Events & Calendars "Mimesis and More: The Polychromy of Greek and Roman Marble Portraits" -- Talk by Mark Abbe

Mark Abbe of the University of Georgia will discuss "Mimesis and More: The Polychromy of Greek and Roman Marble Portraits."

Today the “realism” of the white marble portraits that survive from Greek and Roman antiquity is frequently associated with their highly detailed physiognomy and apparent specificity, which suggest a relationship to an individual subject. In antiquity, of course, the engaging and often arresting appearance of these sculpted images was defined in so small part by their nuanced lifelike painting and rich polychrome detailing. Although now most of the painting and other forms of polychromy that defined these images in antiquity is lost to us, detailed examination increasingly allows us to glimpse vestiges of ancient polychromy and thereby how the visual language of portraits was defined not by form alone, but in combination styles of coloration varying from lifelike naturalism to sumptuous radiance. This talk presents case studies of marble portraits-- royal, imperial and private --with extant polychromy that, upon close examination, elucidate the definition and meanings of their subjects in antiquity.