I have known for ages that classical sculptures were not uncoloured carved stone, but I wince at painted marble. I can't understand why the previous owners of our home in Ano Korakiana laid lino over the tiles and hid the marble in the house. There's an exhibition in Harvard at the moment that aims to show how some statues might have looked - thus this Roman head of Caligula and the more ancient statue of a Trojan archer. Strong feelings of the kind that divided high and low church congregations exist about painting marble. I can enjoy elaborate multicoloured decoration on fabrics and manuscripts or in a garden while detesting the idea of painting marble. The thought of the Parthenon looking like a building in Las Vegas, which it probably did, is dispiriting. Yet there are wealthy Lopakhin's who would regard my opinion with puzzlement, and even disdain. They would be keen on enhancing the product that is 'Ancient Greece' and getting it better placed in markets hitherto repelled by old stone statues and pillars with cracks and bits missing from them - axing a worn cherry orchard.
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