bright pink, blue and other preferences. polychrome hellenistic sculpture

97870_antikke farver_r1__cc2014_med opdaterede crossreferencer_helmer.indd 166 23/08/14 10:42

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Bright Pink, Blue and Other Preferences Polychrome Hellenistic SculptureClariSSa bluMe



Clarissa Blume Bright Pink, Blue and Other Preferences 167

In the year 334 BCE, Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, led his

army over the Hellespont (a narrow stretch of water between the king-

dom of the Macedonians and the empire of the Persians) unleashing a

massive wave of conquest which went on for 11 years. The conquered

territories, which stretched from Greece to the Indus and from the

Black Sea to Egypt, may be regarded as a globalised world. The individ-

ual conquered regions became increasingly interwoven, both political-

ly and economically, and continued to be so even when no longer under

Alexander’s own rule, being divided up after his death into independ-

ent realms. In this way there developed a common cultural space which

was in many ways of a homogeneous character. This was the context of

the so-called Hellenistic Period and thus the background for the sculp-

tures discussed in this article. Irrespective of which Hellenistic region

in which a sculpture was fashioned, they all, roughly speaking, bore the

same stylistic features, both as regards the plastic execution and the

polychrome painting.1

Like the sculptures of an earlier period, Hellenistic statues should

be conceived of as complex, multi-coloured works of art which adorned

the public space in the Hellenistic cities. Their colourful appearance

was stamped with three fundamental factors. First, the total effect of

a coloured sculpture was determined by its material, the character of

its surface and the specific texture with which the sculptor endowed

it. Depending on the treatment of the surface, the colour was given a

particular character, e.g. uniform or possessed of lively nuances. In the

Hellenistic period emphasis was placed on the special smoothing given

to the areas of skin. How markedly the other details varied in texture

depended on the sculptor. There is, for instance, differentiation in the

drapery of the costume on a Delian statue of the same type as the so-

called Small Herculaneum Maiden (fig. 1), in that the folds of the khiton



168

were given a chipped structure, while the himation has the appearance

of material which falls more evenly, the surface of which is character-

ised by the marks of a tooth chisel.

In addition, many Hellenistic sculptures were provided with attrib-

utes made of other materials, e.g. earrings, which had been attached in

still-visible holes in the ears, or necklaces, hair bands, sandal straps or

objects which the statues held in their hands. As an example of this the

afore-mentioned statue from Delos has the remains of a bronze han-

dle in the left hand (fig. 1 and 2). Examination of similar sculptures and

sculptural types suggests that what is today a broken object with parts

missing was probably a leaf-shaped fan, which is often to be found held

by female statues from the Hellenistic Period.2 But even if the handle

of the fan was made of bronze, the question remains whether the blade

was of the same metal or, perhaps, of wood, which would certainly have

borne a closer resemblance to the original material. Depending on the

material used and the extension of the work’s execution, the fan, itself,

may also have been decorated.

It was not just various attributes which were fashioned in other ma-

terials and added to the stone sculpture – some statues had eyes made

separately in different materials and inserted in the eye sockets. Today

the sockets are often all that remain.3 Such inlaid eyeballs were made,

as a rule, of light marble, as opposed to the iris, pupils and tear ducts,

which were executed in stone or glass of various colours and appeared

to shine, as if alive. In addition the iris could be secured with a thin

strip of bronze, which had the character of a thin outline.4

A Penchant for Light Blue and Bright Pink

The Hellenistic palette of colours was based on various organic and nat-

urally occurring inorganic pigments as well as an artificially produced

pigment. This was applied in both its pure and mixed form so that a

broad spectrum of colour tones emerged. In addition colour tended to

be applied in several superimposed layers to obtain the blending effect

of a number of hues.

