Were marble statues painted in Ancient Rome?
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- Yes, Ancient Greek and Roman statuary was painted in brilliant colors: eyes, hair, clothing, weaponry, bloody wounds, and more. But the pigments used are rarely well preserved. We'll examine some famous statuary from the Baths of Caracalla and view them with reconstructed colors!
Thanks to the new app yorescape.com we can explore the Baths of Caracalla and compare the structures and the statuary with the remains of the baths today as well as the preserved statuary. It's an opportunity to look at the painting that once adorned the marble statues, which we can compare with the statues as they are preserved today in the Naples archaeological museum (MANN).
The model of imperial Rome has been reconstructed by a team of experts under the guidance of Prof. Bernard Frischer of Rome Reborn fame. This iteration is part of a new app called yorescape.page.link/rome that you can try for free. Check it out!
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Brief history of the Baths- what makes them so special
3:28 Hadrianic houses pre-dating the Baths
4:18 Painted statue groups in the Baths
5:06 Ancient paint used in Antiquity
6:26 Standout statuary: Lysippan Hercules, Scylla group, Dirce group
Keep up with the adventures of Darius Arya, the archaeologist with access. Ancient history in real life! And great ready for a lot more travel: Jordan, Egypt, Croatia, and more!
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At first I was uncomfortable with the idea of painted statues, now I love it and wish we would have continued that tradition instead of having grey everywhere.
Technology can help. Analysis of the marble surfaces can reveal a lot of the original color (if not ruined by modern cleaning!)
I wonder if the paintwork was quite detailed too to create a realistic impression of skin shade variation, etc.
They say that some of the paintings would have shown the different colors and textures of people’s clothes. So the nicer statues were probably extremely detailed similar to how some of the finest Roman glass is as good or better than what today’s finest glass artistans are making. The Roman would have industrialized if they didn’t have so much slave labor. They were technologically as good as the west was in early Victorian times 1830s/1840s. :)
One thing to take into account, Greco-Roman statuary was already a very old tradition with the Greeks by the time we got to the Romans. The Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek statues. Many of these would have lost their paint if they were painted, much as painted Roman statues we have today are also not painted. Styles and tastes naturally changed over the almost thousand year history of Rome.
It is a good thing to educate people on the painted statuary. However, it does not mean that the Romans never had traditions of unpainted, or lightly painted statuary either. For example, there is a Pompeiian Fresco of a gorgoneion or gorgon mask. Below it is a painted statue of a type archaic heroic Greek Warrior, maybe Perseus due to the Gorgon mask. The fresco is very clear that this figure was always meant to be a statue, not a person. From the beginning this fresco depicts an almost entirely white marble statue, probably to evoke feelings of ancient (to the Romans) Greece. Only the hair, and purple cloak is painted, but in such a way to appear “faded” in relation to the rest of the fresco. I believe this was intentional, maybe an artistic reflection of a historical reality familiar to the Romans. A symbol of the faded glory of Greece’s older classical antiquity (Perseus and the Gorgon both subjected as Roman garden decorations) compared to the superior modern Roman world.
The Greeks and the Romans had very sophisticated artistic tastes that were not matched in Europe until the renaissance. It is natural to assume that their rich art culture would have a number of different styles over a thousand plus year history. They were not so one dimensional to ONLY have white marble, or ONLY have painted statues.
@@DariusAryaWhat are your views on whether refabricated columns matching the originals should be used to enhance this structure so as the public could have a better idea on how grand it really was?
We see this being done sometimes with other ancient structures where the same source material is used and it is modeled according to the original and installed as part of 'restoration' of the entire structure.
I think in this case, why not add the columns that match the original?
Besides, any structure that is that old, has had to have had changes made to keep it operational. Let us assume that if this structure was restored like 400 hundred years ago, to the original and was continued to be in use, most folk would only refer to the date when it first was built. I don't think folk will focus on the date of 400 hundred years when it was rebuilt. It seems like a waste to leave it barren when it still could be used by the public for entertainment purposes.
I remember seeing a YT video of a palace in Rajasthan, India that was abandoned for a few hundreds years but was recently bought by a large hotel conglomerate who restored the palace and even added an extra two floors to the place in the exact same style and sandstone. And honestly, looking at the structure today, after the addition, it has only enhanced the structure that when it is lit up at night it is stunning!! Without those two extra floors that were added on later, it would have looked very flat and not as appealing. And it is still also maintained as a historical site. They also are very clear to point out on the structure what was added on.
