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encaustic applied with cestrum on ivory, wood panels, and battleships
durability? "this process of painting ships is not spoilt by the action of the sun nor by salt water or winds"
encaustic used originally on wood temples, survived transition to stone temples?
Many of the Fayum mummy portraits (1st c. BCE to 3rd c. CE)
are encaustic on wood panel
ultraviolet light revealed intricate scene of the court of the Persian King on the shield.
In 2003, Vinzenz Brinkmann organized the original Bunte Götter exhibit in Munich.
Video showing Brinkmann's use of ultraviolet and raking light to find color traces:
cestrum: metal implement spoon-shaped at one end for holding colors over heat; flat handle-end for 'levelling' (smoothing) the colors
[n.b.: no sound on video]
pigment suspended in egg or casein medium
flat, opaque, 'paint by number' appearance
panther-skin
comparanda
“Call them gaudy, call them kitsch, but archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target” (Smithsonian Magazine)
Pigment suspended in wax (and tree resin)
Liquid when heated; solid at room temperature
3-D modelling and texture effects possible
Stone surface retains heat (allowing time for modelling effects)
Persians vs. Greeks
Do we really want technicolor sculpture?
back of 'Seated Dionysos,
c. 520 BCE
[music: 'Wind on Wind' by Fripp and Eno]
back of statue has draped panther-skin. What remains is a scored outline and traces of color on a concave surface.
experiment: recreate panther-skin, demonstrating 3-D and layering possibilities of encaustic on flat stone surface
We are still used to thinking of Greek sculpture in this state, though it has been known for a while that its surfaces were originally brightly painted.
Velvet L. Yates
University of Florida
Over the centuries, a restrained, refined classical aesthetic has been built around the vision of Greek sculpture as devoid of color.
in progress (paints liquid on electric grill; heat gun used to heat stone surface)
Experiment step 1:
Sketch on stone
"preliminary drawing with a brush and black pigment" (Brinkmann)
red undercoat
Encaustic set-up
What were Praxiteles' favorites of his own sculptures?
"The ones Nikias painted."
Pliny also says that Nikias "took the greatest pains to make his paintings stand out from the panels" (eminerent e tabulis; XXXV.40.131).
"If the famous painter Nikias had provided the sculptor Praxiteles with only a uniform hair color, he presumably would not have been so celebrated. He is bound to have employed a special technique ... Even a number of simpler issues remain beyond the grasp of scholarship. What was the quality of pigment used? What binding agent was it applied with? What sort of final touches were made to harmonize the surface of the coloring and enhance its effect?"
Brinkmann, "The Polychromy of Ancient Greek Sculpture," The Color of Life, 23
clay tool used for scraping and texturing
3-D build-up of eyelids visible
Thank you for your attention.
- Velvet Yates
vyates@ufl.edu
current status
forehead, eyelids, nose built up
and modelled with hands and
potter's rib