Since the fourth millennium BCE, bronze has been the preferred medium for some of the most prestigious and sacred works of art. But only through interdisciplinary research can the fabrication of these extraordinary objects be properly investigated, interpreted, and documented. This innovative publication bridges the expertise of myriad art-technological specialists to create a new framework for advancing the understanding of bronze sculpture.

Essential reading for curators, conservators, scientists, archaeologists, sculptors, metallurgists, founders, dealers, collectors, and anyone interested in the life cycle of a bronze, this volume explains how to identify the evidence of process steps, metals used, casting defects, and surface work and alterations before moving on to address analytical techniques ranging from visual exams to imaging, material analyses, and dating. The guidelines are accompanied by detailed illustrations, including videos, charts, and animations; a robust vocabulary, ensuring precision across English, German, French, Italian, and Chinese; a diverse selection of case studies; and a comprehensive bibliography.

• Director’s Foreword, Timothy Potts
• Acknowledgments
• General Introduction, Francesca G. Bewer and David Bourgarit
• Volume I: Evidence of Process Steps, edited by David Bourgarit and Peta Motture
  • I.1. Casting Processes, Francesca G. Bewer, David J. Reid, Peta Motture, and David Bourgarit
  • I.2. Metals, David Bourgarit
  • I.3. Casting Defects, Jean-Marie Welter, David Bourgarit, Francesca G. Bewer, and Andrew Lacey
  • I.4. Repairs, Jane Bassett and Lorenzo Morigi
  • I.5. Assembly, Donna Strahan and Benoît Mille
  • I.6. Tool Marks, Pete Dandridge and David Bourgarit
  • I.7. Gilding and Plating, Susan La Niece and Dominique Robcis
  • I.8. Patina, Ann Boulton, Susanne Gänsicke, and Shelley Sturman
  • I.9. Inlays and Overlays, Jeffrey Maish and Annabelle Collinet
• Volume II: Analytical Techniques, edited by Arlen Heginbotham and Elisabeth Lebon
  • II.1. Planning and Documenting Your Technical Exam, Arlen Heginbotham and David Bourgarit
  • II.2. Photography and Other Imaging Techniques for the Visualization of a Sculpture, Clotilde Boust and David Bourgarit
  • II.3. Radiography and Tomography for the Visualization of the Metal Wall and the Interior, Elsa Lambert and David Bourgarit
  • II.4. Measurements of Dimension, David Bourgarit and Francesca G. Bewer
  • II.5. Metal Analysis, Arlen Heginbotham and David Bourgarit
  • II.6. Surface Layer Analysis, David Bourgarit
  • II.7. Core Analysis, Manon Castelle and Chandra L. Reedy
  • II.8. Dating Methods, Arlen Heginbotham, Stéphanie Leroy, and Antoine Zink
  • II.9. Experimental Simulation, *David Bourgarit
• Case Studies, Edited by Francesca G. Bewer, Pete Dandridge, and Ruven Pillay*
  • Case Study 1. Reconsideration of a Monumental Roman Relief: Great Dolphins of Vienne, France, Benoît Mille
  • Case Study 2. Exquisite Objects, Prodigious Technique: Aquamanilia, Vessels of the European Middle Ages, Pete Dandridge
  • Case Study 3. Determining the Casting Process of a 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Elephant from China, Donna Strahan
  • Case Study 4. The Technical Investigation of Eighth-, Ninth-, and Tenth-Century Statuettes from Indonesia, Mathilde Mechling and David Bourgarit
  • Case Study 5. One Commission, Two Sculptors, How Many Founders? A Technical Study of Three Renaissance Statues from the Monument of the Heart of Duke Anne de Montmorency, Manon Castelle and David Bourgarit
  • Case Study 6. Medicine Whip (Indian on Horseback): The Making of an American Sand-Cast Bronze through Contemporary (and Modern-Day) Eyes, Ann Boulton
  • Case Study 7. Interview | A Contemporary Artist-Founder on a Horse: Choices of Materials and Processes, Andrew Lacey and David Bourgarit
• Vocabulary, edited by Jane Bassett and David Bourgarit
• Visual Atlas of Features
• Tables
• Appendix: Document Library
• Bibliography
• About the Contributors
• Illustration Credits
• About

David Bourgarit (Archaeometallurgist, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France [C2RMF], Paris, and Laboratory TEMPS-CNRS-Nanterre University) has a background in physics, with a PhD on the physical metallurgy of a specific titanium alloy. Since 1996 he has been a researcher at the C2RMF, where he has been investigating metallic artifacts from almost all periods and regions. His primary research interests are in the technological approach to copper metallurgy, with a focus on the provenance of copper and fabrication techniques. He coedited French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century (2014).

Jane Bassett (Head of Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) completed her graduate studies in conservation at New York State College at Buffalo. A conservator at the Getty Museum since 1991, she has co-curated many exhibitions focused on sculptural processes, including La Roldana’s St. Ginés: The Making of a Polychrome Sculpture, Bernini and Marble, and Foundry to Finish on the direct lost-wax casting process. She authored The Artist Revealed: Adriaen de Vries, Sculptor in Bronze (2008) and coedited French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century (2014).

Francesca G. Bewer (Research Curator for Conservation and Technical Studies Programs and Director, Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts) undertook her graduate theses at the Warburg Institute, University of London (MPhil 1986) and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (PhD 1996), focusing on Renaissance bronze technology. She has published widely on art technology and conservation history. She authored A Laboratory for Art: Harvard’s Fogg Museum and the Emergence of Conservation in America (ca. 1900–1950) (2010) and coedited French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century (2014) and The Explicit Material: Inquiries on the Intersection of Curatorial and Conservation Cultures (2019).

Arlen Heginbotham (Conservator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) received his AB in East Asian studies from Stanford University, his MA in art conservation from Buffalo State College, and his PhD in earth sciences from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research interests include the use of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy as a tool for studying copper alloy artifacts, microscopic and chemical wood identification, X-radiographic dendrochronology, and the technical study of Asian export lacquer. He coauthored, with Gillian Wilson, the collection catalogue French Rococo Ébénisterie in the J. Paul Getty Museum (2021).

Andrew Lacey (Artist, Founder, and Independent Scholar) studied archaeometallurgy at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (MSc 1998), focusing on interview techniques for gaining insight into the working practices of London fine art foundries. His work as a contemporary artist is highly experimental; casting all his own work in bronze enables creative interception in all stages of the process, further developing visual and material symbologies that are embodied within the sculpture. His work as an independent scholar is a creative collaboration among conservators, historians, makers, and curators, and explores possibilities of hypothetical facture via processes of experimental reconstruction.

Peta Motture (formerly Senior Curator, Sculpture, Victoria and Albert Museum, London) joined the V&A in 1985 and retired in 2022. Since 1990 she has specialized primarily in Renaissance sculpture, with a focus on Italy. She has published widely on medieval and later sculpture, notably bronzes, often collaborating with colleagues in the technical study of sculpture. Her books include the V&A Catalogue of Italian Bells and Mortars (2001), Large Bronzes in the Renaissance (ed., 2003), and The Culture of Bronze: Making and Meaning in Italian Renaissance Sculpture (2019).