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Studying the Technology of Renaissance Bronzes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Francesca G. Bewer
Francesca G. Bewer*
Affiliation:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 4503 Glencoe Avenue, Marina Del Rey, California
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Abstract

Late fifteenth- and sixteenth-century freestanding bronze statuary presents evidence that the artists drew from both Experimentation sad divrcse, technological traditions prevalent at the time. The indirect lost wax casting technique was refined for the manufacture of statuettes by the end of the sixteenth century in the Florentine workshop of the Flemish sculptor Giambologna. Combining art historical and scientific analysis with an understanding of materials and techniques provides an integrated method of study which helps art historians and conservators to clarify the manufacturing process of these works. This can serve to construct a broad historical picture of techniques in different workshops and regions and to date and authenticate particular bronzes. X-radiography is the most informative tool for identifying technological features in this kind of work. Surface examination, analyses of the metal (by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectrometry) and refractory molding materials (by polarized light microscopy and microprobe analysis) complement this information.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 701
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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