See what ancient statues really looked like! What Ancient Greek Statues and Temples Really Looked Like

Since the Renaissance, the white surfaces of antique statues have been a standard of beauty and a source of inspiration for artists. But the archaeologists Ulrike Koch-Brinkman and Vincenz Brinkman destroyed the aesthetes' dreams.

Scholars have previously noticed that traces of painting have been preserved on some statues in the folds of the tog and robes. Vincenz and Ulrika made the bold assumption that the statues were painted. To prove this, scientists examined them using X-rays, infrared and ultraviolet radiation. The assumption was confirmed: modern technologies microparticles helped to restore even the color of paints. And they turned out to be quite cheerful.

Actually, nature should be blamed for the fact that they came to us as white: for centuries, under the influence of rain and wind, the paint was erased. The Brinkmans decided to recreate the original appearance of the statues, for which they painted several of them the way they looked originally, in the days of ancient Greece and Rome. The exhibition of reconstructed statues of the Brinkman spouses has been traveling to museums around the world since 2003.

Now the painted statues look clumsy and ridiculous. But in ancient times, when the color was a symbol of status and wealth, they emphasized the greatness of the rulers and the country with their bright colors. “A lot of the time people see it as kitsch,” Vincenz says. - And this is not surprising. But the point, rather, is that it is unusual for our modern eye. And then, a thousand years ago, when slaves and the poor wore clothes from unbleached linen, merchants who did not belong to the nobility had no right to wear purple and blue, no matter how rich they were. Just imagine with what reverence they looked at the statues - for example, a lion with an indigo mane from Greek city Loutraki".

"Alexander's sarcophagus" was found during excavations of the necropolis of the Phoenician city of Sidon. Alexander the Great is depicted on it during the battle with the Persians. The long-sleeved tunic speaks of his conquests and that he is now the ruler of the East. And the headdress made of the skin of a lion refers to Hercules and indicates the divine origin of Alexander.

Since the Renaissance, the white surfaces of antique statues have been a standard of beauty and a source of inspiration for artists.

But the archaeologists Ulrike Koch-Brinkman and Vincenz Brinkman destroyed the aesthetes' dreams.

Scholars have previously noticed that traces of painting have been preserved on some statues in the folds of the tog and robes. Vincenz and Ulrika made the bold assumption that the statues were painted. To prove this, scientists examined them using X-rays, infrared and ultraviolet radiation. The assumption was confirmed: modern technologies for microparticles helped to restore even the color of paints. And they turned out to be quite cheerful.

The ancient Greeks were not big fans of the whiteness of marble, as it seems to us. They painted their statues, bas-reliefs and temples, covered them with patterns, drew eyes on people, gods and heroes. What it really looked like Ancient Greece, can only be seen in the ultraviolet.

We are accustomed to seeing Greek statues as white, painted only in shades of marble. The Greek temples with columns are the same in our imagination. However, many remember that in fact the Greeks were not big fans of monochrome either in sculpture or in architecture. They painted their statues in bright colors, painted patterns on clothes, and emphasized facial features with paints.

Buildings were also decorated: with multi-colored patterns, geometric and floral. It turns out that these patterns can still be seen and even reconstructed.

German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann points to antique statues and fragments of architectural ornaments under the light of ultraviolet lamps, and the outlines of patterns that once covered sculptures and temples become visible to him. Then he recreates ornaments and drawings: with his help we can see the statues in much the same way as the Greeks saw them.

Of course, Brinkmann cannot be sure how to arrange the colors - only the outlines of the drawings have survived, with no indication of which paint the artist used. However, the archaeologist tries to use only those dyes that could be obtained in Greece. Green is obtained from crushed malachite, blue from the mineral azurite, yellow from natural arsenic compounds, red from cinnabar, black from burnt bone and wine.

Unfortunately, those who tried to imitate antiquity during the Renaissance and later did not have the technology to see the patterns on them. Therefore, the architecture of classicism, which considered itself the heiress of antiquity, was deprived of cheerful patterns and drawings, while maintaining a pure "antique" whiteness.

