and not lead?
Honestly, thank you for this video! When i studied art history i remember my teacher telling us that the old statues had color, and i always wondered why people never talk abou that. I honestly think the color on the statues make them even more beautiful (: i can imagine a beautiful and colorful society when i see them colored
The white statues are nice but it’s really cool to see the intended original color. It’s disappointing some people wanted to ignore it because they didn’t like it. It’s not about your preferences. It’s about what’s correct.
Similarly, ancient buildings used to be riddled with jewels, colorful stones, and other adornments. Look at the ancient Temples of Southeast Asia like Bayon on Angkor Wat and you will find holes where jewels once resided before being robbed at later times.
JdK 52 is your profile picture Marcus Agrippa ?
@@thomascatty379 Indeed it is.
JdK 52 you have good taste
@@thomascatty379 Thanks.
The spanish talked about how colorfull the cities of the natives where. Would lo e to hace seen one.
The famous terracotta army in China is the same. Once colorful, the paint all broke off and left the statues solid brown.
Paint came off because explosion to oxygen
@@hmmmhmmm6917 explosion?
PAKTRA PRODUCTIONS *exposure
can someone recolor the terracottas? thanks
4:06 that looks like a....
I love that you actually got a paint brush out and got to work. A genuinely curious mind.
One of my ancient history professors said that the Greeks were so outlandishly colourful in their statues and frescos that they were considered brash and gauche by the ancient Egyptians, who saw them in much the same light as today's aristocracy views the "nouveaux riches." Enjoyed the video, thanks.
Was that before or after they were conquered by them?
To be considered gauche by the ancient Egyptians is quite the feat
The Greeks are the most brilliant people in history, they conquered Rome culturally.
@@teslaxx1 I have to agree in an artistic sense, since they broke the art canon, which the Egyptians never did - except for Akhenathon, and Plato is timeless wisdom. But that's quite a statement, which I would not dare say, bc as a people, the Chinese also produced intellectual, medicinal, and artistic wonders roughly around the same time. When Hesiod talked about the ages of man, I think the Greeks were in the Bronze Age and we are in the doldrums, where stupidity reigns.
watching the video I can't help but think they had a point
blasphemy! we all know color didn't exist before the invention of color photography
This guy knows too much. He must be silenced.
I can smell a r/wooosh coming up
Not true! There was white... black.... grey.... what else was there?
@@BeaverChainsaw darker grey lol
19th century wild west was only sepia tone. A very brown and tan era especially for those who frequented saloons, brothels, and jails.
I hate it when people destroy history, especially to obfuscate.
It makes me appreciate all the more those people who work to preserve it and especially restore it. ❤
wow. their statues must've been really satisfying then, as portraits to preserve the image of their important figures and whatnot.
Imagine living in that beautifully colored world
A world full of death, diseases, cruel dictators, slavery, and worse. But at least it might have been colored.
templar k Yeah but that’s just a TV. If you go out into public most of the colours you’ll see are just grey and brown. It stinks and the world seems poorer for it.
TriCore 9
Same as today then.
@@Lazurath101 And much more dangerous then also.
@Paul Allen’s card what?
Studying Latin taught me this. Additionally, sometime statues had eye holes where their irises should be. That was because originally they would have precious or semi precious stones in them like lapis lazuli for blue. Over the years thieves would steal such stones. And much pigment was artfully used to create life like visages as described in ancient texts. There were distinct differentiations of embellishment on these statues from Grecian to Roman times. And romans were inspired by Grecian culture and art but also diverged on some notes aesthetically. Another note, many purveyors of marble in older through ancient times prized marble without striations because it is more uncommon than those with.
There are still some statues with irises.
When I visited Pakistan I saw ancient Buddha statues with holes in their forehead. I asked what happen. I was told that they used to have gems there, but now those gems are in England.
@@arisardar6018 Britain has a lot of stolen ancient artifacts in their museums. There are documentaries about this.
Shiloh Henry grex latinus!
Yes! I've noticed the holes and always wondered why they made the bowl like
So you’re telling me sculptures fade after thousands of years? *wow*
But remember, it's the renaissance artists fault for not seeing the pigments that where long gone...
Interesting information, thank-you. Sunlight fades just about everything in time. Michaelangelo did not consider himself a painter, but loved the natural beauty of marble stone.
4:10 "But when there aren't any visible colors, they have another tool"
Me: "Time machine"
"UV light"
Me: "Yeah, that."
This part played RIGHT after I read this
😂😂😂😂😂
Assassin's Creed covered this notion pretty well by portraying many ancients Greeks with many colors and dyes
Exactly. But the Greek people in that game don't seem to actually represent how the Greeks looked like.
