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History of Sculpture
Contents
Introduction
Prehistoric Sculpture
Sculpture of Classical Antiquity (c.1100-100 BCE)
Celtic Metal Sculpture (400-100 BCE)
Roman Sculpture (c.200 BCE - c.200 CE)
Byzantine Sculpture (330-1450 CE)
Sculpture During The Dark Ages (c.500-800)
Romanesque Sculpture (c.800-1200)
Gothic Sculpture (c.1150-1300)
Italian Renaissance Sculpture (c.1400-1600)
Rape of the Sabine Women (1579-82) Baroque Sculpture (c.1600-1700)
By the Mannerist Giambologna. Is it
the finest post-Renaissance statue? Rococo Sculpture (c.1700-1789)
Neoclassical Sculpture (Flourished c.1790-1830)
19th Century Sculpture
20th Century Sculpture: The Advent of Modernism
Post-War Sculpture (1945-70)
Postmodernist Contemporary Sculpture
Even today, visit any cathedral, or any of the great cities, squares or
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-52) buildings of the world, and you are certain to see great examples of 3-D art.
By Bernini.
Sculpture begins in the Stone Age. Exactly when, we don't know. The earliest
known examples are the two primitive stone effigies known as The Venus of
Berekhat Ram and The Venus of Tan-Tan. The Venus of Berekhat Ram (dating
from c.230,000 BCE or earlier) is a basaltic figurine made during the
The Burghers of Calais (1885-95)
By Auguste Rodin. Acheulian Period, which was discovered on the Golan Heights. The Venus of
Tan-Tan (c.200,000 BCE or earlier) is a quartzite figurine from the same
TYPES OF SCULPTURE period.
For bronzes - statues and reliefs,
see: Bronze Sculpture.
For Pentelic, Parian, Carrara If these objects are pre-sculptural forms, the earliest prehistoric
stone, see: Marble Sculpture. sculptureproper emerged around 35,000 BCE in the form of carvings of
For other similar forms of
carving, see: Stone Sculpture. animals, birds, and therianthropic figures, made during the Lower
For sculptures in wood, Perigordian/Aurignacian Period and discovered in the caves of Vogelherd,
see: Wood Carving.
For sculpting in clay, see: Hohle Fels, and Hohlenstein-Stadel, in the Swabian Jura, Germany. The
Ceramic Sculpture. earliest figurative sculpture is the ivory carving known as the Lion Man of the
Hohlenstein Stadel (38,000 BCE).
WORLD'S BEST SCULPTORS
For a list of the top 100 3-D
artists (500 BCE - present),
see: Greatest Sculptors.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SCULPTURE Another early type of Stone Age sculpture are the miniature obese figurines
As well as being the most enduring
form of art, sculpture is certainly called Venuses: such as the Venuses of Willendorf, Kostenky, Monpazier,
the most influential. Historically, Dolni Vestonice, Moravany, Brassempouy, and Gagarino. Made from materials
nearly all Kings, Popes and tyrants
have recognized the propaganda as varied as mammoth bone, ceramic clay and bone ash, as well as various
effect of inspirational sculpture. types of stone like steatite, oolitic limestone, serpentine, and volcanic rock,
Roman Emperors distributed portrait
busts of themselves to every corner
these venus figures have been located in sites across Europe, from Russia to
of their empire; the Roman Church Spain. Anthropologists believe they may have been used in fertility rituals,
decorated their cathedrals, abbeys although why fat women should be so iconic remains a mystery. (Lack of
and churches with tens of thousands
of statues and relief sculptures to food? Ed).
convey the message of the Bible;
Pharaohs, Kings and Emperors
from Ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece
and the modern world, have invested
fortunes in monumental sculpture Mesolithic Sculpture (c.10,000-4,000 BCE)
to commemorate success in battle.
Modern tyrants, from Stalin to Saddam
Hussein, have errected statues as
monuments to their glorious rule.
Mesolithic art witnessed more bas-reliefs and free standing sculpture such as
Of course nothing compares to the the anthropomorphic figurines unearthed in Nevali Cori and Gobekli Tepenear
inspirational message of America's Urfa in eastern Turkey, and the statues of Lepenski Vir (eg. The Fish God) in
Statue of Liberty, probably the No 1
propagandist work of sculpture. Serbia. It also witnessed the creation of the Shigir Idol (7,500 BCE) - the
As well as having huge narrative world's oldest surviving wood carving - found near Sverdlovsk in Russia.
content capable of promoting a
specific message, sculpture is also
Arguably the greatest Mesolithic work of art is the terracotta sculpture from
an arduous craft whose creators Romania, known as The Thinker of Cernavoda, an unmistakable image of
are highly dependent on both tools, cognitive thought.
technology. From the very earliest
tool-cultures of the Paleolithic era,
sculptural progress has been marked Neolithic Sculpture (c.4,000-2,000 BCE)
by the discovery of new materials
and equipment. Amazingly, by the
birth of Christ, most of the sculptor's Neolithic art is noted above all for its pottery, but it also featured free
traditional methods and techniques
had already been discovered, standing sculpture and bronze statuettes - in particular from the Indus Valley
including bronzework and the Civilization, the North Caucasus and pre-Columbian art in the Americas. The
refined goldsmithery practised
by nomadic tribes. most spectacular form of Neolithic art was Egyptian pyramid
In any event, for all these reasons, architecturewhose burial chambers led to an increased demand for various
the history of sculpture is closely types of reliefs as well as portable statues and statuettes. (See Egyptian
linked with the politics, technology
and financial prosperity of society. sculpture.) Indeed, the advent of the Bronze Age (In Europe: 3000-1200
Above all, its history is inextricably BCE) as well as the emergence of cities and public buildings, and the
related to architecture, the parent
art whose structures form such an development of more sophisticated tools, triggered a general increase in the
important home for decorative demand for all types of art, including sculpture. See, for
sculptural works. Every major
architectural movement has been
instance, Mesopotamian sculpture (3000-500). It was during this era that art
accompanied by huge demand for began to assume a significant role in reflecting the aspirations of powerful
sculptures of all kinds. rulers and the deities they worshipped. In short, prosperous and ambitious
communities were good for sculpture.
WORLD'S GREATEST ART WORKS
For a list of masterpieces of
sculpture, by sculptors across the Eastern Mediterranean Sculpture (c.2000-1100 BCE)
ages, see: Greatest Sculptures Ever.
Due to the cultural stagnation of the Greek "Dark Ages" (1100-900 BCE) and
the predominance of pottery during the Geometric Period (900-700 BCE),
Greek sculpture did not really appear until the Daedalic or Oriental-Style
Period around 650 BCE. Thereafter it developed according to the traditional
chronology of Greek art during classical antiquity, as follows: Archaic Period
(c.650-500 BCE); Classical Period (c.500-323 BCE); and Hellenistic Period
(c.323-100 BCE). For more, see: Greek Sculpture Made Simple.
Despite the political and military demise of the Greek City States from around
200 BCE, and the consequent rise of Rome, Greek sculpture retained its
status as the finest ever made. Even the Romans failed to overcome their
sense of inferiority in the face of Greek artistry, although they were cute
enough to copy as many Greek works as possible, and it is largely through
these copies that the art of Greek sculpture is known. The real influence
of Hellenistic Statues and Reliefs actually occurred 1600-1700 years later
when it was "rediscovered" by artists of the Early Renaissance in Italy, after
which it formed the cornerstone of European art for the next four centuries.
In short, the Greeks get maximum points.
Let's not forget the Celts - a series of nomadic tribes which emerged from the
Caucasus around 800 BCE, and gradually spread westwards across Europe
(600-100 BCE) as far as the Iberian peninsula, Britain and Ireland. Although
highly mobile, and masters of blacksmithery and goldsmithery, they were too
disorganized to compete with the highly disciplined and centralized State of
Rome. Eventually wholly Romanized, at least on the Continent, their Celtic
metalwork art included some of the finest metal sculpture of the age (eg.
the Broighter Boat c.100-50 BCE). They were also exceptional traders and
their intricate metalwork designs were exported and imitated throughout the
known world. For stonework by the Celts, see: Celtic Sculpture. For
monumental Keltoi stone sculpture, see: the Turoe Stone.
