Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a
As a format that allows the most distinctive characteristics of an individual to be depicted with much less work, and therefore expense, and occupying far less space than a full-length statue, the bust has been since ancient times a popular style of life-size portrait sculpture. It can also be executed in weaker materials, such as terracotta.
A sculpture that only includes the head, perhaps with the neck, is more strictly called a "head", but this distinction is not always observed. Display often involves an integral or separate
History
Antiquity
Sculptural portrait heads from classical antiquity, stopping at the neck, are sometimes displayed as busts. However, these are often fragments from full-body statues, or were created to be inserted into an existing body, a common Roman practice;[1] these portrait heads are not included in this article. Equally, sculpted heads stopping at the neck are sometimes mistakenly called busts.
The portrait bust was a
The Roman tradition may have originated in the tradition of
Middle Ages
Some
Renaissance
Busts began to be revived in a variety of materials, including painted terracotta or wood, and marble. Initially most were flat-bottomed, stopping slightly below the shoulders. Francesco Laurana, born in Dalmatia, but who worked in Italy and France, specialized in marble busts, mostly of women.
Baroque
The round-bottomed Roman style, including, or designed to be placed on, a
Pictorial timeline
-
Bust of Nefertiti by Thutmose(limestone, c. 1345 BC)
-
Lady of Elche (limestone, Iberian, 4th century BC)
-
Pericles with the Corinthian helmet (marble, Roman after a Greek original, c. 430 BC)
-
Bronze bust of Lucius Junius Brutus, the Capitoline Brutus (late 4th century BC to early 3rd century BC)
-
The Empress Vibia Sabina (c. 130 AD)
-
Roman bust (c. 193-203, in the Venice National Archaeological Museum)
-
Francesco Laurana, A Princess of the House of Aragon, c. 1475
-
Giuliano de' Medici by Andrea del Verrocchio (terracotta, 1475–85)
-
Terracotta bust of Henry VII of England by Pietro Torrigiano
-
Conrat Meit(polychrome wood, c. 1515)
-
Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, by Leone and Pompeo Leoni (bronze, 1553, Museo del Prado)
-
Terracotta modello by Alessandro Algardi of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia, c. 1650
-
Finance Minister of the Maratha Empire. (1674–1689)
-
Jules Hardouin-Mansart by Jean-Louis Lemoyne (marble, 1703)
-
King George III (1767 CE)
-
Simplicity of the Highest Degree, ninth in a series of character heads by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (alabaster, after 1770)
-
Étienne Vincent-Marniola by Joseph Chinard (terracotta, 1809)
-
Bust of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil by Marc Ferrez (bronze, 1826)
-
Chief Beshekee by Francis Vincenti (marble, 1855–56)
-
The Veiled Nun (marble, c. 1863)
-
Mater Dolorosa by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux(terracotta, 1869–70)
-
Tsar Alexander II by Ivan Fedorovitch Kovchenkov (malachite (the stand) and bronze, 1873)
-
J. V. Snellman by Johannes Takanen at the Snellman Park in Kuopio(1886)
-
Viktor Nessler by Alfred Marzolff (bronze, 1890s)
-
Jeanne Granier by Francis de Saint-Vidal (late 19th century)
-
Faduma Ali, wife of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (Italian Somaliland, c. 1920s)
-
Keys To Community (featuring Benjamin Franklin) by James Peniston (2007)
See also
- Herma
- Portrait
Notes
References
- ISBN 0691160961, 9780691160962, google books
- Stewart, Peter, Statues in Roman Society: Representation and Response, 2003, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199240949, 9780199240944, google books