The pigments were particularly ochre in red, yellow and green tones,

red, bright pink and yellow iron oxides (such as hematite and goethite),

cinnabar red, madder lake (an organic bright pink or red colour made

from a root) light yellow vanadium, blue azurite, Egyptian blue (an

Fig. 1 Delian cloaked statue of the Small Herculaneum Maiden type. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, inv. 1827.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 2 Reconstruction of the polychrome painting of the sculpture in fig. 1. Reconstruction: C. Blume, E. Strauch



170




Fig. 3 Detail of fig. 1. Right foot, chiton and bottom part of the himation.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 4 Detail of fig. 1. Small section of the chiton’s ornament on the left side.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 5 Detail of fig. 1. Small section of the himation’s ornament in the drapery over the left upper arm.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 6 Detail of fig. 1. Creation of light and shade in hair. camera C. Blume

Fig. 7 Detail of fig. 1. Painted continuation of sculpted locks over the forehead.

camera C. Blume



172

artificially produced colour), green malachite, green celadonite (a form

of green earth) as well as lead white and black coal. Also gold leaf could

be applied.

Particularly worthy of note is a new and, at that, typically Hellen-

istic penchant for two colours: light blue and bright pink. This combi-

nation can be found, for example, on a statue of a muse in Frankfurt,

whose costume was painted bright pink and decorated with blue lines

(fig. 8–10). This popular colour combination is also well preserved on

the upholstery on a kline which is part of a terracotta figure group in

the British Museum (fig. 11).

The use of black and white is also interesting. In the Hellenistic Pe-

riod (except in Egypt) both of these colours were used exclusively for

small details. For instance the iris can be outlined in black and the eyes

highlighted in white.5 In Egypt, where it had been common practice for

millennia to use black on large surfaces, this custom was, however, not

discontinued in Hellenistic times. Here one still sees statues with black

hair or black areas of costume.6

Otherwise black was used throughout the entire Hellenistic world,

when a surface on a sculpture was meant to be inconspicuous or ‘invis-

ible’ to the viewer. This might be the case, for instance, with the area

between the legs on a chair painted black when it was necessary for

stability, but not intended to be noticed by the beholder (fig. 11).7 When

the surroundings of the area which was intended to be hidden justified

it, use was made in certain cases of colours other than black. Thus it

was probably because of the blue wall (traces of blue plaster have been

preserved) that the supporting pillar of a statue group of Aphrodite and

Pan, which stood in front of the wall, was also painted blue.8

Faces Which Give Life

To give the Greek stone statues life, their faces had to be coloured. This

was so much more important as only their eyeballs and the folds of the

eyelids were executed plastically, while the pupils, irises, eyelashes and

eyebrows were not indicated until the painting was undertaken.

In the Hellenistic age it was general practice to frame the eyes with a

red or reddish-brown stroke. The eyelashes were executed as individu-

al, short, curved lines, or together in pairs in triangles (fig. 20) The irises

could be rendered as simple circular surfaces (fig. 12) or be given a more

Fig. 8 Standing Muse, said to be from Agnano. Frankfurt, Liebieghaus, 160.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 9 Detail of fig. 8. Vestiges of bright pink (madder lake) of the posited ground on the sleeveless garment (peronatris).

camera C. Blume

Fig. 10 Detail of fig. 8. Vestiges of blue colour (azurite and Egyptian blue) from the ornament of the sleeveless garment (perona-tris). camera C. Blume



174




Fig. 11 Terracotta group of two women on a kline. Detail of the kline with upholstery and black-paint-ed surface between the fabric and the leg of the kline. From Myrina. London, British Museum, 1885,0316:1.

camera C. Blume

Fig. 12 Detail of fig. 1. Right eye. camera C. Blume

Fig. 13 Left eye of Pergamene portrait head. Berlin, Antikensammlung, AvP VII 136. camera C. Blume

Fig. 14 Portrait of a Ptolemaic ruler (Ptolemy IX ?). Detail of the mouth area with painted mous-tache and bright pink differ-entiation between the lips. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 59.51. camera C. Blume



176



detailed representation. Accordingly one also finds irises which com-

bine several rings in colours of varying width (fig. 13). The eyebrows, too,

are often only painted as unvaryingly brown lines, in individual cases,

however, in several colours and with indication of the individual hairs.9

The statues’ lips were painted red. It was general to distinguish the

upper from the lower lip with one or two bright pink or red lines (fig. 14).

The nostrils also received the painters’ attention, and were painted red.

