Color and the Marble Statues of Old Europe

When you travel to Europe and see those Roman and Greek statues in lightly veined white marble, you can't help stopping and thinking, "boy, those ancient people really knew how to please the eye!" But wait a minute, that's evidently not how the people really saw them. They were painted. They looked rather like the sort of clothes dummies you see in department store windows, only they were harder to clean under.

Why am I telling you this? Because until May 30th at Copenhagen's Glyptotek (just behind Tivoli) you can see how these statues were intended to appear. Yep, restorers using "advanced technology" have created an exhibit where you can see the restored and colored versions of the statues side by side with the naked marble ones. You can get a preview by going to the Danish Glyptoteket web site, clicking on "Kalender" and then clicking on the informational "I" box in the "ClassiColor - farven i antik skulptur" notice. Poor Caligula; I liked him in marble best. The exhibition travels to Rome in the fall. Click the picture on the upper right to see that statue in all its glory, or see another, more regal one.

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