The funny thing, though, is that they went both ways. They got the colors right for Odyssey, but the statues in Origins were almost all white. I wonder if they got called out on it for Origins and decided to go fully authentic for Odyssey.
The statues in Odyssey also look a lot more realistic, and not tacky like the tones and pigments used in videos like this... Seems like they're just trying to make it a meme when really the statues would have been absolutely gorgeous when painted. Not basic primary colors like they lazily show here...
Yes, they did it VERY well
@@scottlemoult3109 I think its because in Odyssey, not only were the colors more realistic in that they were darker and more common dyes, but that they were also worn down. People seem to forget that the Greeks were ancient to themselves, they were around for quite some time so their own creatures were destroyed and rebuilt countless times.
Is it just me or does the white Augustus look waaay better than the painted one?
Just you
It would've looked a lot better than what is shown here
Completely changed how I saw those time periods. The patterns are really amazing
"The BLAME lies with Michelango" is a poor choice of words. He didn't know. They didn't have the knowledge to know exactly what was going on. They tried to understand history like we do now. We just have more knowledge
@Jarek Kril You're making a broad generalization here. Who is "They"? Which ancient documents did they read? Do you have evidence that these scholars definitely knew? Is there correspondence available of scholars discussing this topic from the era you're referring to? Just because, as mentioned in the video, one guy ignored the "definite" proof that statues used to be colored, does not mean the whole educated class was familiar with this information.
i’d say you can still blame him, if he were among the first to sculpt without intent of using color. that doesn’t mean he did it on purpose. it’s just that he started the trend. i don’t see why that’s such a bad thing
I think you are looking to much into it. No one is actually blaming he. We are not pointing fingers at his tomb and saying: "It's your fault Michael! That it is not common knowledge that Greek sculptures where colored!" I think it is more of a playful way to say it. He did popularized that idea. Still, we don't look to Michaelangelo for his historic knowledge as we don't read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to understand roman history.
It’s just a script don’t be so sensitive
Liberals love blaming other people for their stupidity and mistakes you could only blame yourself for not educating yourself.
Bruh don’t they know color wasn’t even invented until like 1930
Like zoinks
It existed. Dyes and paints have been found on caves. Roman's had functioning sewers and concrete, im sure they had paint.
You know one of the first pigments were discovered by Greeks right?
replies above me
bruh people in the replies can’t take a joke-
edit: spelling
It's not a lie, this fact was even mentioned in Plato's books 🙄 Don't blame people for your own illiteracy
Makes a lot of sense.
They gave many sculptures so much detail that painting them was just a way to make them look even more real.
Didn’t know this was a secret. The signs at the museums alway say that the statutes used to be colorful.
I know right! Smh 🤦♀️
You mean the descriptions that most museum visitors don't read?
Well I've never went to any European museum before, so...
Lisa Dixon Idk maybe people who live in Europe..... considering they’re free
@@juanmaruli4977 you dont need tho... almost every affluent city or western city have museums that have traded. been donated, or purchased ancient world sculptures and the likes
Same with all of the Pyramids in Egypt. All are documented to be once covered in white marble with giant copper caps or crystal tops. It's super neato. Would be cool to see a film that shows the real depictions of the times.
Thing is, most movies based on, "history", take place when the pyramids were already ancient.
Take note that monuments such as the Great Pyramid of Giza were ancient when the Roman empire came to be...
Yeah, they're really old.
Not Marble, white limestone plastering, and the the caps where typically gilded black granite.
That depiction can be seen in Assassin's Creed Origins. You can even climb them 😁
IIRC, the big 3 were once capped in gold with exquisite marble or limestone facades underneath, adorned near the bottom also. They were still intact & revered during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, & subsequent Roman period until xtianity was imposed via decree. While their true defacement occurred between the time of the Mamelukes & Ottomans, fair to say: monotheistic extremism ultimately put an end to antiquity's artistic legacy.
The pyramids, mighty as they still stand, are but one of antiquity's countless world treasures deliberately defaced, destroyed, and/or otherwise taken from view of the world. What remains intact/visible today is but a shadow of what once was.
You mean Gods of Egypt was fictional?
Yes! I remember reading about this in a book once, to this day it still freaks my brain out! Thanks for the video!
If you want the best idea of how classical Roman statues looked just go to a catholic church. The Roman way of making statues survived in Catholicism, and how catholic statues are fully painted is exactly how Roman statues would've been painted.
