ANCIENT PATINA ON ELGIN MARBLES FOREVER LOST

The late Melina Mercouri had been loudly advocating for the return of the Elgin Marbles, about 20 sculptures that graced Grecian classical buildings such as the Parthenon.  According to what I am researching, and believe me, don't trust the Internet for accurate info, but apparently Tom Brice got a "legal" permit from the Turkish Empire for removal of the sculptures in order to transport to Britain.

Mercouri wants them back and who can blame her.  However soulful her plea, there is so much more to this story and many books and papers have been written about the pieces.  But then again, if the Marbles are returned, that it will set a precedent requesting ALL art be returned to its original location. Again, it's a damning scenario, no?

On one hand, if it were not for the "looting", if the statues fell they were burned for the lime -- oh the numbers that have been lost to posterity, how many would actually be in existence? On the other, we are able to enjoy the precious works by flying across the pond.  Bittersweet, eh? It's one of those no-win situations.

Here's what totally shocked me about the marbles.   Did you know that the patina, the paint that was applied so carefully and from natural sources decades ago, was removed from the statues in an effort to make them more saleable? This is just too amazing.

1.The pieces were probably purchased from the Turks (Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire for a time) for a very low price combined with trinkets.

2. Then a bunch of clerks removed the paint.  Tools used then were so primitive and a lot of damage was caused to the statues all for the almighty English Pound

In parts of Greece one can see fragments of color on some sculptures which is utterly priceless in that even those little fragments stayed for all these years.  Imagine the grinding process. How many apprentices did it take for Phidias to be satisfied with the outcome? I would have loved to see his studio.  

Though poet Lord Byron didn't care for the sculptures, he strongly voiced that they should be returned and that Elgin was a vandal bar none.   

"Dull is the eye that will not weep to see

Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed

By British hands, which it had best behoved

To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.'