Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color

The colors in this reconstruction of an ancient Greek marble statue of a young woman were identified on the original with the help of ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. These techniques revealed numerous pigments: red and brown madder lake, red and brown ocher, and lead white for the eyes, skin, and hair, as well as red and yellow iron oxide, orpiment, and cinnabar for the dress. Certain ornaments had been gilded or perhaps covered with a lead-and-tin foil.

"This richly decorated statue stood on the tomb of a girl named Phrasikleia. She wears a crown of lotus buds and holds a single bud in her left hand. The epigram on the base tells us that she died young, before she could marry.

The famous sculptor Aristion of Paros signed the work. With the help of ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), traces of a numbers of colors on the flesh and clothing could be identified: red and brown madder, red and brown ocher, lead white for the eyes, flesh, and hair, as well as three different reds and yellows (red and yellow iron oxide and orpiment for the garment). Wherever the underside of the fabric is visible - on the sleeve and the lower hem - a dark red pigment (hematite) was deliberately used. Gold leaf and lead tin foil that gleams like silver were applied to the dress and the jewelry. Metal rosettes and shiny yellow swastikas (painted with orpiment and gold ocher) were scattered over the entire garment. Additionally, stars appear on the back of the garment, evidently intended to represent a constellation.

The reconstruction made in 2010 follows the incised patterns and colors that were identified by scientific analysis. But after the latest discoveries by the conservators in the Athens National Museum, the red ocher of the robe has been mixed with cinnabar, giving the color an even more intense effect. The polish of the skin was based on contemporary Egyptian mummy portraits and was done using agate, while a shimmering lacquer (gum arabic) was applied to the irises of the eyes. In 2019, gilding was added to the volute ornament of the belt and precious stones were inserted into the round depressions that are still preserved."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann


Reconstruction 2010/2019:

marble stucco on PMMA, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera, lead tinfoil, gold leaf, garnet, tourmaline, labradorite, gum arabic (for the irises)
H. 200 cm.
3-D scan and printing in PMMA: Ursula Buck, Thorsten Schwing, GOM Braunschweig, Alphaform Munich; restorations: Christian
Tobin; gilding: Corinna Bohn; gemstones: Kristina Balzer
Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main (on loan from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Leibniz Prize O. Primavesi 2007), inv. LGLH Z 01


Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)
Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)
Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)
Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)
Black-and-white imaging in visible light (VIS)
Color imaging in visible light (VIS)
Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)
3-D scan (GOM Atos)
Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)


Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening


Pigments used in the reconstruction:

red: burnt Cypriot yellow ocher, cinnabar, red ocher, hematite; yellow: light yellow Cypriot ocher, gold ocher, orpiment; white: lead white; brown: brown madder, umbra; black: vine black; flesh color: red and yellow ocher, lead white (polished)


Acknowledgements:

GOM Braunschweig
Ursula Buck, Thorsten Schwing
Leibniz-prize 2007 Oliver Primavesi (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Nikolaos Kaltsas, Athens
National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Large inlaid eyes once enhanced the fearsome appearance of this griffin head, one of several decorative attachments for the rim of a monumental bronze cauldron dedicated at the Greek sanctuary of Olympia. Amber, bone, and ivory were often used for inlays in bronze sculpture. Chromatic variation could also be produced using different metal alloys. Here, the copper beading and rivets along the edge of the griffin’s neck are made of a metal distinct from the rest of the head.

Cycladic people created marble utensils, including palettes. Here, scientific analyses have found abundant remains of red cinnabar, as well as small traces of other blue and green pigments on the surface. Recurrent traces of red pigment on Cycladic palettes suggest that they were used to prepare colors for application to statuettes and perhaps also to human beings.

This head provides the clearest evidence of painted decoration among the Museum’s collection of Cycladic sculptures. Traces of at least six vertical red stripes across the forehead can be seen with the naked eye. Cinnabar red appears again along the nose, on the cheeks, and in the neck incision just below the chin. Paint vestiges on both eyes, with pupils and eyebrows indicated, are also clearly discernible. The Spedos type is named after an Early Cycladic cemetery on the island of Naxos where examples were found.

The painted mouth, eyes, eyebrows, and long locks of hair on this reconstruction are features visible in raking light on an ancient marble figure. The dots on the cheeks are based on those found on a number of other Cycladic figures. Original colors preserved on similar examples informed the choice of blue azurite and red cinnabar here.

" Cycladic figures in marble render the human body in a stylized and very abstract form. At the same time, the eyes, mouth, and hair were consistently painted in color, and often the body was also adorned with dots and lines. The meaning of these body ornaments is unclear. They may have a connection to ritual practices and religious beliefs associated with the figures.

The painted eyes, eyebrows, and mouth of this example of the Spedos Group from the Cycladic Museum in Athens are visible in raking light as traces of weathering. Long locks of hair can be made out on the back of the figure. The dots on the cheeks, as well as the original colors, are preserved on other examples, and they allow us to identify the materials used. There are also numerous marble bowls containing pigments still preserved, and these attest to the brilliance of the original hues made from finely ground azurite, cinnabar, hematite, and other materials."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2006 (first version):

artificial marble and natural pigments in egg tempera

H. ca. 35.5 cm.

Restorations: Christoph Bergmann

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project) Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 695



Scientific methods employed:

Raking light imaging (Schott KL 1500)

Black and white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Elizabeth Hendrix



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

blue: azurite; red: cinnabar



Acknowledgements:

Friedrich Teja Bach

Nikolaos Stampolidis, Athens

Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens

Traces of red pigment have been revealed by ultraviolet-reflected imaging and enhanced digital imagery of this figure. The paint describes a variety of almond shapes—some are clearly eyes—all over the face as well as on the back of the head and the upper right thigh. These surprisingly bold designs might represent body paint or tattoos, applied either to a living person or to a corpse as part of a burial ritual.

While this large head preserves very little pigment, it is possible to see where paint was used to delineate the eyes, including the pupils. "Ghost" images like this result when painted and unpainted areas of the marble weather differently over millennia. Traces of red pigment, visible under 30x magnification, appear along the line that separates the neck from the head on the left side.

This is one of the earliest of a small number of ancient Cycladic representations of musicians. Although some scholars have questioned its authenticity, there are compelling reasons to accept it as an ambitious early work of this rare type—notably, the evidence of painted decoration. Differential weathering of the marble atop the head indicates that the figure may have had a painted skullcap or closely cropped hairstyle.

Colorful inlays once filled the eyes of this bronze man and centaur locked in combat. Scientific analysis has revealed that the man’s eyes were made of silver and the centaur’s, still intact, of dark iron or iron-oxide minerals. The contrast between the two would have been striking. The technique of inlaying various materials to enhance metal sculpture appears very early in Greek art, with special attention given to the eyes.

Each eye of this bronze horse was carefully hollowed out to receive an inlay. Holes in the hooves indicate the statuette was originally attached to another object, possibly the rim or handle of a large tripod cauldron. Animals and mythical creatures often decorated monumental bronze cauldrons that served as dedications to the gods at Greek sanctuaries, most notably at Olympia and Delphi and on the island of Samos.

The embellishment of this cosmetic vase—achieved through a variety of techniques—reflects the early use of multicolored designs in Greek art and the influences behind them. Checkered patterns in red, white, and black appear in pottery produced in Lydia and Phrygia (present-day Turkey). The figures outlined in glaze are East Greek in style, while the feathers in alternating colors on the winged animals resemble those of sphinxes on Attic gravestones.

Carved from a single tusk of elephant ivory, a material reserved for objects of great value, these female figures once adorned a lavish wood chest or other piece of luxury furniture. The intricate patterns incised on one of the garments represent an elaborately woven textile. Similar ivories were also painted or gilded. Here, scientific analysis has identified traces of red ocher, blue azurite, and cinnabar, a rare and expensive mineral used to create a brilliant red pigment.

The original color on the marble sphinx is unusually well preserved. Scientific analyses, photographs with ultraviolet and infrared light, false-color photographs, and archaeological comparisons allow an almost complete reconstruction of the elegant designs in luminous and precious natural colors. Information is missing regarding additional detailing, such as fine lines subdividing the feathers, which may have been the final step in the original painting process.



"The figure of a sphinx, which originally crowned the so-called Megakles stele in The Met’s collection, is depicted in a squatting posture with the buttocks slightly raised and the face turned towards the viewer of the tomb monument. Colors are remarkably well preserved. Some consolidation had been executed in 20th century with a material that produces a visible luminescence when exposed to UV light.

The reconstruction is based on the scientific and archaeological research of the staff of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project Frankfurt am Main. Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann and Vinzenz Brinkmann were responsible for the execution of the color reconstruction.

Please see the Met Perspectives essays on the main exhibition page for further information about the scientific research and the process of reconstruction."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2022:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

marble stucco on PMM, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

3D-printing in PMMA: Ralf Deuke, Voxeljet

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 966



Scientific methods employed:

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR)

Multiband imaging (MBI), also known as multispectral imaging (MSI)

Stereomicroscopy in visible light (10–50x, Keyence)

Raking light imaging (Nikon SB-910 flash),

Color photography in visible light (VIS)

False color image processing (iDStretch)

Photomicrograph (with Keyence microscope or macro objectives)

3-D scan in photogrammetry (Scott Geffert and The Met Imaging Department)

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)



Scientific evaluation:

Marco Leona, Federico Caro, Elena Basso, Dorothy Abramitis, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstructions:

blue: azurite; red: cinnabar; green: malachite; yellow: Cypriot ocher, lead yellow, dark yellow French ocher; white: kaolin, lead white; black: charred bone; flesh colors: lead white, red and yellow iron oxide

gilded copper sheet, gilded copper wire, gilded tin

This is the most complete grave monument of its type to have survived from the Archaic period. The Met acquired five fragments between 1911 and 1951. A few pieces are represented here as plaster casts: The fragment with a girl’s head was acquired in 1903 by the Berlin Museums, and the one with the youth’s right forearm is in the National Museum in Athens. The capital and crowning sphinx are casts of the originals displayed in a case nearby for closer viewing of their polychromy.

