When Apollo Had Purple Hair
and other things to know about polychromy
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How do you describe a work of art?
With art terms, of course! We’ve heard you, and we’re here to answer your Frequently Asked Art Questions (FAAQs). Let’s take a look at a few Getty works of art that we can describe with the art term "polychromy."
Watch the video, or read on below!
What Is Polychromy?
“Polychromy” means, literally, “many colors.” In art, we use it to describe the color added to the surface of statues, architecture, altarpieces, or other artworks made from a range of materials, including wood, terracotta, and stone. Added color would call out details and help some works look more lifelike.
Polychromy Was Everywhere, You Just Can’t See It
Walk through the galleries at the Getty Villa, and most of the sculpture looks like some shade of white.
But sometimes, that’s just because stone or terracotta lasts longer than the added polychromy.
Look closely at the statue below (you can see it in person at the Getty Villa, in Gallery 109).
Statuette of Apollo, 200–100 B.C., Italian. Terracotta with white slip and polychromy (purple, pink, white, light blue), 8 9/16 × 4 5/16 × 2 1/16 in. Getty Museum, 96.AD.266
Now, zoom in on his garment. Wait, we can do that for you.
Up close, you can see that this well-preserved statue still has plenty of polychromy. Colors were applied to the surface of the clay. On the garment wrapped around Apollo’s waist you can see remains of white and a blue hem.
On his torso, you can see the surviving pink pigment that colored his skin.
And check out his curls. That's right, they're purple.
Unusual hair colors were usually reserved for deities, which means main character hair has been a thing since antiquity.
But, the reddish hair on this bust still looks pretty cool.
Portrait Bust of Man, Perhaps a Priest of Serapis, A.D. 180–220, Roman. Marble with polychromy and gilding, 31 5/16 × 19 5/16 × 10 5/8 in. Getty Museum, 71.AA.453
Can you imagine what he looked like in full color? His eyes were blue, and his diadem was gold.
OK But What Does Polychromy Look Like When It's Still On?
Although much of the color added to ancient sculptures has not survived, there’s plenty of extant polychromy around to enjoy, especially on works produced more recently which can be found in the sculpture collections at the Getty Center.
For example, check out this 6-foot-tall, 17th-century statue of Saint Ginés de la Jara.
Saint Ginés de la Jara, about 1692, Luisa Roldán. Polychromed wood (pine and cedar) with glass eyes, 69 1/4 × 36 3/16 × 29 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 85.SD.161
Polychromy makes his feet, hands and head look incredibly lifelike. The detail is incredible when you get up close.
You can see and learn more about him here.
And did you know that you can download the artwork in this article for free? Each of the images above is available to save, alter, or make your desktop background thanks to our Open Content Program.
Click the hyperlinks under each of the images above and hit "download" or, head here to explore more polychromy art in our Online Gallery.