It cannot be said that people know absolutely everything about real masterpieces of art, especially when it comes to ordinary people and not about art historians. Far more than one secret is hidden in the architectural creations of the geniuses of their time.

In some cases, there is even mysticism - and all this will be interesting to know for absolutely everyone. Why does the statue of Moses have horns? Where did the arms of Venus de Milo go? Were ancient statues originally white? Or were they painted in different colors? The answers to these questions may surprise you. And to find out, you should read this article, which will examine in detail the secrets associated with the greatest creations of brilliant sculptors of bygone years, who managed to create a work of art from a marble block.

Michelangelo created a sculpture of Moses with an interesting element - a pair of horns. Many historians explain this as a misinterpretation of the Bible: the Book of Exodus says that it was difficult for the Jews to look at the face of Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai with stone tablets containing God's commandments. The Hebrew word used in the Bible can be translated as both "radiance" and "horns." However, from the context it is quite clear that the face of Moses radiated radiance, and was not framed by horns.

For a long time it was believed that all ancient Greek and Roman statues were just white. But according to recent research, it may turn out that they were originally painted with multi-colored paints, which wore off over time and eventually completely disappeared due to exposure sunlight and wind.

The Kiss is a famous masterpiece by Auguste Rodin, originally titled Francesca da Rimini, after the thirteenth century Italian aristocrat whose name was immortalized in Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy). Her husband was Giovanni Malatesta, but she fell in love with his younger brother Paolo. They were reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere when Giovanni found them together and killed them both. The sculpture shows how Paolo holds a book in his hands, but the lovers do not touch each other's lips. This demonstrates that they did not commit sin. A more neutral name, The Kiss, was given to the statue by critics who saw it in 1887.
Rodin's student E. A. Bourdelle said about The Kiss: "There was not and will not be a master capable of putting a rush of flesh into clay, bronze and marble more penetratingly and intensely than Rodin did." R. M. Rilke wrote: “You feel how waves from all contiguous surfaces permeate bodies, awe of beauty, aspiration, power. Therefore, it seems as if you see the bliss of this kiss at every point of these bodies; he's like rising Sun with its omnipresent light." The sculpture came out so sensual that many considered it indecent for demonstration to a wide audience. There is a version that Rodin depicted himself and his mistress and assistant Camille Claudel in sculpture.

The Secret of the "Marble Veil" by Raphael Monti
One look at these statues, whose faces are supposedly covered with a translucent veil, makes one wonder how it could have been done from ordinary stone. The secret lies in the marble used to create the statue, and more specifically, in its structure. The block from which the sculpture was created had two layers - one of them is more transparent than the other. Such marble is not easy to find, but it exists. The sculptor had a clear idea of what he wanted to get and what kind of marble to look for. Monty worked on the surface in the usual way, in parallel creating a carving that separated the normal part from the transparent one. As a result, it turned out that the veil of the sculpture actually looks transparent.

The most mysterious sculpture located in the Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona. It is called "The Kiss of Death" and its creator is still unknown. It is assumed that it was created by Jaume Barba, but there are also suggestions that Joan Fonbernat is its author. This sculpture is in one of distant corners cemeteries, and it was she who inspired Ingmar Bergman to create the film "The Seventh Seal", which tells the story of a fallen knight and Death

The statue of Venus de Milo is one of the most famous in the world, it is located in Paris, in the Louvre. It is said that a Greek peasant discovered it in 1820 on the island of Milos. When the sculpture was discovered, it was broken into two halves, but the hands were still there. It is said that in one hand she held an apple, and with the other she held her robe so that it would not fall to the ground. The Hellenistic sculptor Alexandros is believed to have carved this masterpiece in stone between 130 and 100 BC. Initially, the statue was found with a pedestal-slab on which it stood. There, an inscription about the creator was found. Subsequently, the pedestal mysteriously disappeared.
Some believe that the sculpture depicts not Aphrodite / Venus, but Amphitrite - sea goddess, which was especially revered on Milos. Still others even suggest that this is a statue of the goddess of victory, Victoria. There are also disputes about what the statue originally had in its hands. There are different versions that it could be a spear or a spinning wheel with threads. There is even a version that it was an apple, and the statue is Aphrodite, who holds in her hands the award given to her by Paris, as the most beautiful goddess.