The youth is shown as an athlete with an aryballos (oil flask, used for cleansing after exercise) suspended by a leather strap from his wrist and a pomegranate—associated with fecundity and death in Greek myths—in his hand. Traces of a painted whirling pattern on the aryballos imitate a painted terracotta vase. The smaller figure, presumably his younger sister, holds a flower.

This lavish monument, which stands over thirteen feet high, must have been erected by one of the wealthiest aristocratic families. Some scholars have restored the name of the youth in the inscription as Megakles, a name associated with the powerful Alkmeonidai clan, who opposed the tyrant Peisistratos during most of the second half of the sixth century b.c. Family tombs were sometimes desecrated and destroyed during that conflict, and this stele may have been among them.

This sculpture originally crowned the tall grave marker on view in this gallery. A plaster copy has been set on the monument itself and a new color reconstruction is displayed nearby. The sphinx retains abundant traces of yellow, red, black, and blue pigment, and the front face of the capital once had a painted design of palmettes and volutes (spiral scrolls).

A mythical creature with a lion’s body, the wings and breast of a bird, and a human head, the sphinx appears in various forms of art throughout the eastern Mediterranean region from the Bronze Age onward. The Greeks pictured it as a winged female and often placed its image on grave monuments as guardian of the dead. This example was carved separately from the rest; its plinth was let into a socket at the top of the capital and secured by a metal dowel and a bed of molten lead. The capital is in the form of two double volutes designed like a lyre.

Greek artists used a wide range of pigments, painting techniques, and surface treatments to embellish marble sculptures in the round. Vibrant colors were selectively applied to emphasize physical features, including the hair, eyes, and lips. Even the nipples and genitalia of this kouros (male youth) have been carefully detailed. Incisions representing body hair appear as stylized sunrays around the nipples, which were also highlighted in an iron-rich pigment, such as hematite. Some traces of color, including the red ocher on the hairband, are still visible to the naked eye. Scientific analysis has also indicated that the pubic hair was artfully painted.

Traces of pigment on the ears, eyes, and stylized locks of the mane are all that remain of the vibrant color that once defined the features of this marble horse’s head. Scientific analysis has identified particles of red hematite and blue lazurite on the right eye and Egyptian blue on the mane. Equestrian monuments in stone and bronze were frequently erected in sanctuaries as dedications to the gods, and many colorfully painted marble examples were found on the Athenian Acropolis. This fragment may have been part of a larger sculptural group, possibly with a rider or a chariot, that stood in commemoration of victory in battle or competition.

The youth commemorated on this grave stele stands out against a vibrant red background. Framing his figure is an intricate pattern (known as guilloche) of red, green, and yellow interlocking bands. His spear and the greaves (shin guards) protecting his lower legs, once brightly painted, identify him as a hoplite, or foot soldier. A panel below shows a warrior mounting a quadriga (four-horse chariot), while his charioteer holds the reins. The artist differentiated between the pairs of overlapping horses by using different colors to articulate the manes, legs, and tails. With its dark background, the color scheme resembles that of red-figure vases made in this period.

This unusual vessel in the form of male genitalia was used to store oil, presumably of an erotic or medicinal nature. Lines of black glaze meticulously applied to imitate pubic hair convey a surprisingly lifelike appearance. Similar pubic hair was once painted on the marble kouros nearby, indicating that even in large-scale sculpture it was not uncommon for details of the male body to be depicted in paint.

Carved from a single block of marble, this sphinx and capital once crowned a tall grave marker. An inscription on the plinth identifies the deceased as a youth or man named Philinos or Thalinos. Incised details and traces of red and black paint accentuate the feathers of the breast and wings. The variable shape of the feathers is characteristic of the earliest stone sphinxes produced in Attica during the sixth century b.c., while the simple concave form of the capital imitates the cavetto molding often found in Egyptian architecture.

Colorful details and intricate patterns contribute to the fantastical appearance of this sphinx. Arranged in a scale-like pattern, the breast feathers are defined by incised arcs made using a compass. The artist incorporated the central points left by the leg of the compass into the decoration, accentuating each with a red dot. The overlapping feathers of the wings were subtly carved in low relief to create a three-dimensional effect, then painted. Traces of red and black pigments still visible on the feathers follow a color scheme similar to that used for other Archaic grave monuments in the collection.

Finely incised lines and traces of pigment attest to the vibrant decoration that once enhanced the upper part of this grave marker. A downward-facing palmette and zigzag pattern are still visible on the remaining fragments. The decorative motifs and distinctive color palette, with shades of red, blue or black, and yellow, are consistent with those in other Archaic Greek funerary sculpture. Grave markers with ornamentation painted directly on the flat surface of the stone were less expensive to produce than the elaborate relief carving of many other Attic funerary monuments.

This fragmentary grave marker features a nude youth in profile and a decorative palmette that were painted on the flat surface of the stone, rather than incised or carved in relief. The figure appears against a dark background with details of the body outlined in a lighter color, creating an effect comparable to red-figure vase painting. Alternating colors emphasize the petals of the palmette. An inscription on the base identifies the deceased as Antigenes and the person who erected the monument as Panaisches. A painted stele was a less expensive alternative to a grave marker with both sculptural and painted decoration.

Painted decoration once enhanced the awe-inspiring features of this (now fragmentary) sphinx, a formidable creature with the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and wings. Details on the breast and wings were rendered in vibrant red ocher and blue-green azurite and malachite. The artist applied a white calcium-carbonate-based ground to the neck and used carbon-based black to articulate the hair. Holes atop the head held a separate polos (headdress). Originally the crowning element of a tall funerary monument, the figure served as a striking tomb guardian.

The Classical Greek torso reconstructed here was sculpted from marble as if it were nude, with only the lower edge of a cuirass (close-fitting armor) indicated. The painter completed the composition by adding a fine garment worn under the armor and painted on the naked skin at the hips and shoulders. Traces of the pattern—rows of leaves connected by small spirals—are still visible on the original in raking light. This variant is one of three created by the Brinkmann team. It gives the cuirass a golden tone and colors the decorative pattern of the garment in blue and red.



"This marble statue of a torso wearing a cuirass (a piece of armor comprising a breastplate and backplate) stood in the Sanctuary of Athena on the Athenian Acropolis. Two holes on the back below the left shoulder may have once held a sculpted quiver, indicating that the figure represents an archer. In Antiquity cuirasses were modelled in metal, in order to fit exactly the proportions of the warrior's body. The sculptor of the so-called Cuirassed Torso shaped the body as if the figure were nude. Only the lower edge of the cuirass is slightly raised. But the sculptor completely ignored the undergarment, or chitoniskos. Instead, it was the painter who completed what the sculptor left out. Although no pigments are preserved on the original, in ultraviolet and raking light, traces of the patterned decoration of the garment are visible. Suspended and upright leaves are attached to one another by small spirals. This delicate ornament completely covers the chitoniskos and enhances the plasticity of the figure.

Traces of weathering confirm that a variety of colors were used. Two reconstructions show different possible color schemes for the cuirass and the pattern on the chitoniskos: Variant B represents a metal cuirass, while Variant C depicts a leather one."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction, Variant B, 2005:

plaster cast and natural pigments using the Michael Price method in egg tempera, gold leaf

H. ca. 62 cm.

Gilding and the application of color: Sylvia Kellner, Miguel Gonzalez, Harald Theiss

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 686



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Black and white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

blue: Egyptian blue; red: red ocher, calcite; flesh tones: rose madder, calcite.



Acknowledgements:

Christina Vlassopoulou, Athens

Acropolis Museum, Athens

Part of the success of Classical Greek bronze sculpture stems from the use of colorful inlays to create a sense of realism. Remains of the inlaid right nipple here show that it was made of a reddish copper alloy, now obscured by restoration material. Artists frequently inlaid lips and nipples with copper, and teeth with silver. Eyes similarly received elaborately fabricated inlays like the pair displayed elsewhere in this gallery.

This multicolored pair of eyes suggests the lifelike impression that inlays lent to ancient sculpture. The eyelashes are cut from two sheets of bronze that form a casing for the rest of the eye. The whites are made from frit, which is a kind of glass paste, while the cornea and iris are colored quartz framed with marble. Although damaged, the pupils were once perfectly circular disks of black obsidian, a volcanic glass.

These reconstructions represent two exquisite Classical Greek bronze statues found near Riace, Italy, in 1972. Research conducted during the reconstruction has led to important discoveries about the original appearance of the nude warriors. Sulphur residue in the corrosion layers shows that an artificial bronze patina was used to indicate skin color. As here, the eyes featured inlaid stone, lips and nipples were copper, and the teeth of these figures were silver sheet. Surviving fitting elements indicate that Riace B wore a fox-skin cap (alopekis) and Riace A wore a Corinthian helmet that was likely gilded, according to ancient custom. This representation of the lost cap of Riace B was modeled by Christoph Bergmann based on depictions in a relief from the Athenian Parthenon.

"Two Greek bronze statues of nude warriors were found in 1972 off the south coast of Calabria. Most likely they stood originally on the Athenian Acropolis in Greece. The reconstructions were carried out in various stages. In 2012, the head of Warrior A was scanned and a bronze cast was outfitted with a Corinthian helmet. This was followed, in 2013-2015, by a complete reconstruction of Riace A. In 2015-2016, Riace B was scanned, cast in bronze, and reconstructed.

Sulphur residue was observed in the layers of corrosion of the originals and interpreted as the remains of an artificial patina that was applied to the freshly cast bronze.

