Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Wax Reliefs from Museum Collections

Wenzel Maler
Portrait of Emperor Rudolph II
1606
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

attributed to Gaetano Giulio Zumbo
The Judgment of the Damned
ca. 1675-1700
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

Johann Baptist Cetto
Resurrected Christ as a Gardener recognized by Mary
ca. 1700
wax relief
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut

Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi
Apotheosis of Antonio Manoel da Vilhena, Grand Master of Malta
ca. 1725-29
wax relief
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Giovanni Francesco Pieri
Holy Family with young St John the Baptist
1767
wax relief on slate
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Joachim Machado de Castro
Flora
ca. 1770
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

John Flaxman
A Child (said to be artist's four-year-old sister Mary Ann)
1772
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

Samuel Percy
Death of Voltaire
ca. 1780-1820
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

Samuel Percy
Dead Christ
ca. 1780-90
wax relief and linen on wood panel
Victoria & Albert Museum

Samuel Percy
Queen Anne
ca. 1800-1820
wax relief with velvet drapery
Victoria & Albert Museum

Richard Cockle Lucas
Cleopatra
1848
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

Richard Cockle Lucas
Portrait Medallion of Sir Anthony Panizzi
Principal Librarian at the British Museum
1850
wax relief
British Museum

Benedetto Pistrucci
Portrait Medallion of a Man
before 1874
wax relief
British Museum

Nella Casella
Silvia Bella
ca. 1908
wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

"Wax is an organic substance derived from animals and plants, a versatile material that has long been used by artists for sketch models and small sculptures.  It is quick and easy to shape, yet also inexpensive.  Once softened, it is modelled in a similar way to clay, with the composition built up gradually.  To enhance the wax, pigment can be added before moulding and pearls or other jewels can be embedded in the surface afterwards.  Wax was thought to be particularly well-suited to women modelers since more traditional methods and materials such as wood or stone-carving were considered to be messy, dangerous and unsuitable."

"Ella Casella (1858-1946) and her sister Nella Casella (1859-1950) were artists who worked collaboratively in a variety of media: wax, watercolour, glass enameling, leather tooling and metalworking.  In the 1880s they studied under Alphonse Legros (1837-1911) at the Slade School of Art.  They exhibited both at the Royal Academy and with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in the 1890s.  As part of the revival of Renaissance art by British artists in this period, the Casella sisters drew from a Renaissance tradition in form and method, aligning themselves with great masters such as Pisanello (1395-1455)."

"Actively involved in the thriving artistic and cultural life of turn of the century London, these artists were inspired by theatrical costuming of the period, and many of their wax relief portraits represent friends from their circle, including many celebrities of the day such as Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, Franz Liszt and Bram Stoker.  As well-educated ladies of wealth and distinction, both their gender and social standing played a predictably pivotal role in the development of their art, training, and working practice." 

"This is one wax of a group of twenty-nine wax sculptures bequeathed to the Victoria & Albert Museum by Edward (Teddy) Pyke.  Mr. Pyke had devoted most of his life to the study of waxes, and his book Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, published in 1973, continues to be the most comprehensive resource on wax modellers.  His own collection was wide-ranging, and included British, German, French and Italian portraits and figure subjects from the sixteenth century up to the present day.  His generous bequest augmented and complemented the then-existing holdings of waxes in the Museum, which is regarded as the National Collection."

– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum