2023-02-14 (223)
Reconstruction of the marble funerary stele of Phrasikleia, 2010
Polymethyl metacrylate
Vinzenz Brinkmann & Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann
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."
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).*
Taken from the exhibition
Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color
(July 2022 to March 2023)
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation. Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color reveals the colorful backstory of polychromy—meaning “many colors,” in Greek—and presents new discoveries of surviving ancient color on artworks in The Met’s world-class collection. Exploring the practices and materials used in ancient polychromy, the exhibition highlights cutting-edge scientific methods used to identify ancient color and examines how color helped convey meaning in antiquity, and how ancient polychromy has been viewed and understood in later periods.
The exhibition features a series of reconstructions of ancient sculptures in color by Prof. Dr. V. Brinkmann, Head of the Department of Antiquity at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, and Dr. U. Koch-Brinkmann, and introduces a new reconstruction of The Met’s Archaic-period Sphinx finial, completed by The Liebieghaus team in collaboration with The Met.Presented alongside original Greek and Roman works representing similar subjects, the reconstructions are the result of a wide array of analytical techniques, including 3D imaging and rigorous art historical research. Polychromy is a significant area of study for The Met, and the Museum has a long history of investigating, preserving, and presenting manifestations of original color on ancient statuary.
[*The Met]
In the Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was conceived in Paris by John Jay in Paris, 1866, as a "national institution and gallery of art" for the American people. The Union League Club in New York campaigned for funding, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened to the public in 1870, in the Dodworth Building 681 Fifth Avenue. Initially formed from donations by its founders, the Museum collection increased to the point that it outgrew the initial site, and then a consecutive one, moving to its current location (on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street) in 1880.
The initial museum building was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, with extensions added from 1888 onwards - the Fifth Avenue facade, Grand Stairway, and Great Hall, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, opened 1902, and the Fifth Avenue wings by McKim, Mead & White in 1910. The last major development was the installation of glass at the sides and rear of the building, designed by Roch-Dinkeloo in 2011-12.
Taken in Manhattan
2023-02-14 (223)
Reconstruction of the marble funerary stele of Phrasikleia, 2010
Polymethyl metacrylate
Vinzenz Brinkmann & Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann
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."
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).*
Taken from the exhibition
Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color
(July 2022 to March 2023)
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation. Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color reveals the colorful backstory of polychromy—meaning “many colors,” in Greek—and presents new discoveries of surviving ancient color on artworks in The Met’s world-class collection. Exploring the practices and materials used in ancient polychromy, the exhibition highlights cutting-edge scientific methods used to identify ancient color and examines how color helped convey meaning in antiquity, and how ancient polychromy has been viewed and understood in later periods.
The exhibition features a series of reconstructions of ancient sculptures in color by Prof. Dr. V. Brinkmann, Head of the Department of Antiquity at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, and Dr. U. Koch-Brinkmann, and introduces a new reconstruction of The Met’s Archaic-period Sphinx finial, completed by The Liebieghaus team in collaboration with The Met.Presented alongside original Greek and Roman works representing similar subjects, the reconstructions are the result of a wide array of analytical techniques, including 3D imaging and rigorous art historical research. Polychromy is a significant area of study for The Met, and the Museum has a long history of investigating, preserving, and presenting manifestations of original color on ancient statuary.
[*The Met]
In the Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was conceived in Paris by John Jay in Paris, 1866, as a "national institution and gallery of art" for the American people. The Union League Club in New York campaigned for funding, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened to the public in 1870, in the Dodworth Building 681 Fifth Avenue. Initially formed from donations by its founders, the Museum collection increased to the point that it outgrew the initial site, and then a consecutive one, moving to its current location (on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street) in 1880.
The initial museum building was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, with extensions added from 1888 onwards - the Fifth Avenue facade, Grand Stairway, and Great Hall, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, opened 1902, and the Fifth Avenue wings by McKim, Mead & White in 1910. The last major development was the installation of glass at the sides and rear of the building, designed by Roch-Dinkeloo in 2011-12.
Taken in Manhattan