Tracking Colour - the polychromy of Greek and Roman sculpture

 [First posted in AWOL 2 June 2013, updated 19 June 2017]

Tracking Colour: Polychromy of the Ancient World

The purpose of this website is to develop a broader public awareness of polychromy studies. By using this online service you will be able to gain knowledge of the current research on polychromy at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. It is a resource dedicated to research on the use of colour on sculptures and buildings in the ancient Mediterranean world.

On this website you will find an introduction to the field. It also provides information on the history of polychromy scholarship and updated information on current research. The user has access to a database of literature on ancient polychromy and of monuments known to have traces of their original colouring.

Read more here: About

• Objects
• Bibliography

• ABOUT
• PUBLICATIONS
• FILM

Posters

Babylonian blues: Studying the blue and turquoise-green glazes of the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way
Authors: Signe Skriver Hedegaard, Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Alexandra Rodler and Cecilie Brøns
Keywords: Ancient glazes, polarised light microscopy, elemental and structural analyses
Venue: ISA 2016, Kalamata
Non-invasive investigation of a 26th Dynasty painted fragment from the Palace of Apries in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Authors: Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Maria Louise Sargent and Rikke Therkildsen
Venue: ASOR 2014, San Diego
Chemical analyses proving the use of lead in a 26th Dynasty painted fragment from the Palace of Apries in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Authors: Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Jan Stubbe Østergaard, Cecilie Brøns, Signe Skriver Hedegaard and Maria Louise Sargent
Venue: TECHNART 2015
Visible-induced luminescence (VIL) Digital imaging in research on sculptural polychromy:A 2nd century CE marble amazon in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Authors: Marie Louise Sargent, Mikkel Scharff, Rikke Therkildsen and Jan Stubbe Østergaard
Venue: 2010
Paleoproteomics and Polychromy: The identification of peptides from paint binders from the Palace of Apries, Egypt
Authors: Luise Ørsted Brandt, Cecilie Brøns, Jesper V. Olsen and Enrico Capellini
Keywords: Proteomics, ancient polychromy, paint binders, collagen, ancient art
Venue: ISBA 2016, Oxford

Preliminary reports

Preliminary report 1 (2009)
Preliminary report 2 (2010)
Preliminary report 3 (2011)
Preliminary report 4 (2012)
Preliminary report 5 (2013)