Polychrome Sculpture

In the decades since its initial publication in German in 1978, Polychrome Sculpture has come to be widely regarded as a watershed text on the making and meaning of European medieval and Baroque painted wood sculpture. An early proponent of interdisciplinary research, Johannes Taubert played a pioneering role in combining the rigorous scientific analysis of materials with a fuller understanding of form and function, an approach that has led to the development of technical art history as practiced today. Many of the essays in this volume apply such scientific techniques as microscopic analysis to an art-historical understanding of Romanesque and late Gothic wood sculpture, revealing that, far from serving a merely decorative function, the painted surface of these works was intricately connected to their meaning. The paint layers on the sculptures, for example, which the author spent years documenting through close examination and analysis, were intended to impart a heightened sense of reality to the life-sized sculptures, thereby enhancing the viewer’s experience of worship. Taubert believed it was crucial for conservators to understand this context before undertaking any treatments. No other book offers such a focused, subtle, and interdisciplinary examination of the subject as Polychrome Sculpture. This influential work is now available in English for the first time, in a meticulous translation enhanced and updated by new color illustrations, annotations to the original text, and a new introduction.

The first English-language book to comprehensively discuss the history and methodology of conserving medieval polychrome wood sculpture. Medieval polychrome wood sculptures are highly complex objects, bearers of histories that begin with their original carving and adornment and continue through long centuries of repainting, deterioration, restoration, and conservation. Abundantly illustrated, this book is the first in English to offer a comprehensive overview of the conservation of medieval painted wood sculpture for conservators, curators, and others charged with their care. Beginning with an illuminating discussion of the history, techniques, and meanings of these works, it continues with their examination and documentation, including chapters on the identification of both the wooden support and the polychromy itself—the paint layers, metal leaf, and other materials used for these sculptures. The volume also covers the many aspects of treatment: the process of determining the best approach; consolidation and adhesion of paint, ground, and support; overpaint removal and surface cleaning; and compensation. Four case studies on artworks in the collection of The Cloisters in New York, a comprehensive bibliography, and a checklist to aid in documentation complement the text.

There has been a persistent tradition of enlivening sculptures with color. This book presents five essays on polychromy in classical Greek through contemporary sculpture, along with discussions of over 40 extraordinary polychrome sculptures.

This book focuses on the techniques and materials of polychromy used in early modern Europe and the Americas from 1200 to 1800. Taking a trans-cultural approach, the book studies the production of polychrome sculptures, panels, and altarpieces, as well as colored terracotta. The book includes chapters on treatises and contracts that reveal specific use of pigments, distribution of workshops, collaborations between specialized artists, and artistic programs centered on the use of color as an agent. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, art conservation, early modern history, sculpture, colonialism, material culture, and European studies.

ForewordMAX HOLLEINESSAYSA HISTORY OF RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP ON THE POLYCHROMY OF ANCIENT SCULPTUREVINZENZ BRINKMANNON THE POLYCHROMY OF ANCIENT SCULPTUREVINZENZ. BRINKMANN AND ULRIKE KOCH-BRINKMANNREDISCOVERING COLORPolychrome Art from Ancient Egypt and the Near EastRENÉE DREYFUSESSAYSTHE DISCOVERY OF THE POLYCHROMY OF ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTUREWinckelmann's Research on Statues and TextsOLIVER PRIMAVESICOLOR AND LIGHTDodwell and Pomardi in GreeceJOHN CAMP.ANCIENT PAINTS AND.PAINTING TECHNIQUES Methods of InvestigationVINZENZ BRINKMANN, ULRIKE KOCH-BRINKMANN, AND HEINRICH PIENINGCATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITIONBibliographyAcknowledgmentsMAX HOLLEINPhotography Credits.

"This text reappraises an art form crucial to the development of Spanish art. In 16th and 17th-century Spain, sculptors worked in a unique relationship with painters, combining their skills to depict, with astonishing realism, the great religious themes"--OCLC

Analyzing seventeenth-century images of the dead Christ produced by Gregorio Fernández, author Ilenia Colón Mendoza reveals hitherto unnoticed connections between the sculptures and contemporary liturgical sources. She investigates how and why Fernández and his patrons manipulated these images in connection with the religious literature of the time to produce striking images that moved the faithful to devotion.

It is the mission of The Spanish Institute to foster a wider understanding of the history and culture of Spain in the United States and its influence on the heritage of this country. This exhibition, which will travel from our galleries in the far northeast to southern California via Texas, literally delivers our message far and wide.