Selecting the best quality marble is an important step that I covered early on, but as I pointed out in that post, finding perfection is impossible.  And despite my best efforts to work within the stones limitations, imperfections can appear from deep within.

The dark line that I first uncovered while lowering the shoulder, has revealed itself to be deep, long, and in a particularly visible location. Crossing his face and along the chest.

This could be very serious… if this is actually a fracture and not simply a colouration, It could result in my marble splitting in two. What a disaster. So, before I continue hammering I’ll need to test the sensitivity of this flaw.

Michelangelo would also need to assess the stone as he worked. And would have dealt with surprises revealed along the way.

Despite his best efforts to select stone that was as close to perfect as possible, spending weeks examining marble veins high up in the Carrara mountains, his stone still contained weaknesses that needed to be finessed. The clearest example of this can be found in the Rebellious Slave where a dark line angles down and across the face and back.

Consider also the block used to create David. As I mentioned earlier, this was not only fractured, and weather worn, it was also manhandled, carved and drilled decades before Michelangelo performed his magic. Continue reading →