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Links to the Tracking Colour Project, August 2013

Posted by: Will Wootton 11 years, 4 months ago

We have added some links to the excellent Tracking Colour project based at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. In our archive there are three source images of a female goddess from the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias: {PR307_03_02}, {PR307_03_04}, {PR307_03_08}

 

On the surface of this sculpture there are the remains of it's original painted finish: brown-red pigments survive in the hair while the the pupils and irises of the eyes have been detailed in black and brown. An important comparative piece is a female head which is also probably from the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias. This has been analysed as part of the Tracking Colour project and is presented on their website here

The exmination has recorded a complex combination of pigments in the hair alongside gilding for highlights. On the face, the skin mouth and irises were also painted. The full report is availabe here and the reference is R.H. Therkildsen, ‘A 2nd century CE colossal marble head of a woman: a case study in Roman sculptural polychromy’, Tracking colour: the polychromy of Greek and Roman sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Preliminary Report 4 (2012): 45–63.