Astatue is a free-standingsculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved orcast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure, but that is small enough to lift and carry is astatuette orfigurine, whilst those that are more than twice life-size are regarded ascolossal statues.[1]
Statues have been produced in many cultures fromprehistory to the present; the oldest-known statue dating to about 30,000 years ago. Statues represent many different people and animals, real and mythical. Many statues are placed in public places aspublic art. The world's tallest statue,Statue of Unity, is 182 metres (597 ft) tall and is located near theNarmada dam inGujarat, India.
Ancient statues often show the bare surface of the material of which they are made. For example, many people associate Greek classical art withwhite marble sculpture, but there is evidence that many statues were painted in bright colors.[2] Most of the color has weathered off over time; small remnants were removed during cleaning; in some cases small traces remained that could be identified.[2] A travelling exhibition of 20 coloured replicas of Greek and Roman works, alongside 35 original statues and reliefs, was held in Europe and the United States in 2008: Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity.[3]
Details such as whether the paint was applied in one or two coats, how finely the pigments were ground or exactly which binding medium would have been used in each case—all elements that would affect the appearance of a finished piece—are not known.[2]Gisela Richter goes so far as to say of classical Greek sculpture, "All stone sculpture, whether limestone or marble, was painted, either wholly or in part."[4]
Medieval statues were also usually painted, with some still retaining their original pigments. The coloring of statues ceased during the Renaissance, since excavated classical sculptures, which had lost their coloring, became regarded as the best models.
TheVenus of Berekhat Ram, ananthropomorphic pebble found on theGolan Heights and dated to at least 230,000 years before present, is claimed to be the oldest known statuette. However, researchers are divided as to whether its shape is derived from natural erosion or was carved by anearly human.[5] TheVenus of Tan-Tan, a similar object of similar age found inMorocco, has also been claimed to be a statuette.[6]
The focal point of thecella or main interior space of a Roman orGreek temple was a statue of the deity it was dedicated to. In major temples these could be several times life-size. Other statues of deities might have subordinate positions along the side walls.
The oldest statue of adeity in Rome was the bronze statue ofCeres in 485 BC.[13][14] The oldest statue in Rome is now the statue ofDiana on theAventine.[15]
For a successful Greek or Roman politician or businessman (who donated considerable sums to public projects for the honour), having a public statue, preferably in the localforum or the grounds of atemple was an important confirmation of status, and these sites filled up with statues onplinths (mostly smaller than those of their 19th century equivalents). Fragments in Rome of abronze colossus of Constantine and the marblecolossus of Constantine show the enormous scale of some imperial statues; other examples are recorded, notably one ofNero.
While sculpture generally flourished in EuropeanMedieval art, the single statue was not one of the most common types, except for figures of theVirgin Mary, usually with Child, and thecorpus or body of Christ oncrucifixes. Both of these appeared in all size up to life-size, and by the lateMiddle Ages many churches, even in villages, had a crucifixion group around arood cross. TheGero Cross inCologne is both one of the earliest and finest large figures of the crucified Christ. As yet, full-size standing statues of saints and rulers were uncommon, buttomb effigies, generally lying down, were very common for the wealthy from about the 14th century, having spread downwards from royal tombs in the centuries before.
WhileByzantine art flourished in various forms, sculpture and statue making witnessed a general decline; although statues of emperors continued to appear.[16] An example was the statue ofJustinian (6th century) which stood in the square across from theHagia Sophia until thefall of Constantinople in the 15th century.[16] Part of the decline in statue making in the Byzantine period can be attributed to the mistrust the Church placed in the art form, given that it viewed sculpture in general as a method for making andworshiping idols.[16] While making statues was not subject to a general ban, it was hardly encouraged in this period.[16] Justinian was one of the last Emperors to have a full-size statue made, and secular statues of any size became virtually non-existent aftericonoclasm; and the artistic skill for making statues was lost in the process.
Italian Renaissance sculpture rightly regarded the standing statue as the key form ofRoman art, and there was a great revival of statues of both religious and secular figures, to which most of the leading figures contributed, led byDonatello andMichelangelo. The equestrian statue, a great technical challenge, was mastered again, and gradually statue groups.
These trends intensified inBaroque art, when every ruler wanted to have statues made of themself, and Catholic churches filled with crowds of statues of saints, although after theProtestant Reformation religious sculpture largely disappeared from Reformed and Anglican churches, though theEvangelical Lutheran churches retained them.[17] In England, churches instead were filled with increasing elaboratetomb monuments, for which the ultimate models were continental extravagances such as thePapal tombs in Rome, those of theDoges of Venice, or the French royal family.
In the late 18th and 19th century there was a growth in public open air statues of public figures on plinths. As well as monarches, politicians, generals, landowners, and eventually artists and writers were commemorated.World War I saw thewar memorial, previously uncommon, become very widespread, and these were often statues of generic soldiers.
Thechancel of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church inMilwaukee, Wisconsin contains a prominent statue ofJesus (2022).
Starting with the work ofMaillol around 1900, the human figures embodied in statues began to move away from the various schools of realism that had been followed for thousands of years. TheFuturist andCubist schools took this metamorphism even further until statues, often still nominally representing humans, had lost all but the most rudimentary relationship to the human form. By the 1920s and 1930s statues began to appear that were completely abstract in design and execution.[18]
Thenotion that the position of the hooves of horses inequestrian statues indicated the rider's cause of death has been disproved.[19][20]
Two views of the Venus of Hohle Fels figurine, 40,000 BC – 35,000 BC (6 cm (2.4 in) tall), one of the earliest known, undisputed examples of a depiction of a human being
^Richter, Gisela M. A.,The Handbook of Greek Art: Architecture, Sculpture, Gems, Coins, Jewellery, Metalwork, Pottery and Vase Painting, Glass, Furniture, Textiles, Paintings and Mosaics, Phaidon Publishers Inc., New York, 1960 p. 46
^The Egyptian Museum in Cairo by Abeer El-Shahawy and Farid Atiya (10 November 2005)ISBN9771721836 page 117
^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt by Donald B. Redford (15 December 2000)ISBN0195102347 page 230
^Egyptian Statues by Gay Robins (4 March 2008)ISBN0747805202 page 28
^Famous Firsts in the Ancient Greek and Roman World by David Matz (Jun 2000)ISBN0786405996 page 87
^The Art of Rome c.753 B.C.-A.D. 337 by Jerome Jordan Pollitt (30 June 1983)ISBN052127365X page 19
^Samnium and the Samnites by E. T. Salmon (2 September 1967)ISBN0521061857 page 181
^abcdByzantine Art by Charles Bayet (1 October 2009)ISBN1844846202 page 54
^abBradshaw, Paul F. (2013).New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship. SCM Press. p. 294.ISBN978-0-334-04932-6.Lutheran churches retained the use of vestments for clergy, an altar with crucifix or cross and candles as well as paintings or statues, and liturgical texts chanted by the ministers, choir and congregation.
^Giedion-Welcker, Carola, ‘’Contemporary Sculpture: An Evolution in Volume and Space, A revised and Enlarged Edition’’, Faber and Faber, London, 1961 pp. X to XX
^Spicer, Andrew (5 December 2016).Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe. Routledge.ISBN978-1-351-92116-9.It was this apparent visual concordance between a Lutheran and Catholic Church...After attending a service at St Mary's church in Copenhagen one commented that 'they retain a great deal of the outward worship and ostentation of the Papists'
^Martinus, F. F. (1999).A Guide to Buddhist Temples. Asian Educational Services. p. 10.ISBN978-81-206-1215-0.
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