Casson, Stanley: The technique of early Greek sculpture (Oxford, 1933)

VII
BRONZEWORK

I SHALL deal here mainly with full-scale bronzes. Con-
sequently this chapter will be a short one, since the number
of full-scale original bronzes of the sixth and fifth centuries
is small. -
Bronzes, not being the direct product of man’s handiwork,
but the result of a mechanical process which removes them
one stage away from the artist’s touch, illustrate only at
second-hand the methods used in their making, except only
in certain details. Ancient bronzeworkers almost always
worked carefully over certain parts of their statues with
special tools after the casting. Before considering this we
must admit that there remain certain problems which are
unsolved. These can be summarized under the following
headings:
i. Primary surface. No certain evidence of any sort is
forthcoming as to the way in which the artist dealt with the
surface of his bronze immediately after he had received it
from the furnace. A bronze, fresh from the casting, is always
more or less black and its surface is in places uneven or
marred with bubbles. Actual cracks or faults or bubble-
blisters were dealt with by patching (see below, p. 162).
But what we do not know is exactly how the primary cleaning
and polishing was done. Burnishing was invariably employed
in the later stages of cleaning (see p. 150), but how the actual
‘fire-skin’ was removed is uncertain.
2. Final surface. We are equally ignorant of the character
of the final surface achieved by the artist. As we have them
to-day, all bronze statues are patinated to a colour that varies
from cobalt-blue or malachite green to a cuprous red. These
variations are due to the chemical compounds in the various
soils in which the bronzes were found. All forms of patina