<<

TOMB

Lamia, Stephen, “Funeral/Burial,” in Encyclopedia of Compar- The introduction of copper, , and, later, iron ative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, edited sped the development of specialized for particular by Helene E. Roberts, Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dear- born, 1998 materials and processes. Metal tools could be given Moskowitz, Anita Fiderer, Nicola Pisano’s Arca de San Domen- any desired shape, allowing them to perform tasks that ico and Its Legacy,University Park: Pennsylvania State Uni- were impossible to do with stone ones. Metal was also versity Press, 1994 superior to stone because it was less prone to breaking, Panofsky, Erwin, Tomb Sculpture: Four Lectures on Its Chang- even if it was worked into a sharp edge or a point, ing Aspects from Ancient Egypt to Bernini, edited by H.W. Janson, New York: Abrams, and London: Thames and Hud- especially when the techniques of hardening improved. son, 1964 The new high-performance metal tools expanded the Toynbee, Jocelyn M., Death and Burial in the Roman World, possibilities of fabrication and even facilitated the de- London: Thames and Hudson, and Ithaca, New York: Cor- velopment of new art forms and styles. This phenome- nell University Press, 1971 non occurred wherever metal tools were introduced by Tummers, H.A., Early Secular Effigies in England: The Thir- trade or colonization. The introduction of teenth Century, Leiden: Brill, 1980 Valdez del Alamo, Elizabeth, and Carol S. Pendergast, editors, also required the development of a whole set of new Memory and the Medieval Tomb,Aldershot, Hampshire: tools for the hot and cold metalworking processes. In- Ashgate, 2000 terestingly, one of the new processes, casting, required Whittick, Arnold, History of Cemetery Sculpture, London: Min- the involvement of the plastic materials: modeling in eral, 1938 clay or wax. The Middle Ages the creation of highly special- ized tools for the emerging trades, such as , cabinetmaking, and woodcarving. In late medieval Eu- TOOLS , individual guilds not only claimed control of par- Sculptors’ tools can be dated to the dawn of the Paleo- ticular products but regarded the use of specific tools lithic period. Primitive tools made from bone or stone as their exclusive right. Incidents in which the guilds enabled prehistoric people to shape and control their attempted to prevent sculptors from using certain tools environment by allowing them to make weapons and are documented. The emancipation of the artist from other functional objects. Their tools also empowered the guilds in the ended such disputes. them to control their spiritual world through the crea- With the arrival of machines in the age of industrial- tion of images and deities from stone and bone. Stone ization came the distinction between tools and equip- tools are the earliest evidence of craftsmanship ment. Although the difference between tools and and civilization. equipment remains vague, the term “” is generally toolmakers collected stones from the used for portable implements, whereas equipment is earth’s surface to make tools. In Europe and regarded as stationary, even though a piece of equip- they used flint; in Armenia, obsidian; and in Asia, ment such as the may have evolved from a where flint was rare, they used quartzite, fossilized hand tool. In the 20th century, power tools entered the , and other rocks. To make a tool, the artisan split artist’s studio to assume their place beside the hand the into shards and sharpened suitable pieces into tools. Powered by compressed air (pneumatic tools) or a point or by flaking. A variety of simple stone by electricity, these tools minimize physical effort and tools suited for particular purposes emerged, including save time. Power tools make slicing, cutting, or carving , adzes, , , , and stones. so easy that the fabrication of sculpture can be, to a In the period, mining for higher quality degree, divorced from craftsmanship. It remains un- toolmaking material began, and more specialized sto- clear if the phenomenon that 20th-century Western neworking and mining tools were developed, such as sculpture largely disregards craftsmanship and empha- antler and stone picks, stone , and wooden sizes formal and conceptual concerns may, perhaps, and bone wedges. Over time stone tools were refined be explained by the introduction of power tools. and improved: increasingly fine flaking and rubbing For modeling in clay, sculptors need two basic with sand made cutting edges sharper and also im- tools: wires for cutting and spatulas for pressing. Stone proved the shape of the tools. By the end of the cutting tools most likely consisted of thin loops Age, the sculptor had a kit of basic—and astonishingly of reeds and knives made from bone or wood. Modern efficient—tools at his disposal, including gouges and cutting tools are metal wires bent into an almost end- bone . Magnificent examples of in less variety of shapes, which the sculptor can modify stone, wood, ivory, and other materials made in pre- to suit his needs. Straight or curvilinear wooden or Columbian America as as precontact Australia bone spatulas are used for pressing as well as cutting. and Oceania speak of the quality of the work that is Their shape may also be adapted to the sculptor’s possible using stone tools alone. needs. Wire cutters and spatulas leave distinct mark-

