Colors of statues of Greece and ancient Rome are revealed in their splendor

You may have seen thousands of images of statues from Greece and ancient Rome - or perhaps even lucky enough to see them closely in a museum - carved in marble and with that unmistakable style of their own, right? However, those who admire them today, all white, do not imagine that, in fact, these statues were originally super-colored!

According to archaeologists - especially German Vinzenz Brinkmann, who specializes in color reconstruction techniques - artists of the time used organic and mineral materials to color their sculptures. However, after centuries of deterioration and countless cleaning processes, any trace of the original colors of these works has been erased.

Illuminating the past

Through techniques based on X-ray spectroscopy and the application of ultraviolet light at a given angle, it is possible to detect imperfections, the presence of dirt particles, identify patterns and even surface brush strokes. In addition, this type of illumination also makes some elements present in the original pigments visible, which emit certain wavelengths depending on their composition.

And it is from this "revelation" that archaeologists begin their research to identify the original shades present on the surfaces of the works and start the restoration work. Thus, it was based on these techniques that experts created replicas of some famous antiquity sculptures, bringing back to life the colors they presented when they were created many, many centuries ago.

Some people think that the discolored statues are more beautiful, calling “tacky” all the shades used by the ancient artists. Check out a selection of these amazing color replicas below - some alongside the images used for reconstruction research - and tell us in the comments which version you prefer, with or without color:

Young athlete, 1st century