Tag: marble

The Gaddi Torso

Artist Unknown, “Gaddi Torso”, Second-Century BCE, Greek Marble, 84 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

This Hellenistic marble male torso was purchased in 1778 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Peter Leopold I, from the Florence’s Gaddi Collection. There is no historical record of this work prior to the sale date; however, it was already in the collections of the Florentine Gaddi family in the early sixteenth-century, as Florentine artists and sculptors knew of it. 

The “Gaddi Torso” is derived from an earlier original work of the second-century BC. Although only the torso exists, it is clear that it was originally a Centaur whose hands were bound behind its back. What remains of the torso exhibits a young, muscled body with a twisted torso, straining against his bonds. This theme was represented several times in Hellenistic art, serving as an emblem of civilized control of Man’s baser nature.

The “Gaddi Torso” was used several times as a model for future works of art, particularly in the period between the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries. An example of this is Italian Renaissance painter Amico Aspertini’s 1515 oil painting on panel, “Adoration of the Shepherds”, also at the Uffizi Museum, which shows the torso on the far left side, pictured resting on a marble base. Inspired by careful study of the “Gaddi Torso”, painter Rosso Fiorentino used it as the model for his body of Christ in the 1526 “Dead Christ with Angels”.

The “Gaddi Torso” remained with the Gaddi heirs until it was sold, still in its untouched fragmentary condition, to Grand Duke Leopold I. Like the fragmentary marble “Belvedere Torso” in the Vatican Museum, it was never restored by being completed, something previously undergone by most other Antique fragmentary sculptures.

Pierre-Charles Simart

 

Pierre-Charles Simart, “Oreste réfugié à l’autel de Pallas (Oreste Taking Refuge at the Altar of Pallas)”, 1840, Marble, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Normandy, France

The son of a carpenter from Troyes in Champagne, Pierre-Charles Simart was born on the 27th of June in 1806. At the age of seventeen, he received a 300 francs yearly scholarship from his hometown to attend sculpture classes in Paris. In 1833, Simart won the first Grand Prix de Rome for his bas-relief in plaster “Le Vieillard et les Enfants”, its inspiration taken from the Aesop tale “The Disunited Children of the Laborer”.

Pierre-Charles Simart studied at the French Academy in Rome from 1834 to 1839. He was the pupil of engraver and medalist Antoine Desboeufs and sculptor Charles Dupaty, a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts. Simart also received instruction from the neo-classical sculptors Jean-Pierre Cortot and James Pradier, both teaching at the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Simart’s first notable work was the “Disc Thrower’, of which models in plaster are located at the Louvre and at the Museum of Troyes. His marble sculpture “Orestes Taking Refuge at the Altar of Pallas” was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1840. Between 1840 and 1843, Simart executed many works including two bas-reliefs for the Hotel de Ville at Paris, two large figures entitled “Justice” and “Abundance” for the columns of the Barrière du Tróne, the marble statue “Philosophy” in the Library of Luxembourg, and the bust of M. Jourdan now at the Museum of Troyes.

After his 1841 marriage, Pierre-Charles Simart sculpted his marble standing group “Virgin and Child” for the altar of the Virgin in the Cathedral of Troyes, and for several years, worked on the decoration of the tomb of Napolean I and the ceiling of the Carré at the Louvre. A pair of Caryatid sculptures, executed by Pierre Simart, were later installed on the upper level of the Pavilion Sully at the former Palais de Louvre during a major renovation and decoration project in 1857.

Simart was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts in 1852 and an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1856. In 1857, he composed the group sculpture “Art Demanding Inspiration from Poesy”, producing a model which was executed in marble after his death in Paris on May 27th of 1857.

Fabio Viale

Sculptures by Fabio Viale

Fabio Viale, born in Cuneo in northern Italy in 1975, is a sculptor who lives and works in Turin, Italy. He graduated in 2008 from the University of Turin in the field of contemporary sculpture. Viale’s artwork contrasts the artistic appearance of traditional white marble art pieces with contemporary illustrative tattoo work, inspired by the Japanese Yakuza, over the marble forms.

Fabio Viale has been exhibiting world-wide since 2009, showing in New York, Basel, Miami and London among other cities. In 2007 he won the Francesco Messina Young International Sculpture Award for his work in traditional materials. His works also won first prize in 2012 at the Henraux Foundation Awards in Querceta, Italy, and recognition at the Premio Cairo in Milan, Italy.

