Polychromy

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Polychrome figure decorations on a temple tower in Chennai

The color design used in painting, handicrafts, sculpture and architecture is called polychromy .

description

The polychromy can be found in almost all epochs and cultural areas, for example in the Egyptian pyramids , the Minoan palaces, in Greek and Roman temples, in Islamic domes, in medieval art and in the figural decorations of Indian Hindu temples . In the stone sculpture of the Renaissance , however, the monochrome (monochromy) prevailed, which also remained dominant in the Baroque and Classicism . In the second half of the 19th century, polychromy broke its ground again and spread, especially after the Second World War, in film , advertising , pop art and plastic.

In the last few decades the colors of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture , but also the color version of the Romanesque and Gothic sculptures of church buildings, have been examined. Reconstructions of the colors of the sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia on the Greek island of Aegina have also been made and color reproductions of the sculpture from the Cathedral of Amiens have been published.

The opposite of polychromy is monochrome , where only one color is used. Polychromy, which is based on the use of different colored stones, is also known as polylithy . See also incrustation (architecture) .

See also

literature

Historical writings

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