WHITE SCULPTURES AND DARK INTERIORS.
WHITE SCULPTURES AND DARK INTERIORS. I posted on the colors of ancient statutes here. Lee Bryant sent me this article and the comments which point out how the disappearance of the colors has changed our aesthetic judgments. One comment argues that neoclassical painters (think Ingres) formed an idea of severe white beauty because of the accidents of time. Another comment argued that painters, especially the Dutch painters of the 1600’s, chose dark colors under the influence of earlier Italian painters without realizing that those earlier “paintings were covered in the soot and ash from centuries of candles and oil lamps.” Others pointed out the irony that we are troubled by the idea that ancient sculptures were colored because our idea of beauty has been shaped by the white statues.
My eyes have been corrupted. Though I find the reconstruction of the painted sculptures charming, I can’t help loving my statues white or ivory or ebony.