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Paint on the Parthenon Sculptures: Part Two—Scientific Aspects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Abstract

Since the early nineteenth century, scholars have wondered whether certain accretions on the surface of the Parthenon sculptures, ranging in colour from yellow to brown, may represent evidence of ancient paint. The tendency has been to reject this notion, and today most classical archaeologists would accept the suggestion that this apparent staining of the marble is caused by the oxidation of iron particles coming from within the marble itself. While not rejecting this as the probable explanation for some of the brown areas, this article will argue that others can be understood only in terms of an artificially applied surface. Possible explanations as to the date and function of this material will be discussed in the light of both archaeological observation and scientific analysis. Firstly, however, a summary will be given of the important contributions made to our understanding of this problem by earlier commentators.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1988

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References

Acknowledgements. We are grateful to the following friends and colleagues for help given during the preparation of this article: N. Belogiannis, J. Binder, S. Bradley, B. Cook, I. Freestone, A. Mantis, P. Mead, E. Miller, O. Palagia, O. Purvis, B. Sparkes, M. Tite, R. Tomlinson, S. Walker, G. Waywell, R. White, D. and K. Williams, C. Zambas.

page 183 note 1 The first published observations were made by Stuart, J. and Revett, N. in their Antiquities of Athens, e.g. Vol. I (London 1762), p. 10.Google Scholar

page 183 note 2 ‘Recherches aux 18th et 19th siècles sur la polychromie de l'architecture grècque’, Paris, Rome, Athènes, catalogue to the exhibition held at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 12 May–18 July 1982 (Paris 1982) p. 63; see also references collected by Dimitriou, P., The Polychromy of Greek Sculpture to the beginning of the Hellenistic Period (PhD. Thesis New York 1947) 273–4Google Scholar; for a recent survey of studies relating to technical aspects of painting marble, see Graeve, v. and Preusser, v. in JDAI 96 (1981) 120156.Google Scholar

page 183 note 3 Born in Cologne he moved to Paris as a student in 1810. There he came under the influence of the permanent secretary of the Academie des Beaux Arts, Quatremère de Quincy, who had published in 1814–16 his Jupiter Olympien, which contained the author's theory of the polychromy of classical Greek sculpture. This relied a good deal upon the textual evidence of the ancient authors, while Hittorff's contribution was based on a sounder empirical knowledge acquired during an expedition to Sicily in 1823–4. For a summary of this journey and the complex history of the publications engendered by it see Schneider, D.D., The Works and Doctrine of Jacques Ignace Hittorff (1792–1867) [PhD. Diss. Princeton University October 1970]Google Scholar, Garland Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts (New York and London 1977) 117–229.

page 183 note 4 M.-C. Hellmann, P. Fraisse, ‘Architecture grècque et envois de Rome: historique et tendance’, op. cit. (n.2) 33. The rule was changed on 15 February 1845 and this was followed swiftly by the formation in Athens of a Societé des Beaux Arts and in the following year by the foundation of the French School in Athens.

page 184 note 5 Paccard's Mémoire explicatif is reproduced in op.cit. (n.2), 351–368. His remarks upon an ‘enduit de cire’ occur on p. 366. The reference to Vitruvius is VII.9.3, where he writes of a protective layer of punic wax being applied to wall-painting. The term may also be applied to a process of waxing or oiling sculpture, see Blümner, H., Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Künste bei Griechern und Römern 3 (Leipzig 1884) 201.Google Scholar

page 184 note 6 Revue Archéologique 8 (1851) 94–5.

