Date of Award

Spring 4-2025

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Classics, Philosophy, and Religion

Department Chair or Program Director

Julia DeLancey

First Advisor

Angela Pitts

Major or Concentration

Classics

Abstract

This thesis paper will discuss various questions relating to pre-Greco-Roman Ancient Greek paint pigments. In recent years discoveries of paint samples on Ancient Greek sculptures and architecture are becoming increasingly common, contradicting the stereotype that history has made of Ancient Greece having a pristine white aesthetic in their artwork. (Brinkmann, 2008) The various paint pigments that can be found throughout excavations in Greece, as well as the general history of pigments, create a new narrative when it comes to the art of Ancient Greece. Using various evidence such as pigment samples, artworks, textual primary sources, and scholarly research, this thesis will examine the history of paint and pigments commonly used throughout Ancient Greek Civilization and the manner in which they were produced. This thesis’s purpose would be to bring that history together to exclusively discuss the paint pigments found in Ancient Greece. Additionally, this thesis explains the incorrect modern conceptions of Ancient Greek art relating to its coloring. First, the priority is to find what pigments were used in pre-Roman Greece altogether and make a comprehensible list of them in chronological order. Then look at how the pigments were made and how they were used. This leads to the final question of why Ancient Greek statues are now thought to be white despite the evidence that this stereotype is not true.

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