Sculptures> 1700 > Wax bas-relief portrait with string application applied over a piece of transparent glass, Great Britain, c. 1780.
Wax bas-relief portrait with string application applied over a piece of transparent glass, Great Britain, c. 1780.
Description:This wax bas-relief features pink and brown on the hair and head, with forest green, red and ivory on the tunic. The profile was applied over a piece of transparent glass, behind which there is a forest green fabric. The bas-relief portrays a military official in profile from the left.
The main advantage of wax is that it can be used to create a surprisingly accurate likeness that cannot be achieved with any other material. Not only is it malleable, easy to work and suitable for colouring, it also affords the possibility to integrate organic materials such as teeth and hair. The results achieved with wax actually cross over into reality thanks to their three-dimensional nature, as Ernst H. Gombrich states in Art and Illusion: /“Wax often makes us feel uneasy as it trespasses the boundaries of symbolic representation/”.
Wax sculpture was extremely important from ancient times up until the 19th century. Easy to source, it was used both in the figurative arts for encaustic painting and for the creation of images with a range of purposes: devotional, playful, magical images and portraiture.
The gilded frame dates from the same period as the portrait.