1674

5604$$000T 08-19-03 08:57:31 TOOLS ings on the clay. Throughout history sculptors at- used for rougher work with the , and lighter tempted to conceal traces of tools. With the exception wooden soften the blow and are used for fine of Gianlorenzo Bernini, who made use of tool marks in carving requiring more control. his terracottas, only 19th- and 20th-century sculptors, The bush , or boucharde,isahammer with beginning with Honore´ Daumier, Auguste Rodin, and two blunt striking ends whose surfaces are covered Henri Matisse, integrated such marks as expressive with small pyramidal teeth. This tool is used to weaken elements in their plastic work. the surface of a stone and to wear it down by pulveriz- Stone tools such as picks, hammers, chisels, and ing it. Coarse bush hammers with few teeth are used drills were among the earliest implements. In spite of for roughening-out; finer bush hammers with more the crudeness of these tools, artists around the world teeth are for preparing surfaces for carving with the have created sculptures of astonishing beauty and so- flat chisel. Bush hammers are well suited for working phistication with them, as for example the pre-Colum- with igneous rock like and were used for this bian carvers of Central America. Except for improve- purpose by ancient Egyptian sculptors. Bush hammers ments in hardening metal, stoneworking tools have should not be used on soft stones, like , although remained virtually unchanged since antiquity. Excava- it is possible to achieve good results when working tions at Egyptian have revealed stone ham- with care. The bush chisel’s point is fashioned like a mers for splitting and dressing stone, as well as copper . Its advantage is that the sculptor can and bronze chisels that are not essentially different in control it better than a boucharde, allowing him or her shape from modern ones. Metal tools were introduced to do finer work. Bush chisels are driven like points. to Egypt from Mesopotamia. However, stone sculpture The pick, a pointed hammer on a short wooden handle, is almost nonexistent in this region, and it is questiona- is used in much the same way as a boucharde. The ble whether the Egyptians adopted stoneworking tools sculptor uses it to crack stones and chip or flake away from there. No one knows how the Egyptians hardened large volumes of material to block out the form. their tools; the conclusion is that they produced hard Drills fitted with stone tips have been known since copper tools by hammering. The composition of Egyp- the Stone Age. Rotary motion was achieved first by tian bronze was such that bronze tools were suited for rubbing the shaft between the palms, but later the more working the softer stones. effective bow came into use. Egyptian stone carv- The Greek sculptors’ stoneworking tools were simi- ers were able to operate several drills at the same time. lar to those of today and included picks, the bush ham- Later developments were the pump drill, fiddle drill, mer (boucharde), the point (or punch), claw and and the brace, which was introduced from Asia. Con- toothed chisels, a narrow-edged, flat chisel, drills, files, temporary sculptors use power drills with a variety of rasps, , and gouges. bits. Drills are used for boring stone, wood, and metal. The point, or punch, the most versatile and most Axes and adzes have been in use since the Paleo- important of the stone-carving tools, can be used from lithic period. Axes are two-handed splitting tools the first to the final stages of carving. Bigger points whose heads are set parallel to the haft to facilitate are used in the roughing-out phase of carving to re- hitting and cutting. They are used primarily for felling move large masses of stone; smaller points serve to and preparation of timber and only rarely for sculpting define the final form. The results of carving with the per se. Adzes, however, have served as a major wood- point depend on its size and the angle toward the mate- carving tool everywhere. Used for shaping and rial when working: at a 45-degree angle the sculptor smoothing, adze blades are set at a right angle to the produces sharp ; the more acute the angle, the haft. Over time, variants of this tool appeared as differ- smoother the surface becomes. The blunt point of the ent methods of fastening the adze head to the haft were bull point is used for pecking. developed. Haft shape and the fastening of the blade Claw or toothed chisels have been in use in Europe characterize different types of the tool, such as the since the 6th century BCE (ancient Greece). The toothed bent- hafted adze, the iron-collared adze, and the chisel has a flat, serrated cutting edge with flat or Mesopotamian shaft-hole and socketed adze (3rd mil- pointed teeth. It is used to remove superficial layers lennium BCE). The socketed adze was originally lim- of stone and for carving the main forms of the sculpture ited to Mesopotamia but was eventually adopted by after the initial use of the point. Coarse claw chisels the Romans and Northern Europeans and is still in use are used for rough, and fine-toothed ones for more today. Stone and shell adzes (Oceania) had straight intricate work. Teeth may be sharp to penetrate deeply heads, and so did the early metal ones before gently into the stone, or blunt to “shave” the surface. The curved heads replaced them. Such metal adzes ap- claw was Michelangelo’s tool of choice. peared in Ur as early as 2700 BCE and resemble adzes Stone sculptors use a variety of hammers and mal- used today. Curved heads and hafts of most adzes im- lets to drive their chisels. Heavier metal hammers are prove control of this one-handed tool, which is used

