Sculpture
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Sculpture. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the art of cutting or carving any material so as to rep represent form. Sculpture may be broadly lly divided into relievo and round . In the former, single figures or groups are represented as more or less raised , but without being entirely detached from a background. According to the latter method, insulated figures, such as statues, or collections, or groups, are made, so as to be entirely independent of a background. The origin of sculpture is lost in antiquity. An admirable material for early effort was found in clay, so widely diffused in many lands, to which, as knowledge advanced, were added wax, gesso, marble, alabaster , bronze, etc. Hence the rudiments of sculpture are found among all races of mankind. The ido idolatry of the Old World gave it a great impulse, from the necessity which it produced of representing gods. The history of sculpture is almost the history of religion. In the inspired writings , the Israelites are repeatedly exhorted to turn away from the worship of images, the sculptured works of their own hands. Sculptured works have been found in the most ancient Hindu caverns and grotto temples. In the ruins of Persepolis there are many examples attesting ing to the fact that the Persians possessed many works of sculpture, yet they never carved the semblance of the human form. Sculpture flourished in Assyria. The museums of London and Paris contain colossal slabs, the dates of which range from the time of Sardanapalus, 930 b. C., to the destruction of Nineveh, 625 B. C. The Egyptians were the first who elevated sculpture almost to pure art. In Greece the art of sculpture soon rose superior to all those impediments which trammeled and restricted its advancement in other countries. Greece, as The Greeks had an intuitive sympathy with beauty, either in poetry, painting, or sculpture. Sculpture in G elsewhere, had its beginning in very rude forms. At first the symbols of divinity were little more than rude quadrangular blocks of stone. Between the 9th and 7th centuries B. c. the Greeks had frequent intercourse with the commercial Phœnicians. From this nation the Greeks bor- Till the time rowed their Herme, or god of roads and travelers; at first mere stone pillars. On these pillars a head was afterward carved , thus forming the origin of busts. Hands and feet were next added , a shield and spear were placed in the hands of the of statues; and thus the first semblance of Pallas originated. Dædalus of Athens, the bodies or trunks of large statues were a mere cylindrical pillar, as in the Colossus of the Amyclean Apollo. Progressing still further, sculpture was called on to assist in the decoration of temples. Dædalus inaugurated a new era; and of his divine genius the Greeks said that he made statues walk, see, and speak. After this great master it was that all artists were symbolically termed Dædalides, the sons of Dedalus. Henceforth , ancient Greek art may be divided into two styles: the Old Attic, and the Æginetic . However, the true, the ideal style of Greek art was not inaugurated till the time of Phidias. This great genius lived in the time of Pericles, the age of classic models. For the Parthenon at Athens, Phidias wrought the statue of Minerva, and at Elis he set up his other great masterpiece, the famous Olympian Jupiter. Both were executed in ivory and gold. The god Jupiter was 40 feet high. This statue existed till the year 475 of our era, when it was destroyed by fire at Constantinople. Besides these great works he made a statue of Pallas in brass , for Athens, the Venus Urania, the Nemesis in the temple at Marathon, and an Amazon, famed throughout Greece for the beauty of her limbs. Alcamenes of Africa, and Agoracritus of Paros, were his favorite disciples. The most famous works of Alcamenes were his Mars, Cupid, Venus, and Vulcan. It was said that Agoracritus was even superior to Alcamenes, and when he contended with the latter in the execution of a statue of Venus the Athenians only adjudged the prize to Alcamenes out of partiality for their fellow-citizen. According to Varro , the Venus of Agoracritus was the finest ever wrought. Polycletus of Argos was the author of the work deemed worthy of being ranked as the companion to the Jupiter of Phidias. This was the celebrated statue of Juno. Myron of Eleutheræ, in Bœotia, was the great rival of Polycletus. Despising the soft and graceful forms which his