Sculpture techniques · V&A

The V&A's sculpture collection contains approximately 26,000 objects, including masterpieces from the Italian Renaissance, Rodin bronzes and British Neoclassical marble sculpture. Find out more about the processes used to create these magnificent pieces.

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Bronze casting

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and often contains lead or zinc. It is strong and durable, but can also capture the fine, complex detailing inside a casting mould. The term 'bronze' is sometimes used for other metals such as brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc.

Bronze plaque depicting King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Giuseppe Piamontini, about &#; 10, Italy. Museum no. A.32-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

It has been used in Europe since antiquity to make tools, weapons, sculpture and decorative works. This continued throughout the medieval period, and in the 15th century there was a deliberate revival of ancient Greek and Roman techniques and artforms.

There are two basic methods of casting a bronze &#; the simple technique of sand casting which uses moulds made of compact, fine sand, or the more complex lost-wax casting, which uses wax models.

Watch the lost-wax bronze casting process in action:

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Stone carving

For centuries sculptors have used stone for figurative carvings and ornamental architectural work. Different types of stone were used in different regions as sculptors used materials that were geologically available nearby. Different types of limestone were utilised all over Europe, and alabaster was popular in England, northern France, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Marble was commonly used in Italy, and exported to northern Europe from about onwards. As it is a particularly brittle stone, supports were used to connect arms and legs to the main part of the sculpture. These were meant to be removed once the statue was installed, although this was not always done.

Statuette depicting Judith with the Head of Holofernes, about , France. Museum no. -. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

As stone is so heavy, stability is important. Many free-standing marble figures in dynamic poses are portrayed with tree trunks or columns attached to the legs in order to provide a stable base. Figures displayed in niches were usually hollowed out to reduce their weight.

The tools used for stone-carving have largely remained unchanged since antiquity. A mason&#;s axe cuts out the basic form of the sculpture. This is further shaped or roughed out using picks, points and punches struck by a hammer or mallet. Different sizes of tool are used throughout the carving process to achieve different effects. Roughing-out tools leave deep, uneven grooves, whereas flat chisels achieve finer results and are used for finishing the surface of sandstone, limestone and marble. A flat chisel struck at 45 degree angle (the &#;mason&#;s stroke&#;) leaves a ridged channel, and its edge can be used to define lines. The serrated edges of claw chisels allow for the rapid but controlled removal of material, whilst drills can both excavate stone and create decorative effects.

Further smoothing is achieved using rasps or rifflers (metal tools with rough surfaces), or minerals such as sand or emery (stone grit). Polishes can then be applied to fine-grained stone after it has been abraded. Marble and alabaster are polished with pumice, producing a smooth, translucent and reflective surface. They can also be left partially unpolished to create different textures.

Wood carving

Regional availability determined which wood was chosen for a sculpture, along with the properties of individual trees. The hardness of a wood depends on the density of its grain. Softwoods from evergreens such as cedar and pine are coarser, less dense and easier to carve, whereas hardwoods from deciduous trees such as oak, boxwood, walnut and limewood are harder but more durable, allowing for elaborate carving and finer details.

'The Nativity&#; altarpiece, about , Italy. Museum no. 260-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In southern Germany sculptors favoured limewood, whilst oak was more widely used in northern Germany, the Netherlands, northern France and England. Walnut was used in France. In Italy, Spain and the Alpine regions, poplar or pine were more frequently used.

Wood is carved in a similar way to stone. The design is drawn onto a split tree-trunk. The trunk size determines the dimensions of the finished sculpture, but extra sections can be pieced in. The form of the sculpture is roughly carved with a broad axe and then shaped with tools such as the narrow axe, flat-headed chisels, gouges and skew-bladed firmers (a chisel with a hooked end for cutting folds in drapery). After carving, the surface is normally smoothed with sandpaper or other abrasives.

Although wood naturally contains moisture when first felled and can re-absorb it later in damp conditions, it can become damaged. When parts of the wood dry at different rates, cracks along the grain of the wood can form. Sculptors therefore try to minimize cracking by removing all surplus wood, especially the heartwood at the centre of a log. The holes and burrows of woodworm also affect wood carvings, and can be visible on the surface of older pieces.

Wood sculpture was sometimes painted, decorated with gilding, or embellished with glass or semi-precious stone. At the end of the 15th century, limewood sculptors in southern Germany produced unpainted wood sculptures, which were coated with transparent glazes, and sometimes tinted brown.

