Bernini: Sculpting in Clay (Metropolitan Museum of Art) - Tapa dura

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the Fine Arts Category. -- Outstanding Academic Title Choice "Bernini: Sculpting in Clay ... by Ian Wardropper and others is the catalog for a magnificent exhibition ... focusing on the Italian master's use of hand-formed terracotta models as first drafts or sketches for his supremely refined marble sculptures of the human form, including the famed angels of the Ponte Sant' Angelo in Rome. These works, which still bear traces of Bernini's fingerprints in the clay, document the artist's acute powers of observation and profound expressive gifts, offering a peek into the creative process of a truly towering figure in Baroque art."-Jonathan Lopez, Wall Street Journal -- Jonathan Lopez Wall Street Journal "As a scholarly study of artistic process, the book is thorough and well organized, including equal shares of history and biography, art criticism, reception studies, historiography, and curatorial practice. As a catalogue of Bernini's models, the book is equally as exhaustive, with enlarged photographs of key details, such as "striations from dry brush smoothing" or finger marks that indicate Bernini's fast and free style."-Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

The brilliantly expressive clay models created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) as "sketches" for his works in marble offer extraordinary insights into his creative imagination. Although long admired, the terracotta models have never been the subject of detailed examination. This publication presents a wealth of new discoveries (including evidence of the artist's fingerprints imprinted on the clay), resolving lingering issues of attribution while giving readers a vivid sense of how the artist and his assistants fulfilled a steady stream of monumental commissions. Essays describe Bernini's education as a modeler; his approach to preparatory drawings; his use of assistants; and the response to his models by 17th-century collectors. Extensive research by conservators and art historians explores the different types of models created in Bernini's workshop. Richly illustrated, Bernini transforms our understanding of the sculptor and his distinctive and fascinating working methods.