According to ancient sources, bitumen (asphalt) and patination were used for coloring and would have made possible a distinction between the skin and the hair colors of the two warriors, though for now any determination is largely hypothetical. The bronze cast of Riace A was therefore given a reddish patina by means of a sulphur reagent and asphalt lacquer in an oil-based solution, to represent deeply tanned skin and brown hair, while Riace B was given a blueish patina by means of asphalt lacquer mixed with indigo.

The hair of the Thracian warrior (Riace B) was given a reddish hue by means of a mixture of madder and asphalt lacquer. The eyes were fashioned from colored stones, just as in the original statues. The lips and the nipples were worked in bronze and inlaid separately, also matching what can be observed on the originals. The teeth of the original Riace A were formed from a sheet of silver, so a similar silver sheet was used for inlaying the teeth for the reconstruction. It can be shown that Riace A originally wore a Corinthian helmet. The bronze helmet from the tomb of Denda (Staatliche Glyptothek und Antikensammlungen, Munich) was recreated for the reconstruction. The gilding of the reconstructed helmet was added on the basis of literary references and representations in Roman painting. Warriors A is clutching the long staff of a lance in his right hand, and he once carried a heavy Greek round shield, which has been restored

No other type of ancient helmet besides the alopekis, a fox-skin cap, would have fit the head of the sculpture with the surviving elements of the raw and undefined surface of Warrior B’s skullcap, which include three copper plates with a dotted structure and a rectangular plate located above the forehead. The Munich artist Christoph Bergmann fashioned the missing fox skin cap (alopekis) of Riace B using examples on the Parthenon Frieze in Athens as a model.

An analysis of both the arms and hands of Warrior B indicates that he also carried a light shield and two different weapons. He is holding in his right hand the short staff of a weapon that is pointed forward and downward like swinging a double-bladed axe.

The index finger of Riace B's left hand is extended outward and obviously held an arrow that had been lost in the meantime. Consequently, the figure also held a bow in his closed left hand. This equipment, consisting of a light shield (pelta), arrow, bow and fox-skin cap, was added to the reconstruction in 2022 and suggests that Riace B represents the Thracian king Eumolpos as he encounters and is murdered by Erechtheus, the mythical king of Athens, in the so-called Eleusinian War. Finally, it is likely that the two bronze warriors from the sea off the coast of Riace, Calabria in southern Italy formed a statue group that was originally set up on the Athenian Acropolis."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction of Riace A, 2015:

cast bronze, copper, colored stones, silver, gold, asphalt

H. 282 cm (complete), H. without the spear 209 cm.

3D printing in PMMA and wax: Lorenzo Campana, voxeljet; bronze casting: Strassacker Co., Süssen; liver of sulphur for the patina: Strassacker Co., Süssen; inlays: Kristina Balzer, Manfred Wild

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main, inv. LG 133 (long-term loan from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Reggio di Calabria)



Scientific methods employed:

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Black-and-white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

Identification of alloys with the help of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and analysis of the sulphur components



Scientific evaluation:

Edilberto Formigli, Paola Donati, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Acknowledgements:

Edilberto Formigli

Paola Donati

Salvatore Settis,

Simonetta Bonomi

Ministero per i Beni Culturali, Roma (Gino Famiglietti)

Soprintendenza Archeologica della Calabria, Reggio di Calabria

Konstantin Galanulis, GOM Braunschweig

Fondazione Prada, Milan

These reconstructions represent two exquisite Classical Greek bronze statues found near Riace, Italy, in 1972. Research conducted during the reconstruction has led to important discoveries about the original appearance of the nude warriors. Sulphur residue in the corrosion layers shows that an artificial bronze patina was used to indicate skin color. As here, the eyes featured inlaid stone, lips and nipples were copper, and the teeth of these figures were silver sheet. Surviving fitting elements indicate that Riace B wore a fox-skin cap (alopekis) and Riace A wore a Corinthian helmet that was likely gilded, according to ancient custom. This representation of the lost cap of Riace B was modeled by Christoph Bergmann based on depictions in a relief from the Athenian Parthenon.

"Two Greek bronze statues of nude warriors were found in 1972 off the south coast of Calabria. Most likely they stood originally on the Athenian Acropolis in Greece. The reconstructions were carried out in various stages. In 2012, the head of Warrior A was scanned and a bronze cast was outfitted with a Corinthian helmet. This was followed, in 2013-2015, by a complete reconstruction of Riace A. In 2015-2016, Riace B was scanned, cast in bronze, and reconstructed.

Sulphur residue was observed in the layers of corrosion of the originals and interpreted as the remains of an artificial patina that was applied to the freshly cast bronze.

According to ancient sources, bitumen (asphalt) and patination were used for coloring and would have made possible a distinction between the skin and the hair colors of the two warriors, though for now any determination is largely hypothetical. The bronze cast of Riace A was therefore given a reddish patina by means of a sulphur reagent and asphalt lacquer in an oil-based solution, to represent deeply tanned skin and brown hair, while Riace B was given a blueish patina by means of asphalt lacquer mixed with indigo.

The hair of the Thracian warrior (Riace B) was given a reddish hue by means of a mixture of madder and asphalt lacquer. The eyes were fashioned from colored stones, just as in the original statues. The lips and the nipples were worked in bronze and inlaid separately, also matching what can be observed on the originals. The teeth of the original Riace A were formed from a sheet of silver, so a similar silver sheet was used for inlaying the teeth for the reconstruction. It can be shown that Riace A originally wore a Corinthian helmet. The bronze helmet from the tomb of Denda (Staatliche Glyptothek und Antikensammlungen, Munich) was recreated for the reconstruction. The gilding of the reconstructed helmet was added on the basis of literary references and representations in Roman painting. Warriors A is clutching the long staff of a lance in his right hand, and he once carried a heavy Greek round shield, which has been restored

No other type of ancient helmet besides the alopekis, a fox-skin cap, would have fit the head of the sculpture with the surviving elements of the raw and undefined surface of Warrior B’s skullcap, which include three copper plates with a dotted structure and a rectangular plate located above the forehead. The Munich artist Christoph Bergmann fashioned the missing fox skin cap (alopekis) of Riace B using examples on the Parthenon Frieze in Athens as a model.

An analysis of both the arms and hands of Warrior B indicates that he also carried a light shield and two different weapons. He is holding in his right hand the short staff of a weapon that is pointed forward and downward like swinging a double-bladed axe.

The index finger of Riace B's left hand is extended outward and obviously held an arrow that had been lost in the meantime. Consequently, the figure also held a bow in his closed left hand. This equipment, consisting of a light shield (pelta), arrow, bow and fox-skin cap, was added to the reconstruction in 2022 and suggests that Riace B represents the Thracian king Eumolpos as he encounters and is murdered by Erechtheus, the mythical king of Athens, in the so-called Eleusinian War. Finally, it is likely that the two bronze warriors from the sea off the coast of Riace, Calabria in southern Italy formed a statue group that was originally set up on the Athenian Acropolis."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction of Riace B, 2016/2022:

cast bronze, copper, colored stones, silver, gold, asphalt

H. 208 cm.

3D printing in PMMA and wax: Lorenzo Campana, voxeljet; bronze casting: Strassacker Co., Süssen; liver of sulphur for the patina: Strassacker Co., Süssen; inlays: Kristina Balzer, Manfred Wild

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main, inv. Dep.65 (long-term loan from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Reggio di Calabria)



Scientific methods employed:

See the reconstruction of the bronze warrior Riace A



Scientific evaluation:

Paola Donati, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Acknowledgements:

Edilberto Formigli

Paola Donati

Salvatore Settis,

Simonetta Bonomi

Ministero per i Beni Culturali, Roma (Gino Famiglietti)

Soprintendenza Archeologica della Calabria, Reggio di Calabria

Konstantin Galanulis, GOM Braunschweig

Fondazione Prada, Milan

Colorful details painted on a white slip accentuate the elaborate makeup, accessories, and drapery adorning this female figure. Yellow ocher applied to the headdress, earrings, and garment evokes gold, and red ocher painted on her neck probably depicts a necklace of pomegranates, a symbol of death and rebirth. The headdress with rays suggests the woman is a goddess, perhaps Persephone, queen of the Underworld. Discovered primarily in graves, statuettes of this type may have been intended specifically for funerary use.

Seated on an elaborately decorated throne and wearing a veiled headdress, this figure is probably a goddess. Palmettes painted in red ocher and carbon-based black are still visible on the throne, and bright red cinnabar adorns the hem of her garment. Scientific analysis also revealed Egyptian blue on the throne and base, as well as on her diadem and dress. Hundreds of similar figures were dedicated on the Athenian Acropolis, suggesting they may be small-scale versions of an early cult statue of Athena.

This reconstruction shows the preserved colors on a Classical Greek funerary monument; in its pristine original state, it would have had an even fuller range of polychromy. On either side of the slender vessel, known as a loutrophoros, are painted funerary offerings such as small ointment containers, with coiled bands in the background. The couple holding hands—who are named in inscriptions—and all other painted elements are visible under ultraviolet light. Traces of red ocher, red minium, blue azurite, and golden-yellow ocher have been identified through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy and visible-induced infrared luminescence photography.

" A slender vessel known as a loutrophoros is represented on this grave stele topped by a palmette. On either side of the vase are funerary offerings: small oil containers and rolled-up cloth fillets. Only the loutrophoros has been modeled by the sculptor in low relief. All the other objects and decorative elements, the crown of the depicted stele, the rolls of cloth strips used to decorate the grave, and the small vessels containing oil for the funerary offerings, were rendered in paint, including the pair of figures on the loutrophoros who extend their hands to each other and are labelled as Paramythion and Pheidiades in an inscription in Greek

Traces of red (red ocher and minium), blue (azurite), and golden yellow (yellow ocher) are preserved and were identified with the help of Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy) and visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL).

