View source for Statue

{{short description|Sculpture primarily concerned as a representational figure}}
{{Other uses|Statue (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|statute}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
[[File:Statue of Unity.jpg|thumb|''[[Statue of Unity]]'' (2018), the [[List of tallest statues|world's tallest statue]], in [[Gujarat]], India]]
[[File:Palais du Luxembourg (43029205090).jpg|thumb|19th-century statues of illustrious Frenchmen in the hemicycle of the [[Senate (France)|Senate of France]] in Paris]]
[[File:Hermes and the infant Dionysus by Praxiteles.jpg|thumb|''[[Hermes and the Infant Dionysus]]'' by [[Praxiteles]], a 4th century BC statue now housed at the [[Archaeological Museum of Olympia]] in Greece]]
A '''statue''' is a free-standing [[sculpture]] in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or [[Casting (metalworking)|cast]] in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone.  Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure, but that is small enough to lift and carry is a ''statuette'' or [[figurine]], whilst those that are more than twice life-size are regarded as a ''[[:Category:colossal statues|colossal statues]]''.<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/colossal Collins online dictionary]: Colossal "2. (in figure sculpture) approximately twice life-size."; [http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=colossal&logic=AND&note=&english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300047453 entry in the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus® Online]</ref>
Statues have been produced in many cultures from [[prehistory]] to the present; the oldest-known statue dating to about 30,000 years ago. Statues represent many different people and animals, real and mythical. Many statues are placed in public places as [[public art]]. The world's tallest statue, ''[[Statue of Unity]]'', is {{convert|182|m}} tall and is located near the [[Narmada dam]] in [[Gujarat]], India.
==Colors==
Ancient statues often show the bare surface of the material of which they are made. For example, many people associate Greek classical art with [[white marble]] sculpture, but there is evidence that many statues were painted in bright colors.<ref name=colorgods>{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.org/0801/trenches/colorgods.html |title=Archaeological Institute of America: Carved in Living Color |publisher=Archaeology.org |date=23 June 2008 |access-date=30 December 2012}}</ref> Most of the color has weathered off over time; small remnants were removed during cleaning; in some cases small traces remained that could be identified.<ref name=colorgods/> A travelling exhibition of 20 coloured replicas of Greek and Roman works, alongside 35 original statues and reliefs, was held in Europe and the United States in 2008: Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity.<ref name="artmuseums.harvard.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/sackler/godsInColor.html |title=Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity September 22, 2007 Through January 20, 2008, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum |date=4 January 2009 |access-date=30 December 2012 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104060402/http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/sackler/godsInColor.html |archive-date=4 January 2009 }}</ref>
Details such as whether the paint was applied in one or two coats, how finely the pigments were ground or exactly which binding medium would have been used in each case—all elements that would affect the appearance of a finished piece—are not known.<ref name="colorgods" /> [[Gisela Richter]] goes so far as to say of classical Greek sculpture, "All stone sculpture, whether limestone or marble, was painted, either wholly or in part."<ref>[[Gisela Richter|Richter, Gisela M. A.]], ''The Handbook of Greek Art: Architecture, Sculpture, Gems, Coins, Jewellery, Metalwork, Pottery and Vase Painting, Glass, Furniture, Textiles, Paintings and Mosaics'',  Phaidon Publishers Inc., New York, 1960 p. 46</ref>
Medieval statues were also usually painted, with some still retaining their original pigments. The coloring of statues ceased during the Renaissance, since excavated classical sculptures, which had lost their coloring, became regarded as the best models.