Kentrotas originally found this statue with the French sailor Olivier Voutier. Having changed several owners while trying to take it out of the country, the statue eventually came to the French ambassador in Istanbul, the Marquis de Riviere. It was the marquis who presented Venus French king Louis XVIII, who in turn donated the statue to the Louvre, where it remains to this day.
Kentrotas found hand fragments when he discovered the statue in ruins, but after they were reconstructed, they were deemed too "rough and inelegant". Modern art historians believe that this does not mean at all that the hands did not belong to Venus, but rather they were damaged over the centuries. Both the arms and the original plinth were lost when the statue was transported to Paris in 1820.
Art historians of the 19th century decided that the statue of Venus was the work of the Greek sculptor Praxiteles (it was very similar to his statues). This classified the statue as belonging to the classical era (480-323 BC), whose creations were valued much more than the sculptures of the Hellenistic period. To support this version, even at the cost of misinformation, the plinth was removed before the sculpture was presented to the king.

During his conquests, Napoleon Bonaparte brought out one of the finest examples Greek sculpture- a statue of Venus Medici - from Italy. In 1815, the French government returned this statue to Italy. And in 1820, France gladly took the opportunity to fill an empty space in the main French museum. Venus de Milo became more popular than the Venus de Medici, which was also represented in the Louvre.
Perhaps the most famous of the ill-wishers of Venus de Milo, the famous impressionist artist stated that the sculpture is very far from depicting female beauty.
By the autumn of 1939, with the threat of war looming over Paris, the Venus de Milo, along with some other priceless artefacts such as the Nike of Samothrace and Michelangelo, had been removed from the Louvre for safekeeping in various castles in the French countryside.
Venus lacks not only hands. She was originally adorned with jewelry, including bracelets, earrings, and a tiara. These decorations disappeared a long time ago, but holes for fastening remained in the marble.
The height of Venus de Milo is 2.02 m.
Art historians note that Venus de Milo bears a striking resemblance to Aphrodite or Venus of Capu, which is a Roman copy of a Greek original statue. Since the creation of the Venus of Capua, at least 170 years have passed before Alexandros created the Venus of Milos. Some art historians believe that both statues are actually copies of an older source.

The missing hands of the Venus de Milo are much more than a source of numerous lectures, discussions and essays by art critics. Their absence also led to innumerable fantasies and theories as to how the hands might have been positioned and what might have been in them.

This amazing statue of the goddess Nike was found in 1863 on the island of Samothrace by the French ambassador and amateur archaeologist Charles Champouzeau. The sculpture is made of golden Parian marble, and on the island it was the center of the altar to the sea gods. Scholars say that this statue was created in the second century BC to commemorate the victories of the Greek fleet. The head and arms of the statue are lost, although many attempts have been made to restore them. It is assumed that the goddess held right hand above the head, and in it was clamped a bowl, a crown or even horns. An interesting fact is that any attempts to return the hands in place ended in failure - they only spoiled the look of the masterpiece. And all these failures make it clear that Victory is beautiful as it is - its imperfections only complement its magnificence.

Monument to Peter I
Etienne Falcone, Monument to Peter I, 1768-1770

The Bronze Horseman is a monument surrounded by mystical and otherworldly stories. One of the legends associated with him says that during Patriotic War In 1812, Alexander I ordered especially valuable works of art to be taken out of the city, including a monument to Peter I. At this time, a certain major Baturin got a meeting with the personal friend of the tsar, Prince Golitsyn, and told him that he, Baturin, was haunted by the same dream. He sees himself on Senate Square. Peter's face turns. The rider leaves his cliff and heads along the streets of St. Petersburg to stone island, where Alexander I then lived. The rider enters the courtyard of the Kamenoostrovsky Palace, from which the sovereign comes out to meet him. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to,” Peter the Great tells him, “but as long as I am in place, my city has nothing to fear!” Then the rider turns back, and the “heavy-voiced gallop” is heard again. Struck by Baturin's story, Prince Golitsyn conveyed the dream to the sovereign. As a result, Alexander I canceled his decision to evacuate the monument. The monument remained in place.