First three images reblogged with thanks to Jean Louis’s great art site: https://ganymedesrocks.tumblr.com

Remaining images reblogged with thanks to: https://www.tobeeko.com

 

Centaur and Lapith

Centaur and Lapith, Metope South XXVII, Acropolis of Athens, Greece

The metopes of the Parthenon are the surviving set of what were originally 92 square carved plaques of Pentelic marble originally located above the columns of the Parthenon peristyle on the Acropolis of Athens. If they were made by several artists, the master builder was certainly Phidias. They were carved between 447 or 446 BC. or at the latest 438 BC, with 442 BC as the probable date of completion. Most of them are very damaged. Typically, they represent two characters per metope either in action or repose.

Imperatore Constantino

Artist Unknown, Imperatore Constantino, Musei Capitolini, Rome, italy

The colossal statue of Constantine I,  sculpted in marble, was one of the most important works of late-ancient Roman sculpture The remaining segments are at the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome and were dated between 313 and 324. A hand and the right arm, the two feet, the knee and the right femur, the left calf and the head are the only remaining parts of the statue. The origin statue judging from the remains was a seated form that reached approximately 12 meters in height.

The head, which was originally decorated with a metallic crown, is grandiose and solemn, presenting the characteristics of Roman art of that era, with the stylization and simplification tendencies of the lines.  The face is squared, with hair and eyebrows rendered with very refined and “calligraphic” marble engravings, but still completely unnatural looking. The eyes are big, almost huge, with the well-marked pupil looking upwards; they are the focal point of the whole portrait.

The Emperor’s gaze seems to scrutinize the surrounding environment and gives the portrait an appearance of extraterrestrial austerity. The hair is treated as a single swollen mass deeply furrowed by the streaks that separate some locks. The face posesses an aquiling nose, long, thin lips and a prominent chin. This is an idelaized face, despite the classical importation, which seeks to show an aura of holiness.

Pieces of the Classics

Photographers Unknown, Pieces of the Classics

“The science, the art, the jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern world have grown out of Greece and Rome—not by favour of, but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of this world were alike despicable.”

Thomas H. Huxley, Agnosticism and Christianity and Other Essays

Gilles Guerin

Gilles Guerin, “The Horses of the Sea”, Marble, 1670, Commisioned by King Louis XIV for the Gardens of Versailles

Executed by the sculptor Gilles Guérin (1611-1678) to a design by Louis XIV’s court painter, Charles Le Brun, the horses were just one part of a larger composition that featured another double horse and triton grouping by the Marsy brothers, “The Horses of Apollo Groomed by Tritons”, and a central sculpture by François Girardon, “Apollo Tended by the Nymphs of Tethys”.

Designed to depict the Greek god resting at the end of his daily procession across the heavens in the chariot of the Sun, all three sculptures were carved from the same white Carrara marble and all were destined for the Grotto of Tethys, a whimsical, underwater-inspired pavilion whose interior was decorated with precious stones, shells, mirrors, mosaics, and masks.

Like the other sculptures that were being installed in Versailles’ grounds during the first phase of its construction, such as Charles le Brun’s Fountain of Apollo, which also features the Greek god with horses attended by tritons, the sculptures were intended to draw parallels between the mythological attributes of the sun god and reign of the self-styled Sun King.

“Louis XIV’s idea of identifying himself with the sun was probably his best decision because it has resonated since that time and even to today,” explains Laurent Salomé, director of National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and the Trianon.

The sculpture is now on exhibit at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The Ludovisi Gaul

The Ludovisi Gaul (Galatian Suicide), 2nd Century BC, Palazzo Altemps, National Museum of Rome

The Ludovisi Gaul is a Roman copy of the bronze Hellenisic original that was made to celebrate Attalus I’s victory over the Gauls in central Anatolia, now modern Turkey. This Roman copy appeared in the Ludovisi inventory in 1623 so it is assumed that it was found in the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi in Rome slightly before that. The sculpture is now in the Palazzo Altemps, part of the National Museum of Rome. The Romans used it to clarify their victory over the Gauls in Gaul, now modern day France.

“The first thing notable on this statue is the beautiful head of the man. His facial features, including his eyebrows eyes, nose, cheek, jaw, mouth, lips and chin, are in perfect Hellenistic proportions, despite the fact that he is not Hellenistic at all, but Gallic. There are added features on the statue to specify this ethnic, non-Hellenistic, identity. The clearest feature is the moustache. Hellenistic and Roman people were seldom depicted with moustaches, as Alexander the Great introduced the custom of smooth shaving.

