Dr Alessandra Glumlia Mair expert on Italian Archaeology and Archaeo- metallurgy highlighted the distinguishing traits of the Greek, Roman and  medieval period statues and the important techniques used in fashioning them at an illustrated lecture organised at the CP Art Centre, Alwarpet  recently. By these specific traits the era of a statues could be ascertained, she said.

Alessandra highlighted the common features between the Lupa Capitolina the oldest structure in Italy and the later statue of the lion in Germany. She explained the making of the wax models also followed in the period.

The Roman statues always had a joint in the middle of the body which was absent in the Greek ones. They had inlaid eyes of silver and precious stones. While Greek statues had beautiful faces Roman statues had faces which reflected the emotions of daily life.

Roman loved colours and gold and used the method of gilding while making the statues, she pointed out. Alessandra then described the gilding process through a set of illustrations. The surface of the object was cleaned and a mixture of amalgam of Au and Hg was spread on it.

The object was then heated to over 352 degree centigrade until the mercury evaporated. The thin gold layer was them polished with semi-precious stones. Foil gilding was also used during this period, she said.
In the middle ages about 475 BC, all these techniques were forgotten.

New ones were invented and the statues began to have a thickness of two - three 3 cms, unlike the Greeks which was 5 mm thick and the Romans which was 2 mm thick.