Every detail is visible in ultraviolet light. The band of fabric wound around the neck of the loutrophoros has a three-dimensional effect. In this way, the polychromy creates the impression of spaces in which the individual painted objects can be rendered with light and shadow.

The reconstruction variant B shows only the preserved colors, while the figures revealed in UV lights are rendered only in outline. It is hypothesized that at least five more colors were originally used. Variant A restores all the color on the basis of analogy with other examples."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction, Variant B, 2008:

artificial marble, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 92 cm.

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (LiebieghausPolychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Leibniz Prize O. Primavesi 2007, inv. St.P 703



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Black and white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL)



Scientific evaluation:

Doerner Institute 1960, Christian Wolters, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Doris Lauenstein-Senff, Richard Posamentir, Heinrich Piening, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

Pigments used in the reconstruction:

blue: azurite; light red: red ocher, minium; red: red ocher; yellow: yellow ochre



Acknowledgements:

Klaus Vierneisel

Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek

This grave marker shows a loutrophoros, a vase used to fetch water for the bridal bath and for certain funerary rites. It indicates that the deceased, Eukleia, died before she could be married. While her name is painted at the top, few other traces of pigment survive. Yet we can imagine that the relief was once vibrantly painted, as was customary with objects of this type—including the stele represented by a reconstruction nearby.

The statue type known as Small Herculaneum Woman has survived in dozens of ancient marble replicas. This reconstruction is based on studies of the extensive color preserved on a replica found in Delos, which has been examined in ultraviolet, infrared, and raking light as well as with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. Decorative elements on the undergarment were painted with a light Egyptian blue, and iron-based pigments in shades of red and brown were used for the hair and facial features. Green malachite survived in large areas of her mantle, blackened through fire.



"The Late Classical prototype of the so-called Small Herculaneum Woman is lost, but dozens of copies of the Hellenistic and Roman periods are preserved. The young woman, her hair composed of several strands woven together into a severe bun, wraps herself in a mantle that she draws tightly around her body with both hands. Beneath the mantle she wears a finely pleated undergarment and sandals with thick soles. The reconstruction was made in 2019, as part of a project financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, "The university collection as living archive. Teaching and research at the intersection of materiality and communication." It is based on studies of the polychromy of a copy found in 1894 on Delos (National Archaeological Museum, Athens, inv. 1827). The cast was taken from the Roman copy that gives the statue type its nickname, discovered in 1706 in Herculaneum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden inv. Hm 327).

The polychromy of the copy from Delos has been investigated on several occasions since 1982. The best-preserved colors are a light blue (Egyptian blue) for decorative elements of the under-garment and a whole palette of iron oxides in shades of red and brown, especially on the hair and face. The excavators at the end of the 19th century had already observed traces of a rich pink and violet. Traces of gilding and of a violet color, the result of corrosion, are preserved on the borders of the mantle.

Yellow pigment containing lead, as well as lead white and malachite that had been burned to a grey-black powder, could also be detected with the use of intensive scientific investigation. In ultraviolet light, bands of wave and ray patterns can be seen on the mantle. The reconstruction brings together all the colors that have been detected since the statue was excavated. The application of paint on the mantle makes especially clear what the sculptor's intentions were: the fine, greenish fabric is transparent wherever the garment is pulled tightly around the body. Thus, the flesh color of the arm and elbow, as well as the violet of the undergarment, shines through at the belly and right thigh.

The decoration of the dress hem with sea monsters and the pomegranate branch on the mantle hem are designed in analogy to robe depictions in vase painting of the 4th century BC and on Hellenistic sculpture."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2019:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

Marble stucco on plaster cast. Natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera, gold leaf

H. 181 cm.

Plaster cast: Effenberger Dresden; gilding: Corinna Bohn

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project) Frankfurt am Main, inv. LG 223 (on loan from the Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Division 1: Klassische Archäologie, Cast Collection, inv. A 263)



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL) (Schott RG830, ARRI LoCoster)

Black-and-white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

UV-VIS-Absorption spectroscopy

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)



Scientific evaluation:

Clarissa Blume, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Bianca Larissa Kress, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

red: red ocher, hematite; yellow: gold ocher, lead yellow; white: lead white; brown: light and dark umber; black; vine black; green: malachite; pink: madder lake, calcite, red ocher; violet: madder lake, Egyptian blue, calcite; skin color: red and yellow ocher, lead white, Egyptian blue



Acknowledgements:

National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Despina Ignatiadou

The monument was presumably erected in memory of the long-haired girl who clasps her father’s hand, while her seated mother presents a bird to her little sister. Technical examination in raking light reveals that each zone of the lekythos was originally painted. Traces of rays are visible on the base. The central relief is framed by horizontal bands with a meander pattern below and an egg-and-dart border above. Three palmettes flanked by elaborate curling tendrils appear on the shoulder. Although the carving of the figures is not particularly fine, painted decoration would have enhanced the details.

The archer from a Greek temple pediment wears trousers with an intricate zigzag design, a long-sleeve pullover with a diamond pattern, and a vest decorated with lions and griffins. The patterns are visible in ultraviolet-induced luminescence and raking light on the original marble sculpture. The color values for the reconstruction were determined through comparative study of the technical photography, the well-preserved color on a statue of a Persian rider from the Athenian Acropolis, and the surviving pigments on other fragments from the same pediment. Although the archer’s attire reflects that of famed horsemen from areas north and east of ancient Greece, he may represent the mythical Trojan prince Paris, who abducted Helen and thus caused the Trojan War.



"The archer from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina, which presumably shows the Trojan war, wears long, tightly fitting trousers with a complex zig-zag pattern. Over his long-sleeved pullover with diamond pattern he wears a vest, which is decorated with a wide border and with small figures of griffin-birds and lions. This splendidly ornamented clothing of the famed horsemen of the northern and eastern neighbors of the Greeks is clearly visible with the help of ultraviolet and raking light. The locks of hair were fashioned separately and then attached. It has been proposed that this figure shows the Trojan prince Paris, who abducted Helen and thus caused the Trojan war. Paris eventually shot the arrow which killed the Greek warrior Achilles.

The excavators of the fragments of the pedimental sculptures of the temple of Aphaia at Aigina found many remnants of blue and red paint, but no pigment from the garment of the archer has survived. Paint rendering the skin (a mixture of madder and red ochre) can also be documented on several otherwarriors and therefore is assumed to have been used on all the figures of the west pediment.

For the reconstruction Variants A and B, the colors green (malachite), blue (azurite), and red, along with yellow and brown ocher, were chosen, on the analogy of the so-called Persian Rider from the Athenian Acropolis. During the reconstruction process it became clear that the decorative elements were designed with the help of a grid. The two variants were differentiated by reversing the placement of blue and green, as well as red and brown ocher, within the decoration of the trousers and the upper garments.

The reconstruction Variant C was not made using a cast of the figure as restored by Bertel Thorvaldsen like for Variant A and B, but rather a copy based on a 3-D scan of the original. In 3-D printing, which was done in PMMA, traces of the ornament that have weathered can be made out even in areas where they are not revealed by photography. This precise information served as the basis of the most recent reconstruction of the ornament and confirms the process used for Variants A and B. Individual elements of the zig-zag border that runs around the vest are a little wider in this variant.

The traces of pigment on the fragments still in the storerooms of the excavation at the sanctuary in Greece could be examined in 2017 using newer techniques of ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy) and visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL), enabling a more precise identification. These new results led to a higher degree of precision in the new reconstruction of 2019. So, for example, it was determined that the blue pigment used was Egyptian blue and for red, red ocher mixed with cinnabar. In addition, on the analogy of ancient textiles of the peoples to the north who rode horses, now preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, dots of gilding were added to the ornament."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction, Variant C, 2019:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

marble stucco on PMMA, natural pigments in egg tempera, tin, wood, gold leaf

H. 96 cm.

The nose and the right foot have been restored in the 3D-Scan (Alexandra Bongartz, Ralf Deuke); gilding: Corinna Bohn

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 947



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

reflection light photography (Schott KL1500)

Black-and-white imaging in visible light (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives),

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy

Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL) (Schott RG830, ARRI LoCoster)

3D-scan in structured light



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

blue: Egyptian blue; red: red ocher and cinnabar; green: malachite; yellow: gold ocher; brown: umber; flesh tones: rose madder, red ocher, calcite



Acknowledgements:

Klaus Vierneisel

Florian Knauss

Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München

The Greeks relied on distinctive attire, attributes, and physical traits for the artistic representation of different peoples. The combat scene on this amphora contrasts Greek and foreign military fashions and equipment. A hoplite (foot soldier) in traditional Greek armor spears a Persian archer wearing elaborately patterned long sleeves and trousers, and a rounded cap with earflaps. The depiction of Persian dress here complements the extensive painted ornamentation seen on the nearby reconstruction of the archer from the Temple
of Aphaia on Aegina.

The kneeling figure on this vase, identified as the legendary Trojan king Priam, wears a richly ornamented costume that the Greeks traditionally associated with foreigners from the east. Although vase painting provided a limited color palette, white, yellow, and red paint could be added to suggest different colors, textures, and materials. Here, yellow on Priam’s cap and belt, and on the winged boots of the messenger god Hermes behind him, gives the effect of gold.

This outstanding example of Roman figural relief sculpture once covered a well in Ostia, the port town of ancient Rome, probably at a sumptuous villa along the Tiber River. Carving from a single block of marble, the sculptor seamlessly combined two cautionary tales from Greek mythology that relate to water: the story of Echo and Narcissus (best known from Ovid’s Metamorphoses), and the tale of the handsome hero Hylas being abducted by nymphs as he was fetching water.

Scientific analysis tells us that the wellhead, like many ancient sculptures and monuments, was originally painted. Visible-induced infrared luminescence has revealed small remains of Egyptian blue, the earliest known synthetic pigment. A particle analyzed in situ with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was found to contain copper, supporting the identification of Egyptian blue. The shallower, incised landscape elements would presumably all have been painted, adding to the work’s illusionistic effect.

