In context of the Enlightenment, the 18th century saw the birth of modern natural sciences such as biology, physics and geology. With them, a new empirical approach to nature was established. This also applied to the handling of marble, which from then on not only artists and sculptors, but also geologists, were interested in. In her research project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, art historian Dr Marthe Kretzschmar places French marble sculpture in the context of the young science of geology. She is investigating how geological knowledge influenced the perception of stone sculptures – and vice versa. At the interface between fine art and the history of science, she examines how stone and marble were discussed in art literature and geological discourses of the time, how this influenced the theory and practice of sculpture and which concepts of materiality underpinned this.
Project leadership
Dr. Marthe Kretzschmar
Idea, Camera, Montage
Timur Alexander El Rafie
With special thanks so
Ministère de la Culture France
Louvre Museum
Archives Nationales
Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Universität Wien / Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Universität Salzburg / Fachbereich Umwelt & Biodiversität
Henningsen Stein, Schuby
Euromarble, Carrara