Lat. scutellarius, keeper of dishes and plates (scutella), became in O. Fr. escueillier or sculier, whence in English sculler, squiler, &c. A “sergeaunt-squylloure” is found amongst the officials of the royal household; and the Promptorium parvulorum, dating about 1400, glosses lixa, a sutler or camp-cook, by “squyllare, dysche-wescheare.” “Scullion,” a kitchen-wench, has been naturally connected with scullery, but is derived from O. Fr. escouillon, dish-cloth, cf. Span. escobillon, spring for a gun, ultimately from Lat. scopa, birch tree, scopae, broom of birch twigs.
SCULPTURE (Lat. sculptura, from sculpere, to carve, cognate with Gr. γλύφειν), a general term for the plastic art of carving, especially in stone and marble, but also in such materials as wood (see Wood-carving), ivory (see Ivory), metal (see Metal-work) and gems (see Gem).
The production of bronze statues by the cire perdue (anglice,
“lost wax”) process is described in the article Metal-work;
until (since its revival) recent times but little practised
in Europe outside of Paris, it has now invaded most
countries where fine casting Technical methods
of the
sculptor.is appreciated, and where sculptor.
naturalistic rendering is desired. There are signs,
however, of its being ousted for a certain class of handling by the “galvanoplastic” method—a system of copper deposit
by an electrical process—whereby “going over” the work
after it has been reproduced in metal is avoided.
For the execution of a marble statue the sculptor first models
a finished preliminary sketch on a small scale in clay or wax.
He then in the case of a life-size or colossal statue
has a sort of iron skeleton set up, with stout bars for
the arms and legs, fixed Clay
model.in the pose of the future figure.
This is called the “armature.” It is placed on a stand, called
a chassis, with a revolving top, so that the sculptor can easily
turn the whole model round and thus work with the light on any
side of it. Over this iron skeleton well-tempered modelling-clay
is laid and is modelled into shape by the help of wood and bone
tools; without the sustaining assistance of the ironwork a soft
clay figure, if more than a few inches high, would collapse with
its own weight and squeeze the lower part out of shape. While
the modelling is in progress it is necessary to keep the clay moist
and plastic by squirting water on to it with a sort of garden
syringe capped with a finely perforated rose. When the sculptor
is not at work the whole figure is kept wrapped up in damp
cloths. A modern improvement is to mix the modelling-clay,
not with water, but with stearin and glycerin; this, while
keeping the clay soft and plastic, has the great advantage of
not being wet, and so the sculptor avoids the chill and consequent
risk of rheumatism which follow from a constant manipulation
of wet clay. This method, however, has not been very extensively
adopted. When the clay model is finished it is cast in
plaster. A “piece-mould”[1] is formed by applying patches
of wet plaster of Paris all over the clay statue in such a way
that they can be removed piecemeal from the model, and then
be fitted together again, forming a complete hollow mould.
The inside is then rinsed out with plaster and water mixed to
the consistency of cream till a skin of plaster is formed all over
the inner surface of the mould, and thus a hollow cast is made
of the whole figure. The “piece-mould” is then taken to pieces
and the casting set free. If skilfully done by a good formatore
or moulder the plaster cast is a perfect facsimile of the original
clay, very slightly disfigured by a series of lines showing the
joints in the piece-mould, the sections of which cannot be made
to fit together with absolute precision. Many sculptors have
their clay model cast in plaster before the modelling is quite finished, as they prefer to put the finishing touches on the
plaster cast—good plaster being a very easy and pleasant
substance to work on.
The next stage is to copy the plaster model in marble. The
model is set on a large block called a “scale stone,” while the
marble for the future statue is set upon another similar block.
The plaster model is then covered with a series of marks, placed
on all the most salient parts of the body, and the front
of each “scale stone” is covered with another series of Pointing
the
marble.
points, exactly the same on both stones. An ingenious
instrument called a pointing machine, which has
arms ending in metal points or “needles” that move in ball-socket
joints, is placed between the model and the marble block. Two
of its arms are then applied to the model, one touching a point
on the scale stone while the other touches a mark on the figure.
The arms are fixed by screws in this position, and the machine
is then revolved to the marble block, and set with its lower needle
touching the corresponding point on the scale stone. The upper
needle, which is arranged to slide back on its own axis, cannot
reach the corresponding point on the statue because the marble
block is in the way; a hole is then drilled into the block at the
place and in the direction indicated by the needle, till the latter
can slide forward so as to reach a point sunk in the marble block
exactly corresponding to the point it touched on the plaster
mould. This process is repeated both on the model and on
the marble block till the latter is drilled with a number of holes,
the bottoms of which correspond in position to the number of
marks made on the surface of the model. A comparatively
unskilled scarpellino or “chisel-man” then sets to work and cuts
away the marble till he has reached the bottoms of all the holes,
beyond which he must not cut. The statue is thus roughly
blocked out, and a more skilled scarpellino begins
to work. Partly by eye and partly with the constant The scar-pellino.
help of the pointing machine, which is used to give
any required measurements, the workman almost completes
the marble statue, leaving only the finishing touches to be
done by the sculptor. In the opinion of many artists the use
of the mechanical pointing-machine is responsible in a great
measure for the loss of life and fire in much of modern
sculpture.
Among the ancient Greeks and Romans and in the medieval period it was the custom to give the nude parts of a marble statue a considerable degree of polish, which really suggests Polish on the somewhat glossy surface of the human skin very much better than the full loaf-sugar-like surface which Polish on marble. is left on the marble by most modern sculptors. This high polish still remains in parts of the pedimental figures from the Parthenon, where, at the back, they have been specially protected from the weather. The Hermes of the Vatican Belvidere is a remarkable instance of the preservation of this polish. Michelangelo carried the practice further still, and gave certain parts of some of his statues, such as the Moses, the highest possible polish in order to produce high lights just where he wanted them; the artistic legitimacy of this may perhaps be doubted, and in weak hands it might degenerate into mere trickery. It is, however, much to be desired that modern sculptors should to some extent at least adopt the classical practice, and by a slight but uniform polish remove the disagreeable crystalline grain from all the nude parts of the marble.
A rougher method of obtaining fixed points to measure from was occasionally employed by Michelangelo and earlier sculptors. They immersed the model in a tank of water, the water being gradually allowed to run out, and thus by its sinking level it gave a series of contour lines on any required number of planes. In some cases Michelangelo appears to have cut his statue out of the marble without previously making a model—a marvellous feat of skill.
In modelling bas-reliefs the modern sculptor usually applies the clay to a slab of slate on which the design is sketched; the slate forms the background of the figures, and thus keeps the relief absolutely true to one plane. This method is one of the causes of the dulness and want Relief sculpture. of spirit so conspicuous in most modern sculptured reliefs. In the best Greek examples there is no absolutely fixed plane surface for the backgrounds. In one place, to gain an effective shadow, the Greek sculptor would cut below the average surface; in another he would leave the ground at a higher plane,
- ↑ Moulds made in one or few pieces, from which the cast can only be extracted by destroying the mould, are called “spoil-moulds.” A large number of casts can be made from a “piece-mould,” but only one from a “spoil-mould.”
