05-04-2007, 01:05 AM
COLOURED !!
But I think Sulla is right - the modern attempts simply give the 'flat' colour deduced by scientific analysis. Any Artist is going to use 'light and shade'etc. Consider that what we now perceive as Art on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum ( not forgetting other sites all over the empire ) were in fact examples of decoration by housepainters, not artists !! The techniques were mostly simple and applied hastily ( "...time is money, Crassus - we've three more rooms to finish by tomorrow....." ). In a culture where house decoration is raised to an art-form, is it likely that beautifully carved and finished statues were finished by ( to borrow a term from earlier in the thread) fence painters ? Especially when that sculpture was recognised and prized as great (even it was stolen or copied from the Greeks).It would have offended the aesthetics of even ordinary Romans, nor could I imagine the sculptors accepting such vandalism !!Far more likely that Sulla is right , supported by the Pompeii painting - in it the Mistress of the house ( a widow perhaps?) seems to be viewing the statue critically and comparing it to a painted portrait - perhaps checking the likeness of a deceased husband/son. Less romantically, perhaps the vendor is saying to the Mistress "...the statue is really nice, but I can do you a good price on the painting...". Doubtless the former is more likely.
On a different note, Narukami ( and Mike Bishop and others) are right that any lover of ancient Rome should see/visit Pompeii and Herculaneum.All RAT members should perform a Haj/Pilgrimage there !!
But do it soon ! I have visited there many times since the early 1970's and have been in shock each time at how they had deteriorated since previous visits. The sad truth is that Italy is so full of Art, Architecture and Archaeology that there is simply not enough money to preserve it. Indeed, whereas once visitors could wonder freely through them, most of it is now blocked off, because it is dangerously crumbling, or to prevent vandalism ( 'Salvatore per Marisa' is typical of the schoolboy graffitti now to be seen scrawled across priceless 2000 year old paintings !! )Elsewhere, paintings I remember as vivid are now fading in the sun ( not the 'important' ones, of course, which have long since been carried off to adorn the World's museums.
Nevertheless, they are still places of wonder and I defy any red-blooded RAT member to walk out of the sunlight into the dark and narrow 'death gate'( through which dead gladiators were dragged - see Peter Connolly's 'Pompeii' ) without feeling a shudder !!!
Fortunately for posterity, over two-thirds of Pompeii and most of Herculaneum still lie buried................
Pallus Scipio/Paul McDonnell-Staff
But I think Sulla is right - the modern attempts simply give the 'flat' colour deduced by scientific analysis. Any Artist is going to use 'light and shade'etc. Consider that what we now perceive as Art on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum ( not forgetting other sites all over the empire ) were in fact examples of decoration by housepainters, not artists !! The techniques were mostly simple and applied hastily ( "...time is money, Crassus - we've three more rooms to finish by tomorrow....." ). In a culture where house decoration is raised to an art-form, is it likely that beautifully carved and finished statues were finished by ( to borrow a term from earlier in the thread) fence painters ? Especially when that sculpture was recognised and prized as great (even it was stolen or copied from the Greeks).It would have offended the aesthetics of even ordinary Romans, nor could I imagine the sculptors accepting such vandalism !!Far more likely that Sulla is right , supported by the Pompeii painting - in it the Mistress of the house ( a widow perhaps?) seems to be viewing the statue critically and comparing it to a painted portrait - perhaps checking the likeness of a deceased husband/son. Less romantically, perhaps the vendor is saying to the Mistress "...the statue is really nice, but I can do you a good price on the painting...". Doubtless the former is more likely.
On a different note, Narukami ( and Mike Bishop and others) are right that any lover of ancient Rome should see/visit Pompeii and Herculaneum.All RAT members should perform a Haj/Pilgrimage there !!
But do it soon ! I have visited there many times since the early 1970's and have been in shock each time at how they had deteriorated since previous visits. The sad truth is that Italy is so full of Art, Architecture and Archaeology that there is simply not enough money to preserve it. Indeed, whereas once visitors could wonder freely through them, most of it is now blocked off, because it is dangerously crumbling, or to prevent vandalism ( 'Salvatore per Marisa' is typical of the schoolboy graffitti now to be seen scrawled across priceless 2000 year old paintings !! )Elsewhere, paintings I remember as vivid are now fading in the sun ( not the 'important' ones, of course, which have long since been carried off to adorn the World's museums.
Nevertheless, they are still places of wonder and I defy any red-blooded RAT member to walk out of the sunlight into the dark and narrow 'death gate'( through which dead gladiators were dragged - see Peter Connolly's 'Pompeii' ) without feeling a shudder !!!
Fortunately for posterity, over two-thirds of Pompeii and most of Herculaneum still lie buried................
Pallus Scipio/Paul McDonnell-Staff
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