The Sculptural Rendering of Hair

Hair on Hellenistic statues is most often given shades of several col-

ours. On the Small Herculaneum Maiden (fig. 6) for example, the paint-

er ‘refined’ the hair by painting individual locks in at least four different

shades of brown. Since one can see here how, with the aid of the paint-

er’s hand movements, the brush is first used with its bristles fanned

out and then with them together, one is almost able to experience the

moment when the colour was applied. The hand movement is also evi-

dent in those locks of hair over the forehead, which, in addition, consti-

tute important evidence of how the work of the sculptor and the paint-

er interacted. Only the rudiments of the curls were actually plastically

modelled, and these would subsequently be given their final details by

the painter, who lengthened the ends of the individual hairs with fine,

curved, S-shaped lines (fig. 7).

What the Skin Colour Tells Us

The rendering of the areas of the skin on Hellenistic sculptures may

have proceeded in three different ways. There is no doubt that the skin

could both be painted in a colour true to life and gilded. By way of an

example, traces of a light skin colour are to be found on a portrait of

Berenice from Kyrene (figs. 15–16) and gold leaf on the skin of a small

portrait head from Takhti-Sangin in present-day Tajikistan (fig. 17)

There is moreover diverse evidence that the areas of skin could have

been left marble white and simply given a coating of wax. All the parts

of the statues which are today marble white may theoretically have

been painted or gilded in antiquity, but there are individual statues the

painting of which in its entirety is so well preserved (i.e. there are traces

of colour on every detail) that the absence of colour traces on the skin

Fig. 15 Portrait of Berenice from Kyrene, London, British Museum, 1927.2–14.1/ 1861.11–27.145. camera C. Blume

Fig. 16 Detail of fig. 15: Skin colour on the left side of the chin. camera C. Blume

Fig. 17 Small portrait head from Takhti-Sangin in present-day Tajikistan. Dried clay with gilded skin. Dushanbe, The National Museum of Antiquities, TS 4002. camera C. Blume


178

areas is striking.10 There are, in addition, on the Roman wall paintings

from Pompeii depictions of both statues with natural skin colour and

some with skin shown marble white, e.g. a painted statue of Mars in the

Casa della Venere in Conchiglia (fig. 18): while the god’s eyes, hair and

cloak are coloured, his skin is as ‘whitish’ as the statue’s pedestal.11

When one looks at Hellenistic sculptures, it is striking that the paint-

ing is generally vivid and as true to life as possible. This raises the ques-

tion of when, and with what in mind, one chose to render them with

skin that was either golden or marble white. The group of sculptures

known, or believed with good reason, to have had marble white skin is

still relatively small. One can, therefore only speculate what purpose

was associated with such a rendering of skin. Based on comparanda as

well as ancient literary sources it may be assumed that marble white

and thus an extremely light skin was meant to emphasise the beauty of

the subject. One argument for this are the so-called chryselephantine

cult images, the expanses of whose skin were made of ivory; another

are the representations of women throughout Archaic and Classical

times with a skin colour which recurrently ranges purely from light to

pure white.

The use of gold leaf on a sculpture may have been intended to in-

crease its value. Moreover, it looks as though golden skin might have

served to emphasise the divine or semi-divine status of the subject.12

This emerges not only from the motifs of sculptures with gilded skin,

but also from various ancient written sources, in which gold and a

golden appearance or depiction are associated explicitly with gods and

mythical figures.13

Among Hellenistic sculptures with golden skin we find gods, such as

an Anubis statuette from Delos, some ruler portraits, such as Berenice

II from Hermoupolis Magna (fig. 19) and an unidentifiable head found

in Takhti-Sangin (fig. 17).14 That rulers could be depicted with golden

skin like gods is probably to be explained by the making or gilding of

the individual portrait after the subject’s death, when he or she was de-

ified. As demonstrated by the layers of colour on the Berenice portrait

the gilding may also have been carried out as an adaptation or renewal

superimposed on an earlier painting. An inscription from Taragona in

Spain, though much later, underlines the posthumous gilding of stat-

ues of deified rulers and by referring to the gilding of a statue of the

divine emperor Hadrian (divi Hadriani).15

Fig. 18 Painted statue of Mars in the garden of the Casa della Venere in Conchiglia. II 3,3 Peristyle 8.

