XII
BRONZES
AND
THEIR
REPLICAS
CHAPTER XII
BRONZES AND THEIR REPLICAS
Early figure modelling—Statues in public places—Replicas in miniature.
The art of sculpture was practised by the ancients, and long before the beautiful bronzes for which the artists of Greece and Rome were famous carvers of wood, and sculptors of stone and marble, had cut inscribed, and fashioned human figures, animals, and fabulous creatures according to their whims and fancies. In moulds cut in stone the early casters in metal produced the objects which we roughly class as bronze, and they are preserved to-day as reminders of those who lived before history was written. When the early Bronze Age had passed away and the use of iron was understood, the art of sculpture in stone was practised by the Egyptians and by other Eastern nations. Then came the beautiful metal-work of Ancient Greece; the statues, trophies, and groups, produced in those days when Greece excelled in the fine arts, have acquired a fame which has never been exceeded by sculptors or workers in metals in modern days. The Italians of a later period showed their religious emotions in the metallic works of art they produced in early mediæval days; and still later French modellers have excelled in human expression.
Many of the great works of the old masters in bronze are unique, and they are retained as great treasures in the national museums where they have found lasting homes. For the benefit of connoisseurs of art many of the great works have been copied, and in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington and in other places there are replicas in metal and in other materials, faithful copies of the original bronzes which are so rare. The educational value of a gallery of ancient art, whether expressed in marble, bronze, stone, or other materials, is considerable; it not only tends to the appreciation of modern art as represented by the statues and monuments in our parks and gardens, and in those smaller works which adorn public buildings and private mansions, but it leads to the appreciation of the lesser replicas of great works, such as artistic groups, figures, and bronzes which have been copied in miniature. Many of the most important works of the modeller and caster of bronze groups and figures are familiar to students of art and collectors of curios, in that so many of these important studies have been reproduced or copied; sometimes the copies are equally as beautiful as the original, although on a smaller scale, and many of them have quite an antique appearance, for they are by no means modern, such works of art having been reproduced very many years ago.