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The original colors of ancient Greek and Roman statues unveiled by technology. What's the Latin root for "gaudy?"

By Rain Noe - August 27, 2010

in Object Culture

There were cries of protest from purists when the technology was developed to colorize old black-and-white movies; one of the companies doing it generated plenty of bad press for colorizing an old Sinatra flick--and rendering his eyes brown. (Does the nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes" mean anything?)

We wonder if there will be similar outcry now that technology has been developed that can colorize ancient Greek and Roman statues. The difference here is that the colors are not being arbitrarily added--a combination of ultraviolet, infrared and X-ray spectroscopy can apparently divine the approximate hues these statues were painted in. And folks, it ain't always pretty:

Good gosh, Caesar Augustus' breastplate looks like a freaking five-year-old's birthday cake! And who knew the guy was ginger. io9's got the full story here.

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Panos V.

14 years ago

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Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that this thing is finally surfacing, but this was actually news like 7 years ago. The Musei Vaticani in Rome had an exhibition called "I colori del bianco" (The colours of white) back in 2004, from which the pictures you see. I guess it was a pretty slow summer for io9.
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David

14 years ago

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They found that this technique was used when the sculptures were created. the paint wore off...obviously. they aren't doing as a new technique its a new discovery.

http://io9.com/5616498/ultraviolet-light-reveals-how-ancient-greek-statues-really-looked
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Xandy

14 years ago

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The word gaudy is derived from the Latin word GAUDERE which means to be joyful or to take pleasure in. It is thought that the the word crossed over into English as the noun GAUD, a highly ornamented object or a joyfully garish trinket. The current definition still hints at the original Latin - ask yourself which Augustus would be more fun at a party.
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Jan

14 years ago

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There's currently an exhibition in Berlin's Pergamon Museum on this that's still on until October: http://www.smb.museum/smb/kalender/details.php?lang=en&objID=25036&typeId=10

Gaudy but interesting.
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Wesley

14 years ago

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Correct me if I'm wrong, and I probably misunderstood the column, but hasn't this been done to this sculpture already? Like years ago?
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