This book provides an overview of the bronze sculpture produced in France from the 16th to 18th centuries. Works by major sculptors such as Goujon, Pilon, Prieur, Anguier, Puget, Girardon, Desjardins, Coysevox, Le Loraain, Bertrand, Cafferi, Pigalle, and Houdon represent a spectacular phase of French art and history ranging from the Renaissance through Neoclassicism up to the French Revolution.

"The Hills' taste centers on the Florentine bronze, but their interests range to superb examples from northern Italy and Rome, as well as those from France and northern Europe. Giambologna, the great Flemish sculptor practicing in Florence in the late sixteenth century, is revered for the subtlety of his compositions and for his technical ability. He is well represented in the Hill collection through works from his own hand and those cast after his models by his assistant - and master in his own right - Antonio Susini."--"Director's foreword", p 8.

"Being both costly and luxurious, bronze arguably carries the most significance of all the sculptural materials. In the Renaissance, the use of bronze embodied power, authority and eternity and emulated the classical past. Yet it was one of the easiest materials to recycle, especially when the need for artillery was often pressing. Nonetheless the Italian Renaissance was a golden age for the production of sculpture in bronze, such as Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, Verrocchio's Colleoni monument or Cellini's Perseus.0Bronze is generally defined as an alloy of copper and tin, but can contain zinc, lead and other elements. The term `bronze' is often applied to any copper-alloy sculpture. The Culture of Bronze draws on the latest research to explore the material and making of bronzes; the inter-relationships and collaboration between sculptor, founder and owner in the key centres of production, such as Florence, Padua, and the often over-looked city of Ferrara; as well as the inter-connections with Northern Europe. Encompassing works made for domestic, religious and civic environments, the book explores the symbolism of bronze, and the bronzes themselves, within their broader context in renaissance society." -- provided by publisher.

This handbook documents the antique works of art known to Renaissance artists up to 1527. More than 500 illustrations show Greek and Roman statues, mythological, and historical reliefs together with Renaissance drawings, engravings, bronzes, and paintings to demonstrate where these classical monuments were discovered.

A comprehensive survey of the work of this most influential Florentine artist and teacher Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435–1488) was one of the most versatile and inventive artists of the Italian Renaissance. He created art across media, from his spectacular sculptures and paintings to his work in goldsmithing, architecture, and engineering. His expressive, confident drawings provide a key point of contact between sculpture and painting. He led a vibrant workshop where he taught young artists who later became some of the greatest painters of the period, including Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. This beautifully illustrated book presents a comprehensive survey of Verrocchio's art, spanning his entire career and featuring some fifty sculptures, paintings, and drawings, in addition to works he created with his students. Through incisive scholarly essays, in-depth catalog entries, and breathtaking illustrations, this volume draws on the latest research in art history to show why Verrocchio was one of the most innovative and influential of all Florentine artists. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.

Themes of the American West have been enduringly popular, and 'The American West in Bronze' features sixty-five iconic bronzes that display a range of subjects, from portrayals of the noble Indian to rough-and-tumble scenes of rowdy cowboys to tributes to the pioneers who settled the lands west of the Mississippi. Fascinating texts offer a fresh look at the roles that artists played in creating interpretations of the "vanishing West"--Whether based on fact, fiction or something in-between. These artists, including Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington, embody a range of life experiences and artistic approaches."'The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925' is the first full-scale exhibition to explore the aesthetic and cultural impulses behind the creation of statuettes with American western themes, which have been so popular with audiences then and now. Both the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue offer a fresh look at the multifaceted roles played by these sculptors in creating three-dimensional interpretations of western life, whether based on historical fact, mythologized fiction, or most often, something in-between. Examples by such archetypal representatives of the West as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are complemented by the work of sculptors such as James Earle Fraser and Paul Manship, who contributed to the popularity of the American bronze statuette even though their western subjects were less frequent."--Publisher's description.