Everywhere in each country, there are always statues of the emblematic personalities who decorate historical places and monuments. We love these perfectly carved sculptures because they allow us to discover stories, to understand the pasts of a country or a person. We talk about it in this article.

Statue and sculpture: The definition

For many people, sculpture would be reduced to "Meisterfrage" and "Meisterforschung" since they mostly mean "great masters". The truth is that it goes far beyond what is often imagined.

These are masterpieces overflowing with stories and meanings that allow us to pass through time to know and understand the decided personality. The main reason why most countries have committed to creating a status for each emblematic figure of its history and place it in a place very popular with tourists.

For example, There is Lester Person's bronze in Ottawa to recall a time that came to Canada. The same goes for the sculpture of the former dictator Francisco Franco, which can be found in the mountain of Valle de los Caïdos in Spain.

However, the statue is an object used to immortalize a character who played an important role in the life of a country. As such, it has become a cultural and historical heritage that differentiates one country from another. If you're a history buff, you'll probably want to buy one of these statues for sale, our store offers a wide range of bronze.

Sculptures in antiquity

Statues have always been part of historical heritage aimed at consolidating a sense of belonging to an entity, to a country. Even if they are frozen objects that stand in tourist and historical places, they are still attractive and their meanings and symbols never cease to amaze art and history lovers.

What were the statues for?

The first sculptures in history date back to antiquity. However, most of them are still current and can be visited in several countries. Nevertheless, sculpture is without context the most well-known of ancient Greek art.

It even found its origins in this country. At that time, the Greeks used it to please the gods, to celebrate the heroes and also to obtain their protection. This is why most of the emblematic and most famous statues in history represent gods of ancient Greek.

The Greeks used to pray to these statues, to offer them offerings in order to obtain their blessing and protection.

Today, sculptures serve as a reference point for our memory. Through these statues, we remember an era, a personality or a character of historical importance for a country. Suffice to say, they get to know and understand the elders to allow us to move forward. The sculptors inspired by the most famous models of antiquity, you can see at the Rodin Museum, the works of which the artist has undoubtedly found the lines among the beautiful pieces of Greco-Roman history.

Greek and Roman statues

At the risk of repeating ourselves, the sculptures would have their origins in ancient Greek art. Nevertheless, there are also Roman copies and variants, which are also not devoid of meanings and emblems. As a result, there are differences to be nuanced between Greek and Roman sculptures.

Statue de la déesse Athéna Sculpture d'une Diane chasseresse

The oldest known statue of a woman is Venus of Aphrodite, a divine goddess of Roman mythology. She was thought to be the goddess of love and justice. Venus is believed to have been born of the goddess Jupiter and became the protector of the planets. One of its symbols is the trident, which is used to enlarge evil spirits and was used by Greek monarchies and ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Venus was also the goddess of childbirth and responsible for many role models for women, including the statues of Aphrodite and Venus.

And if the Greek statues were the beginning to everything, there are very few of these works that can be found even in Greece today. On the other hand, Roman statues are numerous. At the time, Rome was populated by illiterate people who were unable to communicate in Latin. At the time, it was represented by a very visual society.

In this way, they used art to communicate and sculptures were part of it. Having occupied a rather privileged position, these art objects occupied most of the public and private spaces. Nowadays some are taken up by certain trades, such as the statue of justice which by these attributes are symbols of justice.

In fact, there are several types of statues in the Greco-Roman Empire. At first there are the portraits that came mainly from typical Hellenistic art. Then there are the statues themselves, which first presented themselves as strange works before being unanimously approved by the Greeks and Romans of the time.

Finally, there are the architectural surveys, which played mostly decorative reliefs in several public and private places of the country. However, they were eventually used in historical scenes.

The gods and goddesses

Because of their very acceptable aesthetic aspect, ancient Greek statues and sculptures can be used as decorative objects. Luxurious and refined, they were mostly reserved for the upper classes. Don't forget that they are originally designed to adorn public places.

However, the statues are carved to be offered to gods and goddesses. The main reason is that they are mostly found in the religious sphere. Here, we are mostly talking about private cult statuettes.

As a result, there are many deities like the Roman Pantheon. Otherwise, most gods and goddesses have their own statues. This is precisely the case of the phallic god who provides an effective remedy to protect from the evil eye, impotence or infertility according to the beliefs of the Greeks and Etruscans.

Marble statues

Luxurious and refined, marble has been used, to be more precise very privileged to the archaic period. In the 5th century, it was supplanted by bronze, but was nevertheless appreciated for the manufacture of statues.

most often, marble has been widely used as part of the use of architectural sculptures. It was for this reason that he took an important place in the making of statues.

Bronze statues

Bronze was the most popular material of the Greeks after the chryselephantine technique. It is for this reason that this material was widely used in the purpose of creating statues at the time.

From then on, bronze became the metal of choice for sculptors. It should be noted that even the smelters were seduced by this solution, despite a rather tedious manufacturing process that is done in several stages by the technique of lost wax.

Also, it is worth mentioning that this material is still preferred even at the moment, especially in the context of the manufacture of statues.

Wooden statues

This material had mainly flourished in the archaic era.

At that time, its use concerned the design of the Xoana, especially the crude figures that characterize the pre-Olympic religion. The archaic Greeks had used this material for the design of their sculptures and statues.

Plaster statues

Terracotta, especially clay, was mainly used to create votive statuettes or idols since the Minoan civilization.

In fact, this use had spread to Hellenistic times. Even at present, the use of plasters for the manufacture of statues is still relevant today. 

Wax statues

They are little used, because fragile, they are perfect for the reproduction of famous characters, such as those that can be seen at the Grévin Museum, where each year one or more new sculptures are presented to the public

Sculpture has a long history and is often associated with great pain and suffering. However, the true beauty of sculptures is often hidden behind the false reality of the pain that often accompanies them. Sculpture itself is a very enriching and fulfilling art form. This can take you on a journey through time and space, and it can also be an expression of anger or frustration. In short, it's more than just a hobby or a collection.