In reconstructing the color scheme of the Sandalbinder relief, I drew heavily on reconstructions of the Temple of Athena Nike in “Recreating the ancient world of Nike” by Steve Jarratt, John Goodinson, and Peter Schultz and the color scheme of the Parthenon replica in Tennesse.
During the reconstruction it was important to pay attention to features such as the clothing, skin tone, backdrop and the wings.
Clothing
My first task was to gain a better understanding of ancient Greek clothing in order to best portray Nike’s elaborate drapery. Initially, I debated whether Nike was wearing an Ionian chiton or peplos but settled on the chiton after reviewing the literature and researching Greek clothing. A chiton was a single rectangular piece of fabric and unlike the earlier Dorian garments made of wool, the Ionic chiton was made from much lighter linen fabric. This lighter fabric allowed for designs such as folding which became features of Ionian design.
I painted the dress Malachite and overlaid it with Egyptian Blue. To keep to literature descriptions of the drapery being wet, I darkened the folds of the dress using Egyptian Blue to emphasize the effect of wet clothes sticking to one’s body.
Skin tone
Following Greek conventions on skin tone, I reconstructed Nike with fair skin. I created multiple layers from the bottom up to reconstruct skin color. The layers are as follows:
- Egyptian Blue 5% opacity
- Red Ochre 30% strength
- Yellow Ochre 20% strength
Backdrop
I used the color scheme of “RECREATING THE ANCIENT WORLD OF NIKE” and emerged with a red background. It was common at the time the relief was made to use blue or red for the background.