His mud-caked hair (typical Gallic), however, appears to be the tousled hair of a satyr, a woodland creature depicted as having the pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry. He is therefore a threat to the civilized order of which Pergamon considered itself the centre.

The only  piece of clothing he is wearing is a cape. This cape, hanging all the way till his lower back, appears to be waving under influence of the wind. The fact that it is worn around his neck also suggests that he is not Hellenistic but Gallic, as Hellenists often wore togas which are worn with the aid of a fibula.

Next is one of the more important features of the statue, the sword piercing through the man’s chest; an attempt to kill himself. He holds his sword firmly in his right hand, see-able in the tension of all his arm muscles. The sword itself is short, and the other features of it suggest that it is a Gladius, a Roman sword.”  – Matin man Nieuwkoop, Leiden University, Faculty of Archeology, 2012

Emile Joseph Carlier

Emile Joseph Carlier, “Gilliat and the Octopus”, Marble, 1880-1890, Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon

Emile Joseph Carlier was a French sculptor born in Cambrai, France. He received his education at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts. He was a member of the Art Nouveau Movement in France. The white marble sculpture “Gilliat and the Octopus” was inspired by Victor Hugo’s book, “Les Travailleurs de la Mer” (The Workers of the Sea) in which Gilliat, a fisherman, fights an octopus in his attempt to retrieve a motor from a sunken wreck.

The Motya Charioteer

The Motya Charioteer, Marble, Greek Origin, 460-450 BC, Found on the Sicilian Island of Motya in 1979, British Museum

The ‘Charioteer’ is a very rare surviving example of an original Greek victor’s statue and is believed to represent the winner of a chariot race that took place some 2,500 years ago. He was found in 1979 amid excavations on the tiny island of Motya on the western tip of Sicily, which was a Phoenician stronghold in ancient times and a region renowned for breeding horses.

The statue has been identified as a charioteer because of the long tunic he is wearing, the xystis. It was a garment that covered the entire body, and was fastened with a simple belt. Two straps crossed high at the racers back preventing the fabric from “ballooning” during the race.

The broad belt on to which the reins would have been fastened – on the statue were secured via fixings in the two holes in the belt at the front. This prevented the reins from being pulled out of the hands, but also dangerously, prevented the charioteer from being thrown free in any crash.

Today this amazing sculpture is regarded as a national treasure by Sicilians and thought by many to be one of the finest surviving examples of a classical sculpture anywhere in the world. It resembles the more famous Delphian charioteer, which is not very much older.

The Elm’s Fountain

The Marble and Bronze Fountain at The Elms, Newport, Rhode Island

Located at 367 Bellevue Avenue, The Elms was completed in 1901 for the coal baron Edward Julius Berwind. The steel-framed, brick-partitioned $1.5m estate with a limestone facade was built to the design of Horace Trumbauer, whose design was based on the Château d’Asnières in Asnieres, France.

The property is a National Historic Landmark with one of the great classical revival gardens in America, containing almost 40 species of trees.  It is also one of a few remaining examples in America of an estate with a Classical French Revival style carriage house set in a period garden accented by elaborate Italian bronze and marble fountains.

Alex Seton

Alex Seton, “Soloist”, from the ”Elegy on Resistance” Series, Bianco Carrara Marble, 2012, 95 x 75 x 70cm

Seton explores “contemporary notions of nationhood, security and our transition from the analogue to the digital world through sculpture, installation and photography. Within the framework of marble carving, Seton interrogates and displaces our expectations through overturning historical and cultural constructs, challenging our optical perception and subverting the tradition of the material.

One of Seton’s central concerns is the nature of monument and the way in which we consecrate objects, people and moments in time. By memoralizing everyday objects such as inflatable toys, beds, hooded jumpers and flags in stone, Seton questions the reverence of both material and subject.”

Sebastian Martorana

Marble Sculptures by Sebastian Martorana

Sebastian Martorana is an artist living and working in Baltimore, MD. He received his BFA in illustration from Syracuse University, where he also studied sculpture, including a semester in Italy. After graduating he became a full-time apprentice in a stone shop outside Washington, D.C. Sebastian received his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Rinehart School of Sculpture.

His current studio is part of the stone shop at Hilgartner Natural Stone Company in downtown Baltimore where he undertakes and directs commissioned stone carving, restoration and design, as well as his own sculptural works. Many of his works involve incorporating salvaged marble architectural elements from the city and their re-incorporation into individual and site-specific sculptures. Sebastian is also an adjunct professor in the Illustration Department at MICA.