camera C. Blume



180




Fig. 19 Portrait of Berenice from Hermoupolis Magna. Mariemont, Musée Royal, B 264. camera C. Blume

Fig. 20 Right eye of portrait, fig. 19. camera C. Blume

Fig. 21 Statue of a Gaul forced to his knees. From Delos. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, inv. 247. camera C. Blume


182

Besides the various representations of gods, heroes and deified rulers,

some individual sculptures were also provided with gilt skin (admitted-

ly only sparsely preserved) which may, in all likelihood, have been con-

ceived of as a kind of heroicising representation. One example of this

is the representation of a Gaul, forced to his knees (fig. 21) and a Delian

copy of the Diadumenos representing either the god Apollo, or a victo-

rious athlete.16 The gilding of the skin on these and similar sculptures

may well have served to equate specific qualities in the persons depict-

ed with those of gods and heroes. In the case of the Diadumenos this

could signify strength or speed leading to his victory, and with the Gaul

it might be heroic fighting spirit and inner strength.17 Another example

of presentation of the enemy as heroic is the so-called Ludovisi Gaul

group, which represents a, presumably defeated, Gaul and his wife as

they commit suicide.18 Erich Kistler explains the heroicising depiction

of the enemy by the idea that only the defeat of a worthy opponent is

a victory deserving of esteem.19 In this way, the artifice of gilding em-

phasises just as much the godlike or heroic mind and body in the Greek

subduing the Gaul.20

Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds

The costume depicted on Hellenistic sculptures may be painted with

the ground in all the usual colours and mixtures thereof. The decora-

tion of them displays diversity, even if that is more subdued than in the

preceding, Classical period. Ornamental borders from Classical times

were often composed of repeated sections consisting of many small

parts, whereas there was a preference in Hellenistic times for recurring

and flowing patterns such as straight and curved lines.

What for Hellenistic times was an elaborate ornament can be seen

on the ‘dress’ (chiton) and the cloak (himation) of the Delian Small Her

culaneum Maiden mentioned above (fig. 1). Her chiton was decorated

with two horizontal blue borders along the seam and two vertical blue

stripes framed by wavy lines on the left side (fig. 4) In order to save la-

bour and money the rearmost stripe on the back was painted increas-

ingly faintly, and the last – and, as far as the beholder was concerned

– not visible line was left unpainted.

The himation on the Delian statue was also richly ornamented.

Dark traces suggest that, either the cloak had a wide framing or a larger



coloured area, which, on the long side ends in long rays, and on the

short side in short sickle-shaped hooks (fig. 5). The cloak was, in addi-

tion decorated with a number of other bands with sickle pattern and

lines in various colours and was edged in gold leaf. As the dark traces

look as though they have been soaked into the marble, in which respect

they differ from other traces of colour, and as black was not used on

larger surfaces in Hellenistic times, it suggests that the black colour

was, in this case, an underpainting which was to affect another colour

applied on top. Quite what this colour was can no longer be determined,

not even by microscopic examination.

The difference between the typical Hellenistic representation of

costume as just described and that on Classical sculptures can be eluci-

dated by means of a Hellenistic statue from Pergamon, which was con-

sciously modelled in the Classical manner (fig. 22–25). Not just the fron-

tal pose and the costume (a peplos), but also the ornamentation of the

garment is typically Classical. This applies, for instance to the coloured

borders along the hem which consist of repeated segments built up of

many small elements (volutes, sickles, drops and plugs, with palmettes

probably raised above them.)

On all the costumes described here ornaments served to emphasise

the costliness of the apparel. In addition, through the ornamentation of

the costume, the painter of the Pergamene statue succeeded in making

even clearer the ties of the sculpture to older, traditional works of art

just as the sculptor intended. By this, from a Hellenistic perspective,

historic appearance, the statue of the goddess came to look even wor-

thier of reverence.




