Do we need to start seeing the classical world in color? (since the sculptures of the Renaissance weren’t actually white).

Answer 1

This is a pretty interesting question, and somewhat divisive in the Classics community.

First, however, we should specify what it means "to see the Classical World in color."

1. Does it mean restoring the original paint on classical statues, which have become white with age?
2. Or, does it mean reevaluating our cultural and, in particular, racial image of the Classical world?

In this first case, I'm afraid that there isn't a simple answer.

On the one hand, restoring classical works does return these pieces of art to a state closer to that intended by their original creators. So, if you believe in the authority of a creator to determine the meaning and maintenance of their art, then we might be inclined to restore the external paint on these statues. Moreover, modern beholders (archaeologists, Classicists, etc.) gain a wealth of knowledge, especially about material culture, by restoring these works. And so, for a student of Classics, you might also believe in the value of restoration because it greatly helps us understand the Classical World itself.

On the other hand, maybe you put stock in the "death of the author", and think that these works can be evaluated and appreciated in their current form, from our current cultural viewpoint, without concern for the conditions of their original creation. Likewise, you might not be so concerned with an understanding of the Classical World per se, but its ideological influence upon the West, in which case, the myth of the pure, white marble statues has been essential to Western art and philosophy.

And I think, this really gets down to the issue at hand. Because so much of our current understanding of the Classical World, like these statues, is constructed on a myth. European thinkers have built an image of the Classical World based upon what was available to them, and, importantly, in accordance with what they found acceptable. The reason the restoration of these statues is so controversial is because it force us to confront this fact: That the Classical World as we know is a myth created by the West, one which Europeans are happy to claim and use to justify their own traditions, but which ultimately erases what is in reality a far more complex and distinct society - one in which art is colorful, and in which great empires of fame and fortune and philosophy are run by people of color as well.

So, should we see the Classical World in color as a result of these recent discoveries. I think that Classics has to make a decision about what it truly cares about: the Classical world as it truly existed, or the image of the Classical World that West built for itself.