Ivory carving

Ivory is the dense, hard, creamy white substance that forms the tusks of mammals &#; though the term is also used for other similar materials. For centuries it has been highly valued by craftsmen and patrons for use in religious and secular objects.

Relief depicting the Deposition, about &#; 10, France. Museum no. 605-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The main source of ivory was elephant tusks from North Africa and India. Since the 10th century the bone from the Finner whale and the tusks of the Atlantic walrus and were popular in western and northern Europe. Animal bones were also used by the Embriachi workshop in northern Italy during the 15th century.

The structure of ivory varies from one species of animal to another. Elephant tusks grow outward in layers and have a cone-shaped interior cavity (the 'pulp cavity') which extends into a very small nerve along the length of the tusk.

Carving semi-precious stone and shell

Specialist craftsmen used a wide variety of materials for carvings. These ranged from gemstones and hardstones like rock crystal, to softer organic materials such as shell, coral and mother-of-pearl.

Shell cameo, about &#; 80, probably Germany. Museum no. A.36-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Hardstones were worked using metal tools, diamond drills and abrasive powders. Organic materials and softer mineral substances like jet and amber were carved with different types of knives and chisels. Some of these materials such as jet and coral were believed to have magical or medicinal powers, and in the medieval times rock crystal symbolised light and purity. These carvings had many functions, including cameo portraits, gems with mythological subjects, religious artefacts such as devotional pendants, containers carved in precious rock crystal, and inexpensive pilgrimage badges made of jet.

From about &#; 60, rulers and wealthy burghers (higher ranking medieval citizens) assembled collections of gems, cameos and other virtuoso carvings, which were displayed in special cabinets or rooms, alongside curiosities from the natural world and foreign countries.

Shell cameos

Shell cameos are much easier to cut than gemstone cameos, and the raw material is cheaper and easier to acquire. They were popular in the 16th century and again in the 18th and 19th centuries when the passion for carved gemstones led to an explosion in the market for cheaper shell cameos. They still remain popular today.

Modelling in clay

Clay is a very versatile, relatively cheap and widely available material. It can be modelled to form a unique object, or pressed into moulds to make multiple copies.

Stemma of King René of Anjou, Luca della Robbia, &#; 78, Italy. Museum no. -. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Sculptors often made rapid sketches in clay to capture initial ideas and then developed more finished models to show to patrons. They also used clay models when transferring compositions into more permanent materials such as marble.

Modelling marks are not usually visible in finished pieces of ceramic sculpture but can often be seen in ceramic models made in other mediums. Typical are rough, uneven grooves and ridges caused when clay is pushed to one side as marks are made.

Fired clay is known as 'terracotta', meaning cooked earth. The firing irreversibly changes the clay, making it stronger and suitable for different surface finishes. Clay models were sometimes fired to preserve them. Large European works, such as the &#;stemma&#; (coat of arms) by Luca della Robbia (/ &#; ) were cut into pieces with cheesewire in order to fit into the kiln, and then joined together after firing.

Wax modelling

Model in wax, John Bell, mid 19th century, England. Museum no. 205-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Wax models are original and unique creations that could either be works of art in their own right, or an intermediary stage in the sculptural process. Many bronze sculptures are cast from models that were first made in wax, through the highly-skilled process of lost-wax casting.

How did sculptors make wax models?

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Surface decoration

The rough surface of European limestone and sandstone sculptures was usually concealed by paint, gilding, inlaid glass, or semi-precious stones. A plain white surface like those of classical Greek and Roman marble sculptures was considered the most desirable finish, so marble was rarely decorated. In actual fact, these classical sculptures would probably have originally been painted, but by the time they were rediscovered in post-classical times, the paint had worn away.

Statuette of Cupid on a dolphin, Francesco Fanelli, &#; , England. Museum no. A.103-. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Wood sculpture was also painted, gilded or decorated with incised and punched patterns, and occasionally inset glass, though at the end of the 15th century, unpainted limewood sculptures were produced in southern Germany.

The appearance of a bronze sculpture can also vary, depending on the alloy used and the surface treatment. Chemical and organic lacquers can produce a variety of colours including black, green and reddish-brown. Bronzes can also be gilded, sometimes using the fire-gilding method &#; although this is now largely banned due to the toxicity of mercury vapour. In this process a paste of milled gold and mercury is spread over the sculpture which is then heated, fusing the gold to the surface and driving off the mercury. Gold lacquer can also be used to give a gilded appearance, but is not as permanent as fire-gilding.

