When we look at most artworks that have survived from ancient Greece, Rome or Egypt (to name a few) we are faced with just the surface decorations that have not succumbed to the ravages of time. However, there has always been evidence that statues and hieroglyphics were brightly coloured.
Now, a museum has made an attempt to show us one small scrap of what we are missing. I wish someone could create a replica wall that is fully coloured, and do the same for replicas of some of the better-known statues of the classical period.
See the article:
This is What Hieroglyphs and Figures in Ancient Egyptian Temples Looked Like Before Their Colors Fad...
In the original post, the colours appear quite glaring because they are intensely projected onto the surface of the original wall - which is understandable as they don't want to change it.
However, some paintings found in undisturbed burial chambers show how colourful their imagery was. I would love to see a replica of a wall of hieroglyphics that was painted as it would have been. The same goes for Roman and Greek statues.
This is the closest I have come across face to face so far: this full-size replica of a series of painted walls in the interior of the tomb of Sennedjem, found a cemetery in a workman's village in Deir el-Medina, and identifies him as a senior workman who was engaged in cutting and decorating tombs in Egypt's New Kingdom. This photo was taken in an exhibition that visited the Auckland Museum from the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities a year or so ago. It's painted, and according to the catalogue, it's 100% accurate as this was located deep underground and sealed, so not subject to environmental damage or pillaging - to me, it doesn't look at all dull.
And an interesting video on the subject of colour and ancient art:
