polychromy

Polychromy is the practice of decorating objects or surfaces with multiple colors. In art history, the term is used to describe the original colored decoration of sculptures, architectural elements, pottery, and other works that today appear monochrome. Polychromy was widespread in ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, where statues, friezes, temples, and tombs were painted with bright pigments and, at times, gilded with gold leaf. The surviving stone and marble often reveal only a portion of the original scheme, but pigment residues, written descriptions, and scientific analyses illuminate the intended color palettes, which could be extensive and varied.

Techniques and materials varied by culture and medium. Mineral pigments such as ochres, umbers, azurite, malachite, cinnabar, and lapis lazuli were bound with tempera, lime plaster (fresco), egg, casein, or oil. Pottery often featured glaze and slip painting, sometimes with polychrome scenes. Architectural polychromy included painted walls, capitals, cornices, and vaults; sculpture could be fully painted or polychrome with added gilding.

Scholars of ancient art increasingly reconstruct polychromy to understand aesthetics, iconography, and social meaning. Modern conservation practice emphasizes ethical limits on restoration and the preservation of any remaining original paint.

The study of polychromy has reshaped perceptions of classical and medieval environments, underscoring that many civilizations favored color as a central aspect of visual communication and ritual display.