Tag: marble

Antoine Laurent Dantan

Antoine Laurent Dantan, “Young Bather Playing with His Dog”, Marble, 1833, Louvre, Paris

Antoine Laurent Dantan, also known as ‘Dantan the Elder’ distinguishing from his younger brother also a sculptor, was born in Saint-Cloud, France, in December of 1798. He and his brother entered the studio of Francois-Joseph Bosio at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the same time in 1823. Antoine Dantan wone the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1828.

Sculpted by Dantan during his stay in Rome, the “Young Bather Playing with His Dog” was exhibited at the Salon of 1835. The sculpture of marble, 1.05 meters in height, was purchased by the Louvre in 1835 and resides at the Department of Sculptures, Richelieu, on the ground floor of the Louvre.

Antonius

Roman Bust of Antonious as Osiris, 100-150 AD, Marble, Originally from the Villa of Hadrian in Tivoli, Italy, Musée de Louvre

This marble bust portrays Antonius, the lover of Hadrian, as the Egyptian god Osiris. It was fashioned by an unknown Roman artist of the first half of the 2nd century CE. The bust was found at the excavation of the Villa of Hadrian in Tivoli; it now resides in the Louvre.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo, “The Crouching Boy”, Marble, 1530-34

Despite its small size, this sculpture creates an impression of monumentality, unity and inner force. The image of the crouching boy is suffused with sorrow, a mood which suggest that this sole work by Michelangelo in the Hermitage was intended for the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence.

The figure is exceedingly expressive; though the head is bowed and the face hardly visible, the taut muscles of the body produce a striking impression of the great inner strength that enables one to withstand the pain.

Some scholars see here an allegory for the unborn soul, while others see the figure as a wounded soldier or a spirit of mourning. Yet others believe that this sculpture is a reflection of the depression suffered by many Florentine citizens during the years of the Spanish invasion.

The Marble Lion

Marble Statue of a Lion, Greece, 400-390 BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 31.25 x 63.5 Inches

Marble statues of lions were used as monuments or guardians at the ends of a large tomb facade. This Greek statue was taken by the Romans to Rome during the Imperial Period.  In archaeology, that term is usually taken to cover the period from the rule of Augustus and his reformation around 30 BC until the beginning of the onset of the Migration period at 375 AD.

Henry Moore

Sculptures by Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA RBS was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his birthplace, Yorkshire.

Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a coal miner. He became well-known through his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures, and was instrumental in introducing a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. His ability in later life to fulfill large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy. Yet he lived frugally and most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.

My all-time favorite sculptor. Pictures do not do them justice. Find one of his pieces near you and spend some time actually “seeing” them.

Domenico Pieratti

Domenico Pieratti, “Gladiator”, Villa di Castello, 1635

Domenico Pieratti. born in Florence, worked with his older brother Giovan Battista. Both were students at the workshop of the sculptor Chiarissimo Fancelli.

Pieratti’s most labor intensive work was the decoration of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. The rebuilding of the palace and garden of the grand-ducal residence was undertaken by architect Giulio Parigi, who had gathered for his artisan group a number of sculptors and architects among which the Chiarissimo Fancelli and the two Pieratti brothers.

Among Domenico Pieratti’s best works are the two fonts supported by marble angels in the Chieti Church of Santi Michele e Gaetano in Piazza Antinori. In the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella is his marble crucifix from the  House of the Medici; it was transferred here by the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de ‘Medici in 1731.

Ernst Herter

Ernst Herter, “Dying Achilles”, Marble,  1884, Achilleion Palace, Corfu, Greece

Ernst Gustav Herter (1846 -1917) was a famous German sculptor who worked in Berlin. He specialized in creating statues of mythological figures. Among his most famous works is “Sterbender Achill (Dying Achilles)”, created in Berlin in 1884. The statue was acquired by the Empress of Austria and became the centerpiece at her palace Achilleion in Corfu, Greece.

Wrestlers

Lysippus, “Wrestlers”, First Century BC, Marble, Height 89 cm, Uffizi Palace, Florence, Italy

Rarely did the architectural finds of the 16th century recover the large groups from ancient statuary in full, but the “Wrestlers” is an exception to this rule. The work was discovered, along with the famous group of Niobids, in 1583, in a vineyard owned by the Tommasini family near Porta San Giovanni in Rome. It represents a unique example, since no further copies are known.

In Roman times, this estate was part of the Horti Lamiani, sumptuous gardens on the top of the Esquiline Hill belonging to the residence of consul Lucius Aelius Lamia. Treasures such as the “Lancellotti Discobolus”, now at the National Museum of Rome) and the “Esquiline Venus”,now in the collection of the Capitoline Museums, were found in the same garden.

The “Wrestlers” depicts two men with pronounced muscular structure, engaged in a wrestling bout, rendered particularly realistic by the firm anatomies and good proportions of the subjects. The balance of the bodies is such that the outcome of the match is not revealed. The lost heads were added during restoration, ordered by Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, who purchased the work.

Exhibited for around a century at Villa Medici in Rome, the sculpture was transported to Florence in 1677, where further restoration work certainly led to the recovery of the top wrestler’s right arm.  The marble group, which dates to the 1st century B.C., is a Roman copy of a lost original in bronze from the 3rd century B.C.. The sculpture can be attributed to Lysippus, a sculptor renowned for many bronze and marble works and, in particular, for his portrait of Alexander the Great.