page 184 note 7 Dodwell, E., A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece I (London 1819) 344Google Scholar; for 18th and 19th century sensitivity to ‘The Beauty of Patina' see Lowenthal, D., The Past is a Foreign Country (Cambridge 1985) pp. 155 ff.Google Scholar

page 184 note 8 Semper, G., Vorläufige Bemerkungen über bemälte Architektur und Plastik bei den Alten (Altona 1834)Google Scholar, revised and enlarged as Die Anwendung der Farben in der Architektur und Plastik in einer Sammlung von Beispielen aus der Zeit des Alterums und des Mittelalters (Dresden 1836). Semper was attacked for his daring restorations by F. Kugler, Raoul-Rochette and M. Wiegmann who argued that the patination of the marble was the product of natural oxidisation. The whole debate is chronicled by Hittorff, J. I. in his Restitution du Temple d'Empédocle à Selinonte ou l'Architecture Polychrôme chez Les Grecs (Paris 1851) espec. p. 152.Google Scholar See also Billot, op.cit. (n. 2). 92–93.

page 184 note 9 Trustees' Original Papers 25, 12 October 1836. Billot op.cit. (n.2) 77–8 expresses surprise that there had not been earlier interest in the question of paint on the Parthenon Sculptures.

page 185 note 10 RIBA Transactions 1st series. 5.1. (1835–6) 73–99.

page 185 note 11 Sir Richard Westmacott (1775–1856) sculptor; professor of sculpture at Royal Academy, 1825–55; responsible from c.1816 for the arrangement of the British Museum sculpture galleries.

Charles Eastlake (1793–1865) painter and president of Royal Academy 1850–1865.

Michael Faraday (1791–1867) renowned as the discoverer of magneto-electricity.

Samuel Angell (1800–1866) architect; 1821–23 travelled to Italy with William Harris and discovered the sculptured metopes among the ruins of the early Greek temples at Selinus in Sicily.

Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795–1885) virtual founder of the RIBA; professor of architecture at University College London for twenty years from 1842.

John Joseph Scoles (1798–1863) architect; left England with Joseph Bonomi in 1822 and travelled through Sicily, Greece, Egypt and Syria.

Sources: Dictionary of National Biography s.v.; Colvin, H., A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840 (London 1978) s.v.Google Scholar

page 185 note 12 Donaldson, T.L., RIBA Transactions 1st series 5.2 (18371842) 100108;Google Scholar MS. SP. 10. Papers Read 1835–1849).

page 185 note 13 Pietro Angelo Sarti, returned to Italy in 1837 giving up his cast-making business after completing the moulding of the Parthenon Sculptures for the second time.

page 186 note 14 Donaldson, op. cit. (n. 12) 104; cf. Michaelis, A., Der Parthenon (Leipzig 1871) 125.Google Scholar

page 186 note 15 Charles Holte Bracebridge of Atherstone Hall, Warwickshire, resident in Athens at this time.

page 186 note 16 Donaldson, op. cit. (n. 12) 106.

page 186 note 17 Cf. Jenkins, I., ‘G.F. Watts' Teachers: G.F. Watts and the Elgin Marbles’, Apollo 120 (1984) 178, and notes 17–20.Google Scholar

page 186 note 18 RIBA Ms. Sp. 10. no. 19f.

page 186 note 19 Donaldson, op. cit. (n. 12) 107.

page 187 note 20 Donaldson, T.L., Proceedings of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1st Series (18511852) marked No. 3 AH, pp. 15Google Scholar; with the two discussion papers that follow: AH(2) 1–8; AH(3) 1–10.

page 187 note 21 Op. cit. (n.20), AH(2)5.

page 187 note 22 Ibid. Penrose went on to consider two ancient literary passages, one in Vitruvius (VII 7.1.), the other in Pliny's Natural History (XXXVI, 55, 177.) The first is a reference to the use of Attic ochre from the silver mines at Laurium as a colouring agent; the second to the use of plaster ‘worked with milk and saffron’.

