Walter S. Arnold, Sculptor/Stone Carver: Classically Trained in Italy. Custom hand-carved stone sculpture. Made in the USA and Italy.
Classically Trained in Italy. Custom hand-carved stone sculpture. Made in the USA and Italy.
Classically Trained in Italy. Custom hand-carved stone sculpture. Made in the USA and Italy.
| Vittoria Alata. I was
commissioned to reproduce this 2nd century Roman winged victory. The original, in Bronze, is
in the Santa Giulia museum in Brescia, Italy. My creation is 7'5" (225 cm) tall, and is carved in white Carrara marble. |
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Here is the finished work in the studio, ready for crating and shipping. |  |
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The wings and arms were carved separately, but all the marble came out of a single
block. The wings weighed about two hundred pounds, and took several people to install. I then touched up the joint with tinted plaster, and sanded it to match. I left webs or ribs of marble between the fingers for safety during transport. After the arms were mounted, I cut off those webs. The arms were mounted with "Roman Joints", a traditional method of attachment. The arm is carved with a square plug, and a matching square hole is carved in the shoulder socket to accept the arm. This technique dates back thousands of years. |
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Here is the block of marble which I selected for this work. | |
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The winged victory was a common theme in Roman art. It became widespread in the 2nd century b.c.e. This bronze, measures about 2 meters tall (6'6"). It was probably originally made as a sculpture of the Greek goddess Aphrodite in the 3rd century b.c.e., with the wings added to transform her into a winged victory in the 1st century b.c.e. |  |