contemporary sculptor loved to represent, Myron sought his models in the brawny athlete. He sculptured the ideal Hercules, the Discobolus throwing the discus . In one quality, however , he was surpassed by Pythagoras of Rhegium, who executed the ideal of Apollo, who, as an archer, has just shot the serpent Python. The finest statue possessed by the moderns is an imitation of this great work, the Apollo Belvidere. With Socrates, the sculptor of the Draped Graces, and Athenodorus and Nancydes, commenced the third epoch of Greek sculpture. It is generally known as the beautiful style, and Scopas, Lysippus, and Praxiteles, because they united beauty and grace, brought the art to its highest perfection. The finest works of Scopas were the Furious Bacchante, his Venus (the original, perhaps from which the Venus de Medici was copied), and the Triumph of Achilles, together with a number of charming combinations of Nereids and sea monsters. PRAXITELES (q. v.) wrought in bronze and marble. Till this sculptor ventured to carve a Venus nude, all statues of female divinities had been draped. The rival and contemporary of Praxiteles was Lysippus of Sicyon, who was the great master of portrait sculpture. He is said to have executed in bronze exclusively. Alexander the Great would permit no other artist to carve his likeness. He represented Alexander from his childhood to his manhood. Pliny declares that Lysippus executed as many as 610 works. His horses were very beautiful. The other great sculptors of this period were Euthycrates and Bedas, sons of Lysippus; Xenocrates, who wrote a treatise on sculpture; Chares of Lindus, who cast the famous Colossus of Rhodes; Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus of Rhodes, who executed the celebrated group of Laocoon; Glycon of Athens, who formed the Farnese Hercules at Naples; and Appollonius and Tauriscus, who made the Farnese Bull, also at Naples. The beautiful fragment known as the Torso of the Belvidere, at Rome, and the Hermaphrodite at Paris, also belong to this era of Greek art. From an early period, and even during the best era of Greek art, the age of Phidias, the Greeks were accustomed to combine different marbles in the same work. The Greeks also painted their statues. The hair was often gilt, and even colored sometimes; the backgrounds of alti-relievi were painted in order to heighten the effect, and occasionally eyes of glass or silver were introduced. The victorious Romans destroyed the existence of the arts in Greece; but all the great works in painting and sculpture were taken to Rome, and with these masterpieces the artists emigrated to the capital of their conquerors. The celebrated reclining statue of the Dying Cleopatra was executed in the reign of Augustus, and a son of Cleomenes the Athenian made a statue which is held by some to be a figure of Germanicus. This work is now in the Louvre at Paris. Sculpture flourished under the patronage of Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Nero, Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines. After Rome had been destroyed by the several inroads of the Northern nations, the finest productions of ancient art were demolished, and this work of destruction was consummated by the religious zeal of the primitive Christians, who swept away what remains there were of the statues of the Greek and Roman divinities. Sculpture awoke to renewed life about the 10th or 11th century in Italy. Niccolo Pisano, who died 1278, is esteemed the "father of modern sculpture." Two of his finest compositions are the "Taking down from the Cross," in front of the Duomo of Luca, and the "Last Judgment and Punishment of the Wicked," in the cathedral of Siena. Luca della Robbia covered his beautiful terra-cotta models with a glaze which gave them the hardness of stone. Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donato di Betto Bardi (Donatello) were distinguished masters of sculpture. Donatello (died 1466), enriched Florence, Genoa, and Venice with his works. During the 15th century Andrea Verrocchio, Andrea Ferracci, the two Pollajuoli, and Mino di Fiesole, were great masters. Michelangelo Buonarotti was the greatest sculptor of this period. Baccio Bandinelli, born at Florence in 1493, attempted to become the rival of Michelangelo. A great anatomist, his style was rude and energetic. He restored the right arm of the Laocoön. Benvenuto Cellini was a Florentine sculptor; most of his finest large works, which were cast in bronze, are preserved in his native