A new collector's guide to Renaissance bronzes - Christie's

From the early 15th century onward, ambitious European makers and patrons of the arts sought to emulate the tastes and technologies of their Greco-Roman forebears.

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The revival of bronze statuette production began in Florence in the mid-15th century, soon spreading to Padua, Mantua, Venice and eventually to northern Europe. Replicating the iconography of the ancient civilisations, these pieces were created for quiet contemplation by private collectors, rather than the wider public. 

They were designed to be placed on desks and fountains or in cabinets, and intended to be touched, turned and passed between collectors as symbols of taste and power — thus representing a revolutionary break from the Catholic Church’s long monopoly over artistic patronage.  

Their historical significance and the technical virtuosity of their execution mean that Renaissance bronzes have continued to command interest. These are the nine key things to consider.

1. Modelling

Working in bronze afforded sculptors greater freedom. No longer constrained by architectural considerations, they were free to model in the round. Sculptors created wax, terracotta or wooden prototypes that allowed for experimentation, as well as providing something to present to clients.

‘A natural talent for modelling was a prerequisite,’ says Will Russell, European sculpture specialist at Christie’s. ‘When the young Flemish sculptor Giambologna (-) was in Italy, it is said he presented his hero Michelangelo with his latest wax modello. The elderly Michelangelo swiftly crushed the model with one hand, reconstructed an entirely new sculpture from the wax, and told the young artist to practice every day of his life.’ 

Giambologna would go on to be recognised as the greatest sculptor of his day, creating works such as The Rape of a Sabine Woman  (above), which sold at Christie’s for £3,666,500 in .

2. Weight

Artists working in bronze typically used the lost-wax technique, a 6,000-year-old tradition employed by the Greeks and the Romans. In the simplest version, an initial modello  is created and covered with beeswax, which is then covered in plaster. Once hardened, it is fired, melting the waxy contents. Molten bronze was then poured into the mould and left to cool. After setting, the mould would be broken from the bronze, ready to be perfected by hand. 

This lengthy process meant that only one cast could be made from each modello, because the modello  was lost in the making of the bronze. But over the centuries, increasingly complex techniques were invented that allowed multiple castings to be produced from each wax work. 

‘Later techniques also enabled thinner castings, cutting the amount of expensive bronze that was necessary. As a result, the older the bronze, the heavier it tends to be,’ Russell explains. 

3. Casting

The creation of a bronze statue was a collaborative process. After producing a model, the artist would often sub-contract the casting process to a foundry. Once the bronze was finished, the ‘cold work’ of refining and polishing the metal was done by the artist’s assistants. 

‘The final product was a result of how the teams worked together, irrespective of the quality of the modello,’ Russell says. ‘Florentine foundries from Giambologna’s era onward were known for their sumptuous finish and refinement, while some large-scale Venetian foundries were mass-producing bronzes with less attention to detail.’

4. Patina

After a bronze had been cast, it was treated with oils to create a patina — a thin layer of tarnish caused by oxidisation. ‘From teal to scarlet, patinas develop over time, often because of the natural oils secreted from the human hands which have touched a bronze’s surface,’ says the specialist. ‘Rich patinas can indicate where an object has been stored and how it has been handled over the centuries, adding to the artwork’s narrative.’ 

Florentine bronzes from the 16th to the 18th centuries were particularly prized for their translucent red-gold lacquer, and these remain highly sought after today.

The crucifix above, sold by Christie’s in December for £671,250, demonstrates how Renaissance artists were determined to outdo each other. ‘The modelling of the figure of Christ became an occasion for a sculptor to demonstrate his mastery in his field,’ says the specialist. ‘Gasparo Mola’s Cristo Morto  is here almost a manifesto proclaiming his understanding of human anatomy.’

6. The artist

Renaissance bronzes were rarely signed, and identifying their authorship is a long and complex process. Attribution is often contentious, because it can make prices rocket.

‘The Dutch sculptor Willem van Tetrode was until recently poorly understood and largely ignored,’ says Russell. ‘That changed with a exhibition and catalogue of his work. In Christie’s broke all its auction records for the artist when his Hercules Pomarius  sold for more than $2 million.’

