Contrappasto
Contrapposto's weight-shift chain — hip, spine, shoulder, head — is the pose that has made standing figures look alive from the Doryphoros to Michelangelo's David.
Classical Principles
Contrapposto
A standing pose in which the body's weight is carried primarily on one leg, causing the pelvis and shoulders to tilt in responsive opposition.
Acanthus
A stylized leaf ornament derived from the acanthus plant and used extensively in classical architecture and sculpture.
Aesthetic Canon
A recognized system of ideal proportions or formal rules used to guide the representation of the human body, architecture, or another class of forms.
Bacchanal
A Dionysian scene of ecstatic revelry — sculpture's classic vehicle for extreme pathos and figures in violent motion.
Baroque
The theatrical, unifying style of c. 1600–1750, epitomized by Bernini's total fusion of sculpture, architecture, and light.
Blow Penetration
Blow penetration describes how deeply the force of a controlled chisel strike travels into stone, affecting fracture, edge safety, and the carver’s ability to work close to delicate forms.
Callipyge
The Venus Callipyge — "beautiful-buttocked" — names both an epithet and the canonical Naples marble testing a sculptor's command of the turning figure.
Canon
The canon is sculpture's proportional grammar — from Polykleitos's lost treatise to the Beaux-Arts academy's rules for the ideal figure.