“Molte lumeggiature ravvivavano le ali”. Notizie poco note di doratura e colori dimenticati su opere in marmo di età romana

The paper shows some case studies about polychromy on Roman sarcophagi, with a focus on traces of gold leaf. Nowadays, colours on Roman sarcophagi often seem completely lost, but some new data can be found in written sources from the 19th and 20th centuries. The use of painting on these ancient artefacts sometimes still carried on during the Middle Ages and beyond, especially when the sarcophagus was related to Christian relics