Culture Critic on Nostr: Imagine being able to make stone translucent. Giovanni Strazza possessed that ...

Imagine being able to make stone translucent.

Giovanni Strazza possessed that extraordinarily rare artistic skill. His bust of the Virgin Mary, "The Veiled Virgin", executed in flawless Carrara marble, is one of the most impressive feats by any sculptor in history.

Strazza's "wet drapery" technique continued the legacy of other Italian sculptors like Giuseppe Sanmartino, who produced mind-bending veils from marble a century earlier - the famous "Veiled Christ" is a canonical example.

The tradition also dates back to much earlier sculptors well-known for carving intricate folds, in particular Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and ancient masters from Greece's Hellenistic era.

But in the mid-19th century, Strazza took the technique to its extreme. The subtle layered effect he achieved allows the viewer to easily discern Mary's facial features from the delicate veil, and at the same time creates the illusion of total weightlessness.

How he created something so soft and fluid from solid stone, using only basic hand tools, is a mystery.