Vivid colors once heightened the realistic rendering of a woman, hunched with age, carrying a basket with fruit and two chickens. Scientific investigations have identified red ocher on a sandal strap; madder lake pink, a dye derived from the madder root, on the front of the dress (chiton); and Egyptian blue on areas of the veil, the outer garment (himation), and in the void between the figure’s left leg and the basket. The sculpture is likely a copy or an adaptation of an original Hellenistic Greek type associated with the god Dionysos and was probably displayed in a Roman villa or garden.

The dress and cap of this figure were once painted with a brilliant Egyptian blue pigment. A vibrant red cinnabar mixed with red ocher and possibly lead white was applied to the lips. The colors, identified by scientific analyses, enhanced both the smooth surface of the imported Greek marble used for the head and face and the rougher finish of the limestone body. Sculptures carved from different stone types were common in the Hellenistic period in Southern Italy. This statue was likely part of a funerary group. The young attendant probably looks up at her mistress—the deceased—and offers her a box of jewelry, a common motif on funerary monuments.

The painted scene resembles contemporary wall paintings, with carefully modeled figures set against a saturated color background. It depicts a bride surrounded by attendants wearing garments in subtle shades of pink, lavender, and blue. A pale white defines the transparent mantle of the bride, and a golden yellow and deep red highlight jewelry, suggesting combinations of gold and colored stones. Made for a tomb, the vessel had a commemorative rather than a utilitarian function, and its form mimics Greek temple architecture.

This stele from a tomb outside Alexandria, Egypt, depicts a man (the deceased) seated on a raised stool clasping the hand of a tall woman. Scientific examinations identified a sophisticated painting technique involving the building-up of color. Red cinnabar was applied to the nose, ears, and cheek as a bright foundation for additional layers of pigment. Egyptian blue served as a base color for the man’s hair and beard, as seen in the image below, which created a rich, deep brown when blended with ochers.

The sarcophagus was likely commissioned to preserve the mortal remains of the Sidonian king Abdalonymus, a friend of Alexander the Great. The well-preserved polychromy on the original marble features painterly techniques such as highlights and chiaroscuro. Twenty-two different pigments have been identified through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. The figures’ garments, horse blankets, and shields are richly ornamented, and physical features are well-delineated. A scene depicting a royal audience with the Persian king is painted on the interior of a Persian warrior’s shield, displayed to both his Greek enemy and the viewer of the relief. The painting is clearly visible on the original in ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging.



"The marble sarcophagus from the royal cemetery of Sidon (in present day Lebanon) contained the mortal remains of King Abdalonymus, a friend of Alexander the Great. The sarcophagus was built to resemble a small temple, with a saddle roof and elaborate ornamentation including pedimental sculptures and a continuous frieze Alexander himself is depicted twice among the many figures on the relief friezes: once on horseback in a battle with the Persians and a second time with Sidonian friends in an animal hunt.

The original polychromy of the sarcophagus is well-preserved. No fewer than 22 pigments have so far been identified with the help of ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy). Both Eastern and Greek garments are richly ornamented, and the saddle cloths and shields are decorated with both ornamental motifs and figures. On the short side the Greek Macedonian warriors are represented as idealized nudes, but armored. The splendid Persians’ garments have been worked out in great detail, for example the fur lining on their colorful cloaks and the delicate ornaments on their pants. The interior of a Persian warrior's shield displays to both his Greek enemy and to the viewer of the relief a scene of a royal audience at the Persian court.

The application of color creates the effect of light and shadow painting. So, for example, there are highlights in the eyes and the shiny metal buttons, while on the garments, the use of hatching creates the effect of shadows and drop shadows. The hair is modeled with light and dark effects.

The reconstruction of the battle of Greeks and Persians on one of the short sides was carried out on the basis of the preserved traces of color. Very few remnants of the light reddish skin color are preserved. As a test case, three versions of the head of the Persian with the audience scene on his shield show three different interpretations of the preserved traces of paint, with variations in the color of both the hair and the flesh. The preserved traces could be understood as merely the first layer of color, which was followed by more layers, in order to model the figures to achieve the effect of light and shadow painting.

The figure of Alexander in the battle of Greeks and Persians on one of the long sides was completely covered with paint in the reconstruction, with the missing colors restored on the analogy of comparable works."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction, Variant A 2006:

Vinzenz Brinkmann und Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

marble stucco on laser-sintered artificial material, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 56.5 cm, W. 137.5 cm.

3D-printing: Ursula Buck, Thorsten Schwing, GOM Braunschweig, Alphaform Munich; restorations: Joseph Köttel

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv.St.P 701



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Visible-reflected imaging in black and white (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

3D-scan in structured light (GOM Atos)

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

blue: Egyptian blue; red: red ocher, madder lake, minium; violet: rose madder, hematite; yellow: iron oxide, gold ocher, terra di Siena; brown: brown ocher, goethite, umbra; white: lead white, calcite; black: charred bone; flesh tones: calcite



Acknowledgements:

Archaeological Museum, Istanbul

GOM Braunschweig

Ursula Buck, Thorsten Schwing

Visual and scientific analyses of the original bronze sculptures reconstructed here have revealed extensive surface treatments and applied color. Inlays of copper and other alloys define physical features, such as lips and nipples, and on the so-called boxer indicate bruises and cuts. On the original, the bruise under the right eye, produced from a bronze sheet containing a high amount of lead, enabled an artificial patination in a highly realistic violet color. Semiprecious stones were used for the eyes. Sulphur residues in the corrosion layers of numerous original Greek bronzes suggest that an artificial bronze patina was used to indicate skin color. The boxer is nude except for his boxing gloves, which are of an ancient Greek type with strips of leather attached to a ring around the knuckles and fitted with woolen padding. His foreskin has been tied, as was commonly done at the time for protection and decorum.



"The famous bronze statues from the Quirinal in Rome were found in 1885 during excavation for a theater. Despite the fact that they were found together, the two bronzes came to be known as the Hellenistic "Ruler" and the victorious "Boxer," and in the archaeological literature they were most often treated separately and identified with a wide variety of historical individuals.

The reconstructions presented here follow an interpretation by an American scholar in the 1940's who, on the basis of an Etruscan mirror, posited that the pair depicts a mythological group, namely, an episode from the story of the Argonauts. In Greek mythology, Polydeukes was the son of Zeus and one of the Dioskouroi (twin half-brothers born to the princess Leda, who became a Spartan queen). Amykos was the king of the Bebrykes, a people who lived in northern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) According to the story, Polydeukes defeats Amykos who was in the habit of killing all strangers, in a boxing match, which compelled the Berbrykes to show the Argonauts hospitality.

The figure of the boxer displays heavily bleeding wounds on the face and the ears. The blood, fashioned of copper, is mostly well-preserved, and for the reconstruction it has been restored in those areas where it is missing. In the original, a sheet of bronze with a high lead content was applied underneath the right eye to represent a hematoma. For the reconstruction, this black eye was cast using a comparable alloy, which, together with an artificial patination, resulted in a dark shade of violet. The swollen lips and the nipples were formed separately in copper, and this was imitated for the reconstruction. Garnets were inserted in the larger wounds in order to reproduce the gleaming effect and the density of fresh blood. Both reconstructed statues were artificially patinated and, following an ancient technique, covered with an asphalt lacquer. The eyes were fashioned from polished precious stones, for which there is evidence among surviving bronze statues, and leather straps for binding boxing gloves were added, held in the right hand of the so-called ruler.

The Greek poet Theocritus describes the unequal struggle in a poem about the Dioskouroi Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux in Roman mythology) around 270 BC. The youthful hero Polydeukes dodges the deadly blows of King Amykos and seriously injures him. Polydeukes knocks out the older man's rows of teeth and inflicts heavily bleeding lacerations on his forehead and temples and a severely swelling hematoma under his right eye. Questions remain regarding whether the bronze group repeats the scene described by the poet or whether Theocritus was inspired by the sight of the two sculptures."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2018:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

bronze, copper, colored stones, asphalt, linseed oil, madder lake, indigo

H. 1.28 cm.

3-D printing in PMMA and wax: Alexandra Bongartz (scan), Ralf Deuke, Creabis (data processing), voxeljet (printing); bronze casting: Strassacker Co., Süssen; engraving: Karlheinz Fröstel, Philipp Gorges; patination (liver of sulphur): Recep Sari; inlays of lead bronze and copper: Kristina Balzer, Ulrike Dyri; stone carving: Mirco Galle, Groh + Ripp, Tobias Leyser; asphalt lacquer with linseed oil, madder, lake, indigo: Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 722, St.P 723



Scientific methods employed:

Digital microscopy (Olimpia Colacicchi Alessandri, Servizio e Laboratorio di Ristauro)

Thermographic measurements (Fulvio Mercuri, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata")

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) (Marco Ferretti, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per le Technologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali, Ulderico Santamaria, Laboratorio di Diagnostica per la Conservazione e il Restauro, Università degli Studi della Tuscia)

endoscopy (Olympus Italia)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL 1500 and others)

Visible-reflected imaging (VIS)

Cross section of the bronze cast



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Acknowledgements:

Salvatore Settis

Oliver Primavesi

Museo Nazionale Romano

Olympus Italy

Sven Becker

The two original Greek bronze statues reconstructed here were discovered on the Quirinal Hill of Rome in 1885 near the ancient Baths of Constantine and are now on display in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome.

Visual and scientific analyses of the original sculptures have revealed extensive surface treatments and applied color. The standing figure leans on a spear in a heroic pose, while the boxer sits with his arms resting on his knees, head turned to the right and slightly raised. The figures’ identification and relationship to one another remains unresolved. One line of interpretation suggests that an important adventure from the Jason and the Argonaut saga is represented: the standing Polydeukes, son of Zeus, has defeated Amykos, son of Poseidon, in a boxing match and now urges him to refrain from murdering strangers with his deadly knuckles. Both statues display the swollen ears of a fighter.