‘Rediscoveries still happen all the time,’ Russell continues. ‘In Christie’s sold a bronze Bacchic figure by the north European Mannerist sculptor Adriaen de Vries (-), executed during the last year of his life. It had sat atop a column in the centre of a fountain in the courtyard of an Austrian hunting lodge for 300 years.’ 

The sculpture, unidentified until recently, fetched a cool $27.8 million at Christie’s, and still holds the world record for the most expensive Renaissance bronze. In the past decade Christie’s has also rediscovered works by Giambologna (-) and Barthelemy Prieur (-).

7. Rarity

Systems were developed that enabled models to be cast multiple times, as well as to create copies of existing bronzes, which makes identifying the rarity of a statue a key consideration.

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‘In Christie’s unearthed a bronze roundel, above, depicting Mars and Venus at Vulcan’s Forge, that had never been seen before in any version,’ Russell explains. ‘Made in the late 15th century in Mantua, Italy, it was totally unique. 

‘It realised £6.9 million, then a world-record price for a Renaissance bronze, despite the fact that it had been impossible to identify the maker for certain. The fact that the artist remains a mystery highlights how much scholarship in the field remains to be done.’

8. Condition

As with all art, condition should be carefully considered when buying Renaissance bronzes. But because of the chemical and compositional strength of the statues (which were sometimes designed to live outdoors), and the fact that the surface improves with handling and age, collectors can be confident that their piece will stand good ground in the future. 

But some words of caution from our specialist: 'Never over-polish the surface or you run the risk of ruining centuries of maturity.’ 

‘The history of a bronze statuette and the importance of its previous owners add a lustre which can increase its desirability,’ Russell notes. 

In Christie’s sold the Abbott-Guggenheim Collection of bronzes, which included statues, inkwells, candlesticks and busts. The collection was amassed by Dr Peter Guggenheim, who together with Dr John Abbott continued his family’s legacy of collecting and loaned generously to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Royal Academy and the Louvre. 

A highlight of the sale was a parcel-gilt rectangular bronze relief of Christ as Salvator Mundi, above, which because of its rarity, quality and provenance, sold for $605,000 — more than twice its low estimate.

At the Venice Biennale, American contemporary artist Simone Leigh was selected to represent the United States and display her commissioned artwork in the United States Pavilion. The Venice Biennale, or La Biennale di Venezia, is an international cultural festival and perhaps the most prestigious art exhibition in the world. Monumental and rendered in bronze, Leigh’s works at the Biennale exude a timeless quality and were a sensational success, garnering the American a Biennale Golden Lion — the highest honor available at the exhibition. Leigh’s oeuvre is undeniably a cultural force, but it also underscores the power of bronze in artistic creation, a material that has been used by artists for nearly years.

Satellite, in Sovereignty by Simone Leigh. Completed . At the Venice Biennale, United States Pavillion.

The term “Bronze Age” may conjure up memories of sitting in a history class and learning about the emergence of human civilization. After societies began utilizing bronze as the material of choice, the ensuing era represented a large leap in technological advancement. Humans were no longer reliant on stone tools for agriculture and urban development, and the longevity of bronze tools and objects meant that less labor was needed to maintain architectural triumphs, weaponry and cultural artifacts.

Not every metal is given the title of an entire age in human history, but bronze holds the first title of its kind. Bronze has served as the backbone of human innovation for over five millennia, and continues to play a major role in contemporary art production. Join us as we journey through the many different ways humans have used this highly important metal to create timeless sculpted works of art.

How are bronze statues and sculptures made?

As artisans and metalworkers began to explore the possibilities offered by bronze, various methods were developed in order to cast molten metal into refined works of sculpture. Here are some of the most successful bronze art methods:

Sand Casting Technique

Sand casting is a simplified method for casting bronze. The sculptor creates a mold or pattern in compacted fine sand, into which they would pour molten bronze through a series of gates to funnel it into the necessary mold. As the metal cools, it will revert from its extremely hot liquid state back to a solid. Once cooled, the object can be removed from the mold.