==Historical periods==
{{main|Sculpture}}
===Prehistoric===
[[File:Urfa man.jpg|thumb|''[[Urfa Man]]'', a {{convert|1.80|m}} of standstone developed in {{circa|9,000 BC}} and now housed at [[Şanlıurfa Museum]]]]
The [[Venus of Berekhat Ram]], an [[anthropomorphic]] pebble found on the [[Golan Heights]] and dated to at least 230,000 years before present, is claimed to be the oldest known statuette. However, researchers are divided as to whether its shape is derived from natural erosion or was carved by an [[Homo erectus|early human]].<ref>[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/venus-of-berekhat-ram.htm ''Venus of Berekhat Ram (230-700,000 BCE)'' cork.com]</ref> The [[Venus of Tan-Tan]], a similar object of similar age found in [[Morocco]], has also been claimed to be a statuette.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3047383.stm|title='Oldest sculpture' found in Morocco|last=Rincon|first=Paul|date=23 May 2003|work=BBC News|access-date=2009-05-15}}</ref>
The [[Löwenmensch figurine]] and the [[Venus of Hohle Fels]], both from [[Germany]], are the oldest confirmed statuettes in the world, dating to 35,000-40,000 years ago.<ref>"Lion man takes pride of place as oldest statue" by Rex Dalton, ''Nature'' 425, 7 (4 September 2003) doi:10.1038/425007a also [http://www.nature.com/news/2003/030904/full/news030901-6.html Nature News 4 September 2003]</ref><ref>"Ice Age Lion Man is world's earliest figurative sculpture" by Martin Bailey, [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 The Art Newspaper 31 January 2013]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news/press-releases/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/es-muss-eigentlich-eine-frau-sein.html | title="It must be a woman" - The female depictions from Hohle Fels date to 40,000 years ago... | publisher=Universität Tübingen | date=July 22, 2016 | access-date=July 26, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011145105/https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news/press-releases/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/es-muss-eigentlich-eine-frau-sein.html | archive-date=October 11, 2016 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
The oldest known life-sized statue is [[Urfa Man]] found in [[Turkey]] which is dated to around 9,000 BC.
===Antiquity===
====Religion====
The focal point of the [[cella]] or main interior space of a Roman or [[Greek temple]] was a statue of the deity it was dedicated to. In major temples these could be several times life-size.  Other statues of deities might have subordinate positions along the side walls.
The oldest statue of a [[deity]] in Rome was the bronze statue of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] in 485 BC.<ref>''Famous Firsts in the Ancient Greek and Roman World'' by David Matz (Jun 2000) {{ISBN|0786405996}} page 87</ref><ref>''The Art of Rome c.753 B.C.-A.D. 337'' by Jerome Jordan Pollitt (30 June 1983) {{ISBN|052127365X}} page 19</ref> The oldest statue in Rome is now the statue of [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] on the [[Aventine Hill|Aventine]].<ref>''Samnium and the Samnites'' by E. T. Salmon (2 September 1967) {{ISBN|0521061857}} page 181</ref>
====Politics====
For a successful Greek or Roman politician or businessman (who donated considerable sums to public projects for the honour), having a public statue, preferably in the local [[Forum (Roman)|forum]] or the grounds of a [[Roman temple|temple]] was an important confirmation of status, and these sites filled up with statues on [[plinth]]s (mostly smaller than those of their 19th century equivalents).  Fragments in Rome of a [[bronze colossus of Constantine]] and the marble [[colossus of Constantine]] show the enormous scale of some imperial statues; other examples are recorded, notably one of [[Nero]].
The [[wonders of the world]] include several statues from antiquity, with the [[Colossus of Rhodes]] and the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]] among the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].
===Middle Ages===
While sculpture generally flourished in European [[Medieval art]], the single statue was not one of the most common types, except for figures of the [[Virgin Mary]], usually with Child, and the ''corpus'' or body of Christ on [[crucifix]]es.  Both of these appeared in all size up to life-size, and by the late [[Middle Ages]] many churches, even in villages, had a crucifixion group around a [[rood cross]].  The [[Gero Cross]] in [[Cologne]] is both one of the earliest and finest large figures of the crucified Christ.  As yet, full-size standing statues of saints and rulers were uncommon, but [[tomb effigy|tomb effigies]], generally lying down, were very common for the wealthy from about the 14th century, having spread downwards from royal tombs in the centuries before.
While [[Byzantine art]] flourished in various forms, sculpture and statue making witnessed a general decline; although statues of emperors continued to appear.<ref name=Byz>''Byzantine Art'' by Charles Bayet (1 October 2009) {{ISBN|1844846202}} page 54</ref> An example was the statue of [[Justinian]] (6th century) which stood in the square across from the [[Hagia Sophia]] until the [[fall of Constantinople]] in the 15th century.<ref name=Byz/> Part of the decline in statue making in the Byzantine period can be attributed to the mistrust the Church placed in the art form, given that it viewed sculpture in general as a method for making and [[idolatry|worshiping idols]].<ref name=Byz/> While making statues was not subject to a general ban, it was hardly encouraged in this period.<ref name=Byz/> Justinian was one of the last Emperors to have a full-size statue made, and secular statues of any size became virtually non-existent after [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclasm]]; and the artistic skill for making statues was lost in the process.
==Renaissance==
[[File:Michelangelo's David - right view 2.jpg|thumb|[[Michelangelo's David|Michelangelo's ''David'']], 1504, housed at [[Galleria dell'Accademia|The Accademia Gallery]] in  [[Florence]], Italy]]
[[Italian Renaissance sculpture]] rightly regarded the standing statue as the key form of [[Roman art]], and there was a great revival of statues of both religious and secular figures, to which most of the leading figures contributed, led by [[Donatello]] and [[Michelangelo]].  The equestrian statue, a great technical challenge, was mastered again, and gradually statue groups.
