Pigments...

We went to see an exhibition of 20 Greek and Roman painted sculptures from antiquity today.  Whilst we think of most sculptures being white marble they were in fact highly decorated using the pigments seen above.  Personally I rather like them white but the residues of colour have been found on the originals statues so this showed us what they would have looked like.. extraordinary!!!  Most of the pigments in my picture were made from coloured rock but I never knew that Madder was from the root of the Rubia plant and made those absolutely gorgeous reds.  The pigments were mixed with egg white or casein before being applied to the statues.  

Going to see Woman in Gold tonight.. really looking forward to it