And some of the Pyramids of Giza had golden caps and a white limestone finish. It’s no wonder that over thousands of years these monuments would look so different from their original forms.
actually the pyramids finish was removed to use the materials elsewhere (i dont remember for what exactly but ik the materials were eventually removed) !
Dell12 16 similar to mesoamerican pyramids - today we see them as grey, but they used to be covered in elaborate colors
Camryn Mangual oh yeah I know , but still I was saying that it’s no surprise that ancient monuments from so long ago are so different from their original forms things happen and change as time marches on and civilizations rise and fall.
@@camij6124 a lot of people stole the gold caps, and the limestone was used by conquerors to built monuments and temples.
EDIT: since some people are replying with other uses, I should clarify that they stripped the limestone to build a variety of structures.
Salty Pyro Tato well some... but some was used for paving...
Churches were also painted and very colorful.
Certain ones still are - the Florence cathedral for example
Adrian Pietkiewicz that’s from a different time though. But yeah, it’s not surprising that Christian churches kept the tradition after Roman times.
@@ea635 Oh sorry, I didn't realise you meant ancient churches
Orthodox churches in particular are still very colorful and adorned with icons.
@@someguy9571 He is talking about churches in Antiquity: Orthodox churches were a development from the Middle Ages.
Yup, same with Egyptian statues.
Gosh how GORGEOUS would it be to see all of these statues in their true color ?! If only
Ikr it would look amazing!!
I love the idea of an ancient Roman being shown around our classical buildings and saying, "Nice! When do the decorators get here?"
Hahaha. "Why do you have a bunch of unfinished stuff lying around?"
It's my doppelganger!
If that particular Roman would read Winckelmann's quote on the 'purity' of white statues, he would probably exclaim: " Errare humanum est....sed iste in extremis !!"
*_imagine if the statues are actually victims of medusa_*
The Gogons turned people to stone, not Marble.
No because romans wouldnt have thought medusa was real.
Hyperion marble is stone isn’t it?
This is like the first time you see a black and white photo after being digitally colored
Ok, I'm honestly really happy the white marble became a thing.
It looks way better than with color.
But it is cool to know the history.
Maybe you believe it looks better because we've been exposed to that for decades.
@bird balling That's my point: preference is created by exposure and training.
I was thinking about that. If they had such an amazing technique for sculpting, shoudn't they be extremely good at painting them as well? I'm not a scientist so I don't know how accurate these colorful reconstructions can be, but they seem to be more of a crude version of painting, following only the base colours of each area without applying any texture or balancing any shade. Since they could master the marble so well, I wondered if they couldn't have the same hability to paint the sculptures like a hiperrealistic sculpture, which would be super cool to see.
The same happens with aztec and mayan statues and buildings, a lot of them were painted and you can hardly see mentions of it. But to be fair all of the reconstructions in textbooks do carry the color of the aztec cities.
Yes, and on the taínos too. Ignaris, subgainos etc. All colores but time make them white and without life.😥
Two years of art history classes and my teacher NEVER touched upon this? HOW.
I know, right? I had a really good professor for all my classes, too -- and she never mentioned that those statues and other sculptures were painted. I will have to link this video to her when I can find her email again. She's a Docent at the Nashville Parthenon full-scale replica (which I've visited -- it's gorgeous)... might add an extra cool thing for her to discuss with visitors!
Because he doesn't use UA-cam! LOL. But it was well documented in news articles when the first coloured reconstructions came out!
"How?" - because very few people are allowed to teach art history through "lectures" anymore. Lectures are supposed to be bad teaching practice and you're supposed to teach yourself with the teacher prompting and questioning you.
It's the premier reason why so many modern British art students think "art" started in the 1990's with Japanese Manga artists or with stuff on Instagram.
fablewalls I had art history classes in high school, which pretty much are seminars. Have had other art history lectures at uni and indeed lectures tend to make you remember less.
@@hiephoi8632 - makes it difficult then doesn't it! Lectures and "art history class" is sleep inducing but if you don't do them you end up with art students who basically know nothing and don't care about what happened before they got their first Instagram account.
Somewhere, there is a happy medium - but I often think the only people interested in art history are not artists.
I love the reconstructed and repainted models! Also all the frescos from Pompeii. I was able to visit it once and honestly, it feels so much more _alive_ than any other ruins I've seen from the time. Considering how colourful even very old churches in the entire Balkan area tend to be, it makes perfect sense that the Ancient Greeks would have valued such designs more than people more accustomed to modern minimalist West European architecture and decor, if that makes any sense
Yes! I was in the Vatican and they stressed how the paint faded off of the statues over centuries.
Mayan and Aztec statues and pyramids were painted colours also.
