Existing comment:
Terracottas and Marble Statuettes for Private Interiors in Eighteenth-Century Europe:
Throughout history, clay has served artists as the preferred material to being a sculpture because of the ease with which it can be shaped and subsequently used as a marble for works in other mediums, such as bronze or marble.
During the second half of the eighteenth century, interest in terracotta (fired clay) spread in France and then throughout Europe. Within their interiors, private collectors displayed not only models but also full-fledged sculptural works in terracotta -- figures, groups, and even portraits. There was an appreciation for both those with highly finished surfaces and those with rough surfaces still bearing the marks of the tools and fingers sculptors used to model the wet clay.
Marble statuettes made for collectors were quite rare: only wealthy patrons could afford them. Often depicting mythological and allegorical theme, those small-scale works demonstrated a sculptor's stone-carving virtuosity. |