#Simone Pomardi

[whereiswhatitwas]

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

Ode on a Grecian Urn, J. Keats, copied by G. Keats, 1820 Fortificazioni nella Tempe, Pomardi, 1820 Et in Arcadia ego, Poussin, 1637-1638

[elizabethanism]

The island is all eyes.

The silence ponders, notes, and codifies.

We discover only what we set out to find.

— Lawrence Durrell

Simone Pomardi, Veduta generale di Corfú (1820)

[sp-arqtec]

Simone Pomardi (Monte Porzio Catone 1760-1830 Rome)

A view of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis, Athens, seen from the West

[eastofthesun77]

Removal of Sculptures from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin’s Men (1805), Edward Dodwell and/or Simone Pomardi

The Packard Humanities Institute, Los Altos, California, USA

[dead-molchun]

Simone Pomardi (1760-1830) Cascades À Tivoli 1821 (680 x 520 mm).

[stranger-nights-ahead]

At the same time as these statues were being built, they were painting amazing things like these paintings found in Pompeii

In fact, even their MOSAICS used careful shading and fine details, which is a difficult task when using tiny pieces of ceramic

The idea that they would forget all that for statues specifically is strange and seems to have been created entirely by English antiquarian Edward Dodwell and the Italian artist Simone Pomardi. They have a traveling exhibit called "Gods in Color" where they show off these recreations that they've painted in flat and garish colors.

There's more to the story, but in summary, we started out thinking they were bleached white because of a single (very racist) scholar, and we now apparently think they were painted like circus clowns because of two scholars who apparently wouldn't recognize shading if it bit them in the ass.

ok but why do all greek statues look like they’re wearing bad wigs

[loumargi]

Edward Dodwell and Simone Pomardi Capuchin Monastery and Garden in Athens

[eidiseis-news]

Ταξίδι στην Ελλάδα του 18ου αιώνα με Simone Pomardi και Du Moncel στην επερχόμενη δημοπρασία της Vergos Auctions

Ταξίδι στην Ελλάδα του 18ου αιώνα με Simone Pomardi και Du Moncel στην επερχόμενη δημοπρασία της Vergos Auctions

Με αίσθημα ευθύνης και αισιοδοξία για το μέλλον, η Vergos Auctions ανανεώνει το ραντεβού της με το βιβλιόφιλο και φιλότεχνο κοινό, μέσω της καθιερωμένης πλέον δημοπρασίας “Σπάνιων Βιβλίων, Χειρόγραφων και Εγγράφων – Νεοελληνικής Χαρακτικής και Ζωγραφικής” η οποία θα λάβει χώρα 24 και 25 Ιουνίου, στο ξενοδοχείο Athens Plaza και ώρα 6.00 μμ, τη��ώντας όλα τα απαιτούμενα μέτρα ασφαλείας για τη…

[digital-arts-etc]

Gods in Color

Renaissance artists who emulated rediscovered antiquities established white marble sculpture as the ideal artform. Examples from the Museums’ collection by Benvenuto Cellini, Antonio Canova, and Aristide Maillol will reveal how white marble and monochrome metals in classical art and architecture continued to be greatly admired into the Renaissance and neoclassical period. In the 18th century, ancient Greek sculpture was regarded as the ultimate expression of what the influential German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann called “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.”

The idealization of classical art continued into the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Greek and Roman sculpture were considered essential to museum collections. When real antiquities were not available, plaster casts were created and became highly valued copies that fascinated visitors and served as cornerstones of the curricula for the teaching of art, architecture, and the history of art. Casts of antique sculptures given to the de Young by the Greek government after the close of both the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 will also be on view and confirm the prevelance of these reproductions.

The earliest antiquities in the exhibition are Cycladic figures in FAMSF’s collections, which date back to the third millennium BC. When first discovered in the early 20th century, these highly stylized marble statuettes, by then pristine and gleaming, were a source of inspiration for artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso, and Hans Arp, who found the streamlined forms emotionally stirring. By using raking light and other techniques on the Cycladic figures, details such as shallow reliefs, raised lines, and paint ghosts have been revealed, which indicate where blue paint was originally used for eyes and hair.

