Materials Used in Prehistoric Sculpture The materials used in Paleolithic sculpture are quite diverse, varying according to region

and locality. Most commonly prehistoric sculptors used mammoth bone and ivory in their carving (note: ivory encompasses any animal tooth or tusk), as well as the more perishable wood. In addition to bone and wood, artists also sculpted in stone, especially softer varieties like limestone, steatite and sandstone, as well as harder varieties like quartzite and serpentine. Clay and terracotta were also widely used in Stone Age figurines. During the later Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, as tools became stronger, Stone Age sculptors began carving with marble, limestone, porphyry, and granite. More rarely, they used precious materials such as silver, gold and jade, and began casting with bronze, pewter and zinc.

Renaissance

Techniques and Materials

Sculpture embraces such varied techniques as modeling, carving, casting, and construction techniques that materially condition the character of the work. Whereas modeling permits addition as well as subtraction of the material and is highly flexible, carving is strictly limited by the original block from which material must be subtracted. Carvers, therefore, have sometimes had recourse to construction in which separate pieces of the same or different material are mechanically joined together. Casting is a reproduction technique that duplicates the form of an original whether modeled, carved, or constructed, but it also makes possible certain effects that are impractical in the other techniques. Top-heavy works that would require external support in clay or stone can stand alone in the lighter-weight medium of hollow cast metal. The principal sculptural techniques have undergone little change throughout the ages. Hand modeling in wax (see wax figures), papier-mch, or clay remains unaltered, although the firing of the clay from simple terra-cotta to elaborately glazed ceramics has varied greatly. Carving has for centuries made use of such varied materials as stone, wood, bone, and, more recently, plastics, and carvers have long employed many types of hammers, chisels, drills, gauges, and saws. For carrying out monumental works from small studies, various mechanical means have been developed for approximating the proportions of the original study. Bronze casting is also a technique of extreme antiquity (see bronze sculpture). The Greeks and Chinese mastered the cire perdue (lost-wax) process, which was revived in the Renaissance and widely practiced until modern times. Little Greek sculpture in bronze has survived, apparently because the metal was later melted down for other purposes, but the material itself resists exposure better than stone and was preferred by the Greeks for their extensive art of public sculpture. Metal may also be cast in solid, hammered, carved, or incised forms. The mobile is a construction that moves and is intended to be seen in motion. Mobiles utilize a wide variety of materials and techniques (see also stabile). Contemporary practice emphasizes the beauty of materials and the expression of their nature in the work.
Renaissance Artists If the framework for the Renaissance was laid by economic, social and political factors, it was the talent of Italian artists that drove it forward. The most important painters, sculptors, architects and designers of the Italian Renaissance during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries include, in chronological order:

Cimabue (c.1240-1302) Noted for his frescos at Assisi. Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) Scrovegni Arena Chapel frescos. Gentile da Fabriano (1370-1427) International Gothic style painter. Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) Sculptor of "Gates of Paradise" Donatello (1386-1466) Best early Renaissance sculptor Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) Famous for work on perspective. Tommaso Masaccio (1401-1428) Greatest early Florentine painter. Piero della Francesca (1420-92) Pioneer of linear perspective. Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506) Noted for illusionistic foreshortening techniques. Donato Bramante (1444-1514) Top High Renaissance architect. Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510) Famous for mythological painting. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Creator of Mona Lisa, Last Supper. Raphael (1483-1520) Greatest High Renaissance painter. Michelangelo (1475-1564) Genius painter & sculptor. Titian (1477-1576) Greatest Venetian colourist. Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) Leader of High Renaissance in Florence. Correggio (1489-1534) Famous for illusionistic quadratura frescoes. Tintoretto (1518-1594) Religious Mannerist painter. Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) Colourist follower of Titian. General List of Renaissance Painters & Sculptors ITALY & SPAIN c.1280-1400 - Proto-Renaissance Artists c.1400-1490 - Early Renaissance Artists c.1490-1530 - High Renaissance Artists c.1530-1600 - Mannerist Artists NORTHERN EUROPE c.1400-1600 - Northern Renaissance Artists. SCULPTORS c.1400-1600 - Renaissance Sculptors.