I visited a friend fairly recently and, although I don’t generally take note of such things, I had been interested by his furnishings. The style is known as steam punk, a type of futuristic Victorian, which seemed like it came right from Jules Verne, a a bit like Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shining brass, leather, futuristic technologies, and clockwork. My friend’s variation was much more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, assortment of fascinating artifacts, sculpture and intriguing ancient wall reliefs.  It went along with his house, originally constructed in the 1920′s and made a warm, interesting interior well suitable for his huge collection of books.

My home is somewhat more contemporary, so when I considered ways of decorating my living area (something I had been told was ‘up to me’) I turned down the steam punk concept. Although I am no interior designer I can see that a certain proportion between interior and outside is useful. Although modern day houses are usually spacious they can be really bland, i quickly realized this gave me a lot more scope to put my character on the space, and that thought gave me the concept to make use of wall art and wall sculptures to supply my room some personality, but what to choose?

Old Greek structures weren’t what we understand today. Most people recognize that they are stunning buildings that stood, in many cases for centuries, before suffering damage we know now, but do you  realize that they had been bright colored?  You probably would not 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 near room 18, the home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were taken off the Parthenon in the initial years of the 19th century by the Earl of Elgin,  and the Greek government is still trying to get them back.  The sculptures tend to be stark, white and intensely beautiful, exactly what we think of when we think ‘classical art’ but what might the ancients have thought of these? Euripides provide us with a clue 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 beautiful marble statues in their gleaming white were once vivid and colorful. So distinctive from what we see today and connect with the ancient world, it’s truly difficult to picture.

We all look at the ancient gods as abstract, consequently historical wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and also wonderfully at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, discovering ancient statues stripped of their paint by time, the sculptors thought they had originally been white marble, and set out to emulate them.   In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their particular statues had been painted brightly in order to reflect that. While we appreciate the awesome workmanship of the Parthenon statues the ancients adored their lifelike quality so much so that it had been said that at certain times of the day it was as though the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting techniques had been designed to bond and boost the three dimensional quality of the stone, bringing the subject alive. 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 won’t ever appear the same again.

So what should I do? I could choose classical Greek wall art and create a modern room, making my personal choice on the basis of symbolism. Hercules wrestling the lion might remind me that even if my todo list can be a tad lengthy, it is not the Labours of Hercules, whereas Dionysus on a donkey would certainly remind me that the point of work is to fund the enjoyment to come. Being an inhabitant of the New World I could decide on Mayan wall reliefs, but I believe my selection will 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 from the Ancient Egyptians have an endless captivation. We are much more accustomed to color when it comes to Egypt, and therefore observe these more as they really were, striking and extraordinary in the desert sunlight.  Egyptian decor could definitely work.

For my Bedroom the primary options are clear; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to keep me right at all times!