An ancient art exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

[robinjojo]

This is an interesting segment from today's broadcast on an exhibit at MFA on ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine works of art and other objects.  

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/museum-uses-technology-to-deepen-visitor-engagement-with-ancient-sculptures

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, robinjojo said:

This is an interesting segment from today's broadcast on an exhibit at MFA on ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine works of art and other objects.  

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/museum-uses-technology-to-deepen-visitor-engagement-with-ancient-sculptures

I watched that interesting segment on WXXI last night too 😊. Seeing these marble sculptures in their original painted colors can be a shocking revelation 😮! The Met in NYC is currently doing a show on the same theme: Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color. Pictured below is one of their marble sculptures, before & after.

[robinjojo]

Yes, the last part of that segment was quite surprising.  I knew that the statues we have today were brightly colored originally, but I wasn't aware they were that colorful!

[JeandAcre]

Thanks for this, @robinjojo and @Al Kowsky.  Fascinating to see them 'recolorized.' 

Makes me wonder how continuous the practice was.  Here's a little polychrome sculpture from the earlier 13th century in western Europe.  

https://journals.openedition.org/medievalista/2303?lang=en

[shanxi]

Over the years I have seen many painted statues, whether from the Middle Ages or ancient Asia. In nearly all cases, the painting was on the same artistic level as the statues themselves, enhancing the overall artistic impression.

However, today's visualizations of the ancient paintings almost always have the artistic level of kindergarten coloring pictures. The examples shown in the video still belong to the better ones, but I think they come nowhere near the impressions of the original painting.