Global InformationMarble sculpture information
Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface before refracting it in subsurface scattering. This gives an attractive soft appearance that is especially good for representing human skin, which can also be polished.[3]
Of the many different types of marble the pure white ones are generally used for sculpture, with coloured ones preferred for many architectural and decorative uses. The degree of hardness is right to carve without too much difficulty, but still give a very durable result, if not exposed to acid rain or seawater.[4]
Famous individual types and quarries include from classical times Parian marble from Paros, used for the Venus de Milo and many other Ancient Greek sculptures, and Pentelic marble, from near Athens, used for most of the Parthenon sculptures, and by the Romans.[5] Carrara marble from northern Italy was used by the Romans, and very extensively up to recent decades, when the pure white statuario grade more or less ran out. This was used by Michelangelo and other Renaissance sculptors, and later exported, including to America.[6]
- ^ "Classical Marble Sculptures Were Actually Painted, Lost Color Over Time". mymodernmet.com. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ Talbot, Margaret. "The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture". The New Yorker. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ "Marble", Britannica Online Encyclopaedia. Britannica.com.; [http://www.artofmaking.ac.uk/explore/materials/5/Marble Kings, "Material, Marble"; Clarke, Michael, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, p.148, 2001, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780192800435
- ^ "Marble", Britannica Online Encyclopaedia. Britannica.com.; Clarke, Michael, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, p.148, 2001, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780192800435
- ^ Kings, "Material, Pentelic Marble"; "RECENT STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES OF THE MOUNT PENTELIKON AND PARIAN WHITE MARBLE QUARRIES: A CALL FOR RIGOROUS GEOLOGIC FIELD WORK IN MARBLE PROVENANCE STUDIES". gsa.confex.com. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ Kings, "Material, Luna Marble"