ANCIENT LITERARY SOURCES ON PAINTED STATUES

Afonasina A. S.

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The Greeks painted their statues. This fact is not readily accepted even by specialists, as some mistaken translations and misinterpretations of the ancient sources amply testify. In the paper I analyze the most famous ancient testimonies and suggest, in some cases, their correct Russian translations. Thus, andrianta graphonta (Plato, Rep. 420 c 4) must be understood as an indication of painting of a statue, rather than a picture; equally well, circumlitio in Seneca (Letter LXXXVI) is related to a colorful painting, not waxing as some authors still think, etc. Ancient techniques of painting are finally illustrated by an outstanding example: a reconstruction of the funeral statue of a beautiful girl, called Phrasikleia (Athenian National Museum; Brinkmann et al. 2010).

Keywords: ancient aesthetics, scientific reconstruction of art objects, painting, colors, Greek statues, Euripides, Plato, Pliny, Seneca, Quintilian, Plutarch

References:

Brinkmann 2003 – Brinkmann V. Die Polychromie der archaischen und frühklassischen Skulptur. Mit einem Beitrag von Oliver Primavesi. München, 2003.

Brinkmann et al. 2010 – Brinkmann V., Koch-Brinkmann U., Piening H. Das Grabmal der Phrasikleia. In: Brinkmann V., Scholl A., hrsgs. Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Berlin, 2010. S. 76–83.

Brinkmann, Scholl 2010 – Brinkmann V., Scholl A., hrsgs. Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Berlin, 2010.

Gummere 1917 – Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Moral Epistles. In 3 vols. Transl. by R.M. Gummere. The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1917–1925.

Kakoulli 2009 – Kakoulli I. Greek Painting Techniques and Materials from the Fourth to the First Century B. C. London, 2009.

Koch 2000 – Koch Nadia J. Techne und Erfindung in der Klassischen Malerei. München, 2000.

Osherov 1977 – Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Epistulae morales ad Lucilium. Ed. by S.A. Osherov. Translation into Russian. Moscow, 1977.

Primavesi 2010 – Primavesi O. Antike Dichter und Philosophen über die Farbigkeit der Skulptur. In: Brinkmann V., Scholl A., hrsgs. Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Berlin, 2010. S. 28–39.

Schopenhauer 2001 – Schopenhauer A. Works. In 6 volumes. Vol. 6. Translation into Russian. Moscow, 2001.

Shorey 1969 – Plato in Twelve volumes. Transl. by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969. Vols. 5 & 6.

Taronyan 1994 – Pliny the Elder. Natural science. About art. Translation into Russian by G.A. Taronyan. Moscow, 1994.

Wünsche 2011 – Wünsche R. Kampf um Troja. 200 Jahre Ägineten in München. München: Kunstverlag Josef Fink, 2011.

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Issue: 1, 2014

Series of issue: Issue 1

Rubric: ARTICLES

Pages: 31 — 40

Downloads: 1300