Would the Colosseum have been painted?

[Celtic505]

I've read that the Romans would paint their temples, buildings and statues, So obviously the image of the Flavian Ampitheatre we have today is in my imagination very different from how it would have looked in it's day. Is there any evidence to point out that the Colosseum and the statues within it were painted or coloured? Do we have any idea what colours they would be, if there is evidence to indicate that it was?

[Caius Fabius]

Most scholars today who study such things seem to think that the statues were brightly painted. The awnings would have been colorful, the decorations would have been painted (yes the seats had decoration) and the sections may have been colored.
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It was not drab, the walls of the 'killing floor' were probably painted as well, as seen at the Gladiator museum in Capua.

[Jona Lendering]

Most scholars today who study such things seem to think that the statues were brightly painted. The awnings would have been colorful, the decorations would have been painted (yes the seats had decoration) and the sections may have been colored.
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It was not drab, the walls of the 'killing floor' were probably painted as well, as seen at the Gladiator museum in Capua.

The issue is of course also: at what moment? The Colosseum stood there for centuries, and if it was painted on the day when Vespasian organized the first games, the paint must already have become a bit bleaker when Titus really opened it. We read about general restoration works (a/o by Severus Alexander) but in my opinion, in an honest reconstruction of an ancient building, the colors are pale.

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

According to Peter Connolly in his book "Colosseum - Rome's Arena of Death" the building was decorated with paintings, e.g. the vomitoria were painted with frescoes showing animals while the ways leading into the arena were also painted with frescoes.

Not only the Colosseum but the other amphitheaters were decorated with frescoes as well, even the oldest one which is the one in Pompeii. Unfortunately none of these paintings survive until today. Amphitheaters looked much more splendid that we see them today.

[Caius Fabius]

The Gladiator Museum in Capua shows some ideas of the paintings that were in the amphitheaters.

I suspect that the bigger Amphitheaters had staffs of slaves who cleaned and repainted, although from time to time the paints may have gotten duller. Even today, several of the statues in the National Museum in Rome could use a good dusting. Maybe the president of Italy should write the museum a note, then write in the papers about how he cleaned up and refurbished the national Museum? :lol: