History of sculpture
Encyclopedia
The history of sculpture spans pre-historic
and ancient
civilizations to the contemporary
, from the utilitarian and religious to Modernist abstraction
, and conceptual manifestations
of both form and content
.
Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the Ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in South America and Africa. Aniconism
remained restricted to the Jewish
, Zoroastrian and some other religions, before expanding to Early Buddhism
and Early Christianity
, neither of which initially accepted at least large sculptures. In both Christianity and Buddhism these early views were later reversed, and sculpture became very significant, especially in Buddhism. Christian Eastern Orthodoxy has never accepted monumental sculpture, and Islam
has consistently rejected all figurative sculpture. Many forms of Protestantism
also do not approve of religious sculpture. There has been much iconoclasm
of sculpture from religious motives, from the Early Christians, the Beeldenstorm
of the Protestant Reformation
to the recent destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan
by the Taliban. Nonetheless, the Buddha
remains a popular subject for sculptural art, and sculptors all over the world celebrate the Buddha
in their work.
Sculpture
as an art form goes back to Prehistoric times. Most Stone Age
statuettes were made of ivory or soft stone, however some clay human and animal figures have been found. Small female statues known as Venus figurines
have been found mainly in central Europe
. The Venus of Willendorf
(24,000-22,000 BC), from the area of Willendorf
, Austria
, is a well-known example.
(Iraq
), beginning in the 5th millennium BC
, the Sumer
ian civilization developed. Materials used for sculpture during this time included basalt, diorite (a type of dark, coarse-grained stone), sandstone, and alabaster. Copper, gold, silver, shells, lapis lazuli and a variety of precious stones were used for high quality sculpture and inlays. Clay
was used for pottery and terra cotta sculpture. Stone was generally rare and had to be imported from other locations.
Sculptures from the Sumerian and Akkadian period generally had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. Votive stone sculptures of this type from 3100 BC include the Lady of Uruk, other pieces from 2700 BC were discovered at Tell Asmar. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur
(2650 BC). Among them are a wooden harp with gold and mosaic inlay with a black-bearded golden bull's head.
, in 1750 BC. Hammurabi was famous for his code of law
. A bearded head, made of diorite, is believed to represent Hammurabi. The head has the wide open eyes, typical of the time period.
Also well-known is the lamassu, a human-headed winged lion from 883-859 BC. A unique feature of this piece is that it is carved with five legs, so that it can have four legs visible if viewed from the side. The piece was excavated at Nimrud
(in northern Mesopotamia
), and was donated to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
in 1932.
of King Narmer, from ca. 3100 BC. The palette, which was used for mixing eye make-up, was carved in relief, and portrayed the victory of Upper Egypt
over Lower Egypt
.
The Sphinx
es are another form of ancient Egyptian sculpture. The Sphinxes were statues of deities with the body of a lion and the head of an animal or a man, often made to look like the Pharaoh
. The most famous is the Great Sphinx of Giza
, located near the pyramids. It is about 60 feet (18.3 m) high and 240 feet (73.2 m) long, and was built in 2500 BC.
Another example of Egyptian sculpture are the statues of the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his Queen, Nefertiti
(1350 BC). The statues are carved from limestone and are painted. There is also a very famous statue of Nefertiti from the same time period.
These are only a few of the many sculptures produced in ancient Egypt which ran from strongly stylized to of exceptional realism such as that seen in the Ankhhaf
sculpture. Many sculptures can now be seen at the Egyptian Museum
in Cairo
.
covers the time period of 3000-1200 BC, during the Bronze Age
, in the area of the Aegean Sea
. The Aegean civilization can be broken down into three main divisions, the Cycladic, the Minoan
and the Mycenaean
.
The Cycladic culture developed on the Cycladic Islands, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens
. Cycladic culture developed pottery, often decorated with rectangular, circular, or spiral designs. They also produced silver jewelry. Characteristic of their sculpture are marble sculptures of the human figure ranging from a few inches in size to life-size. The figures are usually nude females with their arms crossed over their abdomen. Other sculptures included seated or standing musicians. Examples of sculptures of musicians include a seated lyre player from 2000 BC. Statues of a lute player and a harpist were found together in a single grave on Keros
, dating from 2700 - 2750 BC.
The culture developed mainly on Crete
, especially at Knossos
and Phaistos
. The civilization was named after King Minos
and reached its peak in the second millennium BC.
Minoan sculpture consists mainly of a few statuettes and carved semi-precious stone seal
s. One of the best-known sculptures is that of a snake goddess
, of a goddess holding a snake in each hand, from Knossos, 1600 BC. Bulls were also depicted in both paintings and sculptures of Minoan times. A rhyton (drinking horn) in the shape of a bull was found in Knossos from 1500-1450 BC. In addition, there are many double-bladed axes, called "labrys", probably related to sacrifice. Some of the axes are taller than an adult.