While sand casting is a common and widely used technique, it does not allow for the utmost in precision or scale. Further, the molds are not reusable, which means that a new mold must be created every time in order to sand cast a new artwork.

Lost Wax Technique

One method for making bronze sculptures is known as the lost wax casting process, sometimes called cire perdue. This sculpting technique was common in the ancient world, used almost exclusively in Greece by the Late Archaic period (c. 500-480 BCE). Ancient Rome and China also used lost wax casting for the production of bronze objects.

Solid Casting

With solid lost wax casting, casts are made from models of the final sculpture — typically comprised of wax. The sculptor then creates a mold of the wax model, surrounding it with clay or other materials and melting the wax down to create negative space into which molten metal — in this case, bronze — can be poured. Once the metal cools and solidifies, the mold can be broken away for the new bronze object to be cleaned and polished. Though this method is the most simple and direct, it tends to result in small statuary due to the limitations of the materials used for the mold.

Hollow Casting

In response to these size limitations, the Ancient Greeks also pioneered the hollow lost wax method which allowed artists and bronze-makers to create larger sculptures. These statues often had to be cast piecemeal — a leg, a head, a torso. Instead of a wax replica where the wax melts, in the indirect hollow cast method, the model was typically made of clay and covered in wax before an outer layer of clay encircled the inner layer. When the wax was heated and removed, it opened up a matrix where the bronze alloy could be cast around the inner clay model. This meant that bronze sculptors could reuse models, making the recasting and reproduction of a given sculpture possible and relatively simple. This method, also called cire perdue, remains the most popular method among modern sculptors.

History of Bronze Sculptures

Ancient Bronzes

Dancing girl from Mohenjodaro — the oldest known bronze sculpture. Circa BCE. National Museum of New Delhi. The emergence of bronze and other metalworking began during the aptly named Bronze Age, which spans from around BCE to BCE. As human civilization began to expand and grow, stone tools were replaced with far hardier and longer-lasting metals. While this certainly encouraged the continued development of urban societies, which were seeing the rise of written languages and increasing populations, it also provided a new material with which to create art objects and different types of sculptures.

Now in the collection of the National Museum of New Delhi in India, the oldest known bronze sculpture is known as the Dancing girl of Mohenjodaro. Standing nearly 5 inches tall and striking a casual and confident pose, the girl wears twenty-five bangles on her left arm, four bangles on her right and a necklace. British archaeologist John Marshall uncovered the original sculpture in , later commenting on the girl’s seemingly modern air: “When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric.”

Ancient Greek bronze statue of Eros, known in Greek Mythology as the god of love, sleeping. Circa 3rd-2nd century BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Ancient Greek bronze casters discovered that bronze was a far more preferable material for sculptures and statues than other metals like copper. By the Hellenistic Period (323 BCE- 31 AD), Greek artists had mastered the art form, producing many of today's most well-known Greek sculptures, including Laocoön and His Sons, which inspired generations of artists that followed. Prolific numbers of bronze statues and sculptures were created by the Greeks, though few survive due to the value of the metal; many were melted down by later societies and reused for their precious bronze. Thankfully, ancient Roman sculptures, particularly marble copies, provide extensive records of the Grecian bronze casting traditions.

Ancient Roman bronze statue of an aristocratic boy. Circa 27 BCE–14 CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Ancient civilizations in Rome, China and India also appreciated the sturdy metal as an art medium. Ancient Roman craftsmen pioneered the concept of portrait busts, and these early portraits of Roman emperors and other politicians continue to shape the way modern societies depict their statesmen.

Renaissance & Baroque Bronze Sculpture

While European cities continued to operate bronze foundries during the Middle Ages for casting weaponry and other necessities, the Italian Renaissance ushered in a new age of bronze sculpture. Increasing adoration of Classical antiquity led to a reinvigorated interest in sculpture and classical proportions. Particularly in Florence, called the “New Athens” by ambitious humanists, the Medici family’s patronage allowed artistic production to flourish, and artists from Donatello to Michelangelo created masterpieces in bronze.

