Coloured Medieval Sculpture: Blue, Red, and Gold Between East and West

This paper presents a synoptic analysis of the technical procedures, perceptual and aesthetic features, and the symbolic implications of the use of colour in medieval sculpture between East and West, with particular reference to blue and gold, which have long enjoyed a rather special status, as it is well known. The scope of investigation will be limited to a particular class of objects in marble or stone which had decorative and liturgical functions within ecclesiastical buildings, such as, for example, ambos, portals, altars, slabs, etc. The polychromy of such objects has so far been insufficiently considered, although it is relevant for their multi‑layered interaction with the sacred space and with the lived experience of the ‹users›. Taking into account the studies devoted to medieval painted sculpture in the Latin West, our contribution aims at a comparative analysis encompassing different but co‑existing geographic areas, traditions and cultural contexts, widening the gaze to the Byzantine world, and highlighting functional, semantic and aesthetic aspects of polychromy. In this way it is possible to observe a number of differences that depend on local factors and contingent material conditions, but also some converging elements which, precisely for this reason, should be investigated against the background of a broader problematic perspective.