The next period represented in the exhibition will be the art of Archaic Greece (600–480 BC), when marble and limestone were the main materials used for sculpture and architecture. The carefully reproduced examples of temple architecture and funerary monuments will reveal how the ancient Greeks richly embellished their sculptures with colorful painting, gilding, silvering, and inlay. A number of statues from the Athenian Acropolis are represented through colorfully painted casts—including two interpretations of the “Peplos Kore” (ca. 520 BC).

The riot of color will continue with reproductions of ancient works including a full-scale reproduction of a portion of the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia (ca. 480 BC) in its original polychromy from the Greek island of Aegina. The architectural elements and sculpture will be joined by amazing reproductions of the bronze warriors from Riace (ca. 460 BC), two life-size bronze male nudes. Although the originals were found underwater, chemical analyses have been able to identify numerous preserved elements of bronze polychromy: lips, eyelashes, and nipples of pure red copper, teeth of silver, and eyes of a variety of colored stones.

The strikingly beautiful "Alexander Sarcophagus" (ca. 320 BC), discovered in 1887 with much of its polychromy still intact, reveals the bright colors used in the Hellenistic Period. The color reproduction, which was painted with the pigments found on the original, will offer a surprising illustration of the use of color on marble relief sculpture.

The survey will then turn to Rome and portraiture by artists who also used a wide range of pigments and surface applications to embellish their marble sculptures. Numerous traces of color were found on an original marble portrait of Caligula from the early Roman Imperial Period (AD 37–41), in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Copenhagen, a reproduction of which will be on display. The emperor’s face was carefully painted with flesh tones applied in multiple layers, creating an authentic, lifelike image.

The sculptures, both ancient and reproduced, will be complemented by early-19th century watercolors of Greek landscapes by English antiquarian Edward Dodwell and Italian artist Simone Pomardi. These breathtaking images, selected from the vast archive of the Packard Humanities Institute, bring to life classical monuments, some of which still retained their original color when these depictions were created. Quotes from Dodwell describe his travels to Greece in 1800 and 1805 when he observed traces of color on these ancient structures.

Also included will be a collection of Egyptian antiquities illustrating a range of painted colors, which are still visible on the sculptures, and a magnificent Egypto-Roman painted linen burial shroud. The exhibition also examines the art of the Near East, highlighted by antiquities from FAMSF’s collection, including an Assyrian wall relief from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud (883–859 BC) and an Achaemenid Persian relief from Persepolis (ca. 490–470 BC). Both were originally painted in bright colors.

The exhibition will conclude with a description of the sources of pigments used and how they were applied. Most of these pigments were of mineral origin, such as red and yellow ocher, bright red cinnabar, azurite, and malachite, but also synthetic such as Egyptian blue, a material made from a mixture of silica, lime, copper, and alkali. White pigment was derived from lead or lime, and black from carbonized bone or other materials. The scientific investigations that uncovered the ancients’ love of color will also be explored.

http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/exhibitions/gods-color-polychromy-ancient-world

[sognovero]

Gods in Color

Fascinating exhibit at the Legion of Honor. While we’re all used to seeing ancient statuary in its white glory, they were not always white. Technology has enabled scientists to detect pigments that had been applied. Some were quite colorful and detailed!

They complemented the exhibit with watercolors from an English antiquarian Edward Dodwell and Italian artist Simone Pomardi, done in the early 19th century, It’s funny that when you traveled then, you brought along your watercolor artist. We have it so easy now, with our iPhones!

Here’s Dodwell’s painting of the Lion Gate at Mycenae (he obviously was quite adept himself, maybe just brought Pomardi for the company!), which we visited in my one and only trip to Greece in 1981.

The exhibit was well worth the visit, and not even the main reason I was there!

[sartle-blog]

Classics Now in Color at the Legion of Honor

The Legion of Honor's new exhibit Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World offers a big surprise: the show revolves around reconstructions of many famous Classical sculptures as they were originally intended—in color.

Yep, that’s right. This exhibit, which runs from October 28 through January 7, turns that whole ancient, elegant, totally boring, white marble statue concept on its head. Truth be told, the Greeks were all about color.

Take this lion statue. What we assume always looked like this...

...Actually looked like this!

  I know what you’re thinking: oh my god, yes. This is the greatest news I have ever heard. And you’re right. But ancient polychromy is not such a new concept to researchers. It is, however, only recently that people have begun to uncover strong evidence for what these colors and patterns actually were. Needless to say, the process has been complicated.

