Wax sculpture
A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief.
The properties of beeswax make it an excellent medium for preparing figures and models, either by modeling or by casting in molds. It can easily be cut and shaped at room temperature, melts at a low temperature, mixes with any coloring matter, takes surface tints well, and its texture and consistency may be modified by the addition of earthy matters and oils or fats. When molten, it is highly responsive to impressions from a mold and, once it sets and hardens, its form is relatively resilient against ordinary temperature variations, even when it is cast in thin laminae.[1] These properties have seen wax used for modelling since the Middle Ages and there is testimony for it having been used for making masks (particularly death masks) in ancient Rome.[2] The death masks of illustrious ancestors would be displayed by the elite holding the right of "ius imaginem."[3]
History[edit]
Ancient world[edit]
Figures in wax of their deities were used in the funeral rites of the ancient Egyptians, and deposited among other offerings in their graves; many of these are now preserved in museums. That the Egyptians also modelled fruits can be learned from numerous allusions in early literature. Among the Greeks during their best art period, wax figures were largely used as dolls for children; statuettes of deities were modelled for votive offerings and for religious ceremonies, and wax images to which magical properties were attributed were treasured by the people. Wax figures and models held a still more important place among the ancient Romans. The masks (effigies or imagines) of ancestors, modelled in wax, were preserved by patrician families, this jus imaginum being one of the privileges of the nobles, and these masks were exposed to view on ceremonial occasions, and carried in their funeral processions. The closing days of the Saturnalia were known as sigillaria, on account of the custom of making, towards the end of the festival, presents of wax models of fruits and waxen statuettes which were fashioned by the Sigillarii.[1]
Early modern Europe[edit]
The display of temporary or permanent effigies in wax and other media of the deceased was a common part of the funeral ceremonies of important people in European historical times. Most of the figures would wear the real clothes of the deceased so they could be made quickly. The museum of Westminster Abbey has a collection of British royal wax effigies, as well as those of figures such as the naval hero Horatio Nelson, and Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, who also had her parrot stuffed and displayed. The effigy of Charles II of England (1680) was displayed over his tomb until the early 19th century, when all were removed from the abbey itself.[4]
Nelson's effigy was a pure tourist attraction, commissioned the year after his death in 1805, and his burial in St Paul's Cathedral after a government decision that major public figures should in future be buried there. Concerned for their revenue from visitors, the Abbey decided it needed a rival attraction for admirers of Nelson.[5]
Middle Ages[edit]
The practice of wax modelling can be traced through the Middle Ages, when votive offerings of wax figures were made to churches. The memory and lineaments of monarchs and great personages were preserved by means of wax masks.[1]
During this period, superstition found expression in the formation of wax images of hated persons, into which long pins were thrust, in the confident expectation that thereby deadly injury would be induced to the person represented. This practice was considered more effective when some portion of the victim's hair or nails were added to the wax figure, thus strengthening the connection with its actual subject. This belief and practice continued until the 17th century, though the superstition survived into the 19th century. In the Scottish Highlands, a clay model of an enemy was found in a stream in 1885, having been placed there in the belief that, as the clay was washed away, so would the health of the hated one decline.[1]
Renaissance[edit]
During the Italian Renaissance, modeling in wax took a position of high importance, and it was practised by some of the greatest of the early masters, both as a material to create models for sculpture in other materials and as a medium to be used on its own. Speaking of the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, Giorgio Vasari noted that "Lorenzo did not cease to study the arts of design, and to work in relief with wax, stucco, and other similar materials, knowing very well that these small reliefs are the drawing-exercises of sculptors, and that without such practice nothing can be brought by them to perfection."[6] The bronze medallions of Pisanello, Francesco Francia[7] and of the other famous medalists owe their value to the properties of wax: all early bronzes and metalwork were cast from wax models first.[1]
Wax effigies were a form of three-dimensional portraiture able to render uncanny likenesses of the subjects depicted. The creations of Florentine wax worker Orsino Benintendi (c.1440-98) were praised by Vasari as "lifelike and so well made that they no longer resembled wax men but living ones."[8]
The Victoria and Albert Museum has a wax 'Descent from the Cross'[9] by Jacopo Sansovino which was probably used by painters Perugino and del Sarto as well as a small study of a slave by Michelangelo[10] and several wax pieces by Giambologna. Particularly noteworthy is his 'Florence Triumphant over Pisa'
modello.[11] The Royal Collection's red chalk écorché attributed to Michelangelo is considered as a drawing of a wax model like those Michelangelo himself made. The British Museum has a wax portrait medallion of Michelangelo made from life in 1560 by Leone Leoni.
A wax museum or waxworks consists of a collection of wax figures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses. Wax museums often have a special section dubbed the "chamber of horrors" in which the more grisly exhibits are displayed.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Agnus Dei". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