The Mycenaen culture flourished in the late Bronze Age, on the mainland of Greece. According to legend, it was the Greeks of Mycenae under King Agamemnon that fought the Trojan War
.
The Mycenaeans adorned their architecture with relief carvings. A relief is a design or scene that is carved into a flat area, so it is like a three dimensional picture. A famous example of this is the Lion Gate in the outer wall of the Palace of Mycenae (14th & 15th centuries BC). Above the lintel (top of the doorway), two lions are carved to fit into a triangular shape.
The Mycenaeans also produced funeral masks. A famous example is a gold mask found in the royal tombs of Mycenae from c. 1500 BC. Also found in a tomb were gold cups from Vaphio
, with bulls portrayed in relief.
with Carthage. A wealthy outpost of Greek civilization on the island of Sicily, Syracuse was thoroughly plundered and most of its magnificent Hellenistic sculpture was taken to Rome where it replaced the earlier styles of the Etruscan tradition. The Romans continued to admire the Hellenistic style, and eventually workshops throughout the Greek world (especially Asia Minor) provided the statuary without which no patrician villa was complete.
Some different kinds of classical Roman sculpture are as follows:
reliefs, as well as smaller objects such as the consular diptych
. Such objects, often in valuable materials, were also the main sculptural traditions (as far as is known) of the barbaric civilizations of the Migration period
, as seen in the objects found in the 6th century burial treasure at Sutton Hoo
, and the jewellery of Scythian art
and the hybrid Christian and animal style
productions of Insular art
.
Byzantine art
, though producing superb ivory reliefs and architectural decorative carving, never returned to monumental sculpture, or even much small sculpture in the round. However in the West during the Carolingian
and Ottonian
periods there was the beginnings of a production of monumental statues, in courts and major churches. This gradually spread; by the late 10th and 11th century there are records of several apparently life-size sculptures in Anglo-Saxon
churches, probably of precious metal around a wooden frame, like the Golden Madonna of Essen
. No Anglo-Saxon example has survived, and survivals of large non-architectural sculpture from before 1,000 are exceptionally rare. Much the finest is the Gero Cross, of 965-70, which is a crucifix
, which was evidently the commonest type of sculpture; Charlemagne
had set one up in the Palatine Chapel in Aachen
around 800. These continued to grow in popularity, especially in Germany and Italy. The high cross
reliefs of Christian Great Britain were in the tradition of the rune stone
s of the Nordic
world and the Pictish stones of Scotland
.
developed new focuses for sculpture, such as the tympanum
over church doors, and the inhabited capital (one with figures). In France
the most important centers for sculpture include: Cluny
, Autun
, Vézelay
, Toulouse
and Moissac
. In Spain
, León
and Santiago de Compostela
have some of the finest survivals, and in Italy
Como
, Modena
, Verona
, Ferrara
, Parma
, Pisa
, Lucca
and Apulia
n cities.
period (from 12th to 15th century) there was a return of natural proportion and realistic human figure description in sculpture. Masters such as sculptors of the Reims
school in France or Nicola Pisano
in Italy often anticipated developments in painting by several decades; Nicola Pisano's first masterpieces date from the 1260s; Giotto's masterpieces date from the end of 13th century).
Especially in Germany, wood sculpture also thrived, and wooden retable
s could be huge. Single free-standing figures, typically still less than half-size, were made in various media, normally of religious subjects. Life-size tomb effigies in stone or alabaster
became popular for the wealthy, and grand multi-level tombs evolved, with the Scaliger Tombs
of Verona
so large they had to be moved outside the church. By the 15th century there was an industry exporting Nottingham alabaster
reliefs over much of Europe for economical parishes who could not afford stone retables.
Paris was the main center for small ivories, mostly in deeply cut relief. As well as small religious works, often in polyptych
form, secular combs, boxes and mirror cases were common among the rich.
means rebirth and this period takes its name from the renewed interest in secular, classical art and literature developed among the ruling and mercantile elites of Northern Italy in the 15th Century. Michelangelo
, Donatello
, and Verrocchio are three of the best known Italian sculptors of this period, while Tilman Riemenschneider's
name stands out among those north of the Alps.
The first appearance of the free-standing, erotic, young male nude
connects this period to the ancient Greeks and Romans - but the
sculptural style borrows equally, if not more, from the late
Gothic masters like Lorenzo Ghiberti
, Tullio Lombardo
, Jacopo Della Quercia
, and Andrea Pisano
. Donatello
is usually singled out as the first master of the Renaissance - with dazzling complexity in his deep perspective reliefs and virtuosity everywhere in his large body of work. The Renaissance period ends with the beginning of the 17th century, as sculpture is
primarily called to serve a revived and militant Roman Catholicism.