In Renaissance Italy, terracotta sculptures were usually coloured. Luca della Robbia, developed a method of tin-glazing terracotta sculpture that had previously only been used on pottery. Della Robbia's method used pigment suspended in a tin-oxide glaze, rather than painted onto slip. The resulting enamelled terracottas were particularly durable and had an attractive, bright and reflective, surface. By the late 18th century however, unglazed terracotta had become popular with many European artists such as the French sculptor Clodion ( &#; ).

Find out more about our Sculpture Collection.

Any material that can be shaped in three dimensions can be used sculpturally. Certain materials, by virtue of their structural and aesthetic properties and their availability, have proved especially suitable. The most important of these are stone, wood, metal, clay, ivory, and plaster. There are also a number of materials that have only recently come into use.

Primary

Throughout history, stone has been the principal material of monumental sculpture. There are practical reasons for this: many types of stone are highly resistant to the weather and therefore suitable for external use; stone is available in all parts of the world and can be obtained in large blocks; many stones have a fairly homogeneous texture and a uniform hardness that make them suitable for carving; stone has been the chief material used for the monumental architecture with which so much sculpture has been associated.

Stones belonging to all three main categories of rock formation have been used in sculpture. Igneous rocks, which are formed by the cooling of molten masses of mineral as they approach the Earth&#;s surface, include granite, diorite, basalt, and obsidian. These are some of the hardest stones used for sculpture. Sedimentary rocks, which include sandstones and limestones, are formed from accumulated deposits of mineral and organic substances. Sandstones are agglomerations of particles of eroded stone held together by a cementing substance. Limestones are formed chiefly from the calcareous remains of organisms. Alabaster (gypsum), also a sedimentary rock, is a chemical deposit. Many varieties of sandstone and limestone, which vary greatly in quality and suitability for carving, are used for sculpture. Because of their method of formation, many sedimentary rocks have pronounced strata and are rich in fossils.

three female sculptures from the Parthenon

Female figures, interpreted as (left to right) Hestia, Dione, and her daughter Aphrodite or (right to left) Thalassa (the Sea), resting against Gaia (the Earth), and an unknown figure, section of the east pediment of the Parthenon at Athens, 438&#;432

bce

; part of a collection sometimes called the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum, London.

Metamorphic rocks result from changes brought about in the structure of sedimentary and igneous rocks by extreme pressure or heat. The most well-known metamorphic rocks used in sculpture are the marbles, which are recrystallized limestones. Italian Carrara marble, the best known, was used by Roman and Renaissance sculptors, especially Michelangelo, and is still widely used. The best-known varieties used by Greek sculptors, with whom marble was more popular than any other stone, are Pentelic&#;from which the Parthenon and its sculpture are made&#;and Parian.

Because stone is extremely heavy and lacks tensile strength, it is easily fractured if carved too thinly and not properly supported. A massive treatment without vulnerable projections, as in Egyptian and pre-Columbian American Indian sculpture, is therefore usually preferred. Some stones, however, can be treated more freely and openly; marble in particular has been treated by some European sculptors with almost the same freedom as bronze, but such displays of virtuosity are achieved by overcoming rather than submitting to the properties of the material itself.

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The colours and textures of stone are among its most delightful properties. Some stones are fine-grained and can be carved with delicate detail and finished with a high polish; others are coarse-grained and demand a broader treatment. Pure white Carrara marble, which has a translucent quality, seems to glow and responds to light in a delicate, subtle manner. (These properties of marble were brilliantly exploited by 15th-century Italian sculptors such as Donatello and Desiderio da Settignano.) The colouring of granite is not uniform but has a salt-and-pepper quality and may glint with mica and quartz crystals. It may be predominantly black or white or a variety of grays, pinks, and reds. Sandstones vary in texture and are often warmly coloured in a range of buffs, pinks, and reds. Limestones vary greatly in colour, and the presence of fossils may add to the interest of their surfaces. A number of stones are richly variegated in colour by the irregular veining that runs through them.

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jade horse head

Jade horse head, Chinese, Han dynasty (206

bce

&#;220

ce

); in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Height 19 cm.