"The famous bronze statues from the Quirinal in Rome were found in 1885 during excavation for a theater. Despite the fact that they were found together, the two bronzes came to be known as the Hellenistic "Ruler" and the victorious "Boxer," and in the archaeological literature they were most often treated separately and identified with a wide variety of historical individuals.



The reconstructions presented here follow an interpretation by an American scholar in the 1940's who, on the basis of an Etruscan mirror, posited that the pair depicts a mythological group, namely, an episode from the story of the Argonauts. In Greek mythology, Polydeukes was the son of Zeus and one of the Dioskouroi (twin half-brothers born to the princess Leda, who became a Spartan queen). Amykos was the king of the Bebrykes, a people who lived in northern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) According to the story, Polydeukes defeats Amykos who was in the habit of killing all strangers, in a boxing match, which compelled the Berbrykes to show the Argonauts hospitality.

The figure of the boxer displays heavily bleeding wounds on the face and the ears. The blood, fashioned of copper, is mostly well-preserved, and for the reconstruction it has been restored in those areas where it is missing. In the original, a sheet of bronze with a high lead content was applied underneath the right eye to represent a hematoma. For the reconstruction, this black eye was cast using a comparable alloy, which, together with an artificial patination, resulted in a dark shade of violet. The swollen lips and the nipples were formed separately in copper, and this was imitated for the reconstruction. Garnets were inserted in the larger wounds in order to reproduce the gleaming effect and the density of fresh blood. Both reconstructed statues were artificially patinated and, following an ancient technique, covered with an asphalt lacquer. The eyes were fashioned from polished precious stones, for which there is evidence among surviving bronze statues, and leather straps for binding boxing gloves were added, held in the right hand of the so-called ruler.

The Greek poet Theocritus describes the unequal struggle in a poem about the Dioskouroi Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux in Roman mythology) around 270 BC. The youthful hero Polydeukes dodges the deadly blows of King Amykos and seriously injures him. Polydeukes knocks out the older man's rows of teeth and inflicts heavily bleeding lacerations on his forehead and temples and a severely swelling hematoma under his right eye. Questions remain regarding whether the bronze group repeats the scene described by the poet or whether Theocritus was inspired by the sight of the two sculptures."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2018:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

bronze, copper, colored stones, asphalt, linseed oil, madder lake, indigo

H. 241 cm.

3-D printing in PMMA and wax: Alexandra Bongartz (scan), Ralf Deuke, Creabis (data processing), voxeljet (printing); bronze casting: Strassacker Co., Süssen; engraving: Karlheinz Fröstel, Philipp Gorges; patination (liver of sulphur): Recep Sari; inlays of lead bronze and copper: Kristina Balzer, Ulrike Dyri; stone carving: Mirco Galle, Groh + Ripp, Tobias Leyser; asphalt lacquer with linseed oil, madder, lake, indigo: Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 722, St.P 723



Scientific methods employed:

Digital microscopy (Olimpia Colacicchi Alessandri, Servizio e Laboratorio di Ristauro)

Thermographic measurements (Fulvio Mercuri, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata")

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) (Marco Ferretti, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per le Technologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali, Ulderico Santamaria, Laboratorio di Diagnostica per la Conservazione e il Restauro, Università degli Studi della Tuscia)

endoscopy (Olympus Italia)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL 1500 and others)

Visible-reflected imaging (VIS)

Cross section of the bronze cast



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Acknowledgements:

Salvatore Settis

Oliver Primavesi

Museo Nazionale Romano

Olympus Italy

Sven Becker

As early as 1762, art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann used the well-preserved colors on the statue of Artemis from Pompeii as evidence that ancient marble sculpture was colorful. The wide range of pigments represented on the reconstruction was identified through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence, and visible-induced infrared luminescence. These include Egyptian blue; pink madder; kaolin mixed with lead white; orange and red ocher; hematite; cinnabar; umber; and two yellow pigments made from lead and ocher.





"In 1762, two years after the discovery of this marble statue of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, in Pompeii, Johan Joachim Winckelmann observed the paint that was still well preserved. In his Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (1764), this statue, which Winckelmann at first considered to be Etruscan, is his primary evidence for the polychromy of Greek sculpture. Shortly before his death, Winckelmann realized that the statue was to be associated with early Greek art. Today we know that the figure is a creation of the Early Imperial period, after a Late Hellenistic original that in turn quotes stylistic features of late Archaic sculpture (500-480 B.C.).


Artemis wears a long pleated garment over a short-sleeve shirt. A shorter knee-length cloak is draped over the top and buttoned at the shoulders. She wears sandals on her feet and stands with her weight on her bent left leg. Her head is crowned with a band of rosettes. Three additional examples of this Artemis type have been identified dating to the Roman period.


The colors used have been identified with the help of ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy), Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL), and Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL). Egyptian blue, brilliant pink madder, red cinnabar, red iron oxide, red hematite, lead yellow, yellow ocher, and kaolin mixed with lead white have all been detected in the clothing of the original.


The goddess wears a red blouse and, over it, a white dress and white mantle. The dress and the mantle are both decorated with bands of pink at the edges. An orange-brown ocher is preserved on her hair, and traces of color between the toes indicate that the skin was colored with a light brown pigment. A similar color palette can be found in Hellenistic terracotta statuettes and contemporary wall-paintings from Pompeii.


The reconstruction Variant A shows only the traces of color that could be securely identified, with the color applied for a relatively flat effect. Variant B, which was developed in 2018 for the Winckelmann Museum in Stendal, completes this intermediary stage: the face and the hair are fully realized in paint. The garments and the hair are enhanced with a light-and-shadow effect in the manner of contemporary Roman wall-painting."


Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann





Reconstruction Variant A, 2010:


Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann


marble stucco on plaster cast, natural pigments (chromato-graphically calibrated) in egg tempera


H. 116 cm.


Plaster cast: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Archaeological Institute and Collection of Plaster Casts, Joren Ruppel


Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main (on loan from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Leibnitz Prize O. Primavesi 2007, inv. LGLH Z04)





Scientific methods employed:


Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)


Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)


Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)


Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)


Black-and-white imaging in visible light (VIS)


Visible-reflected imaging (VIS)


Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives),


Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)


Visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging (VIL) (Schott RG830 ARRI, LoCoster)





Scientific evaluation:


Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening





Pigments used in the reconstruction:


blue: Egyptian blue; red: red ocher, hematite, cinnabar; pink: rose madder; yellow: light yellow Cypriot ocher, lead yellow, orpiment; white: kaolin, lead white; black: soot; flesh tone: kaolin, brown iron oxide; hair: orange-yellow ocher (French ocher)





Acknowledgements:


Oliver Primavesi


Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples

This head of Athena references Archaic Greek art, like the Artemis of Pompeii reconstruction nearby. A decorative band stretches over her stiffly organized row of wavy locks. While scientific analyses have not confirmed painted polychromy, the deeply carved eyes once held colored glass inlays. An attachment hole on the top of the head also indicates that the goddess wore an Attic helmet with a neck guard and a tall crest that was probably cast in bronze.

The deep greenish hue of this statue resembles the smooth dark patina of bronze, but the figure is actually carved from stone. There was an avid market for colored stone imported from all over the ancient world for use in Roman sculpture and architecture. Bekhen stone, a variety of graywacke, was quarried only from the Wadi Hammamat dry riverbed in Egypt, speaking to the far reaches of the Roman Empire and its trade networks.

A gilded band, which has changed to a purple color, lines the hem of the figure’s mantle. Scientific analyses have confirmed the presence of gold nanoparticles that indicate the degradation of gold leaf. Common in Roman sculptural polychromy, gold leaf typically adorned the hair and garments of deities and imperial subjects. This sculpture was once part of a group commemorating the Julio-Claudian emperor and his family. Statues of members of the imperial family were often displayed together in public spaces such as a city’s forum, a bath, or the theater.

Rich traces of paint on a marble portrait of the Roman emperor Caligula were analyzed extensively using a wide range of scientific methods. Investigations identified pink madder between the lips and on the lower eyelid and a mixture of iron oxides with chalk on the flesh—especially on the neck under the right ear. The elegant loose hair at the temples, the eyelashes, and the pupils were painted with carbon black derived from burned bone, probably as a preliminary drawing on the marble.



"The origin of this life-size marble head of Caligula cannot be ascertained, although such imperial portraits functioned as propaganda during the Roman Empire, with carefully calibrated messages. The many traces of color on the portrait of the emperor Caligula in Copenhagen have been intensively analyzed. Rose madder was identified between the lips and on the lower eyelids, while on the skin - especially on the neck below the right ear - a mixture of iron oxide and chalk could be detected. The chemical analysis indicate that egg served as binding agent for the various pigments. The hair at the temples, the eyelashes, and the pupils were applied to the marble in a black pigment that was composed of charred bones. Since the color of the flesh is preserved, the intensive black pigment must be a preliminary drawing that was then covered by the flesh color. The experiment revealed that this underpainting was visible as a subtle shadow even after the application of the flesh color and apparently served as a preliminary drawing. This underpainting must have shown through the flesh color, providing an orientation for the accurate application of the fine hairs in reddish brown, as it would not have been possible to make a correction on top of the skin color.

The multi-colored rendering of the hair in the reconstruction follows that of the so-called Treu Head. The reddish-brown hair was applied to a foundation of yellow ocher. The individual locks of hair were then modeled with lines of dark and light brown that create a painterly effect. While the Variants A, B, and D emphasize an application of paint that is designed to be seen from a distance, the locks of hair in Variant C are rendered in great detail.

