Marble Sculpture
Pentelic, Carrara, Parian Stone Used by
Sculptors For Reliefs, Statues.
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Marble Sculpture |
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OTHER MEDIA |
Marble SculptureIntroduction: What is Marble Sculpture? Marble sculpture is the traditional plastic art of carving three-dimensional forms - statues, high or low reliefs - out of recrystallized limestone (marble). Ever since the invention of metal tools during the Bronze Age, marble stone has been highly prized by sculptors and architects alike. Famous examples of marble sculpture (originals or copies) include: Discobolus (c.450 BCE) by Myron; Wounded Amazon (440-30 BCE) by Polykleitos; The Farnese Hercules (350-300 BCE) by Lysippos; Apollo Belvedere (c.330 BCE) by Leochares; Laocoon and His Sons (c.42-20 BCE) by Hagesandrus, Athenodoros & Polydorus; Aphrodite of Melos ("Venus de Milo") (c.100 BCE) by Andros of Antioch on the Maeander; Pieta (1497-9), David (1501-4) and Dying Slave (1513-16) by Michelangelo. |
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SCULPTURE For details of the plastic arts during the Middle Ages, see these resources: Medieval Sculpture (c.400-1000) From Late Antiquity to Romanesque Romanesque Sculpture (1000-1200) Rounded-arch Architecture/Sculpture Gothic Sculpture (1150-1280) Cathedral Art, Ile de France. Renaissance Sculptors From Italy, France & Spain. Baroque Sculptors Of the 17th century Neoclassical Sculptors Return to Classical Antiquity 19th Century Sculptors Plastic Art of the Victorian Age |
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EVOLUTION OF SCULPTURE BEST WORKS OF SCULPTURE BEST SCULPTORS |
What is Marble? Why is it a Popular Material For Sculpture? The stone we call marble is a metamorphic rock (mostly composed of calcite, a type of calcium carbonate) formed as a result of changes brought about in the structure of sedimentary or igneous rocks by extreme pressure or heat. Sculptors like marble because, while relatively soft and easy to work when first quarried, it becomes extremely hard and dense with age, and is also available in a variety of shades and patterns. White marbles are especially prized for fine art sculpture because of their relative isotropy and homogeneity, and resistance to shattering. In addition, the low refractory index of refraction of calcite permits light to penetrate into the stone (as it does the human skin), resulting in the typical "waxy" look which gives the stone a human appearance. Marble can also be highly polished, making it ideal for decorative work. |
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On the other hand, marble is weaker than bronze, and significantly less weather-resistant than granite. It will also absorb skin oils when handled. What Are the Main Types of Marble? The most popular types of marble stone employed in sculpture are Pentelic, Parian and Carrara marble. During Classical Antiquity, the most famous type was the close-grained, golden-toned Pentelic variety, quarried at Mount Pentelicon in Attica. The famous sculptures obtained by the Earl of Elgin from the Parthenon in Athens, in 1801-3, known as the Elgin Marbles, were carved in Pentelic. Another popular variety was Parian marble, a coarser-grained but translucent white stone obtained from the Aegean islands of Naxos and Paros. This type was used to create the renowned Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. A third type, used for the masterpiece Apollo Belvedere (c.330 BCE), was the pure white Carrara marble, found at Carrara and Pietra Santa in Tuscany. It was a popular material in Italian Renaissance sculpture and the favourite of the Florentine artist Michelangelo. |
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Carving a Sculpture Out of Marble A large-scale sculpture is typically prefaced by the creation of a small maquette in wax or clay, over an armature. From this initial model, a full-size model is developed, into which tacks are inserted at key reference points. A measuring frame is then placed over the model which records the locations of the tacks, which can then be transferred to the raw marble block, in a process known as pointing. Then, in his hammer and point work, the marble sculptor must master a variety of tools, including hammers, edge tools like chisels and hand drills, rasps, files and rubbing stones. Greek sculpture was usually tinted. On marble this process of polychromy was translucent (on terracotta it was opaque), with colours being applied over a gesso ground. Roman sculptors sometimes achieved polychrome effects by using several different coloured marbles for a group sculpture.
Famous Marble Sculptures • Discobolus (c.450 BCE) Museo
Nazionale Romano, Rome • The Farnese Heracles (5th
Century BCE) Museo Archeologico, Naples • Wounded Amazon (440-30 BCE)
Musei Capitolini, Rome • Apollo Sauroktonos (4th Century
BCE) Museo Pio Clementino, Vatican • Apollo Belvedere (c.330 BCE)
Vatican Museum • The Farnese Hercules (350-300
BCE) Museo Nazionale, Naples • Dying Gaul (c.240 BCE) Marble
copy, Musei Capitolini, Rome • Nike of Samothrace (c.190
BCE) Louvre, Paris • Laocoon (c.150-50 BCE) Museo
Pio Clementino, Vatican • Punishment of Dirce (The
Farnese Bull) (c.150 BCE) Naples • Aphrodite of Melos ("Venus
de Milo") (c.100 BCE) Louvre, Paris • Fonte Gaia (1414-19) Loggia
of the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena • Pieta (1497-9) Marble, Saint
Peters Basilica, Rome • The Rape of the Sabine (1581-3)
Piazza della Signora, Florence • Pope Leo Driving Attila from
the Gates of Rome (1646-53) St Peter's Rome • The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
(1647-52) Capella Cornaro, Rome • Milo of Crotona (1671-82)
Louvre, Paris • Portrait of Voltaire (1781)
Comedie-Francaise, Paris • Apollo Crowing Himself (1781)
J Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles • Jason with the Golden Fleece
(1803-28) Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen • The Kiss (1888-9) Musee Rodin,
Paris |
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• For the history and types of sculpture,
see: Art Encyclopedia.
Art
Types | Best Art Museums |