Fig. 22 Pergamene statue of a goddess, So-called Hera. Berlin, Antikensammlung, AvP VII 23. camera C. Blume

Fig. 23 Detail of fig. 22. Small section of band of ornament along the seam of the peplos: part of a green standing volute, blue sickle, a blue drop and what is today a blackish, originally red (cinnabar) ornamental detail. camera C. Blume

Fig. 24 Partial reconstruc-tion of segment of the orna-mental band along the pep-los seam on the sculpture in fig. 22. Reconstruction: C. Blume

Fig. 25 Reconstruction of the polychrome painting on fig. 22. Reconstruction: C. Blume, E. Strauch



186



On certain terracotta figures the costliness of a himation is emphasised

with the aid of an application of paint which shows it is meant to be

made of silk. The cloak is painted as if everything underneath, the khi-

ton or the skin of the arms, shines through (fig. 26). By also emphasising

individual folds in the silk cloak with grey lines, the painter accentuat-

ed its high degree of realism. Even though it has not as yet been possi-

ble to recognise traces of an equivalent colouration in Hellenistic stone

sculptures, we must assume that they too could be painted as if dressed

in costly silk garments.

Tradition and Legitimation

It is important not to lose sight of how much information which was

not added to the stone body of the sculpture by the sculptor, was, con-

versely, supplied in paint or by additions executed in other materials.

This is clear, for example when one looks at the portraits of the Ptole-

maic rulers, a house of Macedonian descent, who reigned in Egypt in

the Hellenistic period. The combination of their own culture and the

traditions of the conquered territories they governed brought about the

creation of both typical Egyptian portraits of them (made, for instance,

from local stone, with frontal pose, or Egyptian attributes) and typical

Greek counterparts (made from marble, with a slight turn of the head

and with a ruler’s diadem in the form of a hair band).21 Despite these

apparently clear differences between the two portrait types, the Hellen-

ising works themselves adapted to the Egyptian tradition through the

way they were painted. This is especially clear in the rendering of the

eyes (fig. 20). The typical Egyptian characteristics are, for example, the

red and black framing of the eyes, the extension of the framing beyond

Fig. 26 Terracotta representation of a stand-ing woman. From Egypt. London, British Museum, 1981, 0210.9. camera C. Blume


188

the outer corner of the eye as well as the parallel direction of the eye-

brows, the red lines in the folds of the eyelids and the upper framing of

the eye.22 By means of painting the Greek portraits in the Egyptian style,

there occurred an adaptation to local tradition. In this way, with the

aid of painting, the original Macedonian rulers visually adapted to the

country’s traditional ruler iconography.23

Hellenistic Fashion Makes Its Entrance into the Roman Cultural Sphere

An examination of the examples dealt with above clearly illustrates

the diversity of the Hellenistic Period. Firstly we are dealing with an

epoch in which similar styles develop across national boundaries, and,

secondly, local traditions continue to play an important role in their

particular districts. Homogeneity reveals itself in the character of the

surface treatments (a careful smoothing of the skin areas was especially

widespread), in the use of separately made and subsequently attached

individual details or attributes in other materials (such as inlaid eyes,

jewellery or other objects) and, most of all, in the use of paint, which

has both a widely-used, consistent palette of colours (with a penchant

for bright pink and light blue) and a common style (e.g. with regard to

the painting of the eyes or ornaments on the costume). In conclusion, it

is possible to state that, as a rule, the polychrome painting of Hellenistic

sculptures strives for a faithful verisimilitude. All the more eye-catch-

ing are the sculptures with gold or marble white skin; this artistic pres-

entation should clearly indicate to the beholder a person’s divinity, or,

respectively, their beauty. Sculptures and wall paintings depicting the

same from the Late Roman Republic and Imperial period demonstrate

that polychrome treatment of Hellenistic sculptures made its entrance

into the Roman world and was at that time constantly developed. What

remains is the perhaps only slightly expanded palette of colours and

the preference for smooth and calm bands of ornamentation.24



1 For a fuller exposition and further examples, see Blume 2014

2 Cf. e.g. the terracotta figures: Louvre, Paris MNB 452, S 1664 and MNB 559, in Jeamet 2003, 176–177 no. 118–120; 180–182 no. 125; British Museum, London, 1875, 1012.8 and 1874, 0305.65; Burn – Higgins 2001, 50 no. 2061; 56f. no. 2086

3 Compare the Giant Porphyrion (Zeus’ opponent) in the Gigantomachy of the Pergamon Altar. He is the only figure in the frieze given inlaid eyes