I am not sure if the grand coliseum is used in Rome? I think it should be stabilized and put to use.
I was curious how you feel about it?
Ancient Rome never ceases to amaze me. Much of what we are today we owe it to the Romans (and Greeks, off course…). Looking forward to a new year full of knowledge. Cheers.
In Mesoamerica (the Aztec, Maya, etc), monumental buildings like temples, palaces etc, as well as sculptures and ceramics were also richly painted with murals and frescos and other painted motifs and accents. This is the sort of thing that's hard to convey in a comment without being able to show images, so I'll just refer people to look up some surviving and replica murals/frescos located at Teotihaucan, Bonampak, and Cacaxtla, as well as paintings reconstructing Aztec cityscapes and architecture by Scott and Stuart Gentling. It's gorgous stuff.
We know. A point of of interest is the red paint and die known carmine was made from the chochineal bug. The bug fed on sap of the prickly pear cactus.
The Baths of Caracalla have become probably my favorite building complex in Ancient Rome.
this should have been much longer, i would have loved a full virtual tour of the place. still, well done and engaging.
Simply wonderful! 👍
I appreciate it!
It would be amazing if someone made these 3d reconstructions available on PSVR2. I could spend hours walking through all these ancient sites in VR
Thank you Darius for another wonderful dive into the history, art, and architecture of ancient Rome. Last night I digitally restored a renaissance era etching of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturnia Mons. I eagerly await what you have in store for us all in 2024.
Sounds great! Yes, will be a great year! Just getting warmed up on this channel... @ancientromelive is on a roll already...
Fascinating and informative video! Thanks again for all you do!
I appreciate it! Happy new year!
Thank you so much, this was a marvel i would have never found. Men of culture, let us never stop thinking about Rome.
The Baths of Caracalla remain one of Rome's best preserved sites.
15 years ago I had a bad reaction to the painted statues - but today I find them to make much more sense, and consider them beautiful! Especially considering the equally colourful spaces they were placed in. I also think that the pigment would have looked even better on the marble, than the rather opaque and flat result we get on the museum reproductions. We have to train our colour tolerance, we think our modern taste and lack of colour is sophisticated, but actually it’s probably become an underdeveloped understanding of colour.
We need better examples of what the colors looked it- lots of exhibits- but they appear too "clinical" and not artistic enough!
So a bath complex was kind of mix of a shopping mall and theme park.
Thanks again for the presentation, and Happy New Year ! The colors remind me of Lord Elgin and the Parthenon Marbles that were displayed with all their traces of paint removed per the tastes of the time.
Many thanks. Yes, these kinds of reconstructions give a lot of life back to the original decorations.
Love the graphic's you use fella, so smooth looking
Much appreciated
Wonderful. Will go there next time I am in Rome.
Absolutely- usually empty ...
thank you ! thank you !
You are welcome!
The first time I was at this site was in the 80s for an opera, who’s name escapes me at the moment. But what was so amazing was that they had live large elephants and other animals on the stage with the cast.
I wonder if that was a production of 'Aida' by Giuseppe Verdi, which is set in pharaonic Egypt.
This forgetting of that detail alludes to on set of senility. Are you one of those people that also forget where you parked your car?
@@barrymoore4470Not his greatest work.
The skill of the Romans is extraordinary.
Interesting, thanks. Wish I'd seen this before visiting the baths.
You need to go back!
@@DariusArya I will, but there is so much else in Rome I need to see first.
Was there this time last year and will be there again in Feb. 2024. Thanks to Darius, there's more to "see" and learn beyond the basic tour.
Many thanks. Give a holler when you are in Rome. Happy to say hi!
Great work!
Thank you! Cheers!
People have been aware for a long time that ancient Greek and Roman statues were painted - already in the early 19th century this was suspected - Welsh sculptor Gibson who was a pupil of the greatest of all neo classical sculptors Antonio Canova realized this when he sculpted his famous Venus with skin like pink tones - this statue can be seen in one of the galleries in Liverpool. England.
Already noted in the Renaissance- and earlier...
@@DariusAryaHow was the paint made, and with what components?
Awesome job!
Thank you! Cheers!
It is mind blowing how amazing those statues are. I wonder how long it took them to carve em 😮
I Find myself memorized by everything I see. Also Caracalla very similar to my maiden name ❤❤❤
Digs are incredible to behold!
