I had been to a friend fairly recently and, although I don’t usually take note of such things, I was interested in his interior decoration. The style was something he described as steam punk, a kind of futuristic Victorian, which seemed like it arrived right from Jules Verne, a a bit like Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shimmering brass, leather, futuristic technologies, and clockwork. My friend’s variation was a lot more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, assortment of interesting artifacts, statues and intriguing ancient wall reliefs. It went together with his home, originally constructed in the 1920’s and made a warm, intriguing interior properly suitable for his massive collection of books.
My house is rather more contemporary, so when I thought about options for furnishing my den (something I had been told was ‘up to me’) I rejected the steam punk concept. Although I am no interior designer I can tell that a certain harmony between interior and outside is useful. While contemporary homes are usually roomy they can be really dull, then i realized this gave me a lot more scope to stamp my own personality on the space, and that thought gave me the concept to make use of wall art and wall sculptures to supply my room some character, but what to choose?
Ancient Greek buildings were not what we understand today. Many people recognize that they were wonderful buildings which stood, in many cases for centuries, before suffering damage we see now, but did you realize that they were once multi-colored? You wouldn’t think so to examine the remains inside a museum. I used to take my lunchtime while appreciating the huge Assyrians gateways within the British Museum in London, just along from room 18, the home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were taken off the Parthenon in the initial years of the 19th century by Earl of Elgin, and the Greek government is still trying to get them returned to Greece. The sculptures tend to be stark, white and incredibly stunning, precisely what we think of when we think ‘classical art’ yet exactly what would the ancients have thought of these? Euripides impart us with a hint in his play ‘Helen of Troy’ when Helen says ‘If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect, the way you wipe paint off a statue’. Those stunning marble statues in their sparkling white were once vibrant and multi-colored. So distinctive from what we see now and connect with the ancient world, it’s truly difficult to envision.
We view the ancient gods as abstract, as a result ancient wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and also wonderfully at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, discovering classical sculpture removed of their color by time, the sculptors thought they’d originally been white marble, and set out to copy them. In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their particular statues were painted brightly in order to reflect that. Although we admire the awesome workmanship of the Parthenon statues the ancients admired their lifelike quality so much so that it had been said that at certain times of the day it was as if the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting techniques had been made to bond and enhance the three dimensional quality of the natural stone, bringing the subject alive. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyse ancient sculpture and build authentic reproductions. These, complete with complex paint techniques and colors are as close as it can be to those used in ancient times and the final results are fascinating; the ancient world won’t ever seem the same again.
What exactly should I do? I could decide on time-honored Greek wall art that will create a modern room, making my choice on the basis of meaning. Hercules wrestling the lion might emphasize that even when my todo list can be a bit lengthy, it isn’t the Labours of Hercules, while Dionysus on a donkey would certainly point out to me that the point of work is to finance the pleasure in the future. As an inhabitant of the New World I could decide on Mayan wall reliefs, but I think my selection will be more ancient still. From Ramses who drove out the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, to the idea of Maat, goddess of justice and order, the wall sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians carry a never-ending captivation. We are much more accustomed to color when it comes to Egypt, and therefore observe these more as they really were, striking and brilliant in the desert sun. Egyptian decor could definitely be the right choice.
For my Den the primary options are evident; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to help keep me right always!