Until about 27 BCE, despite the influence of earlier Etruscan sculptors - noted
for their "joi de vivre" - Roman sculpture was unidealized and realistic;
thereafter it became sternly heroic, and quite mediocre. It was designed
above all to express the majesty and power of Roman rule, thus aside from a
number of magnificent historical reliefs (eg. the spiral bas-relief of Trajan's
Column) and rare monuments (eg. the Ara Pacis Augustae), Roman sculptors
were largely employed in the production of portrait busts of the Emperors and
other dignitaries. In short, no big deal.
Up until the fourth century, early Christian sculpture had been almost
exclusively tomb reliefs for sarcophagi in Rome. When the Roman Empire
divided into East and West, the Eastern capital was located in Constantinople.
The art of the Eastern Roman Empire, based in Byzantium, was almost
entirely religious, but, aside from some shallow ivory reliefs and goldsmithing,
the Eastern Orthodox brand of Christianity did not permit 3-D artworks like
statues or high reliefs. Good for painters, bad for sculptors.
As the name suggests, this was a dark and quiet time for European sculptors.
The Church was weak, the Barbarians (who weren't big into sculpture) were
strong, and cities were impoverished and uncultured. There was some activity
in Constantinople and on the fringes of Europe, for instance in Ireland, where
(from 800-1100) the monastic church began commissioning a number of
freestanding stone crosses known as Celtic High Cross sculptures - decorated
with Gospel scenes and other Celtic-style patterns - but little medieval art was
created on the Continent.
The Italian Renaissance was inspired by the "rediscovery" of, and reverence
for, the arts of Classical Antiquity, especially in the field of architecture and
sculpture. Renaissance art was also coloured by a strong belief in Humanism
and the nobility of Man. It began in Florence, being inspired by individuals
such as the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), the sculptor Donatello
(1386-1466), the painter Tommaso Masaccio and the theorist Leon Battista
Alberti (1404-72), and financed by the Medici Family. It then spread to Rome
- where it received support from the Papal ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-
84), Pope Julius II (1503-13), Pope Leo X (1513-21) and Pope Paul III (1534-
45) - and Venice. The arts in Northern Europe (notably Flanders, Holland,
Germany and England) also underwent a renaissance, particularly in oil
painting, printmaking and to a lesser extent wood-carving, although this so-
called Northern Renaissance developed somewhat independently due to the
Reformation (c.1520) and the consequent lack of religious patronage from a
Protestant Church that took a dim view of religious painting and sculpture.
Given the respect accorded to the Italian Renaissance, it's easy to forget that
many Italian artists were strongly influenced by Gothic traditions and
craftsmanship. Renaissance sculptors, in particular, were indebted to their
Gothic predecessors. One need only study the reliefs on the facades and
doorways of 12th century cathedrals to see the extraordinary three-
dimensional realism and emotionalism which was being achieved centuries
before the Renaissance. The big difference between Gothic and Renaissance
sculptors is that the names of the latter are now world-famous, while many of
the former are unknown.
Lorenzo Ghiberti
In 1401, a competition was held for the commission to create a pair of bronze
doors for the Florence Baptistry of St. John - one of the oldest surviving
churches in the city. Lorenzo Ghiberti duly won the commission for the doors,
which took him 27 years to finish. A second similar commission followed,
occupying Ghiberti for a further 25 years. However, his gates became a
tangible symbol of Florentine art, causing Michelangelo to refer to them "the
Gates of Paradise".
Donatello
The David (c.1475) by Andrea del Verrocchio is more refined but less intense
than Donatello's statue, while his equestrian statue of the
condottiere Bartolommeo Colleoni (1480s) is less heroic but conveys a greater
sense of movement and swagger than Donatello's Gattamelata (1444-53) in
Padua.
Other important sculptors of the High Renaissance include the artist and
Venetian architect Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570) and Baccio Bandinelli(1493-
1560).
