Why Carve Marble

Etmatuddaula tomb which is of nur jahan s father was built by nur jahan in white marble between 1622 and 1628.

Why carve marble.

The taj mahal one of the significant seven wonders of the world is entirely carved out of white marble. Marble does not bear handling well as it will absorb skin oils when touched which leads to yellow brownish staining. The creation of a large scale marble statue which on average took a greek sculptor roughly 12 months to complete involves a number of steps. Prevalent in ancient and contemporary art alike marble artworks have a prominent place in many major art movements and are among some of the most famous sculptures in the world.

While more resistant than limestone it is subject to attack by weak acids and so performs poorly in outdoor environments subject to acid rain for severe environments granite is a more lasting material but one which is far more difficult to work and much less suitable for. How to carve a sculpture out of marble. There are a lot of reasons why marble is an excellent stone for carving. It s a hard material but you can jump into a piece of space with these tools.

But without the aid. You do need to be very very careful. The absence of david s traditional accoutrements a sword and the severed head of goliath may be because there was no room to carve them in the block of marble or possibly because they would have been invisible. While cast bronze carved wood and fired clay have made lasting impressions no material has captivated quite like marble.

As i said you start by getting the general shape and then once you ve got the general shape of the figure or whatever it is that you re carving then you ll switch down to these chisels that have teeth starting with a larger. The marble used most o. It s relatively soft and that means it is easy to carve and create smooth curves and shapes that would be very difficult in harder tones like granite. The marble carving also include the marble inlay work on the architectural monuments like the red fort and the taj mahal in agra.

Something to remember about marble carving it s very tactile the way the stone bursts from a point chisel or the way your tooth chisel just kind of swims through the stone. First the artist typically makes a small maquette in wax or clay over an armature or frame. Throughout art history sculptors have experimented with an eclectic range of mediums. From this initial model a full size model is developed.

Watching marble being extracted from a modern quarry is an impressive sight one that requires a tricky combination of skill coordination and advanced machinery to achieve. 660 580 bc both in the louvre paris. If you cut at a very oblique angle to the stone you can get a finer surface.