These trends intensified in [[Baroque art]], when every ruler wanted to have statues made of themself, and Catholic churches filled with crowds of statues of saints, although after the [[Protestant Reformation]] religious sculpture largely disappeared from Protestant churches, with some exceptions in large [[Lutheran]] German churches.  In England, churches instead were filled with increasing elaborate [[tomb monument]]s, for which the ultimate models were continental extravagances such as the [[Papal tomb]]s in Rome, those of the [[Doges of Venice]], or the French royal family.
In the late 18th and 19th century there was a growth in public open air statues of public figures on plinths. As well as monarches, politicians, generals, landowners, and eventually artists and writers were commemorated. [[World War I]] saw the [[war memorial]], previously uncommon, become very widespread, and these were often statues of generic soldiers.
===Modern era===
Starting with the work of [[Maillol]] around 1900, the human figures embodied in statues began to move away from the various schools of realism that had been followed for thousands of years. The [[Futurist]] and [[Cubist]] schools took this metamorphism even further until statues, often still nominally representing humans, had lost all but the most rudimentary relationship to the human form.  By the 1920s and 1930s statues began to appear that were completely abstract in design and execution.<ref>Giedion-Welcker, Carola, ‘’Contemporary Sculpture: An Evolution in Volume and Space, A revised and Enlarged Edition’’, Faber and Faber, London, 1961 pp. X to XX</ref>
The [[urban legend|notion]] that the position of the hooves of horses in [[equestrian statue]]s indicated the rider's cause of death has been disproved.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.htm|title=Statue of Limitations |author=Barbara Mikkelson |date=2 August 2007 |website=Snopes.com |access-date=9 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_074.html |title=In statues, does the number of feet the horse has off the ground indicate the fate of the rider? |author=Cecil Adams |date=6 October 1989 |work=The Straight Dope |publisher=Chicago Reader |access-date=9 June 2011}}</ref>
== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="5">
File:Loewenmensch1.jpg|[[Löwenmensch figurine]], from [[Hohlenstein-Stadel]], Germany, now in Ulmer Museum, [[Ulm]], Germany, possibly the oldest undisputed statuette.  [[Aurignacian]] era, 40,000 BC–35,000 BC
File:Venus-of-Schelklingen.jpg|Two views of the Venus of Hohle Fels figurine, 40,000 BC–35,000 BC ({{convert|6|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall), one of the earliest known, undisputed examples of a depiction of a human being
File:Vestonicka venuse edit.jpg|[[Venus of Dolní Věstonice]], [[ceramic]] figurine, 29,000 BC–25,000 BC
File:Venus von Willendorf 01.jpg|[[Venus of Willendorf]], one of the oldest known statuettes, [[Upper Paleolithic]], 24,000 BC–22,000 BC
File:Statue from Ain Ghazal in Louvre Abu Dhabi.jpg|[[ʿAin Ghazal statues|Ain Ghazal statues]], {{circa|7000 BC}}, found in [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|Ain Ghazal]], Jordan
File:Great Sphinx of Giza - 20080716a.jpg|[[Great Sphinx of Giza]], {{circa|2558}}–2532 BC, the largest [[monolith]]ic statue in the world, standing {{Convert|73.5|m|ft|0}} long, {{Convert|6|m|ft|0}} wide, and {{Convert|20.22|m|ft|2|abbr=on}} high. [[Giza]], Egypt.
File:AurigaDelfi.jpg|The [[Charioteer of Delphi]], 474 BC, [[Delphi Archaeological Museum]], Greece
File:Front views of the Venus de Milo.jpg|''[[Venus de Milo]]'', {{circa|130}} – 100 BC, [[Culture of Greece|Greek]], the [[Louvre]]
File:Laocoon and His Sons.jpg|''[[Laocoön and his Sons]],'' Greek, (Late [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]]), {{circa|160 BC}} and 20 BC, White marble, [[Vatican Museum]]
File:NaraTodaijiDaibutsu0212.jpg|[[Tōdai-ji|Nara Daibutsu]], {{circa|752}}, [[Nara, Nara|Nara]], Japan
File:The statue of Gommateshvara Bahubali dating 978-993 AD..jpg|[[Bahubali|Gommateshvara Bahubali]], {{circa|978}}–993 AD, 57 feet (17&nbsp;m) high
File:AhuTongariki.JPG|''[[Moai]] of [[Easter Island]] facing inland,'' [[Ahu Tongariki]], {{circa|1250}}–1500, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s
File:Kamakura Budda Daibutsu front 1885.jpg|[[Kōtoku-in|The Great Buddha of Kamakura]], {{circa|1252}}, [[Kamakura, Japan|Japan]]
File:Lady Liberty under a blue sky (cropped).jpg|[[Statue of Liberty]] (formally ''Liberty Enlightening the World''), [[New York Harbor]], United States, by [[Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi]] {{Circa|1886}}
File:Statuary group of the Burghers of Calais Listed Grade I 02.jpg|[[Auguste Rodin]], ''[[The Burghers of Calais]]'', 1884–{{circa|1889}}, in [[Victoria Tower Gardens]], London, England.
