STATUARY MARBLE

Among statuary marbles the first place may be assigned to the famous Pentelic marble, the material in which Pheidias, Praxiteles, and other Greek sculptors executed their principal works. The characteristics of this stone are well seen in the Elgin marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon at Athens, and are now at the British Museum. The marble was derived from the quarries of Mount Pentelicus in Attica. Several large buildings have recently been constructed with this marble in London.
Fra i marmi statuari il posto d'onore é occupato dal famoso marmo pentelico, il materiale preferito di Fidia, Prassitele e altri scultori greci. Le caratteristiche di questomarmo si apprezzano bene nei marmi Elgini, rimossi dal Partenone di Atene e oggi al British Museum. Le cave sono situate presso il monte Pentelico in Attica, di recente é stato usato per la costruzionr di grandi edifici a Londra.

Hymettian marble. The neighbouring mountain of Hymettus likewise yielded marbles, but these were neither so pure in colour nor so fine in texture as those of Pentelicus. Parian marble, another stone much used by Greek sculptors and architects, was quarried in the isle of Paros, chiefly at Mount Marpessa. It is called by ancient writers lychnites (from the Greek, a lamp) in allusion to the fact that the quarries were worked by the light of lamps. The Venus de’ Medici is a notable example of work in this material.
Marmo Imettiano, proveniente dalla vicina montgna di Hymettus, non altrettanto puro nel colore e fine di aspetto come quello pentelico. Il marmo Pario fu molto usato dagli scultori greci, esso proveniva dal monte Marpessa, nell'isola di Paros. Fu chiamato anche Licnnite (lampada in Greco antico), alludendo al fatto che le cave erano illuminate con la luce delle lampade. La Venere dei Medici é un rimarchevole esempio d'uso del marmo Pario.

Carrara marble is better known than any of the Greek marbles, inasmuch as it constitutes the stone invariably employed by the best sculptors of the present day. This marble occurs abundantly in the Apuan Alps, an offshoot of the Apennines, and is largely worked in the neighbourhood of Carrara, Massa and Serravezza. Stone from this district was employed in Rome for architectural purposes in the time of Augustus, but the finer varieties, adapted to the needs of the sculptor, were not discovered until some time later. It is in Carrara marble that the finest works of Michelangelo and of Canova are executed. The purest varieties of this stone are of snow-white colour. The geological age of the marbles of the Apuan Alps has been a subject of much dispute, some geologists regarding them as metamorphosed Triassic, Liassic or Rhaetic rocks. Much of the common marble is of a bluish colour, and therefore unfit for statuary purposes; when streaked with blue and grey veins the stone is known as Bardiglio. Curiously enough, the common white marble of Tuscany comes to England as Sicilian marble—a name probably due to its having been formerly re-shipped from some port in Sicily.

Il marmo di Carrara é più noto di qualunque altro larlo greco, tuttora usato dai migliori scultori moderni. Proviene dalle Alpi Apuane, nella catena degli Appennini e viene lavorato nelle zone di Carrara, Massa e Serravezza. Già utilizzato ai tempi di augusto, le sue migliori varietà furonoscoperte in tempi più tardi, quando fu usato da Michelangelo e Canova. L'origine geologica del marmo di Carrara é incerta, alcuni lo fanno risalire a metamorfosi di rocce del Triassico, Liassico o Retico. La maggior parte di questo marmo é bluastra, poco adatta alla scultura, una forma nota come Bardiglio riporta delle sfumature grigie e blu. Una curiosità: in Inghilterra é chiamato spesso marmo di Sicilia, forse in riferimento ai porti di provenienza.