The Sculptor's Funeral

Orsanmichele is the unique name of a unique church in Florence, a site many consider to be the most significant in Florence for early Renaissance sculpture. In this episode, we explore the changes in sculpture that took place when sculptors began working not for the glory of God, but for the glory of Guild...

The Sculptor's Funeral interviews medallic artist Heidi Wastweet, a sculptor who has devoted her career to the art of relief sculpture, coins, and medals. Wastweet offers us all a fascinating glimpse into a branch of the sculpture arts that few of us explore.

Donatello - the greatest sculptor of the the really Florentine Renaissance. But why? And how is it that so few of us today know anything about him? The Sculptor's Funeral explores the nature of his genius to show how Donatello practically invented the aesthetic of early renaissance sculpture.

"They are so beautiful that they would do well for the gates of Paradise." That's a pretty high compliment, just for a set of decorative bronze doors - but when we find that the doors took 27 years to make, and the compliment is from the mouth of Michelangelo, perhaps there's something to it...

Contests and competitions between artists have been around for as long as art has. But the most famous competition of all time was between sculptors - two giants of the early 15th Century - and heralded the start of the Florentine Reniassance. But who won? Ghiberti or Brunelleschi? Decide for yourself who is the better sculptor...

The Sculptor's Funeral Podcast Returns for the Second Season! Episode 37 - Renaissance Sculpture's False Start: Ask an art historian for the date of sculpture's official kick-off in the Florentine Renaissance, they might tell you 1401. Or, they might tell you 1260. Both answers are correct. How can this be? It turns out that early advances in sculptural traditions away from the Gothic idiom had a good early start - which was then abruptly killed off, by a destructive force you'd want to avoid like the Plague...

Malvina Hoffman straddles the line between old and new sculptural traditions - She studied under Rodin and became a champion of Modernism, but is most remembered for her naturalistic portraiture which documented native peoples from all over the planet. In this Season Finale of the Sculptor's Funeral, Jason explores Hoffman's magnificent and problematic Magnum Opus, the Hall of the Races of Mankind.

In this episode, we trace the short career of Sargeant Jagger - British figurative sculptor and decorated World War One Veteran - the artist who brought Realism to the genre of war memorials, and thereby changed the way nations remember their fallen.

Edouard Lanteri and Albert Toft wrote sculpture manuals in the early years of the 20th century, preserving a great deal of what we know know about 19th Century clay modeling techniques. At first glance these two books appear fairly similar, but dig a little deeper and we find two very different approaches, which may well illuminate the differences in methodology between older Academic and younger 'Beaux-Arts' styles.

What do NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, The stock market, and Satan's minion Baphomet have in common? Well, besides the obvious, they have all been subjects of a new form of public monument that has arisen in recent decades- one whose creators know that sometimes, it's easier to be forgiven than to get permission.