WAX MODELLING. 



WAX-MODELLING. 



wax model ot the atatue appears to the eye. The sculptor now ex- 

 minrs hi* wax model, wid improve* it when there U occasion and 

 repair* or makes good all imperfection*. When it ia perfectly finished, 

 the preparation (or the founding commence*. Over thia wax statue a 

 new tire-proof mould U made of plaster, brickdust or eand, oow hair, 

 and hone-dung, and mitiin very fine aahea. Thia composition, 

 used at first a* a fine liquid planter, U put on in many coat* with a 

 bnuh, and care muat be taken that every particle of wax U covered 

 with the finer plantar : each coat U allowed to dry before the innoeatrive 

 ooat i* put on, and the oompoaition may be gradually made of a ooarser 

 mixture. When thia new ahell or mould i* of a auffioient thickness 

 and u properly strengthened by iron bam, a coal fire muit be kindled 

 round it and be allowed to burn until the whole of the wax U burnt 

 out, proper vent* being made for ita eacape. Thi* burning out of the 

 wax is a moat tedious and difficult process, Luting sometimes a* much 

 a* four or even six weeks. (S61U, ' Bildande Kuu*t in Miinchvu,' 

 Stiglmayer, p. 484.) The great difficulty and long proceM of melting 

 out the wax was the cause of what i* called the wax method going 

 comparatively out of u*e, but it ia only recently that the clay and aand 

 modelling a* it substitute ha* been generally established. Until 1824 

 Stiglmayer, oue of the moat successful of recent founder*, uaed the 

 wax method ; from that time the clay method. The largest single cast 

 by Stiglmayer did not amount to one-half of the given weight of 

 this enormou* cast by Keller : it U, however, now no longer con- 

 sidered deairable to cast a monument in a single yetto. [BuoNZK ; 



BoULfTORB.] 



When the wax U at length melted out, the mould must be strength- 

 ened by brickwork, and the whole pit muat be closely filled with sand. 

 A ohannftl ia now made from the furnace, and is divided in its course 

 into three smaller channels or duct* which lead to three openings in 

 the now hollow mould, which U buried in the earth a little below the 

 furnace. The vacuum in the mould caused by melting out the wax is 

 to be filled with metal ; the original iron framework, which was con- 

 structed before the casting of the core, keeps both the core and the 

 mould in their proper places ; and air-vents in various parts of the 

 mould preclude any great probability of accident. When all is ready, 

 the furnace is opened at a given signal, the liquid fire runs in the 

 channels simultaneously into the mould, and that part of the work 

 which was previously soft wax becomes perennial bronze. The cast i* 

 aoonniplisbed when the metal pours out from the vents. When cool, 

 the mould U broken away piecemeal, and the metal is exposed. The 

 core in then removed from the inside through an aperture made on 

 purpoae ; the whole i* then repaired and finished by the bronze- 

 workers. [BROHZK.] Johann Balthaxar Keller, who cast in this method 

 the atatue of Louis XIV., was a SWIM, and originally a goldsmith. 

 He wag born at Zurich, in 1638, and died at Paris, superintendent of 

 the royal foundry, in 1720. There is a print of the statue by C. Simo- 

 neau : it was oast in 1699. 



Vasari (Introduziont, 1. c.) describe* a very simple method for casting 

 (mall figure* in bronze. When the mould (cappa) is made, it must 

 be reversed in water ; melted wax is then poured into it, that coming 

 in contact with the cold wet surface of the mould cools immediately, 

 while the interior portion remain* liquid ; the mould must be again 

 turned over, when the still liquid wax in the centre will immediately 

 run out, leaving in the mould a hollow wax ahell. The shell must now 

 be filled with the proper piaster, and this constitutes the core of the 

 object. The wax i* then burnt out, and the cast is made as usual. 



It remain* to treat of that department of wax-modelling termed 

 OmpUulic. Under thia term i* comprehended modelling and casting 

 In wax, though not in the manner already described. The art ol 

 outing in wax from nature was, according to Pliny (' Hint. Nut.' xxxv. 

 44), invented by Lysistratus, of Sicyon. the brother of Lysippus, about 

 800 B.C., who. he (ays, first of all men took plaster moulds from the 

 face and made wax cast* from them. These wax portraits became 

 eventually very common, and especially among the Humans. It i* 

 however very unlikely that the many treasured wax portraits we read 

 of in ancient writers ware made from mould* taken from the face 

 itself. Such would be the mere resemblance of death, for they would 

 be without eyes and otherwise void of expression. They were 

 probably cait from mould* taken from model*, though such mask* 

 may have been used in the formation of the model*. 



KP.III 1'liny (xxxv. 2), we learn that the Romans were in the habit 

 of having wax image* of themselves made, to be handed down to their 

 posterity. Many writer* notice and praise the custom. Valerius 

 Haximus (v. 8. 8), allude* to the advantage* of the practice by virtue 

 of example. It was indeed a privilege to which only some were 

 entitled. None could make them but those who had themselves, or 

 whose anceitor* had, borne come ourule magistracy. Cicero speaks ol 

 the right of handing down your image to posterity. The number ol 

 ancestral images therefore became an object of pride and an evidence 

 of ancient nobility, and the antiquity of a family was sometimes 

 expressed by applying the epithet smoky to ite image*, " fumoato 

 imagine*." (Cicero in ' Verr ' vi. 14. ; in ' Pisoneni,' 1. ; and ' De Leg 

 Agrar. 1 ii. 1.) 



