Dream Chaser ⚡️ on Nostr: Did you know? Ancient Roman statues weren't white as we see them today, but were ...
Did you know?
Ancient Roman statues weren't white as we see them today, but were actually colorful.
Roman artists used a wide range of pigments, painting media, and surface applications to embellish their marble sculptures.
In the 19th century, archaeologists unearthed better-preserved items that had traces of color.
But these were mostly ignored — and often actively scrubbed off — until as late as the 1960s.
It was only then that scholars began to confirm that the white sculptures we all associated with ancient Greece and Rome were actually painted with multiple colors (a practice known as polychromy). The paint had deteriorated and faded over time, but evidence of it remained.
Ancient Roman statues weren't white as we see them today, but were actually colorful.
Roman artists used a wide range of pigments, painting media, and surface applications to embellish their marble sculptures.
In the 19th century, archaeologists unearthed better-preserved items that had traces of color.
But these were mostly ignored — and often actively scrubbed off — until as late as the 1960s.
It was only then that scholars began to confirm that the white sculptures we all associated with ancient Greece and Rome were actually painted with multiple colors (a practice known as polychromy). The paint had deteriorated and faded over time, but evidence of it remained.