But its many great sculptural monuments continued to make the cities and churches of Northern Italy important tourist centers through the 18th, 19th, 20th centuries - and up to the present day.
Michelangelo's great rival Leonardo Da Vinci
designed an equine sculpture "The Horse" for Milan-but only succeeded in a 24 feet (7.3 m) clay model which was destroyed by French archers.
, based in Florence, was the presiding influence on Northern Mannerism
, with editions of his smaller bronzes reaching all the courts of Europe. Leone Leoni
worked mainly on portraits of the Habsburg
s and their allies. His compositions were designed to be seen from all angles, and this reflected a general continuation of the Renaissance move away from the relief to sculpture created in the round, and designed to be placed in the middle of a large space - elaborate fountains such as Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
(Rome, 1651), or those in the Gardens of Versailles
were a Baroque speciality. The Baroque
style was perfectly suited to sculpture, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini
the most outstanding of a number of masters.
The Protestant Reformation
brought an almost total stop to religious sculpture in much of Northern Europe, and though secular sculpture, especially for portrait busts and tomb monuments, continued, the Dutch Golden Age
has no significant sculptural component. Statues of rulers and the nobility became increasingly popular.
In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines - the Trevi Fountain
was only completed in 1762. Rococo
style was better suited to smaller works, and arguably found its ideal sculptural form in early European porcelain. The Neoclassical style
that arrived at the end of the century gave great emphasis to sculpture. Jean-Antoine Houdon
exemplifies the penetrating portrait sculpture the style could produce, and Antonio Canova
's nudes and the idealist aspect of the movement.
Sculpture in what is now Latin America
developed in two separate and distinct areas, Mesoamerica
in the north
and Peru
in the south. In both areas, sculpture was initially of stone, and later of terra cotta
and metal as the civilizations in these areas became more technologically proficient. The Mesoamerican region produced more monumental sculpture, from the massive block-like works of the Olmec
and Toltec
cultures, to the superb low relief
s that characterize the Maya
n and Aztec
cultures. In the Andean region, sculptures were typically small, but often show superb skill.
In North America
, wood was sculpted for totem
s, totem poles, masks, and boats. The arrival of European Catholic culture readily adapted local skills to the prevailing Baroque
style, producing enormously elaborate retablo
s and other church sculptures in a slightly hybrid style. Later, artists trained in the Western academic tradition followed European styles until in the late nineteenth century they began to draw again on indigenous influences.
The history of sculpture in the United States after Europeans' arrival reflects the country's 18th-century foundation in Roman
republican civic values and Protestant Christianity
. Compared to areas colonized by the Spanish, sculpture got off to an extremely slow start in the British colonies, with next to no place in churches, and was only given impetus by the need to assert nationality after independence. American sculpture of the mid- to late-19th century was often classical, often romantic, but showed a bent for a dramatic, narrative, almost journalistic realism. Public buildings of the first half of the 20th century often provided an architectural setting for sculpture, especially in relief. By the 1950s, traditional sculpture education would almost be completely replaced by a Bauhaus
-influenced concern for abstract
design. Minimalist sculpture often replaced the figure in public settings. Modern sculptors use both classical and abstract inspired designs. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a swing back toward figurative public sculpture; by 2000, many of the new public pieces in the United States were figurative in design.
Pre-historic art
In the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate, prehistorical cultures beginning somewhere in very late geological history, and generally continuing until that culture either develops writing or other methods of record-keeping, or it makes significant contact with another...
and ancient
Ancient art
Arts of the ancient world refer to the many types of art that were in the cultures of ancient societies, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.-Egypt:...
civilizations to the contemporary
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, from the utilitarian and religious to Modernist abstraction
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, and conceptual manifestations
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
of both form and content
Form and content
In art and art criticism, form and content are considered distinct aspects of a work of art. The term form refers to the work's style, techniques and media used, and how the elements of design are implemented. Content, on the other hand, refers to a work's essence, or what is being depicted....
.
Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the Ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in South America and Africa. Aniconism
Aniconism
Aniconism is the practice or belief in avoiding or shunning images of divine beings, prophets or other respected religious figures, or in different manifestations, any human beings or living creatures. The term aniconic may be used to describe the absence of graphic representations in a particular...
remained restricted to the Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Zoroastrian and some other religions, before expanding to Early Buddhism
Early Buddhism
The term Early Buddhism can refer to:* Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the Teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha....
and Early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
, neither of which initially accepted at least large sculptures. In both Christianity and Buddhism these early views were later reversed, and sculpture became very significant, especially in Buddhism. Christian Eastern Orthodoxy has never accepted monumental sculpture, and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
has consistently rejected all figurative sculpture. Many forms of Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
also do not approve of religious sculpture. There has been much iconoclasm
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
of sculpture from religious motives, from the Early Christians, the Beeldenstorm
Beeldenstorm
Beeldenstorm in Dutch, roughly translatable to "statue storm", or Bildersturm in German , also the Iconoclastic Fury, is a term used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th century...
of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
to the recent destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan
Buddhas of Bamyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters...
by the Taliban. Nonetheless, the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
remains a popular subject for sculptural art, and sculptors all over the world celebrate the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
in their work.
Sculpture in Prehistoric times
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
as an art form goes back to Prehistoric times. Most Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
statuettes were made of ivory or soft stone, however some clay human and animal figures have been found. Small female statues known as Venus figurines
Venus figurines
Venus figurines is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric statuettes of women portrayed with similar physical attributes from the Upper Palaeolithic, mostly found in Europe, but with finds as far east as Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, extending their distribution to much of Eurasia, from the...
have been found mainly in central Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The Venus of Willendorf
Venus of Willendorf
The Venus of Willendorf, also known as the Woman of Willendorf, is an high statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE. It was discovered in 1908 by archaeologist Josef Szombathy at a paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria near the...
(24,000-22,000 BC), from the area of Willendorf
Willendorf
Willendorf an der Schneebergbahn is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in Lower Austria, Austria. It is not to be confused with the famous Willendorf which the Venus of Willendorf was discovered in. That Willendorf is located in the municipality of Aggsbach, also in Austria....
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, is a well-known example.
Sculpture in Sumer and Akkad
In MesopotamiaMesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
), beginning in the 5th millennium BC
5th millennium BC
The 5th millennium BC saw the spread of agriculture from the Near East throughout southern and central Europe.Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia,...
, the Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian civilization developed. Materials used for sculpture during this time included basalt, diorite (a type of dark, coarse-grained stone), sandstone, and alabaster. Copper, gold, silver, shells, lapis lazuli and a variety of precious stones were used for high quality sculpture and inlays. Clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
was used for pottery and terra cotta sculpture. Stone was generally rare and had to be imported from other locations.
Sculptures from the Sumerian and Akkadian period generally had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. Votive stone sculptures of this type from 3100 BC include the Lady of Uruk, other pieces from 2700 BC were discovered at Tell Asmar. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
(2650 BC). Among them are a wooden harp with gold and mosaic inlay with a black-bearded golden bull's head.
Sculpture in Babylonia and Assyria
The history of the Babylonian period is considered to begin with the reign of HammurabiHammurabi
Hammurabi Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ʻAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer", from ʻAmmu, "paternal kinsman", and Rāpi, "healer"; (died c...
, in 1750 BC. Hammurabi was famous for his code of law
Code of Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating to ca. 1780 BC . It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay...
. A bearded head, made of diorite, is believed to represent Hammurabi. The head has the wide open eyes, typical of the time period.
Also well-known is the lamassu, a human-headed winged lion from 883-859 BC. A unique feature of this piece is that it is carved with five legs, so that it can have four legs visible if viewed from the side. The piece was excavated at Nimrud
Nimrud
Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
(in northern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
), and was donated to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
in 1932.
Sculpture in Ancient Egypt
One of the earliest examples of Egyptian sculpture is the PaletteNarmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
of King Narmer, from ca. 3100 BC. The palette, which was used for mixing eye make-up, was carved in relief, and portrayed the victory of Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
over Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
.
The Sphinx
Sphinx
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
es are another form of ancient Egyptian sculpture. The Sphinxes were statues of deities with the body of a lion and the head of an animal or a man, often made to look like the Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
. The most famous is the Great Sphinx of Giza
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza , commonly referred to as the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt....
, located near the pyramids. It is about 60 feet (18.3 m) high and 240 feet (73.2 m) long, and was built in 2500 BC.
Another example of Egyptian sculpture are the statues of the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his Queen, Nefertiti
Nefertiti
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only...
(1350 BC). The statues are carved from limestone and are painted. There is also a very famous statue of Nefertiti from the same time period.
These are only a few of the many sculptures produced in ancient Egypt which ran from strongly stylized to of exceptional realism such as that seen in the Ankhhaf
Ankhhaf
Prince Ankhhaf was an Egyptian prince and served as vizier and overseer of works to the Pharaoh Khafre, who was Ankhhaf's nephew. He lived during 4th dynasty of Egypt.-Biography:...
sculpture. Many sculptures can now be seen at the Egyptian Museum
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms....