If the confidence and order of the High Renaissance period was reflected in its
idealised forms of figurative sculpture, Mannerist sculpture reflected the chaos
and uncertainty of a Europe racked by religious division and a Rome recently
sacked and occupied by mercenary French soldiers. Mannerist sculptors
introduced a new expressiveness into their works, as exemplified by the
powerful Rape of the Sabines by Giambologna (1529-1608),
andPerseus (1545-54) by Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71). However, compare the
famous naturalistic recumbent marble statue of Saint Cecilia by Stefano
Maderno (1576-1636). See also Juan de Juni (1507-1577), who spread the
Renaissance to Spain, Alonso Berruguete (c.1486-1561) who introduced
Mannerism to Spain, and Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570) who launched
Mannerism in France. For the top French Mannerist sculptors, see: Jean
Goujon (c.1510-68), Germain Pilon (1529-1590), Barthelemy Prieur (1536-
1611) and Adriaen de Vries (1560-1626).
During the later 16th century, in response to the Protestant Reformation, the
Roman Catholic Church launched its own Counter Reformation. This
propaganda campaign, designed to persuade worshippers to return to the
"true" Church, employed the full panoply of the visual arts, including
architecture, sculpture and painting, and became associated with a grander,
more dramatic idiom known as Baroque art. It entailed massive patronage for
artists - good news for sculptors!
Even Saint Peter's Square in Rome, was remodelled in order to awe visitors.
The genius architect/sculptor Bernini (1598-1680) designed a series of
colonnades leading to the cathedral, which gave the impression to visitors
that they were being embraced by the arms of the Catholic Church.
Bernini was the greatest of all Baroque sculptors. After working for Cardinal
Scipione Borghese, he became the leading sculptor for Pope Urban VIII.
Drawn to the dramatic naturalism of what is called the Hellenistic baroque
style of the second and first century BCE, (eg. see works like The Vanquished
Gaul Killing Himself and his Wife) Bernini's unique contribution was to create
sensational illusionistic masterpieces (eg. by depicting a moment in time), in
a manner hitherto only achieved by painters. It was as if he treated the
relatively intractable materials of sculpture as if they were entirely malleable.
His sculptural technique and composition were so stunning that he attracted
no little criticism from envious rivals.
His main rival was Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), the favourite sculptor of
Pope Innocent X. If Bernini epitomized Greek dramatic naturalism, Algardi's
style was more restrained (critics say feeble). Another rival was the Flemish
sculptor Francois Duquesnoy (1594-1643) whose style was entirely classical.
Duquesnoy was rather a shadowy figure who worked in a severe, unemotional
style which was nevertheless highly regarded by academic writers for its
perfect synthesis of nature and the antique. The draperies flow elegantly,
following the shape of the body, while the figure is balanced in perfect grace
and repose - the complete opposite of Bernini's dynamic movement and
intense feeling.
French Baroque sculpture was exemplified by Francois Girardon (1628-1715),
a sort of French Algardi, and his rival Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720) whose
looser style was still relatively restrained compared to Bernini, and Pierre
Puget (1620-94) who was one of the very few sculptors to recapture the
immediacy of Bernini's best work.
The most successful sculptor of the first half of the 18th century
was Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746), Director of the French Academy from
1707, who continued the baroque trend of his uncle Coysevox. His pupil,
Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762), is a more interesting figure. whose feeling
for the antique led him to anticipate the later trend towards neoclassicism.
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-85), a favourite of Madame de Pompadour, was
another important exemplar of the Rococo style as was his chief rival
was Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-91) who specialized in erotic figures that
have a tenuous derivation from Hellenistic originals. His masterpiece,
however, remains his classical "Bronze Horseman" monument to Peter the
Great in St Petersburg - see Russian Sculpture.
Whimsical decadent Rococo was swept away by the French Revolution which
ushered in the new sterner style of Neoclassicism.
