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edithofwinterton.bsky.social
@edithofwinterton.bsky.social
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Plays with fiber. Also sometimes with paint. The quiet one in the corner.
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chapps.bsky.social
My recent reconstructions of the busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University. I worked on these with Mark Abbe, who performed MSI scans of the original busts and discovered traces of pigments (paper forthcoming). 🏺 #AncientBluesky #polychromy 1/
Digital polychrome reconstruction of this magnificent portrait bust of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, who was originally from North Africa. He wears a military cloak - a paludamentum - in a rich purple color, with a reddish fringe and a lighter purple underside (it’s slightly turned over on his left shoulder). These colors were discovered during scientific scans recently. The cloak is fixed with a gilded shield fibula at his right shoulder. His skin is brown, his hair salt-and-pepper, and his eyes brown, all following the example of the Severan tondo portrait. Details of reddish cheeks, eye gleams, red lips, and a subtle shine from a wax finish make this portrait (hopefully) come alive. Digital polychrome reconstruction of the portrait bust of Julia Domna from the Eskenazi Museum of Art. Her himation/palla (cloak) is a deep purple with a lighter purple underside, identical to that of her husband’s paludamentum. This furthers their well-known close marriage and partnership - Julia went to the battlefields with her husband and he enjoyed discussing his political and military experiences and decisions with her. Her tunic is a very pale yellow, really almost an off-white. Her characteristic ‘hair helmet’, parted in the middle and consisting of several rows of crimped hair in a rounded shape, has subtle gilded highlights at the top of each ridge. This highlighting would have caught the light and helped an observer from a distance see the details of her hairstyle, immediately identifying her as Julia Domna. Also, gold had great meaning on portraits, practically deifying the subject. Her dark drawn eyebrows nearly meet in the middle, with some carved hairs actually touching above the bridge of her nose. I’ve given her lower lashes a kohl treatment, giving her a ‘smoky eye’. She has brown eyes, and brown hair, just like her Severan tondo portrait. Red cheeks and lips, with red details around the eyes, and a subtle sheen of a wax finish hopefully bring her portrait alive.
November 15, 2024 at 5:56 PM