Treu Head Color Reconstruction in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2022

Title: Study 1 of the color scheme of the so-called Treu Head

Artist: Vinzenz Brinkmann

Artist: Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

Date: 2014/ 2020

Medium: Marble stucco on plaster cast after 3D scan, natural pigments in egg tempera

Dimensions: 14 9/16 × 10 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (37 × 26 × 26 cm)

Credit Line: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Polychromy Research Project, Frankfurt am Main

Accession Number: POL.016

This study of the so-called Treu Head (named after the archaeologist who first studied its preserved color) reconstructs the extraordinarily rich traces of polychromy on the skin and hair of the marble original. Recent scientific investigations by the British Museum identified a pinkish skin color, consisting of a complex mixture of calcium carbonate, hematite, goethite, and Egyptian blue, applied to the highly polished marble surface. Carbon-based black was used as underpainting for the eyes, eyelids, and brows and remains visible as a dark shadow on the skin color, as seen on the left side of the reconstructed face. The nuanced application of pigment on the original is expressed in the painterly details and highlights of the features on the right side of the reconstruction.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/853971