Statue

For other uses, seeStatue (disambiguation).

Not to be confused withstatute.

Astatueis a free-standingsculpturein which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved orcastin a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure, but that is small enough to lift and carry is astatuetteorfigurine,whilst those that are more than twice life-size are regarded as acolossal statues.

Statue of Unity(2018), theworld's tallest statue,inGujarat,India

19th-century statues of illustrious Frenchmen in the hemicycle of theSenate of Francein Paris

Hermes and the Infant DionysusbyPraxiteles,a 4th century BC statue now housed at theArchaeological Museum of Olympiain Greece

Statues have been produced in many cultures fromprehistoryto the present; the oldest-known statue dating to about 30,000 years ago. Statues represent many different people and animals, real and mythical. Many statues are placed in public places aspublic art.The world's tallest statue,Statue of Unity,is 182 metres (597 ft) tall and is located near theNarmada daminGujarat,India.

Colors

Ancient statues often show the bare surface of the material of which they are made. For example, many people associate Greek classical art withwhite marblesculpture, but there is evidence that many statues were painted in bright colors.Most of the color has weathered off over time; small remnants were removed during cleaning; in some cases small traces remained that could be identified.A travelling exhibition of 20 coloured replicas of Greek and Roman works, alongside 35 original statues and reliefs, was held in Europe and the United States in 2008: Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity.

Details such as whether the paint was applied in one or two coats, how finely the pigments were ground or exactly which binding medium would have been used in each case—all elements that would affect the appearance of a finished piece—are not known.Gisela Richtergoes so far as to say of classical Greek sculpture, "All stone sculpture, whether limestone or marble, was painted, either wholly or in part."

Medieval statues were also usually painted, with some still retaining their original pigments. The coloring of statues ceased during the Renaissance, since excavated classical sculptures, which had lost their coloring, became regarded as the best models.

Historical periods

Main article:Sculpture

Prehistoric

Urfa Man,a 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) of standstone developed inc. 9,000 BCand now housed atŞanlıurfa Museum

TheVenus of Berekhat Ram,ananthropomorphicpebble found on theGolan Heightsand dated to at least 230,000 years before present, is claimed to be the oldest known statuette. However, researchers are divided as to whether its shape is derived from natural erosion or was carved by anearly human.TheVenus of Tan-Tan,a similar object of similar age found inMorocco,has also been claimed to be a statuette.

TheLöwenmensch figurineand theVenus of Hohle Fels,both fromGermany,are the oldest confirmed statuettes in the world, dating to 35,000-40,000 years ago.

The oldest known life-sized statue isUrfa Manfound inTurkeywhich is dated to around 9,000 BC.

Antiquity

Religion

Throughout history, statues have been associated withcult imagesin many religious traditions, fromAncient Egypt,Ancient India,Ancient Greece,andAncient Rometo the present. Egyptian statues showing kings assphinxeshave existed since theOld Kingdom,the oldest being forDjedefre(c. 2500 BC).The oldest statue of a striding pharaoh dates from the reign ofSenwosret I(c. 1950 BC) and is the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.TheMiddle Kingdom of Egypt(starting around 2000 BC) witnessed the growth ofblock statueswhich then became the most popular form until thePtolemaic period(c. 300 BC).

The focal point of thecellaor main interior space of a Roman orGreek templewas a statue of the deity it was dedicated to. In major temples these could be several times life-size. Other statues of deities might have subordinate positions along the side walls.

The oldest statue of adeityin Rome was the bronze statue ofCeresin 485 BC.The oldest statue in Rome is now the statue ofDianaon theAventine.

Politics

For a successful Greek or Roman politician or businessman (who donated considerable sums to public projects for the honour), having a public statue, preferably in the localforumor the grounds of atemplewas an important confirmation of status, and these sites filled up with statues onplinths(mostly smaller than those of their 19th century equivalents). Fragments in Rome of abronze colossus of Constantineand the marblecolossus of Constantineshow the enormous scale of some imperial statues; other examples are recorded, notably one ofNero.

Thewonders of the worldinclude several statues from antiquity, with theColossus of Rhodesand theStatue of Zeus at Olympiaamong theSeven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Middle Ages

While sculpture generally flourished in EuropeanMedieval art,the single statue was not one of the most common types, except for figures of theVirgin Mary,usually with Child, and thecorpusor body of Christ oncrucifixes.Both of these appeared in all size up to life-size, and by the lateMiddle Agesmany churches, even in villages, had a crucifixion group around arood cross.TheGero CrossinCologneis both one of the earliest and finest large figures of the crucified Christ. As yet, full-size standing statues of saints and rulers were uncommon, buttomb effigies,generally lying down, were very common for the wealthy from about the 14th century, having spread downwards from royal tombs in the centuries before.

WhileByzantine artflourished in various forms, sculpture and statue making witnessed a general decline; although statues of emperors continued to appear.An example was the statue ofJustinian(6th century) which stood in the square across from theHagia Sophiauntil thefall of Constantinoplein the 15th century.Part of the decline in statue making in the Byzantine period can be attributed to the mistrust the Church placed in the art form, given that it viewed sculpture in general as a method for making andworshiping idols.While making statues was not subject to a general ban, it was hardly encouraged in this period.Justinian was one of the last Emperors to have a full-size statue made, and secular statues of any size became virtually non-existent aftericonoclasm;and the artistic skill for making statues was lost in the process.

