Ohio Museum Attributes a Purchase to Praxiteles

[ExNihiloStudio]

The Clevland Museum of Art has a new classical bronze. Check out the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/arts/design/22APOL.html

It sounds too good to be true, but I'll go see it anyway.

[sculptor]

Apollo the lizard slayer

Hi Mark:
do you have a link to a view of the cleveland copy?

here are links to the roman copy
1 (http://www.wiw.pl/kulturaantyczna/twardecki/pict/zoom/Apollosa.jpg)
and
2 (http://www.norwichfreeacademy.com/slater_museum/shows/cast/89_apollo_lizard_slayer.html)

and to the museums blurb (http://www.clevelandart.org/whatsnew/pdf/CMA284_Jun22_04.pdf)
rod

[ExNihiloStudio]

Thanks for the extra links.
What has caught my imagination is the fact that more large ancient bronzes have been discovered and exhibited in the last 200 years than the previous 1000.

[sculptor]

Thanks for the extra links.
What has caught my imagination is the fact that more large ancient bronzes have been discovered and exhibited in the last 200 years than the previous 1000.

Any idea where this one was found?----before recovery on the farm

I was unable to see the statue in the nytimes link----thanx fritchie

interesting contrast, calling up pix of the bronze and the marble--especially about the upper belly - ribcage, and the collar bone as well as the general balance of the pieces.

in the museums blurb, Michael Bennet was quoted, in part, saying..."This magnificent sculpture has several stylistic and technical features that we associate with monumental Classical Greek bronzes"

do any of you know to what "stylistic and technical features" he was refering?

rod

ps I just got a response from the museum ----they have pictures (http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/apollo/html/) on-line now
http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/apollo/html/

maybe one day, I'll understand the practice of shooting bronzes in poor light
sigh
reminds me of some old "horror" films shot in near darkness
god bless the computer gurus
here's one of their pictures with gamma adjusted

[ExNihiloStudio]

For technical information there is an excellent exhibit catalogue called The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections by Carol Mattusch. ISBN 0916724891 Get your copy from Amazon.com. This is from an exhibit of large Classical bronzes in Boston in 1994. What made the exhibit distinct is the focus on the technical aspects of the statuary. There isn’t much in the catalogue about style but a lot of discussion about evidence of how they were made. For example, ancient statues were cast in pieces and welded together. Because the bronze was more valuable than labor the castings were made as thin as possible and patched afterwards and there were common techniques for making repairs. The curators also took samples of the bronze to analyze the metallurgy and certain patterns seem to be emerging. For example, workshops in some regions tended add more lead to the bronze than others. Sometimes two bronzes can be attributed to the same workshop or even batch if their metallurgical content is very close. Statues tended to be affixed to their stone bases with molten lead, but no one is sure how exactly how it was done but it is not uncommon for the front of one of the feet to be cast as a separate part and later joined. It’s fascinating and much more rational and informative than the guessing game of stylistic attributes.

[fritchie]

For technical information there is an excellent exhibit catalogue called The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections by Carol Mattusch. ISBN 0916724891 Get your copy from Amazon.com. This is from an exhibit of large Classical bronzes in Boston in 1994. What made the exhibit distinct is the focus on the technical aspects of the statuary. There isn’t much in the catalogue about style but a lot of discussion about evidence of how they were made. ..........

An excellent reference, Mark. I got this from my university library 6 - 8 years ago and read it through. You’re right about aboth the price of bronze and the mounting technique. As I recall, it was speculated if not proved that the Greeks carved holes in the mounting base, set the figure, and poured enough lead to fill the lower ankle, foot, and base. They then added the rest of each foot.

I believe they welded the separately cast pieces by holding them together in some way and pouring molten bronze into the joint.

The NYT article said this piece convincingly is pre-B. C., approximately, but it is not yet certain whether it might be Praxitiles’ original or an early Greek or Roman copy. A valuable piece in any case.

[ExNihiloStudio]

You’re right about the welding fritchie. It was also common to patch welds and other flaws with small sheets of bronze, about 0.5x1 cm in a sawtooth pattern. The MFA in Boston has a life size bronze fragment that clearly shows evidence of this joinery technique.

[sculptor]

For technical information there is an excellent exhibit catalogue called The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections by Carol Mattusch. ISBN 0916724891 ....

Thanx Mark

book arrived yesterday via interlibrary loan.
In Just one evenings read, I'm thinking I could enjoy re-reading it several times,

rod (http://www.artwanted.com/images/large/4318_63939.jpg )(sculptor (http://home.mindspring.com/~mandali/index.html))