#1 Chauncey Bradley Ives Turned Stone Into Wet Silk In "Undine Rising From The Waters" (1880)
#2 Giovanni Strazza's Ability To Make Stone Translucent In His Bust Of The Virgin Mary
#3 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
James Lucas runs a Twitter (X) account and Substack dedicated to great works of art and their beauty. That doesn't mean sculpture exclusively; he also features architecture, paintings, photography, and an occasional goofy accidental Renaissance meme.
This particular thread, James tells us, was inspired by Giovanni Battista Lombardi's Nymph statue. "The level of detail is simply mind-boggling, and it made me reflect on the other surreal details in many sculptures I admire," he told Bored Panda in an email.
#4 Marble Turned Into Lace
#5 This Intricate Net Was Carved From A Single Block Of Marble By Francesco Queirolo. It Took Him 7 Years
#6 The Mind-Boggling Detail Of Michelangelo's Moses
The sculptures are quite captivating in pictures, but seeing them in real life is even more riveting. I remember thinking "It's insane that an actual person did this" when looking at Ancient Roman and Greek sculptures at The Louvre and The MET.
"My father is a sculptor, so I've had the pleasure of seeing many of these remarkable works in person, especially in Italy," James told us. But there is one he's not yet seen and would like to very much. "I would love to see the Veiled Virgin by Giovanni Strazza in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada," he says.
#8 This Is Not A Cotton Yarn. This Is A Mind-Blowing Marble Sculpture By The Greek Artist Argiris Rallias
#9 Bernini Turned Stone Into Flesh
James' account and the newly launched Substack are all about the beauty of art and beyond. His philosophy is reflected by the last two lines of the John Keats poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" in the bio: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." If you want another dose of beauty, be sure to check out his Twitter (X) account and his articles on Substack.
#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
#12 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
Sculpture as an art form dates back to 32,000 years B.C. Back then, of course, small animal and human figures carved in bone, ivory, or stone counted as sculptures. Today, we associate white marble sculptures with Ancient Roman, Greek, and Renaissance art, but some of the statues in this list are even from the 19th century.
#13 Marble Skin
Michelangelo's David is often cited as the most recognizable masterpiece of the Renaissance. It's the most loved and reproduced piece of artwork from Florence; there are 30 full-size replicas of David all over the world. The heart-shaped eyes theory has several explanations.
#18 This Statue By Marco D’agrate Depicts Saint Bartholomew, An Early Christian Martyr Who Was Skinned Alive
Some claim they're not so much heart-shaped as simply reflecting the point where the sun hits the eyes. The technical term is specular highlight. As a heart didn't become a symbol of love until the 1600s, Michelangelo purposefully carving David's pupils into the shapes of hearts wouldn't have made much sense.
#20 Amazing Drapery Detail On "The West Wind" By American 19th-Century Sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould
