Abstract

A light-hearted rejoinder to a problematic issue – to begin with – for the PowerPoint talk will focus on Polychrome Sculpture, a topic which has seriously engaged scholars for more than two centuries, and sculptors and painters for much, much longer. I propose to highlight some historical, philosophical and technical aspects to which my own research has led me. The subject has a multi-disciplinary nature, art historical in the first instance, while scientifically grounded in conservation techniques and what these can reveal. Culturally seen, polychrome sculpture has been celebrated and condemned, revived and misunderstood, and shunned by purists who would have nothing to do with colour in sculpture. But is it really just form versus colour?