  Part of the reason for this is that the Greeks had to be pretty creative with how they got their colors—dirt, rocks, minerals, plants—and each material had a different length of durability. While some mineral-based pigments like red and blue could last for centuries, other materials, say, ochre (a type of clay), very quickly wore away.

So what did researchers do? They went crazy. Ultraviolet radiation, infrared radiation, and infrared luminescence (not to mention visible light, if you’re lucky) were all used to search for traces of color. Identifying what those colors were was another story; electron microscopes were used to look for color types hidden at levels we could never see with the naked eye.

  So if the Greeks originally painted their sculptures, why, you ask, did we seem to forget all about this? That’s a great question. You can largely thank the Italian Renaissance for that one. I’m looking at you, Michelangelo.

  See, originally, the Greeks thought sculpting and painting were two very fine crafts that went very well together. But by the time the Renaissance rolled around, the Italians got their hands on these antiquities and were all about their form and composition, not their color (much of which had not survived to this point anyway). What made a sculpture impressive, they thought, was the physical shape, how the artist could mold and craft such sweet bods. Their color, what was left of it, was hushed away and largely forgotten.

This misconception, an idealized Classicism, you might call it, where all structures are white and sterile and boring, got into the heads of even the most well-intentioned art lovers and admirers. Even the Legion of Honor’s architecture was designed to imitate this false, Classicist myth! The sparkling white pillars and rooftops you can see today, gorgeous as they are, follow a long tradition of idolizing a culture that was in actuality nothing like this. 

There’s no hard feelings though—the curators of the exhibit admitted that housing these painted reconstructions within the Legion of Honor’s Classicist walls makes for an “interesting dialogue.” It’s true—many of the museum’s permanent Classical Greek sculptures (the boring, white ones) have been temporarily moved to this colorful exhibit and it’s pretty freakin’ cool to be able to see both representations together in one place.

Speaking of architecture, the exhibit also showcases English antiquarian Edward Dodwell and Italian artist Simone Pomardi’s Grecian landscape watercolors, made during their trip to Greece in 1800 and 1805. These two pals were lucky enough to see these monuments while some of them still had visible color. That visibility has eroded away since then, but thankfully Dodwell and Pomardi made sure to document what they saw using a portable camera obscura and translate their images into paintings.

  This was a very cool exhibit to be able to preview, in part because it completely changed my perspective on what classical Greek antiquity really entailed. I also learned that color helps researchers better understand the "narrative" of the artworks themselves. What may have come across to us once as a naked torso becomes now, thanks to researchers finding remnants of gold pigment, very gaudy chest armor.

  Sometimes the colors help to define or detail the work, but other times they completely change the subject: a maiden becomes a goddess, another woman probably died before marriage—all of this we learn simply by the patterns and ornaments highlighted through discovering their original colors.

While the exhibit largely displays Classical Greek sculptures, the show also features work from the Near East, Egypt, and Rome. Back then, everybody was doing it. And it’s about time the rest of us learned about it! So if you’re around and want to have your mind blown,head over to the Legion of Honor and check it out before it's gone! 

  By Daniel Bresnahan

[art-of-eons]

Capuchin Monastery and Garden in Athens by Edward Dodwell and Simone Pomardi

[hellas-inhabitants]

The temple of Aphaia on Aegina in design of Simone Pomardi - National Library of France. Ο ναός της Αφαίας στην Αίγινα σε σχέδιο του Σιμόν Πομαρντί - Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Γαλλίας.

[classicalsketchbook]

Free exhibition on at the British Museum, 7 February 2013 – 28 April 2013

[classicalcivilisation]

In search of Classical Greece travel drawings of Edward Dodwell and Simone Pomardi 1805–1806

Experience ancient Greece through the drawings and writings of classical scholar Edward Dodwell (c. 1777–1832) and artist Simone Pomardi (1757–1830), made on their travels in 1805–1806.

70 views exploring the beauty of the Greek landscape and picturesque ruins of Classical civilisation have been selected from an archive of over 1,000 images. Many of them are highly finished in watercolour and have never been on display before. They record buildings that have disappeared or changed and landscapes that are now unrecognisable under modern cities.