4 See, e.g. the later but well preserved portrait of Augustus from Meroe: London, British Museum, 1911,0901. Description and illustration in: Lahusen 2001, 58–60. 355 Abb. 18.16; Formigli 2013, 278 f. 279 Abb. 341 343. See also Hoft 2013

5 An example of such an iris: Antikensammlung, Berlin AvP VII 137, illustrated in Blume 2014; for highlight in the eyes, see the Alexander Sarcophagus, the Archaeological Museum Istanbul, 370, illustrated in Brinkmann 2010, 190, fig. 208. See, for highlight, as early as Winter 1912, 10. On inlaid eyes, see also Hoft 2013

6 Examples of hair: the Berenice portrait from Hermopolis Magna (Musée Royal, Mariemont, B 264); costume with black borders: tomb stele from Schatbi, Alexandria (British Museum, London, 1922,0117.1). Both objects illustrated in Blume 2014

7 See, for instance the surface between the legs of a footstool on a terracotta statue from Taranto (Getty Villa, Malibu, 76. AD 11) or between the kline’s legs and fabric, which is laid over the kline itself, on a terracotta figure from Myrina (British Museum, London, 1885, 0316.1) illustrated in Blume 2014

8 The National Archaeological Museum, Athens, 3335, illustrated in Blume 2014

9 See, for example, the Archaeological Museum of Delos, A 4012, illustrated in Blume 2014

10 One example of such a find is an alabaster statue of Aphrodite in the British Museum in London, 1914, 1020.1, illustrated in Blume 2014

11 Illustrated in Reuterswärd 1960, frontispiece; PPM III (1991) 139 fig. 43 f. In contrast to this example, statues of Hermes can also be found with painted skin colour in the Casa del Criptoportico: Coarelli 2002, 259

12 Earlier studies of gilding on Hellenistic sculptures: Reuterswärd 1960, 143–168;

Yfantidis 1984, 114–127, 331–349; Bourgeois – Jockey 2004–2005; Bourgeois – Jockey 2005, 253–316

13 See for example Reuterswärd 1960, 146 f. For example there are references to the gods’ (ξανϑός) and yellow gold (χρυσοκόμης) hair in Homer, The Iliad XVII.6 and in Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 548. 1365

14 Anubis: The Archaeological Museum of Delos, A 5280, illustrated in Bourgeois – Jockey 2007, 182, fig. 9 a and b

15 CIL II 4230 = Alföldy 1975, no. 294. See also Panzram 2002, 63. 276; Lahusen 1999, 97–106

16 The National Archaeological Museum, Athens, 1826. See also Bourgeois – Jockey 2005, 273, 278, 293, 295, 302, 307 f.; Bourgeois – Jockey 2007, 182

17 Similarly to the Gaul, see also Bourgeois – Jockey 2005, 312 f

18 Palazzo Altemps, Rome, 8608, illustrated in Polito 1999, 62 f. fig. 53–56. For representations of Gallic opponents, see also Kistler 2009, 298–350

19 Kistler 2009, 298–35020 Bourgeois – Jockey (2005, 312 f.) see it

differently and locate the gilding of the Gaul in connection with antique sources which emphasise the Gallic golden embellishment’s terrifying effect in battle

21 See for example Kyrieleis 1975; Stanwick 200222 Cf. for example, the outer Henettaway

Sarcophagus from Thebes (c. 1040–992 BC) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 25. 3. 182a, b, illustrated on www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/25.3.182–184 (04.05.2014). See also post-Hellenistic examples such as an Imperial mummy mask in the British Museum, London EA29476, illustrated in Parlasca – Seemann 1999, 315, fig. 208

23 For the Ptolemaic portraits created in the Greek manner, see also Kyrieleis 1975, 126–136; Kyrieleis 2005, 236–239

24 The colour palette on the Roman sculptures already examined does not deviate markedly from the Hellenistic sculptures. The colours used in Roman wall paintings demonstrate, however, that a broader spectrum was available. See, for example, the violet and turquoise tones in the wall painting showing Pelias and his daughters from the House of Jason (IX 5, 18) at Pompeii: Croisille 2005, 179, fig. 237


bright pink, blue and other preferences. polychrome hellenistic sculpture

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