The skin on Variants A, C and D was rendered exactly how it was preserved on the original, yielding a flat, toneless color with no shading. However, it has been hypothesized that the skin would have been modeled with light and shadow in the manner of contemporary Roman paintings: In addition, the flesh tones of Variant B are enhanced by effects of light and shadow. The rendering of the eyes follows that of contemporary mummy portraits.

The whites of the eyes of Variants C and D included the use of Egyptian Blue, which has now also been detected on the original head. In Variant D (made in 2014 for the Cast Collection of the University of Gothenburg), the flesh tone has been chromatographically calibrated, and this matches exactly the color detected on the original."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction Variant B, 2005:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Sylvia Kellner

artificial marble, natural pigments in egg tempera

H. 28 cm.

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 691



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418),

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Reflected visible light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Visible-reflected imaging (VIS)

Color imaging in visible light (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis

Gas chromatography

Mass spectroscopy



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Sylvia Kellner, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Jan Stubbe Østergaard, Heinrich Piening, Heike Stege



Pigments used in the reconstruction:

pink: rose madder; red: cinnabar, red ocher; yellow: gold ocher; brown: brown ocher; black: bone char; white: white lead; brown, red, and yellow ocher; flesh color: brown, red, and yellow ocher, chalk



Acknowledgements:

Doerner Institute, Munich

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

After Caligula’s assassination, commemorative images of him were destroyed. The vein-like shadows of incrustation on the surface of this portrait suggest it was buried in a watery environment. Vigorous cleaning has removed much of its remaining polychromy, but it was likely similar to that in the reconstruction nearby. Visible-induced luminescence imaging has identified Egyptian blue on the reverse of the bust, although its purpose remains unclear. Blended with white and pink pigments, Egyptian blue creates a cool brilliance that was used for flesh tones on Roman portraits; mixed with carbon black, it was also used to represent shading.

Wealthy Romans decorated their private villas and gardens with expensive marble statues that often featured juxtapositions of different colored stones or other media to create dramatic artistic effects. The figure here is carved from rosso antico, a striking red marble quarried in several locations in Greece. Cuttings at the lower back reveal that the fragment is the upper body of a centaur—a half-human half-horse creature from Greek mythology known for its wild temperament. The torso was originally attached to a horse body, likely carved in a different color marble. This centaur, one of several surviving Roman versions of a Hellenistic Greek sculpture, was probably displayed as one of a pair. Two similar centaurs in a stunning gray-black marble were found at Hadrian’s Villa near Rome.

The carving techniques and finishes of the white marble enhanced the applied color. Finished with a rasp, or file, the fillet and hair have a rough surface that helped pigment and gilding adhere. In the hair, yellow ocher served as a preparatory layer for gold leaf, then red ocher was added to indicate depth and to define individual strands. In contrast, precise carving and fine polishing characterize the face. Red ocher, likely an underpainting, delineates the irises, eyebrows, eyelashes, and mouth. While color was not identified on the flesh, these areas were likely painted as well.

For Roman patrons, the replica of a Greek statue evoked a cultured past. Its opulent appearance, with gilded hair, brilliant polychromy, and gleaming marble, likely references costly chryselephantine (gold and ivory) sculpture used for cult images of gods. Its Dionysian associations with the theater and pleasure would have complemented its Roman setting. Probably displayed in a villa, garden, or bath, the colorful head would have heightened the atmosphere of leisure and entertainment that typified those Roman spaces.

Roman wall paintings employ many of the same pigments ancient artists used for sculptural polychromy. Red and yellow ochers, Egyptian blue, and cinnabar have all been identified in the vibrant representations of architectural vistas in this first-century b.c. room. The painting was executed in the fresco technique, in which pigments are applied onto a freshly prepared damp plaster ground. It is those colors, skillfully applied in wide-ranging hues, that create the complex interplay of shifting perspectives and portray a rich array of materials. Golden statues of the goddess Hecate shine brightly in the portals of her sanctuary; jewel-encrusted flowers twine about deep-red marble columns of porphyry; gleaming bronze vessels flank altars; tortoiseshell veneer sheaths exterior doors; and a translucent glass vessel holding fruit sits on a ledge in a grotto on the back wall.

When the marble statue of a young woman (a type known as a kore) reconstructed here was discovered in 1886, the archaeologist Valerios Staïs described traces of color on the skin and blue and red on the clothing. Azurite, cinnabar, orange and yellow ochers, and lead white have all been confirmed with ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. The reconstruction re-creates the statue’s blue undergarment, white skirt, and yellow himation. The colors and the adornment of the garments on the sculpture, which resembles those known to have been carved on the island of Chios, are remarkably sophisticated. Fine lines scratched into the pigment layer of the ornamental bands, now marble colored, were likely originally inlaid with gold.



"The statue depicts a young girl of elegant appearance who once held a sacrificial offering in her outstretched right hand. With her left hand she may have lifted her skirt slightly, as if to make it easier to walk. The statue had been dedicated to the city goddess Athena.

Traces of color on the flesh, as well as blue and red on the clothing, were detected by Émile Gilliéron at the time of the statue's discovery in 1886. Our investigation in 2010 using ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy) also confirmed the presence of azurite and cinnabar and many other colors, which served as the basis for the reconstruction. The girl's hair was painted with orange-yellow ocher. The diadem was decorated with a band of lotus and palmette against a blue ground, the disc earrings with spiraling volutes. The light yellow mantle was buttoned only on the right shoulder and upper arm, so that a blue undergarment with half-length sleeves is visible at the left shoulder. The mantle had a band with a blue border decorated with meanders, while the wide hem had the same pattern on red ground. The blue undergarment was decorated at the neck and along the shoulder seam with a broad red band with a meander pattern and rosettes. The skirt was white, with a wide strip in the middle once again decorated with meanders in an intense lead yellow on a red ground. Both her skirt and mantle were further decorated with a pattern of little crosses and blue double spirals. The color scheme clearly shows that the girl is wearing a white skirt and light-yellow mantle over the blue undergarment.

The coordination of the colors and decoration of the various garments is remarkably sophisticated. The skin is painted in a combination of lead white and red and yellow oxide, based on traces of skin color found in the ears of the original.

The Greek excavator on the Athenian Acropolis, Vasilios Staïs, described in 1887 the rendering of the skin on the Archaic kore. In the excavation reports in the Archaiologiki Ephemeris, the annual publication of the Greek Archaeological Service."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2012 (first version):

marble stucco on PMM, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 60 cm.

3D-printing in PMMA: Alphaform

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 707



Reconstruction 2012 (second version):

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

marble stucco on PMM, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 60 cm.

3D-printing in PMMA: Alphaform

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 711



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500),

Visible-reflected imaging in black and white (VIS)

Visible-reflected imaging in color (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

3-D scan in laser light

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstructions:

blue: azurite; red: cinnabar; green: malachite; yellow: Cypriot ocher, lead yellow, dark yellow French ocher; white: kaolin, lead white; black: charred bone; flesh colors: lead white, red and yellow iron oxide



Acknowledgements:

Acropolis Museum, Athens

Museum für Abgüsse klassischer Bildwerke, München

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Young women in Archaic Greek sculpture were always shown clothed, allowing artists to explore the visual effects of drapery in varying textures, densities, and decoration. The heavy himation (mantle) worn by this figure hangs in stylized folds over a lightly crinkled chiton (tunic) pulled tightly across her legs to reveal the contour of her thighs and buttocks. Although the layered garments were once brightly painted, none of the original pigment is preserved. Analysis of similar statues reveals that this sort of clothing was richly decorated with colorful motifs, such as those shown in the reconstruction from the Athenian Acropolis nearby. Displayed in sanctuaries and cemeteries, korai served as votive offerings to the gods or as grave markers for wealthy individuals.

Using a combination of analytical techniques, conservation scientist Giovanni Verri, with Thorsten Opper, Thibaut Deviese, and Lorenzo Lazzarini, studied the preserved color on an ancient Roman head at the British Museum. This digital reconstruction presents the researchers' key discoveries and Verri's interpretation of the original painting techniques, linking Roman practices with those used for contemporary panel-painting in Roman Egypt.

This study of the so-called Treu Head (named after the archaeologist who first studied its preserved color) reconstructs the extraordinarily rich traces of polychromy on the skin and hair of the marble original. Recent scientific investigations by the British Museum identified a pinkish skin color, consisting of a complex mixture of calcium carbonate, hematite, goethite, and Egyptian blue, applied to the highly polished marble surface. Carbon-based black was used as underpainting for the eyes, eyelids, and brows and remains visible as a dark shadow on the skin color, as seen on the left side of the reconstructed face. The nuanced application of pigment on the original is expressed in the painterly details and highlights of the features on the right side of the reconstruction.

On this Roman portrait of a mature woman, red pigment indicates the pupil, iris, and eyelashes of the right eye and both eyebrows. Scientific analyses identified the pigment as a mixture of ocher and carbon black, which was likely applied as an underpainting. The artist also used a different red pigment derived from lead in the eyes and for the lips. Color emphasizes features that mark prestige, such as the hair, which is highlighted brown. The hairstyle combines a braided bun worn high on the head and the so-called nodus, a flat braid pulled back over the top of the head. The nodus was popular during this period and a favored hairstyle of the wife of the emperor Augustus.

The reconstruction of a marble Greek funerary relief shows how the armor was decorated in paint. A large star on the shoulder, a lion’s head on the breast flap, and meander and zigzag patterns on the cuirass are all visible on the original when viewed in ultraviolet and raking light. Analyses have identified red pigment in the background, blue on the armor, and brown on the facial skin. The helmet and genitals were separate pieces that are now lost.



