530 CALLOTECHNIC9. 



3. The Casting, or founding, of statues, is most frequently 

 executed in bronze ; but sometimes in brass, or in lead ; or in varia- 

 ble mixtures of copper, lead, tin, and zinc. The moulds in which 

 they are cast, are made of calcined gypsum and brickdust, tempered 

 together ; the latter serving to resist the heat of the melted metal, 

 and prevent the mould from crumbling. The mould is formed in 

 separate parts ; which are afterwards united. When the casting is 

 to be hollow, the mould is coated internally with soft clay, and the 

 rest of the interior is filled with a core, of the same material as the 

 mould. The mould is then taken apart, the soft clay removed, and 

 the mould then readjusted ; so that the melted metal, when poured 

 in, occupies only the space from which the soft clay was removed. 



Casting in plaster, depends upon the property which gypsum, or 

 plaster of Paris, possesses ; that when heated to about 300 Fah., it 

 gives off the water chemically combined with it, and being then 

 pulverized and moistened, it recombines with water, and speedily 

 become a hard, solid mass. The mould, for such casting, is itself 

 made of this plaster, applied to the original statue or model ; which 

 is previously oiled, to prevent the plaster from adhering. The 

 mould may be formed in parts ; and the cast itself, if of a compli- 

 cated form, may also be made in parts, which are afterwards united. 

 The mould is oiled internally, before the plaster, mixed with water 

 to the consistency of cream, is poured in, and allowed to harden. 

 Plaster casts may be varnished with a solution of soap and white 

 wax, in boiling water, and, when dry, they may then receive a fine 

 polish. When exposed to the weather, they may be protected by 

 applying paint or oil, with which wax or rosin may be combined. 



4. Under the head of Glyptography, so named from the Greek, 

 yhvtyy, sculpture, we proceed to name a few of the most remarkable 

 productions of this branch of the arts. The most wonderful Gre- 

 cian statues, were those of Minerva, in the Parthenon at Athens, and 

 Jupiter, in his temple at Olympus ; both executed by Phidias. They 

 were both of colossal size, wrought in ivory, and robed in cloth of 

 gold. That of Minerva was 41 feet high, and held in its hand a 

 statue of Victory, as large as the ordinary human figure. That of 

 Jupiter was of nearly the same size. Next to these, we may name 

 the colossal statue of Juno, at Argos, made of ivory and gold, by 

 Polycletus, the rival of Phidias ; and next to this, the colossal group 

 of Minerva, presenting the deified Hercules to Jupiter, executed by 

 Myron, at about the same period. Polycletus modelled the juvenile 

 form, in his Mercury ; and Myron, the mature athletic form in his 

 Hercules. The statue called the Dying Gladiator, is ascribed to 

 Ctesilaus, a contemporary of Phidias. Pythagoras of Rhegium 

 created the ideal form of Apollo, of which the Apollo Belvidere is a 

 copy ; and Praxiteles, that of Diana. Praxiteles made two statues 

 of Venus, one of which, the Cnidian, was nearly copied in the 

 Venus de Medici, by Cleomenes. Scopas invented the groups of 

 Thyades, or dancing Bacchantes : and the group of Niobe and her 

 Children, is ascribed either to him or to Praxiteles. Lysippus cast 

 the Tarentine Jupiter, of bronze, 60 feet high ; and Chares, his 

 pupil, is said to have made the Colossus, at Rhodes, The group of 



