Trajan column painted in light

**DAVIDE** · May 17, 2009, 10:22 AM

Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were not always plain white marble. And now Italian researchers are giving the Trajan Column a fresh coat of paint - with light. Rossella Lorenzi reports.

The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light. Italian researchers announced they plan to restore the column's original bright colors by "painting" it with light beams.
Erected in 113 A.D. in honor of the Emperor Trajan (53-117 A.D.), the huge marble column stands almost 100 feet in height. It is decorated with a spiral relief sculpture, winding 23 times around and depicting the story of Trajan's triumphant campaigns in Dacia, now part of Romania.
One of the best preserved of all Roman artworks, the monument has however lost what might have been it most distinctive feature -- color.
"The column, like many other statues of antiquity, was a carnival of color. The knights, the shields, the horses, the rivers, the sky were all painted," Maurizio Anastasi, head of the technical office of Rome Superintendency for Archaeology told Discovery News.
Anastasi plans to return the column to its full polychrome glory using an innovative, fully reversible technology. The plan was announced at an international meeting on art restoration in Ferrara, Italy last week.

Basically, we will be painting the column with light beams. People will be able to see the monument as it appeared to the ancient Roman world for a few minutes every hour at night. Then the column will return to its present white marble state," Anastasi said. The project, which is scheduled for 2009, is part of a wider scheme to light up the entire Roman Forum.
"We are going to use a dynamic concept of lighting. Light will be turned on at different times to produce a more readable and evocative view of the entire area," said Corrado Terzi, a professor of industrial design at Rome's La Sapienza University.
To paint the Trajan Column, Anastasi's team will employ computer-controlled light projectors and high-definition films.
"We have tested the technology on a bas-relief copy of the column at the restoration fair in Ferrara. Visitors first thought it was a photograph. As they got closer, they perceived the relief, the shadows, and the unusual paint for the battle scenes.
"Light painted the column like a child would paint his drawings," Anastasi said.

Color Restored
A team will "paint" on the original colors of Rome's Trajan Column using computer-controlled light projectors and high-definition films. The effect is shown on this close-up of a relief on the column.

Video: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/arch...-in-light.html

Source: discovery news

**Romano-Dacis** · May 17, 2009, 10:49 AM

Very interesting, though I wonder how they will know which colors to use, especially for the Dacians. It would be cool if they could replace all the metal objects and miniature weapons stuck on the column originally, so that it no longer looks like the Romans are attacking the Dacians with invisible swords.

**DAVIDE** · May 17, 2009, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis

Very interesting, though I wonder how they will know which colors to use, especially for the Dacians. It would be cool if they could replace all the metal objects and miniature weapons stuck on the column originally, so that it no longer looks like the Romans are attacking the Dacians with invisible swords.

i dunno, maybe colours are the result of a huge research, made with historical sources and archaeo..

**Flyboy** · May 17, 2009, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by Romano-Dacis

Very interesting, though I wonder how they will know which colors to use, especially for the Dacians. It would be cool if they could replace all the metal objects and miniature weapons stuck on the column originally, so that it no longer looks like the Romans are attacking the Dacians with invisible swords.

Each pigment used will have a particular chemical compound left on the column. They find that compound and then they can get the exact color. They did this with a lot if Greek stuff before hand.

**Ringeck** · May 18, 2009, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Each pigment used will have a particular chemical compound left on the column. They find that compound and then they can get the exact color. They did this with a lot if Greek stuff before hand.

That depends heavily on what sort of material was used to create the color. Some colors were created by the use of multiple components, not all of them equally resistant to the ravages of time. They could very well find only one of a multiple of chemical constituents and jump to conclusions. In fact, jumping to conclusions is very popular in laborative archaeology

**teh.frickin.pope** · May 17, 2009, 06:08 PM

Sweet! I know that there is a guy who is doing this for various Classical sculptures(though with actual paint, on replicas), I'm glad that they are doing it to such an important monument.

@R-D It's been a while since I read the article about the guy(I think it was in Smithsonian magazine, but I could be wrong) but I think it mentioned that they can pick up paint residue, I shall have to peruse the intarwebz to try and find out more.

Edit: found an article about it. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/ar...r=1&ref=design

The archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann and a team of investigators have subjected numerous ancient statues to a thorough examination, using both chemical analysis and observation under raking and ultraviolet light. This has allowed them to recreate what the works must have looked like when they first emerged from the studio more than 2,000 years ago.

**antares24** · May 17, 2009, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by davide.cool

Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were not always plain white marble. And now Italian researchers are giving the Trajan Column a fresh coat of paint - with light. Rossella Lorenzi reports.

The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light. Italian researchers announced they plan to restore the column's original bright colors by "painting" it with light beams.
Erected in 113 A.D. in honor of the Emperor Trajan (53-117 A.D.), the huge marble column stands almost 100 feet in height. It is decorated with a spiral relief sculpture, winding 23 times around and depicting the story of Trajan's triumphant campaigns in Dacia, now part of Romania.
One of the best preserved of all Roman artworks, the monument has however lost what might have been it most distinctive feature -- color.
"The column, like many other statues of antiquity, was a carnival of color. The knights, the shields, the horses, the rivers, the sky were all painted," Maurizio Anastasi, head of the technical office of Rome Superintendency for Archaeology told Discovery News.
Anastasi plans to return the column to its full polychrome glory using an innovative, fully reversible technology. The plan was announced at an international meeting on art restoration in Ferrara, Italy last week.

Basically, we will be painting the column with light beams. People will be able to see the monument as it appeared to the ancient Roman world for a few minutes every hour at night. Then the column will return to its present white marble state," Anastasi said. The project, which is scheduled for 2009, is part of a wider scheme to light up the entire Roman Forum.
"We are going to use a dynamic concept of lighting. Light will be turned on at different times to produce a more readable and evocative view of the entire area," said Corrado Terzi, a professor of industrial design at Rome's La Sapienza University.
To paint the Trajan Column, Anastasi's team will employ computer-controlled light projectors and high-definition films.
"We have tested the technology on a bas-relief copy of the column at the restoration fair in Ferrara. Visitors first thought it was a photograph. As they got closer, they perceived the relief, the shadows, and the unusual paint for the battle scenes.
"Light painted the column like a child would paint his drawings," Anastasi said.

Color Restored
A team will "paint" on the original colors of Rome's Trajan Column using computer-controlled light projectors and high-definition films. The effect is shown on this close-up of a relief on the column.

Video: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/arch...-in-light.html

Source: discovery news

good find, that's really cool, i cannot wait to see the Trajan column brightly coloured when i walk in via del corso at night.
I'm looking forward for it.

**C-Rob** · May 17, 2009, 07:25 PM

great! Sounds like something they should have been doing since the mid 19th century.

**DAVIDE** · May 18, 2009, 07:14 AM

thanks for the explaination guys

**Flyboy** · May 18, 2009, 09:32 PM

The paint is mixed so it's unlikely that they wouldn't be able to find both of the compounds in one place. Mind you we're talking microscopic detail here, there's loads of practically invisible residue running up and down not only this column but nearly every ancient sculpture or monument. This also helps because they know what kind of compounds were used on other pieces (like I said they've used a similar technique on lots of Greek and Persian artifacts with fantastic results). So if they find traces of one or two chemicals, they can logically assume the others in the surrounding area.

This stuff is pretty credible. Assuming conclusions with archeology is one thing. Assuming conclusions with chemistry is another, the later rarely happens.

And those pictures look sweet

Can't wait till they finish the whole column.