Forensic anthropological analysis performed on Baroque-period marble
sculpture
Next steps in decoding the artistic process

Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
Boston University School of Medicine
Summary:
How did Baroque period artists/sculputors go about their
craft? For the first time, researchers have performed a forensic
anthropological analysis of a marble skull carved by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini. The analysis of this re-discovered sculpture in Dresden,
Germany, may help capture details of the working methods of great
artists of the past, including details not recorded about their
artistic approaches.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
How did Baroque period artists/sculptors go about their craft? For
the first time, researchers have performed a forensic anthropological
analysis of a marble skull carved by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The analysis
of this re-discovered sculpture in Dresden, Germany, may help capture
details of the working methods of great artists of the past, including
details not recorded about their artistic approaches.


==========================================================================
"The skull is so detailed that it includes many precise anatomical
features that could be examined in the same manner as a real skull. It
appears that Bernini used a real biological skull as a model, as he
captured details that depicted an adult male of European ancestry,"
says corresponding author James T. Pokines, associate professor of
anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine.

Pokines used standard forensic anthropological techniques as would be
done with a biological skull. These include scoring morphological traits
for sex and ancestry and performing standard cranial measurements with calipers.

They found the skull is so detailed that it includes many precise
anatomical features that could be examined in the same manner as a real
skull. Bernini even depicted irregularities common to real skulls such
as left/right asymmetry, common variations such as in the shape of a
suture and tooth loss both before and after death.

By applying new analytical techniques to art historical objects, Pokines believes we can potentially learn more about the actual artistic means
Bernini and other Renaissance and Baroque artists used that are otherwise
lost to us.

"In particular, it reinforces our understanding of the technical mastery
of Bernini and the skill and attention to anatomical detail that it took
to produce this work of art," he says.

According to the researchers there are more Renaissance, Baroque and
other period skull sculptures to which these analyses could be applied,
and in some cases to paintings. "There is another skull that is part of a
tomb sculpture in Rome by Bernini or his workshop that we wish to study;
it is not as detailed, but we want to see if it is also most consistent
with being having been sculpted using a particular biological skull as
a model as opposed to a more generalized skull depiction," adds Pokines.

These findings appear online in the journal The Seventeenth Century.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Boston_University_School_of_Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. James T. Pokines, Claudia Kryza-Gersch, Victoria S. Reed. Forensic
anthropological analysis of a skull sculpture by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini.

The Seventeenth Century, 2022; 1 DOI: 10.1080/0268117X.2022.2033639 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216103019.htm

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