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May 6, 2024 32 tweets 10 min read Read on X
Thread of surreal sculpture details 🧵

1. Water flowing over toes Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
7. The handkerchief detail of the Duc de Montausier's marble statue Image
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. Image
9. Marble turned into lace

Giuliano Finelli's bust of Maria Duglioli Barberini (1626) Image
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. Image
11. Michelangelo's David right hand Image
12. This is not a real mattress. This is a marble mattress sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the "Sleeping Hermaphroditus". Image
13. The "Veiled Truth" by Antonio Corradini Image
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. Image
15. Amazing drapery detail on "The West Wind" by American 19th-century sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould. Image
16. Perseus and the hidden self-portrait of Benvenuto Cellini
Image
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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. Image
18. The hands of Daphne transforming into branches in "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini Image
19. Giovanni Strazza's ability to make stone translucent in his bust of the Virgin Mary Image
20. Chauncey Bradley Ives turned stone into wet silk in "Undine Rising From the Waters" (1880) Image
21. Michelangelo's Pieta, arm detail

Buonarroti completed this masterpiece when he was just 24 years old. Image
22. The "Veiled Lady" by Raffaele Monti Image
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. Image
25. The veins on David's right hand Image
26. Stunning detail of "Ugolino and His Sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Image
27. The piercing glass eyes of the "Antikythera Ephebe", unknown Greek sculptor (c.330 BC) Image
28. Emperor Lucius Verus' beard Image
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. Image
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. Image
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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 VinciImage
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More from @JamesLucasIT

Mar 13
Thread of surreal sculpture details 🧵

1. There is no rope in this image... it's marble. Image
Francesco Queirolo spent 7 years carving this intricate net from a single marble block.

No apprentice dared to touch the sculpture, fearing the delicate net would crumble in their hands.

It's called "Release from Deception" and is housed in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples. Image
2. In Canova’s magnum opus, Cupid’s wings are so exquisitely thin that they shimmer with a warm peach glow when kissed by sunlight.

"I can't read or write, but with these two tools, I can create poetry," he used to say, as he held his hammer and chisel. Image
Read 24 tweets
Mar 12
Thread of historical photos you've (probably) never seen before 🧵

1. Eiffel Tower during construction, 1887-1889 Image
2. Billionaire John D. Rockefeller gives a nickel to a child on his 84th birthday in 1923 Image
3. This is a real photo of two people, Gladys Roy and Ivan Unger, playing tennis on top of a plane flying at 3000 feet in November 1925. Image
Read 21 tweets
Mar 9
Life in the 1970s 🧵

1. San Francisco's Lombard Street, 1975 Image
2. This is what beachgoers looked like in '70s Image
3. Bottom pinching experiment

A female BBC reporter pinches the bottoms of unsuspecting men on the street in 1971.
Read 23 tweets
Mar 8
Thread of the most beautiful gates on Earth🧵

1. Gates of Heaven, Lake Como, Italy Image
Villa Cipressi is a magnificent complex of buildings and gardens built between the 1400s and 1800s.

Originally part of the Serponti family heritage, the structure later passed into the hands of several owners, including the Accame family.

2. The Ancient Greek temple of Apollo in Naxos island looks like a star gate in this striking photo by Athan Andreas.

The "Portara," a colossal marble gate standing six meters tall and 3.5 meters wide, is the only remnant of the temple dating back to 530 BC. Image
Read 21 tweets
Mar 6
Michelangelo was born 550 years ago today.

The same man who sculpted the Pietà at 23, was commissioned the David at 26, painted the Sistine Chapel’s vault at 36, and was appointed chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica at 71.

A thread on the greatest artist of all time 🧵 Image
1. Goethe said that "without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."

If you've ever been inside this room, you know that it is simply impossible to disagree with the German polymath.

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512, and he later returned to paint The Last Judgment (1536–1541) on the chapel’s altar wall. Image
Read 10 tweets
Mar 6
Thread of beautiful Art Deco designs 🧵

1. Cincinnati Union Terminal Image
2. The magnificent Art Deco doors at the C.D. Peacock jewelry store in Chicago, Illinois, completed in 1925. Image
3. The American Radiator Building, NYC

Raymond Hood and André Fouilhoux designed this marvel in 1924, blending Gothic and Art Deco styles.

Rising 338 feet, its striking black brick facade with gold accents originally housed showrooms below and offices above. Image
Read 20 tweets

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