This isn't a particularly new revelation as the article makes it seem (the article is dated 2008, but I remember learning about this when I was in school even e

This isn't a particularly new revelation as the article makes it seem (the article is dated 2008, but I remember learning about this when I was in school even earlier than that). That said, it's rather interesting how many people - even very educated people - are unaware of this fact. I've heard art critics refer to the color as a sign of the 'pristine' and 'pure' aspects of Greco-Roman[0] art, completely ignoring the fact that they were actually painted with incredibly bright colors 2000 years ago. (Of course, one can make a somewhat postmodern argument that the piece of art with the colors as they appear today should be evaluated in its own right, independently of what it was 2000 years ago, but I don't think that's what they were going for). [0] Another fun fact - we actually have very few Greek art (statues) to study. Most of our knowledge of Greek sculpture comes from Roman reproductions, along with a few pieces that were hidden in tombs, etc. for centuries and forgotten. The Greeks, unlike the Romans, made a lot of statues in metals, and these were subsequently melted down for the materials[1]. The Romans produced original art, but they also produced mass reproductions of Greek art (marble, and other materials) - this is largely what we study today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_sculpture#Materials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_sculpture#Materi...