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
.
Aegean sculpture
The Aegean civilizationAegean civilization
Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea. There are three distinct but communicating and interacting geographic regions covered by this term: Crete, the Cyclades and the Greek mainland. Crete is associated with the Minoan civilization...
covers the time period of 3000-1200 BC, during the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, in the area of the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. The Aegean civilization can be broken down into three main divisions, the Cycladic, the Minoan
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
and the Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
.
The Cycladic culture developed on the Cycladic Islands, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Cycladic culture developed pottery, often decorated with rectangular, circular, or spiral designs. They also produced silver jewelry. Characteristic of their sculpture are marble sculptures of the human figure ranging from a few inches in size to life-size. The figures are usually nude females with their arms crossed over their abdomen. Other sculptures included seated or standing musicians. Examples of sculptures of musicians include a seated lyre player from 2000 BC. Statues of a lute player and a harpist were found together in a single grave on Keros
Keros
Keros is an uninhabited Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisi. It has an area of and its highest point is...
, dating from 2700 - 2750 BC.
The culture developed mainly on Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, especially at Knossos
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
and Phaistos
Phaistos
Phaistos , also transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Phaestus is an ancient city on the island of Crete. Phaistos was located in the south-central portion of the island, about 5.6 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea. It was inhabited from about 4000 BC. A palace, dating from the Middle Bronze...
. The civilization was named after King Minos
Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...
and reached its peak in the second millennium BC.
Minoan sculpture consists mainly of a few statuettes and carved semi-precious stone seal
Minoan seal-stones
Minoan seal-stones are gemstones, or near-gem-quality stones produced in the Minoan civilization. They were found in quantity at specific sites, for example the Citadel of Mycenae....
s. One of the best-known sculptures is that of a snake goddess
Snake Goddess
Snake Goddess, indicates figurines of a woman holding a snake in each hand found during excavation of Minoan archaeological sites in Crete dating from approximately 1600 BCE.It seems that the two elegant idols found in Knossos represented goddesses and by implication, the term 'snake goddess'...
, of a goddess holding a snake in each hand, from Knossos, 1600 BC. Bulls were also depicted in both paintings and sculptures of Minoan times. A rhyton (drinking horn) in the shape of a bull was found in Knossos from 1500-1450 BC. In addition, there are many double-bladed axes, called "labrys", probably related to sacrifice. Some of the axes are taller than an adult.
The Mycenaen culture flourished in the late Bronze Age, on the mainland of Greece. According to legend, it was the Greeks of Mycenae under King Agamemnon that fought the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
.
The Mycenaeans adorned their architecture with relief carvings. A relief is a design or scene that is carved into a flat area, so it is like a three dimensional picture. A famous example of this is the Lion Gate in the outer wall of the Palace of Mycenae (14th & 15th centuries BC). Above the lintel (top of the doorway), two lions are carved to fit into a triangular shape.
The Mycenaeans also produced funeral masks. A famous example is a gold mask found in the royal tombs of Mycenae from c. 1500 BC. Also found in a tomb were gold cups from Vaphio
Vaphio
Vaphio is an ancient site in Laconia, Greece, on the right bank of the Eurotas, some five miles south of Sparta. It is famous for its tholos or "bee-hive" tomb, excavated in 1889 by Christos Tsountas...
, with bulls portrayed in relief.
Sculpture of Ancient Rome
Classical Roman sculpture began with the sack of the Syracuse in 212 B.C. during the second Punic warPunic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C.E. to 146 B.C.E. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had ever taken place...
with Carthage. A wealthy outpost of Greek civilization on the island of Sicily, Syracuse was thoroughly plundered and most of its magnificent Hellenistic sculpture was taken to Rome where it replaced the earlier styles of the Etruscan tradition. The Romans continued to admire the Hellenistic style, and eventually workshops throughout the Greek world (especially Asia Minor) provided the statuary without which no patrician villa was complete.
Some different kinds of classical Roman sculpture are as follows:
- Relief - shallow three dimensional carvings on flat surfaces, used for architectural works such as columns, arches and Temples. An example of this type of sculpture would be the Ara PacisAra PacisThe Ara Pacis Augustae is an altar to Peace, envisioned as a Roman goddess...
(Altar of Peace) from 13 - 9 B.C. The Ara Pacis was a monument to the Pax Romana (The Roman Peace), 200 years of peace and prosperity ushered in by Emperor Augustus. Another example of relief sculpture would be Trajan's ColumnTrajan's ColumnTrajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near...
, dating from 106 - 113 A.D. adorned with scenes of Trajan's battles in a continuous spiral around the column.
