You Gotta Know These Sculptors
- Michelangelo (1475–1564): A Florentine “Renaissance man” also known for architecture (the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica), painting (The Last Judgment and the Sistine Chapel ceiling), poetry, and military engineering. His sculpted masterpieces include , a , , and a number of pieces for the tomb of Pope Julius II (including and ). He preferred to work in Carraran marble.
- Auguste Rodin (1840–1917): A French sculptor known for stormy relationships with “the establishment” of the École des Beaux-Arts ay-kohl day boh-zar and his mistress, fellow artist Camille Claudel. His works include , , , and a massive pair of doors for the Museum of Decorative Arts (the ) inspired by Dante’s Inferno. That latter work included his most famous piece, .
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680): A Roman who — with the rarely asked-about Francesco Borromini — defined the Baroque movement in sculpture. Bernini is principally known for his freestanding works, including and . Bernini’s David differs from that of Michelangelo in that the hero is shown “in motion,” having twisted his body to sling the rock. Bernini is also known for his massive fountains in Rome, including the and the .
- Donatello (1386–1466): A Florentine sculptor who helped define Renaissance sculpture as distinct from that of the Gothic period. He is known for and in the Orsanmichele OR-sahn mee-KAY-lay (a Florentine church), the bald (which means “pumpkin-head,” though it depicts the prophet Habbakuk), and the first equestrian statue to be cast since Roman times, the in Padua. He is also known for mastering the low-relief form .
- Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455): A Florentine sculptor and goldsmith who taught both Donatello and Filippo Brunelleschi. He is best known for two pairs of bronze doors on the Florence Baptistery (associated with the , or Florentine Cathedral). He produced a to win a 1401 competition (defeating Brunelleschi) for the commission to design the 28 panels for the . After that, he was given another commission to design ten panels for the . This latter work, by far his most famous, was dubbed the “Gates of Paradise” by Michelangelo.
- Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941): An American known for crafting in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He is also known for and an unfinished (and later replaced) tribute to Confederate heroes on Stone Mountain in Georgia.
- Phidias (c. 480 – c. 430 BC): An Athenian considered the greatest of all Classical sculptors. He created the chryselephantine (gold and ivory) Statue of Zeus at Olympia (one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, now lost) and the statue of Athena in the Parthenon (now lost). He was supported by money from the Delian League (that is, the Athenian Empire) run by his friend Pericles; he was later ruined by charges of corruption generally considered to be part of a political campaign against Pericles.
- Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957): A Romanian sculptor who was a major figure in Modernism. He is best known for (not to be confused with the Rodin work or the Klimt painting), , and . U.S. customs tried to tax his works as “industrial products” since they refused to recognize them as art, though Brâncuși won a court case over the matter.
- Daniel Chester French (1850–1931): An American who created for Concord, Massachusetts and for the Nebraska state capitol, but who is best known for the .
- Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904): A French sculptor primarily known as the creator of Liberty Enlightening the World, better known as the Statue of Liberty. He also executed and a in New York’s Union Square.