The mayan civilisation had collapsed and its temples and cities overgrown with forest 500 years before the Spanish arrived.
(Further. The temples were covered in plaster, so smooth. They were painted red).
nobody care
@@marvinsilverman4394 you may not care, ok, no problem. But plenty of people do, in fact, care... Ironically, it's likely there are far more who care more about the the truth of the Mayan civilization than whatever it is _you_ care most about.
@@George_D777 right on, I love the mayan and aztek cultures, the mexica people and their rich history is amazing, I wish we could see what they could've become if these lands hadnt been colonized and pillaged
Love the Mayans and Aztecs. My family and I are from Italy and we’ve been to Mexico 7 times. I have soo much ancient aztec and Mayan art in my room from when we went. I remember italy had won the World Cup and everyone in the streets would scream “FORZA ITALIA!!” Such awesome people
Is there a source to this I tried finding something but I couldn't
Also a lot of Roman statues are copies of originally bronze greek statues
Some but not that many. Romans had their own rulers as gods. So many of their rulers were sculpted.
@@brazilianman92 You are wrong. The main Roman pantheon were just the Greeks gods with different names, Zeus->Jupiter, Athena->Minerva etc. Of course the statues of Roman leaders were original, but when it came to the majority of statue work you would have found in Rome, they were copies of Greek originals.
@@ozvulcan The imperial cult took precedent over the Greek inspired Roman gods. The leaders of Rome were always idolized. This even prior to their shift into the empire. Hence why we have statues of Marcus aurelius. When they shifted into an empire the imperial cult became huge. So emperors and the royal families were seen as Gods. Which made them the most popular choice to sculpt. Hence why so many emperors have statues. Also the cult of mithraism and various non greek cults took hold as well. The Greek gods themselves are just Phoenician and Egyptian gods by a different name. Such as Baal Hammon being Cronus/ Saturn/ Geb.
@@ozvulcan Gotta read more bud. Tisk tisk
@bishes be mad The imperial cult is a real thing bro. This is something commonly done by the Egyptians, Chinese and Roman empire. It even carried on a bit past into the Byzantine empire. Where Constantine was almost given divine like status. Just look up imperial cult and you'll find scholarly studies done on it. The concept of a Godly royal line is something the Roman empire definitely did. It started with the advent of Augustus Caeser.
5:14 Michael Scott’s inspiration for writing the character Goldface for “Threat level midnight”😂
Such an articulate and informative video. These types of videos make YT appealing to me. Thank you
It's like saying medieval europe is dark and grim. Dude, everyone wear saturated color as clothes and paintings on their buildings.
I guess it's because movies always want to portray medieval times literally as the dark age, going with feeling more than accuracy.
medeival europe was dark and grim because of a certain virus wiping out millions
Ryo Bryan Lienardy I imagine that the gamut of color available in those days was rather limited to everyday people and their possessions.
@@januspanperspective1253 hmm, frankly, you are correct but from what I know until today, their colors is mostly saturated than not. So it is limited but more limited in the darker color than the bright saturated one and obviously lacking in their ability to reach many of RGB color neither be able to make gradations. Furthermore, putting aditional charcoal (Black) doesn't give good dark color generally, so, since medieval people are people like us and considering their culture consider the brighter the color the more beautiful, pristine, and of course richer it is, I believe they won't darken their lapis lazuli (Blue and all color in general) and prefer the saturated color. Correct me if I'm wrong tho.
@Sambhav Mathur I think Asian goes through medieval era rougher. Not studying Asian history that much but from what I know Chinese has weird politic where you get together and break then back together then break. Japan be like, is there any land out of Japan? Oh well, that clan is an ashole let's think about it later. Or maybe Asia is more prosperous when global trading happen? Not sure but you may be right since Asia is the source of stuff like spice where Europe mostly just the consumer.
In hind sight, it makes sense, having colours.
Colour signify that they can afford pigments. The richer you are, the more grandiose your colours should be!
And look at the clothes of existing tribes across all nations, many of them boasts colours!
Oddly enough it also makes sense if you consider stuff like garden dwarves, or nativity set statues. They're all colored because they have no reason not to be. Same for statues on streets.
@@katethegoat7507 yeah, everday figurines and statues are mostly coloured. :)
@@deidraws2530 exactly! Now imagine if that was the case with everyday architecture and decorations
@leonardimas1 what???
@leonardimas1 The Klu Klux Klan wasn't even around until after the civil war...
Make Rome colourful again !
The insides of most castles are grey plain stone. In Dover Castle there is a little patch of coloured plaster that has survived, showing that the interiors of castles were actually plastered and coloured.