Cf. Penrose, , Principles of Athenian Architecture (2nd ed. 1888) 55.Google Scholar

page 187 note 23 Op. cit. (n.20) AH(3) 2.

page 187 note 24 Ibid. 8–9.

page 188 note 25 See references collected by Forbes, R.J., Studies in Ancient Technology vol. 3. (Leiden 1955) 251 n. 61.Google Scholar

page 188 note 26 Although it was certainly visible at the beginning of this century, see Smith, A.H., The Sculptures of the Parthenon (London 1912) 10, fig. 18.Google Scholar

page 188 note 27 As recently as 1 January, 1970 a Scientific Report on the Analysis of Surface Deposits on Marble from the Acropolis in Athens carried out by the British Museum Research Laboratory, concluded that the surface colour of the Elgin Marbles ‘develops by traces of iron in the marble gradually migrating to the surface, where they are oxidised’.

page 190 note 28 Cf. Brommer, F., Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel (Mainz 1963) 8, pl. 31.4.Google Scholar Brommer does not remark upon the ‘paint’.

page 191 note 29 Brian Cook has suggested to me that the block comes from the top course (epikranitis) of, probably, the south wall of the inner building. The painted decoration is reproduced in a line drawing in Donaldson op. cit. (n.12). For a more recent reproduction of the coloured plate in the RIBA report see Stern, E.M., Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 100 (1985) pl. 96.Google Scholar The maeander decoration featured in this drawing is not visible on the block itself but has been interpolated from the piece of string course from over the Parthenon frieze, thought then to come from the Propylaea, BM Cat. Sculpture 358. (Cf. Penrose's colour restoration in Principles of Athenian Architecture pl. 23). For a coloured restoration of the equivalent moulding in the elevation of the W. Portico of the Propylaea see Penrose pl. 24.

page 191 note 30 Cap of the second column from the south, of the east portico: Dinsmoor, W.B., AJA 14 (1910) 145.Google Scholar It joins with a fragment in Athens.

page 193 note 31 (i) The northernmost block of the epistyle, cf. Paton, J.M., The Erechtheum (Cambridge Massachusetts 1927) 23.Google Scholar

(ii) From the N.E. Angle of the porch.

(iii) Elgin acquired three blocks of the epikranitis assigned by Paton (45, n.4) to the south wall.

page 194 note 32 Jeppesen, K. and Luttrell, A., The Mausolleion at Halikamassos, Vol. 2, part II (Jutland Archaeological Society 1985) 204–8.Google Scholar

page 195 note 33 Luttrell, op. cit. (n.32) 205.

page 195 note 34 Luttrell, op. cit. (n.32) 206.

page 195 note 35 1006, 1007 and 1019 were reported as being on the external wall by a number of travellers and shown as being arranged around a crusader shield in a drawing reproduced in Allan, J.H., A Pictorial Tour in the Mediterranean (London 1843) 38–9.Google Scholar To the pictorial testimony of Allan, who was not admitted inside the castle, may now be added that of R. Dadd who visited Budrum in October 1842 in the company of Sir. Thos. Phillips: Like Allan, Dadd and his party were refused access to the interior of the Castle and the artist contented himself with sailing round the walls and drawing four sculptures visible from the seaward side. These, we now know, included those drawn by Allan, but also the slab of the Centaur frieze (BM Sc. 1032). Dadd's drawings were later copied by W.B. Devereaux and published, together with Devereaux's own drawings of the sculptures from the interior of the Castle, in his Views of the Shores of the Mediterranean (London 1847). The Devereaux copies of the Dadd drawings were sold at Sotheby's 14 July, 1987, Lot 7. Each bears the initials W.D., but the all important signature ‘Richd. Dadd 1842’, is also copied on the drawings. In the eventual publication of these drawings Devereaux omitted this vital piece of information and did not acknowledge his debt to the original artist.

page 195 note 36 The weathering of 1032 is also distinctive, if not the same as the other sculptures from the seaward side. This would indicate that it came from a different place on the sea-wall as is indicated by a manuscript note on Devereaux's copy of the Dadd drawing:

page 196 note 37 Luttrell op. cit. (n. 32) 207.

