It is difficult enough as it is to create an artwork worthy in the eyes of others of restoration that one hates to criticize such restoration. Still . . . I wrote earlier on this blog that The Florentine newspaper reported that in early March, someone broke off a finger in Pio Pedi’s beloved composition of four figures in marble.
This happened one night in Florence, Italy’s, Loggia dei Lanzi, next to where the mime, gReY, performs. [I wrote about gReY yesterday.] The finger belonged to the slain brother in the marble carving titled “The Abduction of Polyxena” and I was anxious to see the damage done.
Make no mistake about it: the real criminal is the one who had no respect for this artwork. Even if one could justify this vandalism as an accident, an honorable person would have retrieved the stone finger from the ground and turned it in to some Italian authority or Loggia volunteer guard.
Still, my main point with these images is to show all artists, and anyone who works with detail, that one must STAND BACK from the work to see what is really happening. Up close, I do not doubt that the person(s) reattaching this marble finger thought that there was a good match in the alignment. (See the first image)
However, when one stands about two meters away, as I did, and looks at the entire hand, it is clear that the finger should have been reattached in a way that was more consistent with the shape and direction of the bones in the human hand. The index finger looks distinctively bent backwards in an unnatural way (even for a newly dead guy). One of the beauties of sculpture is that we have many more views to consider. It is also what makes creating sculpture so challenging.
I am sure that when I was visiting Florence, Italy, in 2004, I must have photographed this sculpture from a similar vantage point. Alas, those images are on my computer in Texas and cannot serve me now. Sigh . . .
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2 comments:
OMG! A true bright spot in my day while living in Florence was passing the sculpture of two soldiers located near the Arno between the ponte vecchio and ponte grazia. I loved how the long barrel of the pistol extended even further the dynamic line of the soldier's extended arm. Until, that is, some bozo climbing on the sculpture broke off the barrel of the pistol. It completely changed the dynamic and the energy--what worked, I mean the artistic genius of the piece. Then, sometime later, some men, looking more like street janitors than a restoration team attached something to "fix" the statue. Now, it looks like this soldier in the heat of battle is holding a blow dryer. It just pains me. Okay, sorry just passionate about mutilated sculpture.
I agree with your statement on the challenges of sculpture. I sculpted a bird in hands and only when I was finished did I notice that one does not hold their hands with item in front of them with the hands joined at the wrist. Our hands usually begin to spread at about one inch before the wrist. Here's a photo of the piece. http://www.jeannerhea.com/sculpture.htm I salvaged the sculpture by rounding the area at the wrist. Still I know it is not right. But it sold the first night of opening so I can't complain. This one piece made me realize that I need a model when sculpting realistically.
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