NARRATOR: We're looking at the four slabs of carved stone in this case for what they can tell us about the colors that ancient Greek artists used. In antiquity, almost all Greek and Roman carvings were painted, although so little of that paint is left to us.

MARK ABBE: The four painted limestone funeral monuments in this case are now more than 2,200 years old, and despite their somewhat damaged condition, are exceptional survivals of classical Greek painting.

NARRATOR: Mark Abbe, from The Met’s Department of Scientific Research.

MARK ABBE: They remain because they were protected in an underground tomb, and they provide for us a really rare insight into the colorful nature of classical painting. Looking at the large limestone steely in the lower right hand corner of the case, we have a three figure composition. And at center there is a seated male figure who's in a right profile, and you'll see that he's wearing a yellow garment and he joins hands with a standing female figure who wears this very thin, semi-transparent, white garment. Now behind the seated male figure, there's another standing male figure and he wears a purple himation. It's interesting to note how the painter has created this shift in the background color from the grey at left to the purple at right, and how this division of color intersects the joined hands of the two figures, this the seated male and the standing woman. And this really focuses our visual attention on this personal, intimate interaction.
NARRATOR: This makes us wonder now how missing colors on other carvings were integral parts of their compositions. Ancient Greek artists supplied their colors in many thin gradual layers.

MARK ABBE: And if you look especially at the standing female figure, you'll notice the real complexity of the shadows and highlights that have been rendered in this technique using multiple sequential applications of pigment.

NARRATOR: In The Met’s labs, the colors are analyzed. Firstly, just to find out what pigments were used to create them. And secondly, the research scientists there analyze small amounts of pigment, which are too difficult to discern with the naked eye.