Colored materials as markers of meaning: the polymateriality and the concept of 'hierarchy' in the Middle Ages

From Antiquity, medieval architects and sculptors inherited various technical practices to create polychrome buildings and artworks, including polymateriality, the free and easy use of combining two or more materials of different colors, independent either by nature or expressive capabilities, to address a significant effect on the perception of architecture and architectural, liturgical, and in the round sculpture, both in stone, wood, or metal. Assuming that the use of a specific material in an artifact was never accidental but determined by conscious purposes, this paper will attempt to explain the necessity and intentionality of polymateriality and the concept of the colour-based hierarchy in the context of the Middle Ages.