1675

5604$$000T 08-19-03 08:57:31 TOOLS with a swinging motion directed toward the sculptor’s To prevent splitting and cracking, the backs of many legs. In the West, adzes served for preliminary carving; wood sculptures are hollowed out, an operation often non-Western artists used adzes of diminishing size for accomplished with the gouge. This U-shaped tool intricate work, which is usually done with the chisel comes in a variety of different sizes and sweeps to and . Master carvers’ adze hafts in Africa and facilitate the excavation of concave surfaces like dra- Oceania may be decorated with figures, patterns, and pery folds. For better scooping, gouges are beveled on figurative finials. In the Cook Islands, ceremonial carv- the outside. Long-bent gouges and short-bent or spoon- ers’ adzes were symbolic representations of the tute- bit gouges cut deeply into the wood because of their lary gods of artists and craftsmen. scooping motion. Spoon-bit gouges allow the artist to Woodcarvers have used chisels and gouges since carve backsides, for example the underside of deep, the Stone Age and have developed a vast number of overhanging folds. Fishtail gouges are flared like the different shapes and sizes to perform specific tasks. fishtail chisel and excavate wide, shallow chips of ma- Chisels have flat blades and straight cutting edges, terial. Straight, bent, and fishtail gouges also come whereas gouges are curved. Gouges with a pronounced with skewed cutting edges. scoop shape are known as U-gouges, and those with The V-tool or parting chisel serves to carve sharp- aV-shaped blade are V-gouges or parting tools. Chisel, edged grooves to define hair and patterns. To allow gouge, and parting tools are driven with a mallet. the carving of grooves of different depth and width, the Prehistoric stone chisels and gouges were long, nar- cutting edge comes with angles of varying steepness. row pieces of flint or hard stone whose end had been There are long- and short-bent or spoon parting tools flaked or ground into a sharp edge. They were used for carving concave surfaces and areas that are difficult without handles. The earliest Copper and to reach. A variant is the box tool, whose rectangular chisels and gouges were similar, but soon sported tangs boxlike cutting edge is used to excavate a rectangular and sockets to accommodate wooden handles. Wood- . carving chisels are generally constructed of tangs. Me- The characteristically round shape of woodcarving dieval chisels were cast with shouldered tangs but no mallets, used to drive chisels, gouges, and parting ferrules (hoops that are slipped over the handle to se- tools, allows the sculptor to strike the chisel without cure the blade). Most woodcarving chisels have octag- having to worry about which part of the mallet is going onal handles that provide a good grip. Modern wood- to strike. Heavier mallets, made from the hardest carving tools are made of fine, well-tempered steel and like dogwood or , are used for big- are available in many sizes for rough and fine work. ger chisels. Lighter mallets drive fine chisels and are Chisels are cutting tools whose sharp cutting edge fashioned from softer wood. slices into the wood and separates it while the The modern carver has hand tools as well as an and thickness of the blade wedges and forces it apart. immense variety of compressed air- and electric-pow- A low (acute) bevel or wedge angle makes carving ered tools at his disposal. Reciprocating carvers can easy. However, for soft woods, chisels with low are used, and for hard woods, higher wedge angles are be fitted with traditional bits and rotary tools fitted more efficient. with burrs similar to dentist’s drills. A broad range of Differently shaped shanks and cutting edges allow differently shaped burrs in grits ranging from coarse the carver to perform particular operations more easily to fine perform cutting as well as shaping operations. and efficiently. The ’s firmer chisel with a Many rotary hand pieces can also be fitted with small straight shank and blade and a cutting edge with one circular texture saws, , and sanding bevel is designed for the preparation and of sleeves of various grits. flat surfaces, but artists use it for many jobs. The wood- Carving knives are used to carve small-scale pieces carver’s firmer chisel is beveled on either side of the that the artist holds in his or her hand while working. cutting edge to allow the carver to apply the tool at Carving knives are distinguished by the shape of their steeper angles. The shank of the short-bent or spoon blades suited for specific operations working toward chisel is sharply curved at its tip to make deep cutting or away from the carver’s body. The most common easier. The cutting edge of the skew chisel is not at a types are the versatile bench , a short right angle to facilitate the excavation of deep-angled with straight cutting edge, and the knife with grooves and corners. Making two cuts with the back- its curved cutting edge for heavier cuts and roughing ward corner of this tool, the sculptor can carve V-sec- out. Chip knives are used for and details. tions. Skew chisels are often shown in Renaissance The slanted cutting edge of the skew knife produces illustrations, where they frequently appear with a skew and stop cuts. Knives with crooked and mul- slightly curved edge. Fishtail chisels have wide, flared ticurved cutting edges and blades are useful for special blades and are used to smooth surfaces. cuts.