Caracalla was that emperor's nickname, derived from the kind of cloak of which he was fond of wearing. The emperor's official name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
Thank you, I didn’t know that. 👍
Great.
Many thanks.
What method was used to detect and identify the colours (pigments) on the statues?
typically they use nowadays Thermoluminescence dating...
@@DariusArya Many thanks
1:00 (or so) The Baths of Diocletian are better preserved, so much so that they're partially still in use today as a church and a museum.
The statue of Hercules. Beautiful.
Oh , to travel back in time to tell the Artist and his model that they will live on for Centuries and the model will live on as a thing of Masculine Beauty Forever.
The 3D is beautiful it just needs some adjustments @scales
So the old romans had malls...
Hi Darius..a little late to the party but better late than never! Do you know if the Belvedere Torso was painted and if it remains unknown do you think The Vatican will test it one day? It would be great to know because of it's great influence on Michelangelo in particular.
This was good but would be much better with voice over only or very minimal view of the narrator. In addition, terms like palestra are used but the average viewer does not know what they mean. It would be very helpful to share the definition with the viewers the first time a word is used in the narrative.
The graphics are amazing. I just wish that these people paid attention to the geometric proportions of Classical Orders. Too many amazing graphic computer reconstructions ignore the ratioed relationship between column capitals and architrave, frieze, cornice. The corners of the capitals almost always exceed the base of the entablature. The column capitals are also disproportionatly large for the column shafts. And where is the column Entasis? Fluting? Otherwise, the statuary depictions and polychrome are top notch best.
The Yorescape team has done an admirable job!
*Was the Baths sort of like [shopping] malls today?* And is the neighborhood that preceded it actually under the Baths? If so, how does one build on top of other structures? Finally, the virtual reconstructions are stunning. But would it have been filled with furniture and fixtures and nick-knacks?
I am surprised that they did not steal all the building materials. That is a lot of brick that could have been used to build other structures.
Had the state not intervened to eventually protect the site as an historical monument, in time all the materials might have been completely depleted.
It does make me wonder how these large, heavy, marble statues were moved without ever damaging them. I guess pulley's and manpower?
Greek statues which now the world knows as plain white marble color, were always painted. Ancient Greeks loved color. Likewise, Romans who immitated Greek art, also painted their statues.
The problem with the coloring of the statues by us is the we are using gaudy primary color and is ugly. I think the coloring would have been more pleasing like at Disneyland. Bright, but with shadows.
in the Pantheon one sees color aplenty, but it is the colors of various stone in fact, not paint, and aside from embellishments indoors, how does it seem possible to anyone that under exposure to the elements, paint could have any kind of chance? the colors exhibited here are appropriate indoors, but in the baths, the air alone would require a sealant protecting the pigment, one would consider. and in the city - think of the crowds and various activities - the congestion and airborne grime and dirt! chariots and festivals, carousings, and animals. temples and interiors quite lovely for precise and skillful embellishments in stone (marble in many colors, for example), precious and semi-precious gemstones, bronze and gold, and even the most precious paints the natural world could provide, and even then, better applied to the upper elevations of a structure, out of harm's way. yet there is the instance of rain and relentless burning sun and flying dust driven by winds in every conceivable direction, day and night -what could stand up to abuse such as mother nature deals? now, these marbles and other stones were chosen for their appearance - whiteness, strength, clarity, and overall beauty: how did it work and polish and what was the excellence of the completed object, the perfection and accuracy of the portrayal, and/or the desired effect? it is not possible to even imagine for one moment that paint would be involved in anything more than to accentuate (to emphasize, compliment, and provide delightful and enriching contrast) the exquisite form and finish of the chosen marble or completed bronze. why is paint present in many places contrary to where one would not deem appropriate aesthetically, or from the standpoint of practicality? possibly, over the course of Rome's extended decline, feeble attempts to counter the damage done by invasions, neglect, vandalism, and age led some of the remaining survivors to simply try a bit of 'refurbishment' as best able and in any way they could. the fall did take 300 to 400 years after all. now are found today those many attempts, along with some of the original and intentional applications. just a thought or 2. great video! really looking good there in Rome! 🏦 it may have been during the decline, that people truly went for the paint in desperation to cheer things up!! might just be... we may know one day - someone will have to find a contemporary recollection from that period. thank you for the outstanding video!
Thanks for your kind comments and observations! Yes the colored marble was a real treat for the Romans, but painting was far cheaper. Inside sdn outside of buildings. Plenty of examples of outdoor frescoes in Pompeii - and many other sites. The frescoes were renewed with some frequency - though at other times after a century!
