Our Blog

January 16, 2018


A Brief History Of Marble Statues

A Brief History Of Marble Statues

Marble statues are considered to be the art of creating 3D forms out of marble and therefore, are universally recognized as one of the oldest art forms. Even before things such as cave paintings, people were still carving figures from stone. They did this much before they started painting. There are a few basic steps that sculptors take in order to get to a finished product. While each step is simple in its conception, they are very detailed and take a significant amount of time to complete. The work is long and tiresome, but worth the end product.

 

Steps To Marble Sculpting

The artist makes a copy of the project in clay or wax, and then begin the process of copying it onto the marble black by using calipers or a machine. They start with a large block of marble and work to get rid of the large pieces of unwanted stone. What this does is begins the process of shaping. While it is at first a very rough shape, it can transform with hard work. Then, they follow with the roughing out process, where the figure is made to have an even more basic shape. The last step to this is the enhancement and finishing process, where the figure is given lots of details, as well as smoothed out.

Some of the most famous works are located in Europe and a lot of these are very famous works, from the likes of Michaelangelo, etc. Some of these works are the Parthenon Marbles in Athens, Greece, Michaelangelo’s David in Florence, Italy, and the Pietà and Moses, located in the Vatican, and Rome, Italy.

There are a lot of different tools involved in creating a marble sculpture, and these are as follows:

  • La Mazza: Mallet
  • Gli Scalpelli: Chisels
    • La Subbia: Pointed Chisel
    • L’Unghietto: Rounded Chisel
    • La Gradina: Toothed Chisel
    • Lo Scalpello: Flat Chisel
  • Lo Scapezzatore: Pitcher/Splitting Chisel
  • Il Martello Pneumatico: Pneumatic Hammer
  • Il Flessibile: Angle Grinder
  • Hand Drill

If you are interested in learning more about marble sculpting, feel free to contact us, by filling out our contact forms, or reach us directly by calling 617.389.1130.

Give us a call!