page 196 note 38 Newton's discovery of the Mausoleum sculptures with paint still visible on them precipitated a row between himself and Richard Westmacott the younger, who refused to accept that Greek sculpture of this late period was painted – see, Jenkins, op. cit. (n.17) 181, n.41. In a letter from Budrum dated 25 July 1857 (Museum Archives Original Papers 58) Newton urged the Trustees of the Museum not to allow any of the newly discovered sculptures to be cast until ‘they have been carefully examined to see whether there are any traces of colour’. The letter goes on to add that the Canning marbles were ‘injured by stains of oil improperly used instead of soap to make the moulds deliver.…’. For a discussion of the possible implications of this see Middleton, below.

page 197 note 39 It is curious that the red should occur in such diverse places as the limbs of the combatants, their drapery and accoutrements, as well as on the background. For while we might expect it to occur either on the figures or on the background, extensive use on both would seem to cancel out any contrast between the two. We may wonder with some nineteenth-century commentators, whether the appearance of red on sculpture might not indicate the use of gilding. A base-coat or bole of red colour is a standard device in the art of gilding, and the red we see today may not have been intended as the final colour. Cf. Kugler, op. cit. (n. 10) 96.

page 197 note 40 An alternative explanation would be that the orange-brown coatings, as we see them, are the product of some microbiological activity on a previous artificial surface, see M. Franzini and C. Gratziu, Bolletino d'Arte Suppl. to no. 35–36 – Atti del Convegno di Studi, Roma 25–27 Oct. 1984 (2 vols) Vol. I, 18.

page 198 note 41 Orlandos, A.K., The Architecture of the Parthenon Vol. II (Athens 1977) 194–5.Google Scholar It is important to make a distinction between the orange-brown, sometimes opaque surfaces and the dense creamish areas to which Orlandos draws our attention on the columns of the west front of the Parthenon, where a number of Byzantine (and later) inscriptions are to be found. This creamish surface, which has the appearance of a thin layer of mortar or of a lime-wash, is similar to the coating from the Propylaea in the British Museum. These denser coatings I would suggest are lime-washes applied to the surface in Roman or even post-classical times, when the marble had lost its original pristine finish. Cf. Orlandos, , Les Materieux de Construction et la Technique Architecturale des Anciens Grecs Part 1 (Paris 1966) 145.Google Scholar

page 198 note 42 Korres, M. and Bouras, Ch., Melete Apokatastaseos tou Parthenonos (Athens 1983) 42.Google Scholar

page 198 note 43 Koch, H., Studien zum Theseus Tempel in Athen (Berlin 1955) 107.Google Scholar Weygand also suggested the possibility of a weather-shield.

page 198 note 44 Collignon, M., Le Parthénon (Paris 1914) 115.Google Scholar

page 198 note 45 Semper op. cit. (n.8).

page 198 note 46 Tétaz, op. cit. (n.6) 95.

page 198 note 47 Cf. Balanos, N., Les Monuments de L'Acropole, Relèvement et Conservation (1938) 52Google Scholar: ‘Un examen de la patine rougeâtre exécuté sur ma demande par le professeur de chimie Zenguelis, de L'Académie d'Athènes, a établi que cette patine est un oxyde de silicate qui devait servir d'engobe destiné à recevoir la peinture définitive. Ces constatations nous ont guidé dans notre travail pour la préparation du marbre et pour sa mise en place’.

page 198 note 48 Weygand apud Koch, op. cit. (n.43) 107.

page 198 note 49 Homolle, , Bulletin de Correspondence Hellénique 14 (1890) 496499.Google Scholar Cf. Durrbach, F., Inscriptions de Délos (Paris 1926)Google Scholar no. 290. 80. For St Lenika, see Bousquet, J.Bulletin de Correspondence Hellénique 62 (1936) 390–1.Google Scholar

page 199 note 50 Martin, R., Manuel d'Architecture Grecque I (Paris 1965) 431.Google Scholar

page 199 note 51 Orlandos, loc.cit. (n.41); Cf. ibid. III, 643–4. Tétaz, op. cit. (n.46) 95 remarks that ‘le ton jaune des stucs qui recouvraient les mêmes parties dans les temples de pierre de la Sicile, indique bien que ce besoin avait été senti, en même temps que celui de ne pas offenser les yeux par de grandes masses blanches dont la vue est insoutenable sans la lumière brillante d'un bleu ciel’.