"This relief was set up about 510 B.C. on the tomb of an aristocrat named Aristion from the vicinity of Athens. The figure is depicted wearing a splendid suit of armor, and inscriptions give his name and that of the sculptor, Aristokles. His heavy leather cuirass was decorated in paint: ultraviolet and raking light revealed a large star pattern on the shoulder and a lion's head on the lappet of the cuirass, as well as bands of meander and zig-zag patterns. Small crosses and a finely painted border decorate the soft fabric of the undergarment.

Several colors are preserved on the relief: red for the background, blue and green for the patterns on the armor, and brown for the flesh of the face. The reconstruction is also based on the polychromy found on similar monuments, for example the blue greaves seen on other stelae. The helmet was fashioned separately and then mounted on the head. Likewise, the genitals were made from a separate piece of marble or possibly of metal."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction Variant B, 2005/2012:

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

plaster cast and natural pigments in egg tempera; cast: Royal Cast Collection, Copenhagen. Andreas Hickel assisted in the application of paint.

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 694



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Visible-reflected imaging (VIS)

Visible-reflected imaging in color (VIS)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Pigments used for the reconstruction:

blue: Egyptian blue; red: cinnabar, red ocher; green: malachite; yellow: gold ocher, calcite; flesh tones: rose madder, brown ocher, polished chalk



Acknowledgements:

National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Instead of representing specific individuals, Archaic Greek funerary monuments depict idealized figures. Even attributes that might relate to aspects of a deceased person’s life contribute to creating a heroic version of them. Athletic equipment or weapons and armor—colorfully accented, as seen in the adjacent reconstruction of the stele of Aristion—allude to victory in battle or competition. The nude youth holding a spear on this grave marker could represent either a warrior or an athlete, both of which reflect the aristocratic ideals of the family who erected the monument. An inscription on the upper or lower part of the stele, no longer preserved, once revealed the identity of the deceased.

The head is from a Roman copy of an over-life-size statue of the goddess Athena, which has long been attributed to Pheidias, the most famous Greek artist of the fifth century b.c. Her eyes were once inset with colored stones. The head retains part of the frontlet and neck guard of an Attic helmet that was originally made of gilded wood. The combination of materials—with drapery and attributes such as the helmet worked in wood and gilded, and flesh parts carved in marble—is known as the acrolithic technique. It imitated the appearance of immensely valuable gold and ivory (chryselephantine) statues, such as the great Athena Parthenos that stood inside the Parthenon in Athens, and the colossal seated statue of Zeus at Olympia.

The main scene shows an artist painting a marble statue of the hero Herakles in the presence of Zeus and Herakles himself. Using the encaustic technique, the painter applies a mixture of pigment and wax to Herakles’s lion skin. A box of pigments and other supplies are on the ground, and a young assistant tends the brazier, on which rods are heating that will spread the tinted wax. Applied color in the red-figure technique highlights the white marble and golden hair of Herakles. Although the assistant’s skin color is not differentiated, certain physical characteristics such as his hair may have been meant to indicate that he is of Black African heritage.

The sensitively rendered statuette depicts a Black African youth wearing wrapped around his waist a tunic, the distinctive garment characteristic of artisans, especially those working in the heat of a foundry, forge, or brazier. The medium of the bronze, which once would have been tinted black, works in tandem with the youth’s tight curls and facial features to indicate the physical appearance of a Black African individual. In the Hellenistic period, a greater diversity of people lived and worked together in Greek cities, and depictions of Black African individuals as artists, scholars, athletes, servants, and enslaved people point to their range of stations and occupations within society.

The sensitively rendered statuette depicts a Black African youth wearing wrapped around his waist a tunic, the distinctive garment characteristic of artisans, especially those working in the heat of a foundry, forge, or brazier. The medium of the bronze, which once would have been tinted black, works in tandem with the youth’s tight curls and facial features to indicate the physical appearance of a Black African individual. In the Hellenistic period, a greater diversity of people lived and worked together in Greek cities, and depictions of Black African individuals as artists, scholars, athletes, servants, and enslaved people point to their range of stations and occupations within society.

The Greek messenger god Hermes stands nude and leaning against a tree in the center foreground on this black-figure lekythos made in Southern Italy. His pose and the black glaze used to render his skin may refer to bronze sculpture. In the Judgment of Paris story depicted here, Hermes guides Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena to Mount Ida, where the Trojan prince Paris, seated at lower left and wearing the dress of his eastern homeland, presides over a beauty contest among the goddesses.

The virtuosic Renaissance sculptor Antico, court artist for the powerful Gonzaga family in Mantua, revitalized Greek and Roman subjects and techniques in his bronze statuettes. In this exquisite figure, with its silver inlays for eyes and gilded attributes, Antico captures the Trojan prince as he deliberates before awarding the golden apple to the goddess Aphrodite. With smooth skin that contrasts with the texture of his elegantly chased hair, the figure offers a sense of an unknown ancient prototype.

The bronze statuette of the goddess Aphrodite retains its silver inlaid eyes. The apple she contemplates, held high in her right hand, was probably once gilded. The fruit refers to the prize awarded her by the Trojan prince Paris, who deemed her the fairest of the Greek goddesses in the competition depicted on the lekythos nearby.

The deep-blue opaque glass used for this female head evokes lapis lazuli, a rare and valuable stone mined only in Afghanistan and therefore highly prized in antiquity. Few examples of mold-pressed glass figures remain intact today. The work may represent the goddess Juno and was likely placed in a temple or private sanctuary.

Holding a brush in his right hand and a flat palette in his left, a seated artist paints a female portrait bust on this intaglio gemstone. The tools show that the painter uses the tempera technique, in which pigment is applied with a binding medium such as egg, gum, or animal glue. The bust displays a fashionable coiffure with a nodus, also seen on the marble portrait head displayed nearby. The intaglio belongs to a small group of ancient ring stones depicting artists and sculptors.

Images of the Roman emperor Augustus were widely circulated on many types of objects—from large-scale portraits in marble and bronze to small coins, glass medallions, and gemstones like this portrait, which were intended for personal adornment and devotion. Brilliantly carved to exploit the layered bands of color, the cameo depicts Augustus crowned with a laurel wreath. He wears an aegis, the protective goatskin associated with Minerva (Athena), with the heads of a gorgon and wind god.

Once part of a statue or a portrait bust, this faience head is from Egypt, perhaps near Memphis, where a cult devoted to the emperor Augustus existed in the early Roman period. The vibrant blue-green color of faience—a glass-like material of fused quartz, alkaline salts, lime, and mineral-based colorants—held symbolic associations with regeneration in Egypt. Its use for the head of Augustus represents a confluence of Roman and Egyptian traditions.

Like full-scale statues of the emperor commissioned for public and private settings, small-scale figures
in a variety of materials were broadly disseminated in the Roman world. Areas of white pigment indicate that this head was once painted. The body may have been carved in a colored stone, perhaps similar to the jasper statuette on display nearby. An opulent and costly material, ivory held divine associations, possibly referencing Greek chryselephantine (ivory and gold) sculpture, such as the famous statue of Zeus at Olympia.

A semiprecious stone, jasper is difficult to carve and rarely used for sculpture. In this statuette, the stone’s rich veins of variegated reds and browns were chosen specifically to suggest the toga picta, a purple-dyed garment worn only by Roman consuls and the emperor. The head and arms were likely of another luxury stone, or perhaps of ivory.

The wedding banquet group features a young couple joined by two winged Erotes, or gods of love. Richly detailed, the figures retain their original color and gilding: bright blue, red, and pink for the couch; blue for the wings; and red for the hair and wreaths. Traces of gilding on drinking vessels and ivy berries enhance the lively scene. Probably a grave offering, the group reflects the connections between marriage and death in ancient Greek culture.

The colors used to paint Hellenistic terracotta statuettes came from many sources. In addition to minerals for pigments and metals for gilding, plant roots, lichen, sea snails, and insects were used to produce organic lakes. Applied to molded figures after firing, the colors were often blended and layered to achieve vivid hues. Here, the artist applied bright pink madder lake over Egyptian blue on the garment and a deep red ocher for the hair. In some cases, terracotta figurines were repainted in antiquity, perhaps to restore faded colors or adjust for a change in tastes.

A wide band of bright pink lines the hem of the himation (mantle) draped around this female figure. The pigment is superimposed on a thick layer of white, which intensifies its color. The same pink is used for the dress and the korymboi (ivy berries) in the wreath, and Egyptian blue highlights the leaves. The figure may represent a maenad, a follower of Dionysos, god of wine.

Portrait masks made in Egypt when it was part of the Roman Empire meld aspects of Greco-Roman and Egyptian artistic traditions and funerary practices. Color and material often play a significant role in articulating the features of the deceased person. Here, polished glass eyes contrast with the matte painted plaster of the face. The tunic and mantle are painted white, with bright pink indicating the Roman clavi (vertical bands on shoulders) and a woven Greek H symbol below the left hand. Egyptian gods and sacred serpents decorate the high support in a wide range of pigments

Adams is one of few nineteenth-century American sculptors known to have experimented with polychromy and the use of mixed media in single works. La Jeunesse, an allegory of youth, integrates artistic practices of Renaissance Italy that were in turn inspired by ancient Greece. It reflects a taste for polychrome sculpture in France that Adams observed during his academic training in Paris.

Gilliéron’s watercolors of the limestone sculptures on the Athenian Acropolis meticulously render their vibrant colors, including red, blue, black, green, and yellow, at the time of their discovery, before they were altered by prolonged exposure to the elements. This pediment, restored from fragments discovered east and southeast of the Parthenon in 1888, decorated one of the smaller buildings that stood on the Acropolis during the sixth century b.c. The scene shows Zeus and Hera enthroned and receiving the hero Herakles on Mount Olympos. Gilliéron’s half-scale watercolor reveals the exceptionally fine and intricate detail on the garments, throne, and footstool. At a time when classical sculpture and architecture were visualized in terms of white marble, Gillieìron’s representations introduced a broad audience to ancient Greek polychromy.