A new exhibition in Frankfurt looks at the bright side of ancient art
As it turns out, the statues of antiquity were colorful, not white as they are typically seen in museums. A show at Frankfurt's Liebieghaus Museum displays over 100 repainted works.
Stepping into a world of color
The Roman marble head of a female deity is part of the Frankfurt exhibition "Gods in Color - Golden Edition." It presents reconstructions that provide insights into how ancient sculptures might have originally looked. One thing is certain: Antiquity was colorful.
An unexpected pattern
The research brought a wealth of new information to light. For example, archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann was able to completely reconstruct the details on the jacket of this archer.
A goddess in animal print
The statue of Peplos Kore was discovered in the ruins of the Acropolis. The original is on exhibition in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. When researchers examined the original painted clothing, they discovered it had been decorated with animal images. The symbols also indicated it was the statue of a goddess.
Colorful cloaks
This famous marble statue was created around 100 B.C. and belongs to the late period of ancient Greek art. The figure is a woman pulling her coat tightly around her body. Thanks to the work of researchers, the original coloring of the figure could be verified and recreated (pictured). The original statue is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
Three variations of a muse
Another research project was dedicated to the figure of a standing muse. Here, too, numerous traces of paint could be detected. For the current exhibition in the Liebieghaus, three smaller reconstructions were created to show different variations of what the original might have looked like. The traces of color cannot always be clearly defined.
The bronze warriors
The exhibition in the Liebieghaus also includes copies of bronze statues in addition to marble works. In order to obtain the desired color, they were changed to reflect the natural process of patination, a kind of oxidation that is usually caused by weathering. Patination makes bronze first turn green, then black.