page 199 note 52 Pliny, , Natural History XXXV. 97.Google Scholar (Loeb Transl.). The significance of this passage was discussed in detail by E.H. Gombrich in the context of the controversy in the early 1960s over the cleaning of the paintings in the National Gallery – ‘Dark Varnishes: Variations on a Theme from Pliny’, The Burlington Magazine 104 (1962) 51–5. See also ‘Controversial Methods and Methods of Controversy’, Ibid. 105 (1963) 90–97. Both volumes of The Burlington Magazine contain a number of articles, from scientists and scholars on both sides of the debate, which provide a wealth of information on the history of the use of varnishes and glazes not only for paintings but also for bronze and stone sculpture and for precious materials such as gold and silver. See espec. Plesters in Vol. 105.

page 199 note 53 Paton op. cit. (note 31) 479.

page 200 note 54 For a modern instance of varnishing Hymettan marble, see the government building in Odos Lysikratou in the Plaka district of Athens. I am grateful to P. Mead for pointing this out to me.

page 200 note 55 See especially Guidobaldi, F.et al., Bolletino d'Arte 24 (1984) 120Google Scholar, and discussion of this and the other scientific literature on the Italian monuments by Middleton below.

page 200 note 56 See Middleton, below n.26.

page 200 note 57 The coatings on the sculptures now in the collections of the British Museum have been examined (macroscopically) by a specialist in lichen studies. Dr O.W. Purvis of the Department of Botany at the British Museum (Natural History). He considers it unlikely that the extensive orange-brown accretions are the result of the activity of lichens.

page 200 note 58 Experiments are already being conducted at the Hadrianeum in Rome, in an attempt to recreate the ancient wash. For the conservation of this building in general see Alessandri, A. and Alessandri, M.P., Bollettino d'Arte 35–6 (1986) 191196.Google Scholar

page 201 note 1 Donaldson, T.L., RIBA Transactions 1st series 5.2 (18371842) 100108Google Scholar; MS. SP. 10 Papers Read 1835–1849.

page 201 note 2 Donaldson op. cit. (n.1) 106.

page 201 note 3 Donaldson op. cit. (n.1) 106–107.

page 201 note 4 Rangabé, A.R., Antiquites Helléniques (Athens 1842) 6364.Google Scholar

page 201 note 5 The use of copper-containing compounds to produce blue pigments is well known, but this identification of titaniferous copper oxide, rather than the more usual copper-bearing glass/frit or copper carbonate identified by Faraday, is rather puzzling.

page 201 note 6 Liebig, J., Annal. d. Chemie und Pharm. LXXXVI (1853) 113115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 202 note 7 See Mandarino, J.A., Canadian Mineralogist 21 (1983) 509511.Google Scholar

page 202 note 8 Frondel, C., American Mineralogist 47 (1962) 786.Google Scholar

page 202 note 9 See Palache, C., Berman, H. and Frondel, C., The System of Mineralogy 7th edition Volume II (New York 1951) 1099Google Scholar and Frondel op. cit. (n.8) 786.

page 202 note 10 Koch, H., Studien zum Theseus Tempel in Athens (Berlin 1955) 106107.Google Scholar

page 202 note 11 Vitruvius, On Architecture VII. 7.1. (Loeb Transl.).

page 202 note 12 Vitruvius, On Architecture VII. 14.[sl. (Loeb Transl.).

page 202 note 13 Pliny, Natural History XXXVI.55.177. (Loeb Transl.).

