A piece of marble, a hammer and a chisel - that seems to be all that the craftsmen have used since antiquity in the manufacture of their sculptures. What do you say to that? Is it really straight and chisel for a stone?
A sculpture of a girl from the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka (by Quintilian Corbellini).
Thin lace, soft folds, even minor skin imperfections and individual eyebrow hairs - literally everything could be conveyed by some outstanding sculptors of the past. Among them, the most famous was the architect and the most demanded sculptor of his time, Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680, Italy). This saying is attributed to him:
But how to explain that the marble in the hands of a genius did not split off, but as if melted, gently bending and flowing? Is it really true that the sculptor “heated and melted” a hard stone, forcing it to break the laws of physics? And many researchers are haunted by the fact that there are internal cavities in Bernini's statues. Why are they?
And we would have continued to torment ourselves in conjectures, if not for these lines in the book of 1827 "On the importance of chemical research in the circle of sciences and arts" by Alexander Jobsky:
That is, there is a way to "turn chalk into marble." It is also worth remembering the technology of using modern dry mixes. What if the circle of selected sculptors of the past already knew the technology of making "liquid marble"? This could easily explain both the high speed of copying the statues, and such accuracy in details. But how to achieve such precision so that even marble lace looks like real? Probably Bernini was not cunning when he compared marble to wax. You can't do without wax.
If you think logically, then the sculptures, most likely, were really made of wax, with all the details, including the texture of clothes, lace and individual hairs on the head. Next, it was necessary to make a mold for casting a sculpture from a marble mass using a wax figure. Some researchers believe that clay was used to create the molds. They put the statue in a kind of box, filled it with clay. After complete hardening, the clay could be warmed up, and the wax could be allowed to flow out of it. So much for the form, empty and precise.
Promotional video:
Abduction of Proserpine. The sculptor - Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini.
Apollo and Daphne. The sculptor - Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini.
Ecstasy of Blessed Louis Albertoni (1671 - 1674) - marble, San Francesco a Ripa, Rome. The sculptor - Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini.
But is it so important how these masterpieces were made. Finding out the truth is unlikely to diminish our admiration for them. It is unlikely that these sculptures will be of less value to us. So let's just admire!
Author: Ivan Korzhev
