Bronze is the alloy that not only made its way to every warrior’s heart in the shape of strong and clever weapons, and even households in a form of appliances, but it also made artists think and inspired them to make figures and such that became famous for many reasons. One of the reasons sculptors choose bronze as a medium of their dream works is that bronze is sturdy, reliable, and less fragile than many other statue mediums. Perhaps, that’s one of the reasons why we still have thousands of years old bronze sculptures in museums. Bronze remains a time-tested medium for making statues, and that’s why artists are fond of this alloy.
Bronze is in no way a new trend in the context of statue building; from ancient times, sculptors have created numerous bronze statues. And, many of them have succeeded to create statues that people have remembered, pondered over, evaluated, became fascinated, and obsessed over.
Today, we are going to mention some of the most famous works from the bygone era to relatively modern times. Each one of these sculptures has a history of their own, and you may be surprised when you learn something new about these legendary bronze sculptures.
The Burghers of Calais
Auguste Rodin, the famous French sculptor created the illustrious sculpture famously called The Burghers of Calais in the late nineteenth century. The sculpture involves six figures, also known as the Burghers, who volunteered to die after they lost a battle in 1346 circa. History remembers, after the victory in the Battle of Crecy King Edward III sieged the citizens of the City of Calais, and demanded the submission of its six privileged members. Upon seeing no other way to save the citizen from the siege, six Burgher members volunteered themselves to surrender, and ultimately to death. The Burghers of Calais is one of the most famous historic bronze sculptures because it tells a history of sacrifice and heroism. There have been many copies of the statue made by various sculptors, which only shows how much people still appreciate the history behind it.
You might appreciate the fact that the history behind the statue has a good end. Because the six members were left alive in the end for the queen of England, Philippa of Hainault convinced her husband not to execute them.
The Gates of Hell
The Gates of Hell – another Rodin creation. We are not biased towards Rodin’s work, it’s just that he was an amazing artist, and he had so many great bronze sculptures that it’s quite hard to choose only one. So, we have the Gates of Hell as one of the best mementos of history.
The Gates of Hell has been an object of fascination and mystery since the time of its creation. Rodin wanted to rip a scene from Dante’s famous Divine Comedy “The Inferno”, and made a sculpture out of it using bronze. Not only that, but Rodin also worked on this stunning sculpture for approximately 37 years until his death. It wouldn’t be wrong to presume that must’ve had a special connection with it among his other bronze sculptures!
The sculpture contains over 200 figures intricately concocted in bronze. The work implies Dante’s famous gate of hell scene, and the sculpture became so popular that many of the figures in it became a character of their own. The Thinker or The poet, Kneeling Female Faun, Paolo and Francesca, are to name a few that became individual bronze sculptures later.
The Thinker
One character particularly stands out from the Gates of Hell, and that is The Thinker, initially known as The Poet. Some theories imply that the character is inspired by the author of the Divine Comedy, Dante, who is sitting over the gate and pondering about his poem. But some critics disagree. To this date, it’s still a mystery to solve about the largest figure of the Gate of Hell. Nonetheless, The Thinker is one of the most inspiring works that has inspired many sculptors. Rodin himself thought that the figure should have an individual statue, so he went on and created a larger size of The Thinker. The Thinker easily comes in mind when we think of the top ten famous bronze sculptures.
Statue of Lenin
Not all art has been showered with love and appreciation. Some art has been appreciated, and some resented. The Statue of Lenin certainly swings in the middle of these two types!
The Statue of Lenin is a bronze sculpture of the communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, made by the famous Bulgarian artist Emil Venkov. The bronze sculpture has a dimension of 16 feet and resides in Seattle. The statue has had its fair share of controversy in terms of being the statue of a communist. It has been vandalized and reconstructed several times. Regardless, the Slovak monumental persists and remains one of the infamous bronze sculptures in recent times.
Spider
Spider is one of the famous modern sculptures created by Louise Bourgeois who was along with being a famous sculptor, was a gifted painter as well. Her work Spider became the representation of love and care as it represented the artist’s mother in some way. The sculpture is also one of the most expensive modern arts and has held the record several times. It is a work of a series called “Cells” and its components are a ballerina-like graceful bronze spider, a cage made out of steel, a chair, and a few more.
As one might say, the more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future. You can learn a lot about the past from these historical monuments. They not only pique your curiosity, but they also give you deep insights so you can prepare yourself for the future. And if you have a passion for art, and love bronze sculptures, or any other form of art such as high-class paintings, wall art, chandeliers, modern art, bronze fountains, etc. you should check out nifao.com, because they have a magnificent collection of a different form of art. At nifao.com, you will find your favorite bronze sculptures, bronze bird statues, bronze animal statues, chandelier lightings, etc. at the most reliable prices. The online store appreciates both art and artists and exhibits the most beautiful pieces of art for sale.