QuickCheck: Were Greek and Roman statues painted?

GREEK and Roman statues were actually painted and not left white as we see them in museums today.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

Ancient Greek and Roman marble statues were actually painted in vibrant colours.

The only reason they appear white today is that the pigments have deteriorated over the centuries though some particularly well-preserved specimens still bear traces of their original colouration.

Specimens show traces of bright blue, purple, red, yellow and even gold.

In fact, it wasn't just the statues that were painted, but the buildings as well.

Recent studies of the Parthenon of Athens, shows that it too was painted in bright colours.

Giovanni Verri, then a physicist for the British Museum in London, in 2009 developed a portable detector that could detect infrared light emitted by pigment particles.

And what he found was that one pigment, Egyptian Blue, was used extensively on the gables and statues of the Parthenon.

Seeing that Greek and Roman architecture (especially their columns) seems to be popular with banks and government buildings, it makes you wonder what they would look like if they also copied their paint job as well.

References:

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2009.574

2. https://www.cairn.info/revue-archeologique-2014-1-page-3.htm

3. https://greekreporter.com/2021/04/14/ancient-greek-masterpieces-were-painted-in-dazzling-colors/

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