The mart striking paaaage concerning these image* i* in Polybiu* 

 (vi. (2), who a* a Greek and a itranger would be more impressed by 

 so peculiar a custom a* he describe*. He says, " Upon solemn festival* 

 these image* ore uncovered, and adorned with the greatest care. And 



'hen any other person of the same family die*, they are carried also in 

 the funeral procession, with a body added to the bust, that the repre- 

 sentation may be just, even with regard to size. They are droned 

 ikewise in the habite that belong to the ranks which they severally 

 Uled when they were alive. If they were consuls or pncton, in a 

 (own bordered with purple ; if censors, in a purple robe ; and it 

 liuiuphed or obtained any similar honour, in a vest embroidered with 

 {old. Thus apparelled they are drawn along in chariot* preceded by 

 .he rods and axe*, and other ensigns of their former dignity. And 

 when they arrive at the forum, they are all seated upon chain of 

 ivory ; and then exhibit the noblest object that can be offered to a 

 youthful mind wanned with the love of virtue and of 



This wax-modelling ha* continued apparently from the time of the 

 Romans until the present day. In the middle ages it was used for the 

 image* of saint* and votive image*. The first modeller however of 

 this das* noticed in the history of art is Orsino, the cout. 

 Andrea del Verrocchio, in the middle of the 15th century. Vasari 

 represents Orsino a* a wax-modeller (oeraiuolo) of good repute in 

 Florence, and that he attained, through the advice of Verrocchio, the 

 highest excellence in his art. Verroochio and Orsino mode some 

 interesting figures together, of which three of Lorenzo do' Medici are 

 worthy of especial notice : they are described by Vasari as something 

 remarkable. The conspiracy of the Pazzi in 1 478 was the cause of the 

 production of these figures : they were voted by his friends hi com- 

 memoration of his escape. Orsino made, under the direction of 

 Verrocchio, three wax images of Lorenzo of the size of life. The 

 framework or skeletons of these figures were made of wood and cane, 

 and the heads, bonds, and feet were cost in wax, of considerable thick- 

 nets, but hollow ; they were then furnished with hair and glass eyes, 

 and painted in oil-colours to the exact imitation of life; and were 

 draped in clothes which had been worn by Loreu/.o ; to give the 

 draperies a fixed character they were waxed. These figures were 

 altogether so successful, says Vasari, that they appeared to be 1: 

 One of them was placed in the church of the Monaclie ili Chiarito, in 

 the Via di San Qallo; another in the Servitant church of the Annun- 

 ciation ; and the third in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli at 

 Assisi. In this ServiUnt church were many other wax figures by 

 Orsino, all of which were marked with an O, in which was an U, and 

 above it a cross ; but they have all long since perished. Vasari adds 

 that few works of later wax-modellers were to be compared with those 

 of Orsino, and complains that the art had declined. A few years how- 

 ever after the death of Vasari, Jacopo Vivio distinguished himself by 

 a model on slate, in coloured wax, of Michel Augelo'g Last Judgment 

 in the Sistine Chapel. It was engraved by Ambrosio BrambUla, and 

 a particular description of it was published in Uouie in 1590 ' Discorso 

 sopra la mirabil opera di Bosso-Hilievo di cera stuccata con uolori, 

 scolpita in pietra nera, da Jacopo Vivio." 



Two centuries after Verrocchio, and one after Vasari, this art was 

 very usefully and with the utmost skill applied by Uaetano Ciiulio 

 Zummo, born at Syracuse in 1 65t>, to the preparation of anatomical 

 models and pathological examples. Zuuimo obtained a Kurorxau 

 celebrity for hi* two groups of figures representing the various stage* 

 of corruption of the human body and the effects of the plague. lie 

 modelled also an anatomical head at Paris, which is described in the 

 Memoires of the French Academy of Sciences, of 1701, the year of his 

 .!. ith. 



The first collection of anatomical preparations which was made for 

 the purposes of science is that of the Institute of Bologna, established 

 by Benedict XIV. It was commenced under the direction i 

 Lelli. but the greater part of the preparations were made by iii<iv:tmii 

 Mauzolini of Bologna and his wife Anna Morandi Manzoliui. Haniounl 

 died at Bologna in 1755, aged 55. There are some of his mo< . 

 London and in many other cities of Europe. Anna Man/, 

 still greater celebrity than her husband : she executed all or the ; 

 port of the obstetric models in the Stanza Ostetricia of the Institute 

 which were prepared under the direction of Dr. Antonio Ualli. She 

 also gave public lectures on anatomy in Bologna, illustrating her 

 discourse by appropriate models. She died in 1774, aged 57. (Crcspi, 

 " Felsina Pittrice," where there are portraits of both the Manzoliiii.) 



There is a still more extensive and remarkable collection of wax 

 anatomical models in the Museum of Natural History at Fluren 

 was established by the Grand Duke Leopoldo, and occupies i 

 chambers. It contain* the works of various artists, but the principal 

 contributors to its treasures were Felice Foutaua and Clemeute > 

 The work* of the earlier modellers in wax are set apart in a clj 

 by themselves : here are some of the models of Zuuimo, among whic-h 

 is one showing the whole anatomy of the human head, similar probably 

 to the one made at Paris. 



The Musce Dupuytren at Paris is celebrated for its morbid speci- 

 mens; it is perhaps the richest pathological collection in the world. 

 It was purchased by the University of Paris, of the heirs uf M. 

 Dupuytren, the celebrated anatomist Most of the principal cities of 

 Europe have now their collections, and some of them very fine ones, 

 and good wax-modellers are numerous. 



In this department of modelling none but the purest wax U used, 

 which is the oase also in all works where the wax is the final substance 

 of the work. Different modellers use different, < 

 some allownuco must be made for hot and cold weather, as what 



