DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2984#0072
ON THE COLOURING OF THE ATHENIAN PROPYL/EA
59
of blue were found on the underside of the divisions between the coffers. The beads on these divisions are
uncut, but had a pearl ornament painted on them.1 On each side of the beads fine lines were cut for the
purpose of defining coloured margins, one of which is the blue just mentioned, the other green. The
profiles of the ovolo of the architrave, and the mouldings of the painted band, are given at the bottom of
the plate, half the real size.
Plate XXV. gives examples of the coffers of the ceiling taken from the different parts of the Propylaea,
also drawn to half the real size.
The coffers represented in Figs, i, 2, 3, and 4 seem to have belonged to the eastern portico. Two
or three slight varieties of pattern are recorded in the two latter examples. Figs. 5 and 6 are from the
western portico.
Plate XXVI. is the capital of the antae of the small order of the Propylaea.
The colouring in this example is taken from the antae supporting the lintel of the window in the
interior of the northern wing, where the colours have been better preserved than in those of the exterior.
The form of the moulding is identical in both. Here the colours have been so well preserved that the
restoration, as far as it goes, is based on very sufficient data.2
There are no traces by incised lines or otherwise of any enrichment on the corona of this capital,
but there is every probability that this, as well as the flat member below the mouldings of the capital,
were not entirely devoid of colour.
The reader's attention may be called to the remarkable forward inclination of the corona, about I of its
height (exceeding, therefore, even the Vitruvian rule—see Chap. IV. p. 38), and to the peculiar form of
the square projections at the neck, well adapted to enhance the light upon a fillet separating bands of
colour, but hard and meagre if executed, as has frequently been done in modern times, in plain stone.
The above remarks are confined almost entirely to the colouring of the interior of the building. The
colours and painted enrichments which have been observed on the exterior architecture, together with the
details represented in Plate XXXI., will be described at the end of the ensuing chapter. Vestiges of
colour were found on the Lycian Marbles now in the British Museum, strictly analogous to the Athenian
examples.
For further information on this subject, see Kiigler's work on the Polychromy of Greek Architecture
and Sculpture. A translation of those parts of Dr. Kiigler's work which have reference to architecture
was communicated by W. R. Hamilton, Esq., to the Institute of British Architects, and was published in
their Transactions in 1839.
1 In a similar part of the coffers of tire ceiling of the Parthenon (see
Plate XV.), and in that of the Erechtheum, the pearl ornament is
sculptured in full relief In the Theseum it is what is called a flush
bead, very slightly sunk; the effect having doubtless been aided by colour.
2 It has been suggested by a high authority in such matters, that the
employment of green, which has been observed on this and several other
places, was unusual among the ancients, and that the colour now seen has
been changed by the atmosphere from original blue; a change to which
some qualities of blue are liable. To this it is mainly to be objected, that
where this conversion seems to have partially taken place, as in the
capital of the autre of the Posticum of the Parthenon, the general mass of
blue is merely spotted and streaked with a questionable green, whereas, in
the example before us, and most of the others where green colour has been
mentioned, the colour is almost as positive as though it had been freshly
painted, and without the slightest indication of blue. It appears also that
in Egyptian architecture, which cannot but have had great influence on
the Greek Doric, green is often found on the coloured ornaments in a
state of preservation which does not admit of doubt. The archaic sculp-
tures mentioned in page 5 exhibit green colour.
59
of blue were found on the underside of the divisions between the coffers. The beads on these divisions are
uncut, but had a pearl ornament painted on them.1 On each side of the beads fine lines were cut for the
purpose of defining coloured margins, one of which is the blue just mentioned, the other green. The
profiles of the ovolo of the architrave, and the mouldings of the painted band, are given at the bottom of
the plate, half the real size.
Plate XXV. gives examples of the coffers of the ceiling taken from the different parts of the Propylaea,
also drawn to half the real size.
The coffers represented in Figs, i, 2, 3, and 4 seem to have belonged to the eastern portico. Two
or three slight varieties of pattern are recorded in the two latter examples. Figs. 5 and 6 are from the
western portico.
Plate XXVI. is the capital of the antae of the small order of the Propylaea.
The colouring in this example is taken from the antae supporting the lintel of the window in the
interior of the northern wing, where the colours have been better preserved than in those of the exterior.
The form of the moulding is identical in both. Here the colours have been so well preserved that the
restoration, as far as it goes, is based on very sufficient data.2
There are no traces by incised lines or otherwise of any enrichment on the corona of this capital,
but there is every probability that this, as well as the flat member below the mouldings of the capital,
were not entirely devoid of colour.
The reader's attention may be called to the remarkable forward inclination of the corona, about I of its
height (exceeding, therefore, even the Vitruvian rule—see Chap. IV. p. 38), and to the peculiar form of
the square projections at the neck, well adapted to enhance the light upon a fillet separating bands of
colour, but hard and meagre if executed, as has frequently been done in modern times, in plain stone.
The above remarks are confined almost entirely to the colouring of the interior of the building. The
colours and painted enrichments which have been observed on the exterior architecture, together with the
details represented in Plate XXXI., will be described at the end of the ensuing chapter. Vestiges of
colour were found on the Lycian Marbles now in the British Museum, strictly analogous to the Athenian
examples.
For further information on this subject, see Kiigler's work on the Polychromy of Greek Architecture
and Sculpture. A translation of those parts of Dr. Kiigler's work which have reference to architecture
was communicated by W. R. Hamilton, Esq., to the Institute of British Architects, and was published in
their Transactions in 1839.
1 In a similar part of the coffers of tire ceiling of the Parthenon (see
Plate XV.), and in that of the Erechtheum, the pearl ornament is
sculptured in full relief In the Theseum it is what is called a flush
bead, very slightly sunk; the effect having doubtless been aided by colour.
2 It has been suggested by a high authority in such matters, that the
employment of green, which has been observed on this and several other
places, was unusual among the ancients, and that the colour now seen has
been changed by the atmosphere from original blue; a change to which
some qualities of blue are liable. To this it is mainly to be objected, that
where this conversion seems to have partially taken place, as in the
capital of the autre of the Posticum of the Parthenon, the general mass of
blue is merely spotted and streaked with a questionable green, whereas, in
the example before us, and most of the others where green colour has been
mentioned, the colour is almost as positive as though it had been freshly
painted, and without the slightest indication of blue. It appears also that
in Egyptian architecture, which cannot but have had great influence on
the Greek Doric, green is often found on the coloured ornaments in a
state of preservation which does not admit of doubt. The archaic sculp-
tures mentioned in page 5 exhibit green colour.