CHAPTER II. (IX.)
Of the manner of making Models in Wax and in Clay; how they are draped, and how they are afterwards enlarged in proportion in the Marble; how Marbles are worked with the point and the toothed tool, and are rubbed with pumice stone and polished till they are perfect.
§ 41. The small Sketch-Model in Wax or Clay.
Sculptors, when they wish to work a figure in marble, are accustomed to make what is called a model for it in clay or wax or plaster; that is, a pattern, about a foot high, more or less, according as is found convenient, because they can exhibit in it the attitude and proportion of the figure that they wish to make, endeavouring to adapt themselves to the height and breadth of the stone quarried for their statue.
§ 42. The Preparation of Wax.
In order to show how wax is modelled, let us first speak of the working of wax and not of clay. To render it softer a little animal fat and turpentine and black pitch are put into the wax, and of these ingredients it is the fat that makes it more supple; the turpentine adds tenacity, and the pitch gives it the black colour and a certain consistency, so that after it has been worked and left to stand it becomes hard. And he who would wish to make wax of another colour, may easily do so by putting into it red earth, or vermilion or red lead; he will thus make it of a yellowish red or some such shade; if he add verdigris, green, and so on with the other colours. But it is well to notice that the colours should be ground into powder and sifted, and in this state afterwards mixed with the wax made as liquid as possible. The wax is also made white for small things, medals, portraits, minute scenes and other objects of bas-relief. And this is done by mixing powdered white lead with the white wax as explained above.
§ 43. Polychrome Wax Effigies.[[156]]
Nor shall I conceal that modern artists have discovered the method of working in wax of all sorts of colours, so that in taking portraits from the life in half relief, they make the flesh tints, the hair, the clothes and all the other details so life-like that to these figures there lacks nothing, as it were, but the spirit and the power of speech.
§ 44. The Manipulation of Wax over an Armature.
But to return to the manner of preparing the wax; when the mixture has been melted and allowed to go cold, it is made into sticks or rolls. These from the warmth of the hands become, in the working, like dough and are suitable for modelling a figure that is seated or erect or as you please. To make the figure support itself, it may have underneath the wax an armature either of wood, or of iron wires according to the pleasure of the artist; or this can be omitted if it suit him better. Little by little, always adding material, with judgement and manipulation, the artist impresses the wax by means of tools made of bone, iron, or wood, and again putting on more he alters and refines till with the fingers the utmost finish is given to the model.
§ 45. The Small Model in Clay.
Should he wish to make his model in clay, he works exactly as with wax, but without the armature of wood or iron underneath, because that would cause the clay to crack open or break up;[[157]] and that it may not crack while it is being worked he keeps it covered with a wet cloth till it is completed.
§ 46. The Full-sized Model in Clay.
When these small models or figures of wax or clay are finished, the artist sets himself to make another model as large as the actual figure intended to be executed in marble. In fashioning this he must use deliberation, because the clay which is worked in a damp state shrinks in drying; he therefore, as he works, adds more bit by bit and at the very last mixes some baked flour with the clay to keep it soft and remove the dryness.[[158]] This trouble is taken that the model shall not shrink but remain accurate and similar to the figure to be carved in marble. To ensure that the large clay model shall support itself and the clay not crack, the artist must take some soft cuttings of cloth or some horse hair, and mix this with the clay to render it tenacious and not liable to split. The figure is supported by wood underneath with pressed tow or hay fastened to it with string.[[159]] The bones of the figure are made and placed in the necessary pose after the pattern of the small model, whether erect or seated; and from the beginning to the end of the process of covering it with clay the figure is formed in the nude.
§ 47. Drapery on the Clay Model.
This completed, if the artist desire afterwards to clothe it with thin drapery, he takes fine cloth, if with heavy, he takes coarse, and wets it and then covers it over with clay, not liquid but of the consistency of rather thick mud, and arranges it around the figure in such folds and creases as the mind suggests; this when dry, becomes hardened and continues to keep the folds.[[160]]
§ 48. Transference of the Full-sized Model to the Marble Block.
Models, whether of wax or of clay, are formed in the same manner. To enlarge the figure proportionately in the marble[[161]] it is necessary that against this same block, whence the figure has to be carved, there shall be placed a carpenter’s square, one leg of which shall be horizontal at the foot of the figure while the other is vertical and is always at right angles with the horizontal, and so too with the straight piece above; and similarly let another square of wood or other material be adjusted to the model, by means of which the measures may be taken from the model, for instance how much the legs project forward and how much the arms. Let the artist proceed to carve out the figure from these measurements, transferring them to the marble from the model, so that measuring the marble and the model in proportion he gradually chisels away the stone till the figure thus measured time after time, issues forth from the marble, in the same manner that one would lift a wax figure out of a pail of water, evenly and in a horizontal position. First would appear the body, the head, and the knees, the figure gradually revealing itself as it is raised upwards, till there would come to view the relief more than half completed and finally the roundness of the whole.
§ 49. Danger of dispensing with the Full-sized Model.
Those artificers who are in a hurry to get on, and who hew into the stone at the first and rashly cut away the marble in front and at the back have no means afterwards of drawing back in case of need.[[162]] Many errors in statues spring from this impatience of the artist to see the round figure out of the block at once, so that often an error is revealed that can only be remedied by joining on pieces, as we have seen to be the habit of many modern artists. This patching is after the fashion of cobblers and not of competent men or rare masters, and is ugly and despicable and worthy of the greatest blame.
§ 50. The Tools and Materials used in Marble Carving.
Sculptors are accustomed, in working their marble statues, to begin by roughing out the figures with a kind of tool they call ‘subbia,’ which is pointed and heavy; it is used to block out their stone in the large, and then with other tools called ‘calcagnuoli’ which have a notch in the middle and are short, they proceed to round it, till they come to use a flat tool more slender than the calcagnuolo, which has two notches and is called ‘gradina’: with this they go all over the figure, gently chiselling it to keep the proportion of the muscles and the folds, and treating it in such a manner that the notches or teeth of the tool give the stone a wonderful grace. This done, they remove the tooth marks with a smooth chisel, and in order to perfect the figure, wishing to add sweetness, softness and finish to it, they work off with curved files all traces of the gradina. They proceed in the same way with slender files and straight rasps, to complete the smoothing process,[[163]] and lastly with points of pumice stone they rub all over the figure to give that flesh-like appearance that is seen in marvellous works of sculpture. Tripoli earth is also used to make it lustrous and polished, and for the same reason it is rubbed over with straw made into bunches—till, finished and shining, it appears before us in its beauty.[[164]]