File:Robert Burns, Union Terrace, Aberdeen, 1892 Henry Bain Smith, bronze, photo Jane Cartney 2010.jpg|Henry Bain Smith's bronze of [[Robert Burns]], 1892, above [[Union Terrace Gardens]], Aberdeen, Scotland
File:Alexander II - panoramio.jpg|A statue of Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]], the [[Grand Duke of Finland]], at the [[Senate Square, Helsinki|Senate Square]] in [[Helsinki]], Finland, sculpted by [[Walter Runeberg]] and Johannes Takanen, 1894
File:Musée Rodin 1.jpg|[[Auguste Rodin]], ''[[The Thinker]]'', 1880–1904
File:La Valse.jpg|[[Camille Claudel]], ''[[The Waltz (Claudel)|The Waltz]]'', 1889–1905, [[Musée Camille Claudel]], Nogent-sur-Seine, France
File:Copenhagen - the little mermaid statue - 2013.jpg|''[[The Little Mermaid (statue)|The Little Mermaid]]'', [[Copenhagen, Denmark]] by [[Edvard Eriksen]] 1913
File:20161015 Titopao Rizal Monument Closeup.jpg|Statue of [[Jose Rizal]]. at the [[Rizal Park|Luneta Park]], Philippines {{circa|1908}}
File:Millais statue 3.jpg|[[Thomas Brock]], ''[[John Everett Millais]],'' at [[Tate Britain]] 1905
File:Picture of Modigiliani statue, Standing Nude (1912).jpg|''Standing Nude'' (1912), by [[Amedeo Modigliani]]
File:Egede nuuk.JPG|The statue of [[Hans Egede]], 1921, at [[Nuuk]], Greenland
File:Cristo Redentor - Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.jpg|''[[Christ the Redeemer (statue)|Christ the Redeemer]]'' (1931), [[Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil
File:USMC War Memorial Sunset Parade 2008-07-08.jpg|U.S. [[Marine Corps War Memorial]], located in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], by [[Felix de Weldon]] 1954
File:Marcus.aurelius.horse.statue.rome.arp.jpg|A closeup of the replica statue of Roman Emperor, [[Marcus Aurelius]], 1981; the original {{circa|200 AD}} is in the nearby [[Capitoline Museum]], Rome
File:Spring Temple Buddha picturing Vairocana, in Lushan County, Henan, China.png|[[Spring Temple Buddha]], the world's second tallest statue, overall 128&nbsp;m (420&nbsp;ft) in height, completed 2002, China.
File:Batu Caves stairs 2022-05.jpg|[[Lord Murugan Statue]], Batu Caves, Malaysia, 140 feet (42.7&nbsp;m).
File:Balance of nature statue at VUDA Park Visakhapatnam.JPG|''Balance of Nature'' statue near [[VUDA Park]], Visakhapatnam
</gallery>
== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Bronze sculpture]]
* [[Bust (sculpture)]]
* [[Equestrian sculpture]]
* [[Figurine]]
* [[Sculpture|History of sculpture]]
* [[List of statues]]
* [[List of tallest statues]]
* [[List of statues of Queen Victoria]]
* [[List of colossal sculpture in situ]]
* [[Mannequin]]
* [[Living statue]]
* [[Memorial]]
* [[Monument]]
* [[Statues of Gudea]], {{circa|2100 BC}}
* [[Statuette]]
* [[Stone carving]]
* [[Stone sculpture]]
* [[Venus figurines]]
{{div col end}}
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Statues|<br/>Statues|position=left}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070217001941/http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/index.htm UK Public Monument and Sculpture Association]
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{{Art world}}
{{Colossal Buddha statues|state=collapsed}}
{{Sculptures}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Statues| ]]
[[Category:Types of sculpture]]
[[Category:Sculpture terms]]