- Free standing sculpture - Most of this work was destroyed during Barbarian invasion or Christian rebuilding. The marble was burned for lime and the bronze melted for other purposes. An outstanding example of a piece that survived is the Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius on a horse), dating from 161 - 180 A.D. Legend has it that the emperor's imposing demeanor spared the piece from destruction. Another tradition states the statue was spared because a happy misconception of the Middle Ages, when the famous statue was thought to be a portrait of Rome's first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great and was thus piously left unharmed. Common locations for statues were in the temples, the public baths or the city Forum (the social and commercial center of the town).
- Portrait sculpture - Subjects for these sculptures would include various patricians and especially emperors - multiple copies of which were circulated around the empire. Roman portrait sculpture embodied Roman civic virtues and have set the standard for European (and American) public portrait sculpture ever since. One well known example is the bust of Emperor Constantine.
Pre-Romanesque sculpture
The Early Christians were opposed to monumental religious sculpture, though continuing Roman traditions in portrait busts and sarcophagusSarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
reliefs, as well as smaller objects such as the consular diptych
Consular diptych
In Late Antiquity a consular diptych was a particular type of diptych which could function as a writing tablet but was also intended as a deluxe commemorative object, commissioned by a consul ordinarius and then distributed to reward those who had supported his candidature as...
. Such objects, often in valuable materials, were also the main sculptural traditions (as far as is known) of the barbaric civilizations of the Migration period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
, as seen in the objects found in the 6th century burial treasure at Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
, and the jewellery of Scythian art
Scythian art
Scythian art is art, primarily decorative objects, such as jewelry, produced by the nomadic tribes in the area known classically as Scythia, which was centred on the Pontic-Caspian steppe and ranged from modern Kazakhstan to the Baltic coast of modern Poland and to Georgia...
and the hybrid Christian and animal style
Animal style
Animal style art is characterized by its emphasis on animal and bird motifs, and the term describes an approach to decoration which existed from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period...
productions of Insular art
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe...
.
Byzantine art
Byzantine art
Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
, though producing superb ivory reliefs and architectural decorative carving, never returned to monumental sculpture, or even much small sculpture in the round. However in the West during the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
and Ottonian
Ottonian
The Ottonian dynasty was a dynasty of Germanic Kings , named after its first emperor but also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin. The family itself is also sometimes known as the Liudolfings, after its earliest known member Liudolf and one of its primary leading-names...
periods there was the beginnings of a production of monumental statues, in courts and major churches. This gradually spread; by the late 10th and 11th century there are records of several apparently life-size sculptures in Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
churches, probably of precious metal around a wooden frame, like the Golden Madonna of Essen
Golden Madonna of Essen
The Golden Madonna of Essen is a sculpture with a wooden core covered all over with sheets of thin gold leaf of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus...
. No Anglo-Saxon example has survived, and survivals of large non-architectural sculpture from before 1,000 are exceptionally rare. Much the finest is the Gero Cross, of 965-70, which is a crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
, which was evidently the commonest type of sculpture; Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
had set one up in the Palatine Chapel in Aachen
Palatine Chapel in Aachen
The Palatine Chapel is an Early Medieval chapel that is the remaining component of Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen. Although the palace no longer exists, the chapel has been incorporated into the Aachen Cathedral, Germany. It is the city's major landmark and the central monument of the Carolingian...
around 800. These continued to grow in popularity, especially in Germany and Italy. The high cross
High cross
A high cross or standing cross is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors...
reliefs of Christian Great Britain were in the tradition of the rune stone
Rune stone
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century, and it lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date from the late Viking Age...
s of the Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
world and the Pictish stones of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Romanesque sculpture
Approximately after 1000 there was a general rebirth of artistic production in all Europe, due to a general economic growth in production and commerce. Great cathedrals and pilgrim's churches were decorated with huge series of sculptures, the great majority architectural stone reliefs. Romanesque artRomanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
developed new focuses for sculpture, such as the tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
over church doors, and the inhabited capital (one with figures). In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
the most important centers for sculpture include: Cluny
Cluny
Cluny or Clungy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km northwest of Mâcon.The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 910...
, Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
, Vézelay
Vézelay
Vézelay is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France. It is a defendable hill town famous for Vézelay Abbey. The town and the Basilica of St Magdelene are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites....
, Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and Moissac
Moissac
Moissac is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is famous world-wide mostly for the artistic heritage handed down by the ancient Saint-Pierre Abbey.-History:...
. In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, León
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
and Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
have some of the finest survivals, and in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
, Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
, Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
and Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
n cities.
