In response to the letter in the Times from Paul Chishick [1], Chris Price points out the high quality of the surface of the newly restored pieces on display in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
From:
The Times [2]
June 22, 2005
Marbles not lost
From Mr Chris PriceSir, I disagree with Mr Paul Chishick’s assertion (letter, June 16) that the survival of the Parthenon Marbles is due to storage in the British Museum.
The West Frieze of the Parthenon was long thought to have been ruined by time and pollution. It is now amazingly preserved under cover, right down to the veins on the flanks of the horses.
Those in Bloomsbury had their patina scrubbed white in the 1930s, almost certainly to satisfy the cleanliness fetish of the gallery’s generous donor, Joseph Duveen.
CHRISTOPHER PRICE
(Vice-chairman, British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles)
Dulwich, London