Polychrome or Tetrachrome? Colour in Greek Painting of the 5th–4th Centuries BC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18688/aa155-1-5Keywords:
colour palette of Greek painters, theory of four colours, wrtiten sources on Greek painting, blue and green in Greek culture, Empedocles’ colour theoryAbstract
Pliny the Elder and Cicero state that during Classical period the palette of Greek painters was limited to four basic colours: white, black, red and yellow. Indeed, some mosaics considered as copies of the lost paintings have neither blue nor green. However, art historians agree that tetrachromy was not the only method of Greek painters. There are many wall paintings and frescos, where blue and green are well attested. It was not only in fine arts that the theory of four basic colours was applied. From our point of view, of special interest is the fragment by Empedocles, where the basic elements are compared to paints of artists. Perhaps, the four colour palette, mentioned by Pliny and Cicero, is not due to Empedocles’ doctrine, but is very possible to appear in Roman tradition of “art history” under the influence of doxographic tradition ascribing to Empedocles the theory of four colours.
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