Gothic sculpture
During the GothicGothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
period (from 12th to 15th century) there was a return of natural proportion and realistic human figure description in sculpture. Masters such as sculptors of the Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
school in France or Nicola Pisano
Nicola Pisano
Nicola Pisano was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the founder of modern sculpture.- Early life :His birth date or origins are uncertain...
in Italy often anticipated developments in painting by several decades; Nicola Pisano's first masterpieces date from the 1260s; Giotto's masterpieces date from the end of 13th century).
Especially in Germany, wood sculpture also thrived, and wooden retable
Retable
A retable is a framed altarpiece, raised slightly above the back of the altar or communion table, on which are placed the cross, ceremonial candlesticks and other ornaments....
s could be huge. Single free-standing figures, typically still less than half-size, were made in various media, normally of religious subjects. Life-size tomb effigies in stone or alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
became popular for the wealthy, and grand multi-level tombs evolved, with the Scaliger Tombs
Scaliger Tombs
The Scaliger Tombs is a group of five Gothic funerary monuments in Verona, Italy, celebrating the Scaliger family, who ruled in Verona from the 13th to the late 14th century....
of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
so large they had to be moved outside the church. By the 15th century there was an industry exporting Nottingham alabaster
Nottingham Alabaster
Nottingham alabaster is a term used to refer to the English sculpture industry, mostly of relatively small religious carvings, which flourished from the fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century...
reliefs over much of Europe for economical parishes who could not afford stone retables.
Paris was the main center for small ivories, mostly in deeply cut relief. As well as small religious works, often in polyptych
Polyptych
A polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into sections, or panels. The terminology that follows is in relevance to the number of panels integrated into a particular piece of work: "diptych" describes a two-part work of art; "triptych" describes a three-part work; "tetraptych"...
form, secular combs, boxes and mirror cases were common among the rich.
Sculpture in the Renaissance
RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
means rebirth and this period takes its name from the renewed interest in secular, classical art and literature developed among the ruling and mercantile elites of Northern Italy in the 15th Century. Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, Donatello
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
, and Verrocchio are three of the best known Italian sculptors of this period, while Tilman Riemenschneider's
Tilman Riemenschneider
Tilman Riemenschneider was a German sculptor and woodcarver active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between late Gothic and Renaissance, a master in stone and limewood.- Biography :Tilman Riemenschneider was born between 1459...
name stands out among those north of the Alps.
The first appearance of the free-standing, erotic, young male nude
connects this period to the ancient Greeks and Romans - but the
sculptural style borrows equally, if not more, from the late
Gothic masters like Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti , born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.-Early life:...
, Tullio Lombardo
Lombardo (family)
Lombardo, the name of a family of Venetian sculptors and architects; their surname was apparently Solaro, and the name of Lombardo was given to the earliest known, Martino, who emigrated from Lombardy to Venice in the middle of the 15th century AD and became celebrated as an architect.Martino...
, Jacopo Della Quercia
Jacopo della Quercia
Jacopo della Quercia was an Italian sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, a contemporary of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and Donatello. He is considered a precursor of Michelangelo.-Biography:...
, and Andrea Pisano
Andrea Pisano
Andrea Pisano , also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor and architect.-Biography:Andrea Pisano was born at Pontedera, where he also died....
. Donatello
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
is usually singled out as the first master of the Renaissance - with dazzling complexity in his deep perspective reliefs and virtuosity everywhere in his large body of work. The Renaissance period ends with the beginning of the 17th century, as sculpture is
primarily called to serve a revived and militant Roman Catholicism.
But its many great sculptural monuments continued to make the cities and churches of Northern Italy important tourist centers through the 18th, 19th, 20th centuries - and up to the present day.
Michelangelo's great rival Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
designed an equine sculpture "The Horse" for Milan-but only succeeded in a 24 feet (7.3 m) clay model which was destroyed by French archers.
Mannerism to Neoclassicism
The Flemish sculptor GiambolognaGiambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
, based in Florence, was the presiding influence on Northern Mannerism
Northern Mannerism
Northern Mannerism is the term in European art history for the versions of Mannerism practiced in the visual arts north of the Alps in the 16th and early 17th century...
, with editions of his smaller bronzes reaching all the courts of Europe. Leone Leoni
Leone Leoni
Leone Leoni was an Italian sculptor of international outlook who travelled in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, the Spanish Netherlands and Spain. Leoni is regarded as the finest of the Cinquecento medallists. He made his reputation in commissions he received from the Habsburg monarchs Charles V,...
worked mainly on portraits of the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s and their allies. His compositions were designed to be seen from all angles, and this reflected a general continuation of the Renaissance move away from the relief to sculpture created in the round, and designed to be placed in the middle of a large space - elaborate fountains such as Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or "Fountain of the Four Rivers" is a fountain in Rome, Italy, located in the urban square of the Piazza Navona...