2 of 2

jade sculpture

Mandarin duck with scrolls, Chinese abraded jade sculpture from the Yuan or early Ming dynasty (about &#;); in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Hardstones, or semiprecious stones, constitute a special group, which includes some of the most beautiful of all substances. The working of these stones, along with the working of more precious gemstones, is usually considered as part of the glyptic (gem carving or engraving), or lapidary, arts, but many artifacts produced from them can be considered small-scale sculpture. They are often harder to work than steel. First among the hardstones used for sculpture is jade, which was venerated by the ancient Chinese, who worked it, together with other hardstones, with extreme skill. It was also used sculpturally by Maya and Mexican artists. Other important hardstones are rock crystal, rose quartz, amethyst, agate, and jasper.

The principal material of sculpture in Africa, Oceania, and North America, wood has also been used by every great civilization; it was used extensively during the Middle Ages, for example, especially in Germany and central Europe. Among modern sculptors who have used wood for important works are Ernst Barlach, Ossip Zadkine, and Henry Moore.

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Both hardwoods and softwoods are used for sculpture. Some are close-grained, and they cut like cheese; others are open-grained and stringy. The fibrous structure of wood gives it considerable tensile strength, so that it may be carved thinly and with greater freedom than stone. For large or complex open compositions, a number of pieces of wood may be jointed. Wood is used mainly for indoor sculpture, for it is not as tough or durable as stone; changes of humidity and temperature may cause it to split, and it is subject to attack by insects and fungus. The grain of wood is one of its most attractive features, giving variety of pattern and texture to its surfaces. Its colours, too, are subtle and varied. In general, wood has a warmth that stone does not have, but it lacks the massive dignity and weight of stone.

Charlie James: thunderbird totem pole

Thunderbird totem pole, replica of a house post carved by Charlie James, early 20th century; in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The principal woods for sculpture are oak, mahogany, limewood, walnut, elm, pine, cedar, boxwood, pear, and ebony; but many others are also used. The sizes of wood available are limited by the sizes of trees; North American Indians, for example, could carve gigantic totem poles in pine, but boxwood is available only in small pieces.

In the 20th century, wood was used by many sculptors as a medium for construction as well as for carving. Laminated timbers, chipboards, and timber in block and plank form can be glued, jointed, screwed, or bolted together, and given a variety of finishes.

Wherever metal technologies have been developed, metals have been used for sculpture. The amount of metal sculpture that has survived from the ancient world does not properly reflect the extent to which it was used, for vast quantities have been plundered and melted down. Countless ancient metal sculptures have been lost in this way, as has almost all the goldwork of pre-Columbian American Indians.

Greek Warrior

Greek Warrior, one of two bronze statues found in the Mediterranean Sea off Riace, Italy, 5th century

bce

; in the National Archaeological Museum, Reggio di Calabria, Italy.

The metal most used for sculpture is bronze, which is basically an alloy of copper and tin; but gold, silver, aluminum, copper, brass, lead, and iron have also been widely used. Most metals are extremely strong, hard, and durable, with a tensile strength that permits a much greater freedom of design than is possible in either stone or wood. A life-size bronze figure that is firmly attached to a base needs no support other than its own feet and may even be poised on one foot. Considerable attenuation of form is also possible without risk of fracture.

The colour, brilliant lustre, and reflectivity of metal surfaces have been highly valued and made full use of in sculpture although, since the Renaissance, artificial patinas have generally been preferred as finishes for bronze.

Metals can be worked in a variety of ways in order to produce sculpture. They can be cast&#;that is, melted and poured into molds; squeezed under pressure into dies, as in coin making; or worked directly&#;for example, by hammering, bending, cutting, welding, and repoussé (hammered or pressed in relief).

Important traditions of bronze sculpture are Greek, Roman, Indian (especially Chola), African (Bini and Yoruba), Italian Renaissance, and Chinese. Gold was used to great effect for small-scale works in pre-Columbian America and medieval Europe. A fairly recent discovery, aluminum has been used a great deal by modern sculptors. Iron has not been used much as a casting material, but in recent years it has become a popular material for direct working by techniques similar to those of the blacksmith. Sheet metal is one of the principal materials used nowadays for constructional sculpture. Stainless steel in sheet form has been used effectively by the American sculptor David Smith.

Clay is one of the most common and easily obtainable of all materials. Used for modeling animal and human figures long before men discovered how to fire pots, it has been one of the sculptor&#;s chief materials ever since.

