The figure is modelled in the usual way in clay first. Then a plaster piece-mould is taken, and into the inside of this, when taken off, the wax is pressed, so as to line it completely. A framework or skeleton of iron bars having been constructed to support the weight, the hollow mould inside the wax lining or skin, which represents the thickness of the bronze statue, is then filled up with a core composed of brick-dust and plaster, mixed in a paste and poured in. The ducts to enable the molten bronze to flow properly into the mould are then arranged, with vents for the escape of the melted wax and air. The plaster piece-mould is then carefully taken off, and the statue is disclosed in wax. This wax surface can then be finally finished by the modeller before the whole statue is covered in with another mould made of a fine paste of bone ash and Tripoli powder and other ingredients. It is then bedded in earth or sand, and the bronze, being mixed and melted in the furnace is run out into the ducts of the mould; when cool the mould is broken off, and, the bronze taking the place of the wax which is melted and escapes, the statue is complete.
BRONZE STATUE OF LOUIS XV. BY BOUCHARDON, SHOWING INTERNAL IRON-WORK AND CORE.[3]
Thus a complete and perfect casting is obtained of the work, it being only necessary to stop the places where the ducts and vents were fixed, which by ingenuity could be arranged to occur in the less important parts. Cera perduta, as its name indicates, is an old Italian method, and was used by Benvenuto Cellini. It has been revived by Mr. George Simonds, who has given an account of it, and by our younger school of sculptors, Messrs. Alfred Gilbert, Onslow Ford, Harry Bates, and others, in place of the method of casting without the use of the wax, which entailed a great deal of surface work and chasing upon the hard bronze, so that the delicate modelled surface—the touch of the artist, in short—was lost, but it is just this which is preserved by the lost wax process, so that it is a method which favours artistic modelling, since it perpetuates it in bronze with greater precision than by the ordinary method, and does not require after touching in the hard.
In iron-work we have another strictly conditioned kind, in which design owes its character and peculiar beauty to the necessities and limitations of the material and mode of working. I am speaking of wrought iron, and of the forms in which it is usually found—in grills of all kinds, in gates, and railings. Now we may consider that the designer in iron has a material to deal with which is capable, under heat and the hammer, of obeying much invention and lines of grace and fancy. We start with a bar of iron; we plan our main framework; we may use rigid verticals and horizontals in forming our grill. A simple square trellis is the fundamental grill, but we seek more play and fancy. Our iron bar is capable of being twisted at its ends into spiral curves under heat, with the pincers (or even without, if thin). It is also capable of being beaten out with the hammer into flattened leaf forms, which again, by heating, can be worked and elaborated, and parts joined by welding in great variety of form. But we may consider primarily that the designer in iron starts with the bar, the spiral curve, and the flat leaf, or even only the first two. These are his units out of which he constructs his pattern; his pencils are the hammer and pincers, his easel is the vice, his medium is the forge. His business is to make a harmony in iron, and these are his notes, his treble and bass. His success will depend, firstly, upon the effectiveness with which he contrives to meet the fundamental purpose of the grill or gate, that it shall be a sensible and practical grill or gate to begin with; secondly, his lines and curves, however simple, must be harmoniously arranged, so that the eye is satisfied at the same time as the constructive sense; and thirdly, any invention or play of fancy which he can super-add without injuring the first two considerations will be so much to the good, and to his credit, and the common pleasure.
BRONZE STATUE OF LOUIS XV. BY BOUCHARDON, SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF DUCTS AND VENTS.[4]
It is well, however, to test our powers by simple problems at first. If we cannot combine a great variety of attractive forms harmoniously, and fit them to useful purpose, let us try what we can do with few and simple forms. If we fail at constructing gates of Paradise let us see if we cannot make a good railing. If we cannot invent a romantic knocker, let us try our hands at an effective scraper. It is much better to do a simple thing well, than a complex or ambitious thing badly; and there is far more need in the world for well-designed and beautiful common things than for elaborate exceptional things.
WROUGHT-IRON GATES, ST. LAWRENCE, NUREMBERG.