Bronze of David after Gian Lorenzo Bernini. 17th century. M.S. Rau, New Orleans.

Bronze of Pluto Abducting Proserpine after François Girardon. Circa . M.S. Rau, New Orleans.

The transition to the Baroque period brought bronze sculpture to even further heights. Moving from a humanistic naturalism, the Baroque period embraced dramatic grandeur and deep emotion. Artists of the period, including Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francois Girardon, created impassioned and gripping compositions — subjects with emotive expressions, writhing bodies and theatrical posing. Though the material would once again fall out of favor following the end of the Baroque era, the Industrial Revolution would bring a bronze resurgence once more.

Modern Directions of Bronze Sculpture

Girardon’s Equestrian Portrait of Louis XIV. Circa . M.S. Rau, New Orleans.

As the 19th century ushered in a new era of technology and innovation, bronze sculpture was taken in new and modern directions. The early 19th century saw a remarkable rise in the popularity of the bronze statue for public sculpture, as it had become customary to commemorate political and military figures through monuments. Residing in parks and civic buildings, or even lining boulevards, these sculptural works benefited from the inherent strength and durability of the metal, which offers it a greater degree of protection from the elements.

Le Baiser by Auguste Rodin. Created . M.S. Rau, New Orleans. Dancer Fastening the String of Her Tights by Edgar Degas. Conceived . M.S. Rau, New Orleans.

Some famous sculptors from the 19th-century, like Auguste Rodin, continued to rely on classical proportions and the foundations laid during earlier periods. His sculptures strayed, however, from the traditional biblical or classical subjects that formed the cornerstone of Renaissance and Baroque sculpture. One of his most iconic bronzes, called Le Baiser (“The Kiss”), was originally designed to be included in Rodin’s The Gates of Hell—a monumental bronze sculptural group work depicting figures from Dante’s Inferno. Rodin was ultimately taken with the overwhelming sensuality of his creation and deemed it too special to put on the Gates of Hell. The result is one of the most iconic portrayals of rapturous love and uninhibited intimacy ever created.

Other artists, like Edgar Degas, found ways to bring the subjects they already loved to paint and draw into three dimensions. Throughout his career, Degas became obsessed with capturing the dancer in motion, both on stage and in the dressing room; he painted dancing compositions quite often, but also found bronze an excellent medium for capturing the graceful movement and forms of ballerinas. Tête de cariatide by Amedeo Modigliani. Conceived . M.S. Rau, New Orleans.

Amedeo Modigliani, a 20th-century great beloved for his painting, created monumental bronze sculptures with his quintessential exaggerated yet elegant elongation of his subject’s faces. His interest in African and other non-Western art is well-documented, and this bronze is reminiscent of a tribal mask or ancient deity, both due to its exaggerated features and the totemic appearance achieved by the work’s texture, meditative presence and sheer size. Yet the work also alludes to the artist’s Italian heritage and training. A caryatid is a staple of classical architecture, an ornate column typically found on the façade of a temple that takes the form of a female figure, with the most famous examples being on the Acropolis of Athens. The present large sculpture exudes the same totemic, memorable quality, taking the legacy of ancient Greek and Roman bronze sculptors and injecting Modigliani’s signature style.

Moving further into the 20th century, postmodernism continued its march, impacting everything from photography, painting and filmmaking to fine art and sculpture itself. The introduction of abstraction to the medium is particularly important, as the abstract art pieces from this time represented a break from the nearly unbroken history of Classical influence on bronze sculpture. Artists like Constantin Brâncuși, Umberto Boccione and Agustin Cárdenas experimented with subject, form and even color by way of new patinas for the metal.

Couple by Agustin Cárdenas. Circa . M.S. Rau, New Orleans. Sleeping Muse by Constantin Brâncuși. Completed . The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Interested in learning more? Whether you're interested in bronze sculptures from the East to the West, we’ve got it all. Explore our wide range of bronze sculptures from the Baroque period through the present, or read our article on collecting fine art to discover how you can start your own collection of important works including exquisite bronzes. If you’re interested in other mediums, our selection of fine art sculptures includes creations made of marble, terracotta, wood and more.

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