Fun fact: Lacoon is not a Roman statue, it's the masterpiece of a Greek artist from the Dodecanese islands and was stolen by the Romans when they conquered Greece and never returned.
@W.A M.P As the Romans claimed to be descendents of Greeks it would have been pretty weird to destroy their culture. Actually the Romans took over a big part of the Greek culture, including cuisine, philosophy, education, political systems, medicine and religion.
W.A M.P well the romans thought they were descendants of the Greeks so
So you’re telling me that assassins creed was more accurate than my history class?
Yep. That's TOOOOOOTALLY it. Let's Ignore the fact that this video is about statues, not historical events and data's. And yes, if you're history class teacher *said* that they were white, then *Yes*, Assassin's creed more accurate about statues than you're class.
@little boy blue I guess I should Woosh myself.
Voland.V. r/woosh.
I think there's some truth to that. even though AC takes a lot of liberties (duh, it's fantasy) they bring in, I think, a lot of experts to build a realistic world
@@wolandv.2355 3 o's in wooosh.
NO
I prefer them without colour. It makes me more appreciate their skills
There's a Pleasantville joke here somewhere, I just can't find it.
Interesting fact: the terra cotta warrior statues were originally very colorful as well.
the orange lie!
They're actually among the most astounding finds ever made. Each one is different, not just by face. And yes, while I'm not an expert, I do know they were painted with a variety of colors.
There was a photo I saw which shows the statue with colors before the it immediately fade away upon exposure to oxygen.
I learned that Ancient Greek and Roman statues were painted all over in middle school, if not earlier. Same thing is true for the temples. That’s why columns seem to have all those tiny indentures, because they were covered with coloured shells or beads.
I didn't know it till I saw this video
Nice
i mean here in greece they teach you that in 3rd grade history class
Me too. I don’t know how people could not know that honestly
5:08 Bro literally became a CEO of Facebook
spoiler: pretty much every thing everywhere all the time was colorful. Not just Romans and Greece. The whole antiquity and especially medieval periods which people often depicts as dark and all bare stone were actually quite the opposite. Castles and Cathedrals were covered in pigments and tapestry.
I feel better now knowing that the ancient world was colorful.
Same, the recreations look so dazzling!
Why i thought she was gonna say Cesar was black
Because Vox
You might've thought Albert einstein was white. We dont blame you, but he was actually a 12 year old asian schoolgirl.
But definitely not Hollywood white...like Jesus
Yeah And they scrubbed the melanin off some of those statues too!!
@Al Smith So you are saying that EVERYTHING in life is either regressive or progressive? Wow.
same thing with the terra cotta warriors, they were painted in very vibrant colors back when they were made
Marie Cascione, your presentation was DELIGHTFUL ♥♥♥♥♥♥
5:08 don't tell me that that's not Mark Zuckerberg
U right u right
Underrated comment
Marcos Svcvrvus
Wait. It’s not?!
Its a joke. She says "seem human" then shows zuckerberg..
I'm going to tell my great grandchildren Christmas lights only came in white
I wish they did only come in white?
They used to be white bulbs with coloured covers.
@@timothywhite8932 They do
"The whiter the sculpture is, the more beautiful it is'
HhMMmMmMmMm
Rdolf Hoodler approves
For once ...can people stop being offended by things they took it in a wrong way?
They are talking about the sculpture
@@zufi7728 count us lucky.
Once Twitter gets wind of this, they'll prolly cancel the Entire Roman Empire
Am I the only one who finds it weird how they're so obsessed about such a trivial thing?
It became a way to assert western cultures superiority over other forms of art. See the recurring uses of the words “primitive” to describe the colored statues
Warhammer hobbyists know all about colouring sculptures :)
they couldn't bear watching this video
@@majorfallacy5926 I did, and I reminded them of the amount of coats one should use when painting... sculptures.
you know, I think it would be a really cool thing to produce full size miniatures for top painters to compete on painting. It is possible that such hobbyists could be expected to do the very best recreations of historical statues, compared to any other artist.
Michalis Famelis hmm
THIN THY PAINTS
Colorized Ancient statues look exactly like modern day Catholic statues.
That's not surprising as the early Christians stole and copied a lot of things from the Greco-Roman pagans.
More like they were these pagans.
@Christine Taggart no one "stole" anything, you American conspiracy theorists.
@Ksch Koff American by heart. :)
@Christine Taggart
So you're saying that the Roman Catholic church isn't Christian?
Ooookaaaay then...
This has been an amazing revelation for me, thank you for creating the video ❤️