Renaissance

Michelangelo'sDavid,1504, housed atThe Accademia GalleryinFlorence,Italy

Italian Renaissance sculpturerightly regarded the standing statue as the key form ofRoman art,and there was a great revival of statues of both religious and secular figures, to which most of the leading figures contributed, led byDonatelloandMichelangelo.The equestrian statue, a great technical challenge, was mastered again, and gradually statue groups.

These trends intensified inBaroque art,when every ruler wanted to have statues made of themself, and Catholic churches filled with crowds of statues of saints, although after theProtestant Reformationreligious sculpture largely disappeared from Protestant churches, with some exceptions in largeLutheranGerman churches. In England, churches instead were filled with increasing elaboratetomb monuments,for which the ultimate models were continental extravagances such as thePapal tombsin Rome, those of theDoges of Venice,or the French royal family.

In the late 18th and 19th century there was a growth in public open air statues of public figures on plinths. As well as monarches, politicians, generals, landowners, and eventually artists and writers were commemorated.World War Isaw thewar memorial,previously uncommon, become very widespread, and these were often statues of generic soldiers.

Modern era

Starting with the work ofMaillolaround 1900, the human figures embodied in statues began to move away from the various schools of realism that had been followed for thousands of years. TheFuturistandCubistschools took this metamorphism even further until statues, often still nominally representing humans, had lost all but the most rudimentary relationship to the human form. By the 1920s and 1930s statues began to appear that were completely abstract in design and execution.

Thenotionthat the position of the hooves of horses inequestrian statuesindicated the rider's cause of death has been disproved.

Gallery

• 
  Löwenmensch figurine,fromHohlenstein-Stadel,Germany, now in Ulmer Museum,Ulm,Germany, possibly the oldest undisputed statuette.Aurignacianera, 40,000 BC–35,000 BC
• 
  Two views of the Venus of Hohle Fels figurine, 40,000 BC–35,000 BC (6 cm (2.4 in) tall), one of the earliest known, undisputed examples of a depiction of a human being
• 
  Venus of Dolní Věstonice,ceramicfigurine, 29,000 BC–25,000 BC
• 
  Venus of Willendorf,one of the oldest known statuettes,Upper Paleolithic,24,000 BC–22,000 BC
• 
  Ain Ghazal statues,c. 7000 BC,found inAin Ghazal,Jordan
• 
  Great Sphinx of Giza,c. 2558–2532 BC, the largestmonolithicstatue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 6 metres (20 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high.Giza,Egypt.
• 
  TheCharioteer of Delphi,474 BC,Delphi Archaeological Museum,Greece
• 
  Venus de Milo,c. 130– 100 BC,Greek,theLouvre
• 
  Laocoön and his Sons,Greek, (LateHellenistic),c. 160 BCand 20 BC, White marble,Vatican Museum
• 
  Nara Daibutsu,c. 752,Nara,Japan
• 
  Gommateshvara Bahubali,c. 978–993 AD, 57 feet (17 m) high
• 
  MoaiofEaster Islandfacing inland,Ahu Tongariki,c. 1250–1500, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s
• 
  The Great Buddha of Kamakura,c. 1252,Japan
• 
  Statue of Liberty(formallyLiberty Enlightening the World),New York Harbor,United States, byFrédéric Auguste Bartholdic. 1886
• 
  Auguste Rodin,The Burghers of Calais,1884–c. 1889,inVictoria Tower Gardens,London, England.
• 
  Henry Bain Smith's bronze ofRobert Burns,1892, aboveUnion Terrace Gardens,Aberdeen, Scotland
• 
  A statue of TsarAlexander II of Russia,theGrand Duke of Finland,at theSenate SquareinHelsinki,Finland, sculpted byWalter Runebergand Johannes Takanen, 1894
• 
  Auguste Rodin,The Thinker,1880–1904
• 
  Camille Claudel,The Waltz,1889–1905,Musée Camille Claudel,Nogent-sur-Seine, France
• 
  The Little Mermaid,Copenhagen, DenmarkbyEdvard Eriksen1913
• 
  Statue ofJose Rizal.at theLuneta Park,Philippinesc. 1908
• 
  Thomas Brock,John Everett Millais,atTate Britain1905
• 
  Standing Nude(1912), byAmedeo Modigliani
• 
  The statue ofHans Egede,1921, atNuuk,Greenland
• 
  Christ the Redeemer(1931),Rio de Janeiro,Brazil
• 
  U.S.Marine Corps War Memorial,located inArlington County, Virginia,byFelix de Weldon1954
• 
  A closeup of the replica statue of Roman Emperor,Marcus Aurelius,1981; the originalc. 200 ADis in the nearbyCapitoline Museum,Rome
• 
  Spring Temple Buddha,the world's second tallest statue, overall 128 m (420 ft) in height, completed 2002, China.
• 
  Lord Murugan Statue,Batu Caves, Malaysia, 140 feet (42.7 m).
• 
  Balance of Naturestatue nearVUDA Park,Visakhapatnam

See also

• Bronze sculpture
• Bust (sculpture)
• Equestrian sculpture
• Figurine
• History of sculpture
• List of statues
• List of tallest statues
• List of statues of Queen Victoria
• List of colossal sculpture in situ
• Mannequin
• Living statue
• Memorial
• Monument
• Statues of Gudea,c. 2100 BC
• Statuette
• Stone carving
• Stone sculpture
• Venus figurines

External links

• UK Public Monument and Sculpture Association