1676

5604$$000T 08-19-03 08:57:31 TOOLS

Saws have been used for trimming and very rough and sandbags covered with leather. The anvil, the most shaping for millennia, but rarely for sculpting wood. commonly known implement used for hot and cold In the 20th century, however, powered chain saws are forming, provides a flat surface on the top and a curved frequently used to create large sculptures. one at the horn. Anvils can also be fitted with metal- Rasps and files are used for shaping, abrading, and forming stakes in a wide range of shapes. Various finishing. The abrasive surfaces of files consists of forms of the long-handled forging tongs permit the ridges or fine diamond grit, whereas rasps are covered smith to hold the metal. with sharp, raised points. Rifflers are shaped rasps or Files and are used for the finishing of files that permit the carver to work on hard-to-reach metal surfaces. Old hand tools have largely been re- areas. placed by powered stationary or portable grinders fit- Metalworking tools date back to the Copper, ted with sanding (which also do cutting), belts, Bronze, and early . Specialized metalworking sheets, and disks, as well as buffing wheels. tools probably originated in western Asia. Finds of SUSI COLIN bronze at Ur date to about 3500 BCE, but bronze could not have originated in southern Mesopotamia because Further Reading of the absence of metallic ores there. The usage of bronze spread from Asia to Egypt and later to Europe. Bassett, Jane, and Peggy Fogelman, Looking at European Sculp- ture: A Guide to Technical Terms, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty In West Africa, metallurgy developed independently. Museum, and London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1997 Evidence shows that iron was used before copper, Blackburn, Graham, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Wood- bronze, and brass. African and Eurasian metalworking working Handtools, Instruments, and Devices,New York: hand tools are similar, having been developed for the Simon and Schuster, and London: Murray, 1974; 3rd edition, same processes. Specific tools for cutting, joining, Bearsville, New York: Blackburn Books, 2000 Casson, Stanley, The Technique of Early Greek Sculpture, Ox- , and forming hot and cold metal were devel- ford: Clarendon Press, 1932; reprint, New York: Hacker Art oped. Many of these tools were modifications of exist- Books, 1970 ing tools such as saws, hammers, chisels, and files. Etienne, Hendricus John, The Chisel in Greek Sculpture: A Some new tools appeared, such as tongs (for holding Study of the Way in Which Material, Technique, and Tools hot pieces of metal) and anvils. Determine the Design of the Sculpture of Ancient Greece, Leiden: Brill, 1968 Metal (including precious metals) is cut with saws George, Mike, The Complete Guide to Metalworking,Marlbor- and shears. Hand and power hacksaws allow for simple