Painted Statues

Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University, answers a great question: were those beautiful white marble ancient statues actually painted?

The short answer is ‘yes’. Much of the pure, gleaming white marble
sculpture that we now admire was certainly coloured in some way. The question is
how was it coloured: a delicate wash, or bright, glaring hues?

Another question, though, is what about all the references in the ancient sources to plain white statutes, which are far more prevalent than references to colored statues?

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