Neoclassical art - basically Greek art with a modern twist - was dominated
by Neoclassical architecture. Neoclassical buildings include the Pantheon
(Paris), the Arc de Triomphe (Paris), the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin), and the
United States Capitol Building. Neoclassical sculpture involved an emphasis on
the virtues of heroicism, duty and gravitas. Leading Neoclassical
sculptorsincluded the exceedingly severe and heroic Antonio Canova (1757-
1822), the troubled portrait-bust master Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-
1783), the more naturalistic/realist Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), the
rather light-hearted Claude Michel called Clodion (1738-1814), and the
English sculptors Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823), Thomas Banks (1735-
1805), John Flaxman(1755-1826), and Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856).
Only later in the 18th century did a worthy successor to Canova appear in the
person of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen (1770-1844), who
approached the antique with a comparable high-mindedness albeit with less
originality.
In many ways, the nineteenth century was an age of crisis for sculpture. In
simple terms, architectural development had largely exhausted itself, religious
patronage had declined as a result of the French Revolution, and the general
climate of "populism", began to cause much confusion in the minds of
institutional and private patrons as to what constituted acceptable subjects
(and styles) for sculptural representation. Being involved in a more expensive
art-form than painters, and thus dependent on high-cost commissions,
sculptors often found themselves at the mercy of public opinion in the form of
town councils and committees. Aside from a number of grandiose public
monuments, and the usual commemorative statues of Bishops and Kings -
invariably executed in the sterile, conformist style required by the authorities
(eg. the Albert Memorial) - sculptors had few opportunities to showcase their
originality. Painting on the other hand was undergoing huge and exciting
changes. In short, it was not a great time to be involved in 3-D art.
Auguste Rodin
With sculpture less able to reflect the new trends of modern art during the
19th century, leaving artists like Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) free to pursue a
monumentalism derived essentially from Renaissance ideology, and others to
celebrate Victorian values in the form of patriotic and historical figures,
likewise executed in the grand manner of earlier times, it wasn't until the
emergence of modern 20th century sculptors like Constantin Brancusi (1876-
1957), Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and Naum Gabo (Naum Neemia
Pevsner) (1890-1977), that sculpture really began to change, at the turn of
the century. For the influence of tribal cultures on the development of 20th
century sculpture, see: Primitivism/Primitive Art. In this regard see the work
of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915) and his mentor Jacob Epstein (1880-
1959). In particular, note the impact of African sculpture on modern sculptors
of the Ecole de Paris.
In fact, the early decades of the 20th century saw fine art in a ferment. The
revolutionary Cubism movement, invented by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and
Georges Braque (1882-1963), smashed many of the hallowed canons of
traditional art, and triggered a wave of experimentation in both painting and
sculpture. The latter was significantly redefined by a series of sculptors
like Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) - see his "readymades" - Jacques
Lipchitz(1891-1973), and Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964), as well as
Brancusi, Boccioni and Gabo. Representationalism was rejected in favour of
new abstract expressions of space and movement, often using non-traditional
materials never before used in sculpture.
In the wake of Cubism, The Great War (1914-18) and the 1917 Bolshevik
Revolution had a further huge impact on artists across Europe, as exemplified
in the influential iconoclastic movements of Dada and Constructivism.
Sculptors joined painters in producing works of art reflecting new icons like
the machine, as well as new ideologies of design (eg. Bauhaus design school
theories), and form (eg. the incredible Merzbau of Kurt Schwitters).
Pop-Art Sculpture
Minimalist Sculpture
The 1960s also witnessed a completely new type of sculpture known as Land
Art (Earthworks, or Environmental art). Like kids building sand castles on the
beach, artists rushed out into the wilds and dug, excavated and re-shaped the
natural landscape to create (what they hoped was) art. The pioneer
environmental sculptor was the pessimistic Robert Smithson (1938-73).
Latterly, the artist-couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude Javacheff have achieved
fame by wrapping parts of the environment in coloured fabric, while Andy
Goldsworthy (b.1956) specializes in temporary environmental sculptures (eg.
made of snow) that decompose or disappear.
Postmodernist Contemporary Sculpture
Damien Hirst
Architectural Sculpture
Although outside the scope of this article, mention should be made of great
iconic works of architectural sculpture, including: The Colossus of Rhodes, The
Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, Nelson's Column, The Chicago Picasso,
and The Dublin Spike, among others.