ough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 1987; 2nd edition, as cutting. Hacksaw blades are exchangeable since softer, Metalworking: A Manual of Techniques,Swindon, Wilt- thicker metals require blades with few teeth per inch, shire: Crowood Press, 1990 whereas harder metals require many more. Power Goodman, William Louis, The History of Tools, London: Bell, 1964; New York: McKay, 1966 hacksaws are heavy and must be anchored to the floor. Hayes, M. Vincent, Artistry in Wood: Ideas, History, Tools, The reciprocating blades of power jigsaws create Techniques: Carving Sculpture, Assemblage, Woodcuts, straight as well as curved cuts. Jewelers’ saws have Etc.,New York: Drake, 1972; Newton Abbott, Devon: very fine blades and are used for intricate cutting. The David and Charles, 1973 tapered tip of the is designed for plunging Krar, Stephen F., editor, Illustrated Dictionary of Metalworking and Manufacturing ,New York: McGraw-Hill, and widening holes. Hand and power shears make long 1999 cuts into metal sheets, and nibblers create fine cuts and Lawal, Ibironke O., compiler, Metalworking in Africa South of patterns; an assortment of pliers is used for wire cut- the Sahara: An Annotated Bibliography,Westport, Connect- ting. Cutting can also be done with a chisel, a technique icut: Greenwood Press, 1995 used by Egyptian goldsmiths who had no knowledge Lindquist, Mark, Sculpting Wood: Contemporary Tools and Techniques,Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis, 1986 of shears. Lucas, Alfred, Ancient Egyptian Materials,New York: Long- Due to the elasticity of metals, different forming mans Green, and London: Arnold, 1926; 4th edition, as An- processes required the development of new tools as cient Egyptian Materials and Industries, revised and en- well as the adaptation of existing tools, such as the larged by John Richard Harris, London: Arnold, 1962; hammer. Forming cold metal by direct hammering re- Mineola, New York: Dover, 1999 McCreight, Tim, The Complete Metalsmith: An Illustrated quires a variety of differently shaped hammers to pro- Handbook,Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis, 1982; revised duce various effects. Metalsmithing hammers range edition, 1991 from flat-ended metal chasing hammers to round- Odell, George H., editor, Stone Tools: Theoretical Insights into ended ball peens. Egyptians made use of rounded stone Human ,New York: Plenum Press, 1996 hammers. Modern rubber hammers and rawhide mal- Penny, Nicholas, The Materials of Sculpture, New Haven, Con- necticut: Yale University Press, 1993 lets prevent surface damage caused by pounding the Petrie, William Matthew Flinders, Tools and Weapons Illus- metal. Hammers are used to form the surface of a trated by the Egyptian Collection in University College, Lon- sculpture by combining them with wood, pitch blocks, don, and 2,000 Outlines from Other Sources, London: Brit-

