Matthew Gurewitsch has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard and an MBA in business from Yale. After serving nearly 10 years as senior editor for Connoisseur, he began a freelance journalism career in 1991 and has written for The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has also written a novel, When Stars Blow Out: A Fable of Fame In Our Time, directed Wagner's Lohengrin for the Maryiinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, and narrated the documentary film Orange Revolution.
What drew you to this story? Can you describe its genesis?
I saw a newspaper article illustrated by an eye-poppingly gaudy ancient Greek tombstone. I then read about an exhibition of colored replicas of ancient statuary and made contact with the archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann, prime mover of the project. What drew me to the piece was the shock of seeing these statues in color—and realizing that this was how the Greeks and Romans expected to see them. Most of us are brought up to think they should be white.
What surprised you the most while covering this story?
Past the initial shock, which made me want to cover the story in the first place, I think the most surprising discovery was that Brinkmann—as committed as he is to correcting long-held misconceptions—still finds colored sculpture difficult to accept on a purely personal level. Probably a lot of viewers who believe in his research have to overcome a similar resistance—but he has been living with these issues longer and is more invested.
What was your favorite moment during your reporting?
There were two: the first meeting with Brinkmann, at the Glyptothek in Munich, to inspect coloration clues on ancient statues that are difficult—or impossible—to detect with the naked eye; and a viewing of the replicas with Brinkmann at Harvard.
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Comments (5)
Did they see colors, like we do today?
Posted by Louise on February 26,2011 | 09:30 AM
When I was planning my master's thesis in ancient Greek art in the mid 1970s, I wanted to investigate colors on ancient statuary, but my thesis advisor insisted that it was much too difficult and problematic and would require knowledge of chemistry, which I lacked. He was probably right. But I've always wondered about the colors, and I'm delighted that someone has finally done this. I think they're spot on!
Posted by joan7 on October 1,2008 | 11:03 PM
Starting in Egypt, it has long been apparent that white marble, sandstone or limestone statuary, capitols, and columns on public buildings initially bore colors and not solely the natural color of the medium. It offends our usual perception of 'classic simplicity' and harmony, but the more elaborate tinting was n fact pretty universally used. We might also react negatively to the fact that most French Romanesque (see Saumur) & Gothic church architecture was also painted with geometric patterns. We don't want to think of it today, but it was a fact that historically we've got to accept to be accurate.
Posted by Edward Connors on July 15,2008 | 11:54 AM
These sculptures are definitely NOT what we generally think of when studying or seeing Greek abtiquities, but they are truly magnificent--particularly Paris (the archer) and Caligula!
Posted by cheryl welch on June 27,2008 | 06:19 AM
Fascinating article which really does help to make these ancient people more "human". It would be interesting to know more about the process of actually determining just which pigments were used and how they were applied.
Posted by Claudia Hackney on June 25,2008 | 09:06 PM