Mary Harrsch's (excellent) post on her visit to the "Color of Life" exhibit at the Getty reminded me of something that popped into my head the other day while waiting for the lift bridge to descend and I better write it down before I forget it completely ... I've previously mentioned that the statuary in a wall painting from Stabiae might suggest statues weren't colored, but that example was a bit 'vague' for most folks. Accordingly, after poking around the interweb a bit more to find the images I knew I had seen, I'll revise my view slightly ... other wall paintings of things which are clearly statues suggest that color was used sparingly to highlight things ... see, e.g., this painting of a statue of Mars from the House of Livia (that's not right) ... clothing seems to be highlighted, and perhaps the eyes -- notice that there is no paint highlighting the 'swimsuit area' (which is one of the outstanding questions mentioned in MH's article). Another painting (definitely from the House of Livia) has a scene with a statue on a column in the background; definitely not coloured. That said, a curious exception might be the portrayal of herms ... I've come across two examples (here and here) in which it is clear that the herm does not have the 'natural color' of whatever stone it is hewn from. Then again, it is curious that they both seem to be similarly tinted (and possibly 'gilded'). Perhaps the 'influence' or 'comparanda' we should be thinking of is white ground pottery ...