Roman Bronze
Roman Bronze
Bronze statue
Bronze statue
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal statues; a cast bronze statue is often called simply a "bronze".
Common bronze statues have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Their strength and ductility is an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various ceramic or stone materials . These qualities allow the creation of extended figures, as in Jeté, or figures that have small cross sections in their support, such as the equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart.
But the value of the bronze for other uses is disadvantageous to the preservation of statues; few large ancient bronzes statues have survived, as many were melted down to make weapons in times of war or to create new statues commemorating the victors, while far more stone and ceramic works have come through the centuries, even if only in fragments.
History
The great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of the alloy for edged weapons. The Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size. Few examples exist in good condition; one is the seawater-preserved bronze now called "The Victorious Athlete," which required painstaking efforts to bring it to its present state for museum display. Far more Roman bronze statues have survived. The ancient Chinese, from at least 1200BC, knew both lost-wax casting and section mould casting, and in the Shang dynasty created large ritual vessels covered with complex decoration which have survived in tombs. Over the long creative period of Egyptian dynastic art, small lost-wax bronze figurines were made in large numbers; several thousand of them have been conserved in museum collections.
Lost wax method
In lost-wax or investment casting, the artist starts with a full-sized model of the statue, most often a non-drying oil-based clay such as Plasticine model for smaller bronzes statues or for statues to be developed over an extended period, and water-based clay for larger statues or for statues for which it is desired to capture a gestural quality - one that transmits the motion of the sculptor in addition to that of the subject. A mold is made from the clay pattern, either as a piece mold from plaster, or using flexible gel or similar rubber-like materials stabilized by a plaster jacket of several pieces. Often a plaster master will be made from this mold for further refinement.
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Roman Bronze