page 202 note 14 Pliny, Natural History XXXIII.40.121. (Loeb Transl.).

page 203 note 15 British Museum Archives Original Papers 58. Letter from C. Newton dated 25th July 1857.

page 203 note 16 Personal communication from Raymond White.

page 204 note 17 See for instance Caley, E.R. and Richards, J.F.C., Theophrastus on stones (Columbus, Ohio 1956) 187191Google Scholar; Nriagu, J.O., Lead and lead poisoning in antiquity (New York 1983) 294299Google Scholar; Davy, H., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society CV (1815) 118Google Scholar; also references given by Forbes, R.J., Studies in Ancient Technology Vol. 3, (Leiden 1955) 251 n.61.Google Scholar

page 205 note 18 See Petushkova, J.P. and Lyalikova, N.N., Studies in Conservation 31 (1986) 6569.Google Scholar

page 205 note 19 Gault, C.D., Mineralogical Magazine 50 (1986) 738739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 205 note 20 See Mandarino, op. cit. (n.7) 509–510 and Purvis, O.W., Lichenologist 16 (1984) 197204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 205 note 21 See for example M.F. Fry, Stone Industries 20 (1985) 22–25 and Taylor, J.M., Myers, R.M. and Wainwright, I.N.M., Preprints of Stockholm I.I.C. Congress on Conservation in Archaeology (London 1975) 8789Google Scholar; in both these articles the occurrence (and deleterious effects) of lichens on stone surfaces are reported, although no reference is made to the occurrence of oxalate minerals.

page 205 note 22 See Cook, R. and Martin, G., Recent advances in the Conservation and analysis of artifacts (London 1987) 359363Google Scholar; in this paper evidence is presented for the growth of algae on sculptural marble surfaces, leading to the formation ol patinas; the possibility of the formation of oxalate minerals is not discussed in this paper but the formation of oxalates in response to the growth of microorganisms including green algae, fungi and bacteria has been reported; see del Monte et. al., op. cit. (n.26) 38 for references.

page 205 note 23 See Guidobaldi et.al. op. cit. (n.27) 193.

page 205 note 24 Fassina, V., Lazzarini, L. and Biscontin, G., Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Deterioration of Building Stones (Athens 1976) 210Google Scholar; L. Lazzarini and R. Begolli, ibid. 255.

page 205 note 25 See discussion of Fassina et.al. op. cit. (n.24) 211 and of Lazzarini and Begolli op. cit. (n.24) 256; see also Lazzarini, L. and Fassina, V., Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress on Deterioration and Preservation of Stones (Padua 1982) 656.Google Scholar

page 206 note 26 del Monte, M. and Sabbioni, C., Studies in Conservation 32 (1987) 114121CrossRefGoogle Scholar; del Monte, M., Sabbioni, C. and Zappia, G., The Science of the Total Environment 67 (1987) 1739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 206 note 27 Guidobaldi, F., Meucci, C. and Tabbasso Laurenzi, M., Proceedings of the 4th International Congress on Deterioration and Preservation of Stones (Louisville 1982) 191194.Google Scholar See also Guidobaldi, F., Laurenzi Tabasso, M. and Meucci, C., Bollettino d'Arte 24 (1984) 129.Google Scholar

page 206 note 28 Alessandrini, G., Bugini, R., Negrotti, R. and Peruzzi, R., Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on Deterioration and Preservation of Stone (Lausanne 1985) 855858.Google Scholar

page 206 note 29 Franzini, M., Gratziu, C. and Wicks, E., Rendiconti Societa Italiana di Mineralogia and Petrologia 39 (1984) 5970Google Scholar; M. Franzini and C. Gratziu, Bollettino d'Arte. Supplement. Atti del Convegno, 25–27 October 1984 (2 volumes) 17–21;Gratziu, in Manutenzione e Conservazione del Costruito fra Tradizione e Innovazione (Bressanone 1986) 752763.Google Scholar