I visited a friend a short while ago and, even though I don’t typically take note of such things, I became interested by his room decoration. The style is something called steam punk, a kind of futuristic Victorian, which seemed like it came straight from Jules Verne, a kind of Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shimmering brass, leather, futuristic technology, and clockwork. My friend’s version was much more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, assortment of interesting artifacts, statues and interesting ancient wall reliefs.  It went together with his home, originally built in the 1920’s and made a comfortable, intriguing interior nicely suited to his massive collection of books.

My house is rather more modern, so when I pondered options for decorating my den (something I had been informed was ‘up to me’) I declined the steam punk concept. Although I am no interior designer I can tell that a certain proportion between interior and outside is beneficial. While modern day houses are usually roomy they are often really dull, then i recognized this gave me more scope to be able to stamp my own individuality on the room, and that notion gave me the idea to use wall art and wall sculptures to give my room some personality, but what would work best?

Old Greek structures weren’t what we understand today. Many people understand that they were wonderful buildings that stood, in many cases for centuries, prior to suffering deterioration we see now, but did you  know that they had been bright colored?  You wouldn’t think so to look at the remains in a museum. I used to eat my lunchtime while admiring the huge Assyrians gateways within the British Museum in London,  just along from room 18, the home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were stripped away from the Parthenon in the first years of the 19th century by the Earl of Elgin,  and the Greek government is still seeking to get them returned to Greece.  The sculptures tend to be stark, white and intensely stunning, precisely what we think of whenever we consider ‘classical art’ yet exactly what might the ancients have thought of them? Euripides impart us with a hint in his play ‘Helen of Troy’ when Helen says ‘If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect, the way you wipe paint off a statue’. Those spectacular marble statues in their gleaming white were once vivid and multi-colored. So different from what we see now and connect with the ancient world, that it’s really difficult to imagine.

We all look at the ancient gods as abstract, as a result historical wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and absolutely at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, finding ancient sculpture stripped of their paint by time, the sculptors thought they had originally been white marble, and attempted to copy them.   In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their particular statues had been painted brightly to echo that. While we enjoy the incredible workmanship of the Parthenon statues the ancients adored their lifelike quality so much so that it was said that at certain times during the day it was like the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting methods had been designed to bond and boost the three dimensional quality of the natural stone, bringing the subject to life. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyze ancient statues and build authentic reproductions. These, detailed with complex paint techniques and colors are as close as possible to those used in ancient times and the results are intriguing; the ancient world will never seem the same again.

So what should I do? I could choose time-honored Greek wall art and create a modern room, making my personal choice on a basis of meaning. Hercules wrestling the lion might emphasize that even when my todo checklist is a bit lengthy, it is not the Labours of Hercules, whereas Dionysus on a donkey would remind me that the point of work is always to fund the enjoyment in the future. As an inhabitant of the ” new world ” I could use Mayan wall reliefs, but I believe my selection could be more ancient still. From Ramses who drove out the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, to the idea of Maat,  goddess of justice and order, the wall sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians hold a continuous enchantment. We are more familiar with coloration when it comes to Egypt, and therefore see these more as they really were, vibrant and remarkable in the desert sunlight.  Egyptian decor could definitely be the right choice.

For my Bedroom my main choice is clear; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to keep me right at all times!

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