Clay has four properties that account for its widespread use: when moist, it is one of the most plastic of all substances, easily modeled and capable of registering the most detailed impressions; when partially dried out to a leather-hard state or completely dried, it can be carved and scraped; when mixed with enough water, it becomes a creamy liquid known as slip, which may be poured into molds and allowed to dry; when fired to temperatures of between 700 and 1,400 °C (1,300 and 2,600 °F), it undergoes irreversible structural changes that make it permanently hard and extremely durable.

Sculptors use clay as a material for working out ideas; for preliminary models that are subsequently cast in such materials as plaster, metal, and concrete or carved in stone; and for pottery sculpture.

Depending on the nature of the clay body itself and the temperature at which it is fired, a finished pottery product is said to be earthenware, which is opaque, relatively soft, and porous; stoneware, which is hard, nonporous, and more or less vitrified; or porcelain, which is fine-textured, vitrified, and translucent. All three types of pottery are used for sculpture. Sculpture made in low-fired clays, particularly buff and red clays, is known as terra-cotta (baked earth). This term is used inconsistently, however, and is often extended to cover all forms of pottery sculpture.

Unglazed clay bodies can be smooth or coarse in texture and may be coloured white, gray, buff, brown, pink, or red. Pottery sculpture can be decorated with any of the techniques invented by potters and coated with a variety of beautiful glazes.

Jaina pottery figurine

Jaina pottery figurine, Late Classic Maya style, from Campeche, Mexico; in the collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Height 15.5 cm.

Paleolithic sculptors produced relief and in-the-round work in unfired clay. The ancient Chinese, particularly during the Tang (618&#;907 ce) and Song (960&#; ce) dynasties, made superb pottery sculpture, including large-scale human figures. The best-known Greek works are the intimate small-scale figures and groups from Tanagra. Mexican and Maya sculptor-potters produced vigorous, directly modeled figures. During the Renaissance, pottery was used in Italy for major sculptural projects, including the large-scale glazed and coloured sculptures of Luca della Robbia and his family, which are among the finest works in the medium. One of the most popular uses of the pottery medium has been for the manufacture of figurines&#;at Staffordshire, Meissen, and Sèvres, for example.

The main source of ivory is elephant tusks; but walrus, hippopotamus, narwhal (an Arctic aquatic animal), and, in Paleolithic times, mammoth tusks also were used for sculpture. Ivory is dense, hard, and difficult to work. Its colour is creamy white, which usually yellows with age; and it will take a high polish. A tusk may be sawed into panels for relief carving or into blocks for carving in the round; or the shape of the tusk itself may be used. The physical properties of the material invite the most delicate, detailed carving, and displays of virtuosity are common.

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba, ivory, iron, and possibly copper pendant mask of the Edo people, kingdom of Benin, 16th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Height 23.8 cm.

Ivory was used extensively in antiquity in the Middle and Far East and the Mediterranean. An almost unbroken Christian tradition of ivory carving reaches from Rome and Byzantium to the end of the Middle Ages. Throughout this time, ivory was used mainly in relief, often in conjunction with precious metals, enamels, and precious stones to produce the most splendid effects. Some of its main sculptural uses were for devotional diptychs, portable altars, book covers, retables (raised shelves above altars), caskets, and crucifixes. The Baroque period, too, is rich in ivories, especially in Germany. A fine tradition of ivory carving also existed in Benin, a former kingdom of West Africa.

Related to ivory, horn and bone have been used since Paleolithic times for small-scale sculpture. Caribou horn and walrus tusks were two of the Inupiaq and Inuit carver&#;s most important materials. One of the finest of all medieval &#;ivories&#; is a carving in whalebone, The Adoration of the Magi.

Plaster of paris (sulfate of lime) is especially useful for the production of molds, casts, and preliminary models. It was used by Egyptian and Greek sculptors as a casting medium and is today the most versatile material in the sculptor&#;s workshop.

When mixed with water, plaster will in a short time recrystallize, or set&#;that is, become hard and inert&#;and its volume will increase slightly. When set, it is relatively fragile and lacking in character and is therefore of limited use for finished work. Plaster can be poured as a liquid, modeled directly when of a suitable consistency, or easily carved after it has set. Other materials can be added to it to slacken its setting, to increase its hardness or resistance to heat, to change its colour, or to reinforce it.

The main sculptural use of plaster in the past was for molding and casting clay models as a stage in the production of cast metal sculpture. Many sculptors today omit the clay-modeling stage and model directly in plaster. As a mold material in the casting of concrete and fibreglass sculpture, plaster is widely used. It has great value as a material for reproducing existing sculpture; many museums, for example, use such casts for study purposes.

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