Thread of surreal sculpture details 🧵
1. Water flowing over toes
2. Michelangelo's David has heart-shaped pupils.
Sculptures often have a slit in the pupils, adding depth or symbolizing the reflection of light. However, in David's case, his eyes possess distinctly heart-shaped pupils.
3. This intricate net was carved from a single block of marble by Francesco Queirolo. It took him 7 years.
No apprentice would touch the sculpture for fear of the delicate net crumbling in their hands.
4. The mind-boggling detail of Michelangelo's Moses.
There is a tiny contracted muscle in the forearm, which only contracts when the little finger is raised. Moses is lifting the pinky, therefore that tiny muscle is contracted.
5. Bernini turned stone into flesh
The legendary Italian sculptor was only 23 years old when he completed "The Abduction of Proserpina".
6. In Canova's timeless masterpiece, the wings of Cupid are so delicately thin that when sunlight touches them they shimmer with a gentle peach glow.
7. The handkerchief detail of the Duc de Montausier's marble statue
8. Over 100 years before medical science described the circulatory system, Michelangelo perfectly sculpted the jugular vein in his statue of David.
This trait is anatomically accurate: the biblical hero is in a state of excitement, as he prepares to face Goliath.
9. Marble turned into lace
Giuliano Finelli's bust of Maria Duglioli Barberini (1626)
10. The marble veil in Giuseppe Sanmartino's masterpiece is so astonishingly lifelike that the artist was accused of using alchemy to turn fabric into stone.
11. Michelangelo's David right hand
12. This is not a real mattress. This is a marble mattress sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the "Sleeping Hermaphroditus".
13. The "Veiled Truth" by Antonio Corradini
14. This statue by Marco d’Agrate depicts Saint Bartholomew, an early Christian martyr who was skinned alive.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that’s not a robe that he’s holding. It's actually his dissected skin.
15. Amazing drapery detail on "The West Wind" by American 19th-century sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould.
16. Perseus and the hidden self-portrait of Benvenuto Cellini
17. The Fall of the Rebel Angels, a 168 cm (5"6') statue with more than sixty figures carved from a single block of marble by Agostino Fasolato.
18. The hands of Daphne transforming into branches in "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini
19. Giovanni Strazza's ability to make stone translucent in his bust of the Virgin Mary
20. Chauncey Bradley Ives turned stone into wet silk in "Undine Rising From the Waters" (1880)
21. Michelangelo's Pieta, arm detail
Buonarroti completed this masterpiece when he was just 24 years old.
22. The "Veiled Lady" by Raffaele Monti
23. The level of detail in Håkon Anton Fagerås' marble pillows
24. This is not a cotton yarn. This is a mind-blowing marble sculpture by the Greek artist Argiris Rallias.
25. The veins on David's right hand
26. Stunning detail of "Ugolino and His Sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
27. The piercing glass eyes of the "Antikythera Ephebe", unknown Greek sculptor (c.330 BC)
28. Emperor Lucius Verus' beard
29. The "Reading Girl" by Pietro Magni
If you look closely at this sculpture, you’ll notice a solitary tear gracefully rolling down the young reader's left cheek. It shows how much the story in the book has affected her.
30. Marble Skin
The superb artistry of Jago, one of Italy's most accomplished contemporary artists, is evident in this "Ajax & Cassandra" stunning hand detail.
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One more: Bernini's sculpture of David is a groundbreaking exploration of intense psychological states, such as the anger seen here. The eyebrows are deeply furrowed and he tightly bites his lower lip.
Some experts also suggest that the sculptor was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci's writings on movement. In his Treatise on Painting, Da Vinci addresses precisely the challenge of rendering a figure in mid-throw. It's plausible that Bernini incorporated this theoretical insight into his rendition of David.
“If you represent him beginning the motion, then the inner side of the outstretched foot will be in line with the chest, and will bring the opposite shoulder over the foot on which his weight rests. That is: the right foot will be under his weight, and the left shoulder will be above the tip of the right foot.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
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