The art of sculpture in the modern age

Art historians consider that Renaissance sculpture began with the competition to make the doors of the baptistery (1401) of the city of Florence, to which Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti entered. The new artistic form of the Renaissance was inspired by the sculpture of classical antiquity, seeking a total exaltation of beauty. Mathematics became his main aid, with the application of certain principles and laws in all the arts, such as perspective. Great patrons emerged, such as the Medici of Florence, the popes of Rome, as well as cardinals, princes and also the guilds. At this time sculpture was practically detached from architecture and the characters represented showed expressions full of drama, it can be seen in sculptures by Michelangelo such as, for example, David. During the different stages of the quattrocento and cinquecento in Italy, the best works of the Renaissance were created thanks to the activity of great sculptors such as Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, Luca della Robbia, Andrea del Verrocchio and Michelangelo, the great representative artist. In The rest of Europe incorporated the new style a little later and under the direct influence of Italy and its sculptors. Many of them traveled to other countries: Andrea Sansovino did so to Portugal and Pietro Torrigiano to England, this artist later went to Spain, where Domenico Fancelli and Jacopo Florentino also worked together with the sculptors of French origin, Felipe Bigarny and Juan de Juni. . It is worth highlighting the works of Bartolomé Ordóñez in Barcelona, in the rear choir of the city's cathedral, and of Alonso Berruguete in Castilla. In the Netherlands, Conrad Meit was a portrait specialist and Jacques du Broeuq produced numerous works and was Giambologna's teacher who would develop his work in Italy. In France, sculptures were made with great Italian influence, thus, Pierre Puget was considered the "French Bernini." One of the most common themes were sepulchral monuments, where the figure of the recumbent was treated with great realism; for example, the René Chalon Memorial by Ligier Richier.

Giambologna is the one who presents the mannerism style in his sculpture, such as The Abduction of the Sabine Women. At the end of the cinquecento, sculptors treated the figures by lengthening their proportions and showing artificial and opposite poses—woman and man, old age and youth, beauty and ugliness—, and with the sinuosity of forms in (serpentinata), a kind of movement. rotation of figures and sculptural groups. The Council of Trent (1545 - 1563) marked a new orientation in religious images; Gian Lorenzo Bernini - author of David, Apollo and Daphne and Ecstasy of Saint Teresa - was the sculptor who most influenced baroque sculpture, where emotional and dramatic effects were sought. In France, the work of Simon Guillain and Jacques Sarazin stands out. making portraits of the nobility, the tomb of Cardinal Richelieu, made by François Girardon, and the sculptures in the garden of the Palace of Versailles by Pierre Puget. In this period, the production of religious sculpture in Spain is surprising, with sculptures for interiors by church, facades, private devotions, and for Holy Week processions; Two great schools emerged: the Castilian and the Andalusian. Among the sculptors, Gregorio Fernández, Juan Martínez Montañés, Francisco Salzillo, Pedro de Mena and Alonso Cano can be highlighted.

In the mid-18th century, Winckelmann's guidelines "to nourish good taste in direct sources and take example from the works of the Greeks" led many artists to dedicate themselves to copying instead of imitating; neoclassicism arrived. The work of Jean-Antoine Houdon, originally baroque, adopted a serene character and verism without anecdotal details, in a process to achieve the ideal beauty of classical antiquity; He portrayed many characters of the time, such as Napoleon, Jean de la Fontaine, Voltaire, George Washington. But the most well-known and innovative sculptor was the Italian Antonio Canova, a very versatile author, halfway between baroque, rococo and neoclassicism. For its part, Bertel Thorvaldsen's production followed the most orthodox line of neoclassicism, with a colder and more static expression. In Catalonia, Damià Campeny stood out, who traveled to Italy and received the influence of Canova, as did the Andalusian José Alvarez Cubero