1677

5604$$000T 08-19-03 08:57:31 TOOLS

ish School of Archaeology in Egypt, 1917; reprint, Encino, also called “Petrus Scarpelinus florentinus,” to pro- California: Malter, and Warminster, Wiltshire: Aris and duce a series of large marble sculptural monuments and Phillips, 1974 Scheel, Bernd, Egyptian Metalworking and Tools, Princes Risb- architectural sculptures, including a cantoria, marble orough, Buckinghamshire: Shire, 1989 doorways, tombs and monuments for the Church of S. Verhelst, Wilbert, Sculpture, Tools, Materials, and Techniques, Giacomo degli Spagnoli (now called the Church of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1973; 2nd edi- Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore) on the Piazza Navona tion, 1988 in Rome. Torrigiani also produced at least three finely Wittkower, Rudolf, Sculpture: Processes and Principles, Lon- don: Allen Lane, and New York: Harper and Row, 1977 carved busts (Santa Fina, Saint Gregory, and Christ), for his landlord in Rome, the priest Stefano Coppi. Torrigiani supplemented his income by enlisting as a mercenary in Cesare Borgia’s army in the war of Ro- PIETRO TORRIGIANI 1472–1528 Italian, magna (1499–1500), then joining the Florentines in active in England and Spain their battle against Pisa (autumn 1499) and later fight- Pietro Torrigiani, a talented and versatile Florentine ing at Gargliano (December 1503) with Piero de’ Me- Renaissance artist, produced his most significant and dici and the French forces. During this time Torrigiani influential works in early-16th-century England and produced the marble of Saint Francis for Cardi- Spain. The relative inaccessibility of Torrigiani’s ma- nal Francesco Piccolomini’s family altar in the Cathe- ture sculpture in Italy and his infamous reputation for dral of Siena (in situ, completed by Michelangelo). breaking Michelangelo’s nose while a student at the Piccolomini, the cardinal protector of England from Medici Academy in Florence have led to the generally 1492 to 1503, before being elected as Pope Pius III, unsympathetic image of Torrigiani and his work that and Cardinal Castellesi, Torrigiani’s two main patrons was promoted by Cellini, Giorgio Vasari, and other during his formative years, were highly influential with contemporary followers and supporters of Michelan- the courts in England and Spain. Along with Florentine gelo. Generally credited with introducing the Italian banking families (Baroncelli, Bardi, Cavalcanti, Fres- Renaissance style to England, Torrigiani rose to promi- cobaldi), they helped arrange the necessary introduc- nence outside Italy and reflected in his work the Flor- tions for the prestigious commissions Torrigiani would entine styles of such significant sculptors as Andrea del later receive in England. Verrocchio, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Benedetto da Maiano, In February 1504 Torrigiani is documented in Avig- the Della Robbia family, and Bertoldo di Giovanni. non, where he received commissions to sculpt three According to Vasari, the young Torrigiani studied for a Crucifix with the Virgin and Saint John drawings and terracotta, bronze, and (untraced). In and out of Florence also during these with Bertoldo in the Florentine academy of Lorenzo years, Torrigiani made many drawings and marble and de’ Medici. Vasari describes Pietro’s early works as bronze sculptures (all untraced) for merchants. In Janu- “very beautiful,” but thought his personality haughty ary 1505/06 he purchased in Rome two large blocks (superbo), overbearing, and prone to violence. The ri- of marble owned by Michelangelo, suggesting the two valry between Torrigiani and Michelangelo led to the sculptors maintained professional contacts (see Darr, famous fight around 1492, which in turn led to Torrigi- 1992). Thus, until 1506 Torrigiani traveled and worked ani’s ousting from Florence. By August 1492 he is throughout Italy and southern France while remaining recorded in Bologna making a terracotta bust (un- active in Rome and Florence, probably with the work- traced) of a physician, Stefano della Torre. Vasari fur- shops of Andrea Bregno, da Maiano, and Pollaiuolo. ther records that Torrigiani then moved to Rome to Sometime around 1506–07 Torrigiani traveled work with Andrea Bregno and Pinturicchio and their north. In April 1510 he is documented as working for workshops on the stucco and marble decoration of the Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, where Torre Borgia in the Vatican for Pope Alexander VI, in Bruges he repaired a bust of Mary of France, daugh- including the marble doorways of Sala dei misteri and ter of Henry VII, king of England, and advised Mar- Sala dei arti in Rome for Pope Alexander VI. Docu- garet on the tomb of Mary of Savoy and unnamed ments discovered in the late 20th century, dating be- funerary commissions. He is first recorded in England tween 1493 and 1506, establish that Torrigiani was in November 1511, when he received the commission active as a sculptor in Rome, Florence, Siena, and else- to create the tomb of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the where in Italy and in Avignon and that he may not mother of Henry VII, in the newly built Henry VII have moved northward to northern Europe and Eng- chapel, Westminster Abbey, London. land until after 1506 (see Darr, 1992). Torrigiani was likely in London by 1507, where he Cardinal Adriano Castellesi, Pope Alexander VI’s probably worked for Henry VII, advised on plans for secretary, commissioned Torrigiani, documented in royal monuments, modeled the bust of Mary (untraced, Rome as “Magistro Petro Scarpelino Florentino” and but which he later probably repaired in Bruges in 1510)

1678

5604$$000T 08-19-03 08:57:31