city. The one celebrated female sculptor is Properzia di Rossi, of Bologna, who died at an early age in 1530. To Flaxman, the English are indebted for founding on true principles the British school of sculpture. This great sculptor has had worthy followers in Sir R. Westmacott, Sir F. Chantrey, Bailey, Carew, Gibson, and Foley, Woolner, and Boehm. Other important British sculptors are Leighton, Simonds, Brock, Thornyer Thornycroft, Ford, Frith, Gilbert, and Frampton. In France, Jean Goujon (died 1566) is the first distinguished sculptor. In the 17th century we have the brothers Marsy, Girardon, Falconet, Clodion, also Guillain, Franqueville, Anguier, and Puget. Of 18th century masters are Jean Antoine Houdon, Antoine Chaudet, J. Bosio, Pradier, Rude, Duvet, etc. Jean Baptiste Pigalle (died 1785), executed a Mercury and a Venus for the King of Prussia. David (d'Angers) and Pradier belonged to the French school of the 19th century, and, among later sculptors, Guillaume, Carpeaux, Bartholdi, Dubois, Chapu, Mercie, Barge, Fremiet, Dalou, Falquière, R Rodin, Bartholomé, Delarche and Wynant take high rank. Among modern German sculptors, Christian Rauch and Dannecker take high rank. Famous sculptors of more recent times are Schadow, Schilling, Begas, Stuck, Klinger, and Seffner. As Canova emancipated modern Italy from those false perceptions which had so long diverted the current of pure taste, so Thorwaldsen, the Danish sculptor, was superior to all his contemporaries in the grandeur of his form and in strength of expression. John Gibson was the most distinguished pupil of both Canova and Thorwaldsen. Few American sculptures worthy of note were executed previous to Greenough's time, but since his day the names of Hiram Powers, owers, Crawford, Crawf Brown, Clevenger, Palmer, Miss Hosmer, Story, Saint Gaudens, Ward, MacMonnies, French, Hartley, Partridge, Manship, Herbert Adams, Bartlett, Bitter, Nichaus, Proctor, Barnard, Borglum, Lorado Taft, Akin, Aitken, French and Werneman have been added to the list of American sculptors.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the art of shaping figures. The figures may be cut in stone, molded in clay or wax, or they may be formed by casting plaster of paris or bronze in a mold. A figure which stands out completely is said to be in the round. When the figure projects a half from the surface, it is said to be in high relief. When it projects slightly, it is in low relief. If the figure be scooped out of the material, as in the case of an intaglio, it is in hollow relief. Sculpture in wood is called carving. The designing of coins and medals and the art of cutting gems, that is to say, cameos and intaglios, are branches of sculpture; but, as ordinarily used, the term covers only modeling, mallet and chisel work, and casting figures in bronze and other materials. A human figure in the round is known in art as a statue. A head only or a head and chest is a bust. A body without head, arms, or legs is a torso. Owing to the enduring character of the material used, we have a more accurate knowledge of sculpture than of any other art practiced by the ancients. We are obliged to guess at their painting and to reconstruct their buildings from fragments, but many pieces of sculpture amid debris come out of the ruins little the worse for the centuries. The Egyptian sculptor used marble, both white and colored. He carved colossal figures out of black porphyry, one of the hardest stones known. The Egyptians adorned the walls of their temples and tombs with sculpture. The Ninevites were famous for doorway figures and colossal combinations of eagle, lion, and man. The Greeks are supposed to have surpassed all other nations, ancient and modern, in this form of art. Phidias and Praxiteles, their greatest sculptors, used Parian marble, from the Isle of Paros, and Pentelic marble, from Mount Pentelicus. Sufficient traces are left to show that both Greeks and Egyptians colored their statues. The favorite subjects of the Greek sculptors were statues of the gods and heroes, and temple friezes portraying mythological battles and scenes from the lives of their heroes. The Etruscans were masters of modeling in terra cotta . The Romans depended on Greek sculptors for their statues. The sculptors of the Middle Ages expended the greater part of their effort in adorning the portals, galleries, and altars of the cathedrals with Biblical subjects. Some cathedrals have several thousand distinct pieces of sculpture. Modern sculptors use the white marble from Carrara, Italy, for chisel work. Most modern statues, however, are bronze casts. The most notable statuary of European and American cities consists of statues of noted persons designed to ornament public squares and parks. Groups expressive of an event are less frequent in America than in Europe. The national capital has many public memorials. There is not a little notable work in the various national buildings. Many critics think that Augustus St. Gaudens, yet living, is the greatest artist the United States has produced. His best productions are the Shaw memorial in Boston Common, the Puritan at Springfield, Massachusetts, and Lincoln, in Lincoln Park, Chicago. To make sure of what he wants to do, the sculptor who works in bronze prepares first of all a small model in clay. He next makes a full size and exact model in clay. This he makes the subject of deep study and care, for the bronze, when cast, will be exactly like it. When the artist's clay model is complete, the work of making a plaster model for the cast begins. The clay model has been kept moist by sprinkling and swathing in damp cloth. Fences of tin made of strips about four inches wide are set up. The edges of the tin are simply stuck into the clay. These divisions run around the waist, up the back and down the front and over the head, along the arms and legs,--wherever experience has shown they may be necessary. Plaster of paris of the finest consistency is then clapped on the model with the bare hand until a coat a quarter of an inch thick has been formed. The plaster is thickened to half an inch. This done, pieces of small iron piping and wire are bent suitably and pressed into the plaster, for the workman is making a mold that requires strength as well as shape. Plaster is built over the iron work until the whole coasting is from two to six inches thick, according to the amount of strain the part must bear in handling. The plaster of paris mold is then taken off in sections. The strips of tin now show their usefulness. Any portions of clay, as ears, broken off in cavities of the plaster mold, are dug out carefully. The sections of the mold are cleaned, painted if necessary, then greased well inside, and coated within with a film of plaster and lined with burlap. They are then put together, forming a hollow statue. A small amount of liquid plaster is poured in, as into a jug. The mold is rolled about so that the plaster may coat all parts of the inside. When this has dried, the operation is repeated again and again until the interior is coated to a depth of several inches and many parts filled solid. After hardening sufficiently, the outside mold is chiseled away, leaving a plaster of paris model like the original clay model. The burlap mentioned lies half an inch beneath the surface and gives strength. The model now goes to the bronze foundry. The caster makes molds from the model, into which he runs his molten metal, much as castings for stoves are made. A statue of a man is cast usually in five pieces, the bust, the right arm, the left arm, the lower part from the waist downward, and the plinth on which the figure stands. These parts are doweled together. Thus we have the artist's small model, the full size clay model, the plaster of paris mold, the plaster model, the caster's mold, and finally the bronze statue. The worker in marble has a different task. The clay modeler may repair and alter at will, but stone cannot be replaced. The slightest slip of the chisel and the work is ruined. Some sculptors in stone prepare a clay model to serve as a pattern. Michelangelo set a dressed block of marble on a convenient support and fell at work apparently in the most reckless way. His mallet swung as carelessly as though he were unconcerned. Chips of marble flew from his chisel; then, as his imprisoned statue began to make its escape from the marble block, his face lit up wonderfully. The finishing work was done with eager reverence. Many of the masters employed students to rough out the work, putting on the last touches themselves, and some, with many orders, contented themselves with making models for students to execute. Thorwaldsen's Lion of Lucerne was chiseled in the cliff by workmen guided by Thorwaldsen's model. See Parthenon ; Elgin ; Elgin Marbles; Phidias ; Louvre ; Vatican ; Munich ; Venus De Milo; Apollo ; Zeus ; Colossus Of Rhodes; Michelangelo ; Bartholdi ; Florence ; Carrara ; Canova; Thorwaldsen ; Nineveh ; Frederick Ii; Bingen ; Charlottenburg; Mukden ; Saint Gaudens