The Dirce and Scylla groups seem very odd thematic choices for palaestrae; was it simply a question of size and WOW factor?
Large-scale statuary for the huge spaces of the baths. Punishment of mortals is a running theme in public spaces. Scylla ties into the water theme; the Dirce group was converted into a fountain...
@@DariusArya Thanks! I hadn't considered the punishment aspect. 'Obey the Emperor - and NO running in the wet areas!'
The Farnese Bull ❤❤❤
they probably painted their dogs and other pets they had ,
never enough color in Rome , especially the color red = power , blood , courage , stature
Yes. They were.
Yes, they were painted but it's inconceivable to me that the artists created such crude effects as we see in current attempts at reproduction. There must have been layers of color to achieve life-like and three-dimensional looks, as we see in both Roman wall paintings and mosaics.
They didn't have photos, but everyone knew exactly what the emperor looked like. The busts of tribal ancestors displayed in the home would be a strong reminder of one's roots in lifelike detail. But to walk the ancient city and see Rome's history seemingly alive in the thousands of statues would have been powerful propaganda.
Were the pigments toxic, which made it dangerous to work with them?
no. natural pigments are still toxic even today. they are still sold and used widely.
Cinnabar is a great example of what you don't want to work with!
@@DariusAryaMercury poisoning. Vetruvius warned about both lead and mercury.
At first it was disturbing but the reality is that most statue paintings are horrible, they are monochromatic, dull, without details.
If done well, it looks wonderful, but no one seems to have dedicated themselves to making a statue painted with seriousness and dedication.
I am sure you concure that colors were very subtle and life-like, not brash and gaudy as all modern "reconstructions" show. How could Rromans who painted frescos with such masterful subtly, paint the expensive and beautiful marble statues like a finger paining of a 5 year old! And as the frescos in Pompei evidence, not all buildings or stutues were painted (as mannequins). Poet Rumi celebrates the colorless "purity" of the Romans compared to deceptive "colored" Chinese works
Yes, I agree- "subtle" is a great term!
The colors were realistic not clown paint!
It take a good artist to render it correctly. We defund art programs everywhere. It doesn’t pay. We won’t see a Renaissance until we have more patrons and their artists to take up these selfless professions that preserve our culture. 👍
A lot of "up keep" and repainting to keep up all the statues and buildings.
per vedere sti buchi si lasciana decine di euro..e sti complessi andrebbero secondo me ricostruiti...così fanno cacare.
I wonder if those nude statue scenes were all part of the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses that they inherited from the greeks and why they always show males sexes but the women genitals are taboo, never sculpted. Women statues always have some draped clothes which i find rather incoherent especially in group statues that show men entirely nude and woman dressed. It feels undignified for the men.
You are right- it's a complex issue. Men were typically shown nude- for athletics (perfect place for such statuary in the baths), heroic scenes (battles, fighting monsters). Depiction of women nude came much later .. and was reserved for goddesses bathing, and some other exceptions...
@@DariusArya Thanks Darius a great video. The virtual 3D reconstruction is missing human figures to give a scale and ambiance of the place. I don't quite understand what was behind the historical taboo of not showing women entirely nude when men are represented as such in the group. I guess a woman's reputation stood on her faithfulness or virginity for young women and nude women would be low morals except when they are goddess symbols.
*_Nice white washing of the statues whoever made this 3d reconstruction._*
What do you mean by whitewashing?
@@melissawickersham9912 *_He's intentionally making their hair lighter than the original black it should be depicted with so that one could mistake them for looking like Germans and Germanoid people like the English. It is a type of whistleblowing. They are, to this day, trying to claim that the ancient romans were blonde and blue eyed when in fact they were not. They employ an all English and/or Irish cast for movies like "Troy" (2004), the HBO show "Rome" and the movie "Alexander" (2004) depicting alexander with blonde hair even though we have actual mosaics with ACTUAL color depicting him with actual dark brown hair. In the future people will be using these reconstrcuction to say that the Romans were white people. This is a type of coping by the north and north-western europeans who have virtually no ancient history, let alone interesting history._*
@@MadKingOfMadaya He isn’t the one doing that. He’s not the one actually making the reconstructions. He’s just presenting this video.
@@melissawickersham9912 I know that he didn't make it. Read my initial comment.
they look stupid painted.