(Rome, 1651), or those in the Gardens of Versailles
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
were a Baroque speciality. The Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style was perfectly suited to sculpture, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
the most outstanding of a number of masters.
The Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
brought an almost total stop to religious sculpture in much of Northern Europe, and though secular sculpture, especially for portrait busts and tomb monuments, continued, the Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...
has no significant sculptural component. Statues of rulers and the nobility became increasingly popular.
In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines - the Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres high and 20 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world....
was only completed in 1762. Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
style was better suited to smaller works, and arguably found its ideal sculptural form in early European porcelain. The Neoclassical style
Neoclassical sculpture
Neoclassical sculpture was a sculptural style of the 18th and 19th centuries. The neoclassical period was one of the great ages of public sculpture, though its "classical" prototypes were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. The neoclassical sculptors paid homage to an idea of...
that arrived at the end of the century gave great emphasis to sculpture. Jean-Antoine Houdon
Jean-Antoine Houdon
Jean-Antoine Houdon was a French neoclassical sculptor. Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment...
exemplifies the penetrating portrait sculpture the style could produce, and Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...
's nudes and the idealist aspect of the movement.
The Americas
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
developed in two separate and distinct areas, Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
in the north
North
North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the top side of a map is north....
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
in the south. In both areas, sculpture was initially of stone, and later of terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
and metal as the civilizations in these areas became more technologically proficient. The Mesoamerican region produced more monumental sculpture, from the massive block-like works of the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
and Toltec
Toltec
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology...
cultures, to the superb low relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
s that characterize the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
n and Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
cultures. In the Andean region, sculptures were typically small, but often show superb skill.
In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, wood was sculpted for totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
s, totem poles, masks, and boats. The arrival of European Catholic culture readily adapted local skills to the prevailing Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style, producing enormously elaborate retablo
Retablo
A Retablo or lamina is a Latin American devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art....
s and other church sculptures in a slightly hybrid style. Later, artists trained in the Western academic tradition followed European styles until in the late nineteenth century they began to draw again on indigenous influences.
The history of sculpture in the United States after Europeans' arrival reflects the country's 18th-century foundation in Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
republican civic values and Protestant Christianity
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. Compared to areas colonized by the Spanish, sculpture got off to an extremely slow start in the British colonies, with next to no place in churches, and was only given impetus by the need to assert nationality after independence. American sculpture of the mid- to late-19th century was often classical, often romantic, but showed a bent for a dramatic, narrative, almost journalistic realism. Public buildings of the first half of the 20th century often provided an architectural setting for sculpture, especially in relief. By the 1950s, traditional sculpture education would almost be completely replaced by a Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
-influenced concern for abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
design. Minimalist sculpture often replaced the figure in public settings. Modern sculptors use both classical and abstract inspired designs. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a swing back toward figurative public sculpture; by 2000, many of the new public pieces in the United States were figurative in design.
See also
- StatueStatueA statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
- List of basic sculpture topics
- Bronze sculptureBronze sculptureBronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
- Equestrian sculptureEquestrian sculptureAn equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin "eques", meaning "knight", deriving from "equus", meaning "horse". A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an "equine statue"...
- List of sculptors
- Depictions of nudity
- Marble sculptureMarble sculptureMarble sculpture is the art of creating three-dimensional forms from marble. Sculpture is among the oldest of the arts. Even before painting cave walls, early humans fashioned shapes from stone. From these beginnings, artifacts have evolved to their current complexity...
- Stone carvingStone carvingStone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work....
- Stone sculptureStone sculptureStone sculpture is the result of forming 3-dimensional visually interesting objects from stone.Carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself, beginning perhaps with incised images on cave walls. Prehistoric sculptures were usually human forms, such as the Venus of...
- StonemasonryStonemasonryThe craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
- GlassblowingGlassblowingGlassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of a blowpipe, or blow tube...
- Environmental sculptureEnvironmental sculptureThe term environmental sculpture is variously defined. A development of the art of the 20th century, environmental sculpture usually creates or alters the environment for the viewer, as opposed to presenting itself figurally or monumentally before the viewer...
- PetroglyphPetroglyphPetroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
- History of ArtHistory of artThe History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
Sources
- Bailey, Douglass. (2005). Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic. Routledge Publishers. ISBN 0-415-33152-8
External links
- Essays on sculpture from Sweet Briar College, Department of Art History
- International Sculpture Center
- Sculpture artists listings from the-artists.org
- Escultores.com Videos and pictures of sculpture
- http://www.thais.it/scultura/rinascim1.htm
- Giust Gallery, Replicas of Classical Sculptures