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WAX FIGURES
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See also:WAX FIGURES . Beeswax is possessed of properties which render it a most convenient See also:medium for preparing figures and See also:models, either by modelling or by casting in moulds. At See also:ordinary temperatures it can be cut and shaped with facility; it melts to a limpid fluid at a See also:low See also:heat; it mixes with any colouring See also:matter, and takes See also:surface tints well; and its texture and consistency may be modified by the addition of earthy matters and See also:oils or fats. When molten, it takes the minutest impressions of a See also:mould, and it sets and hardens at such a temperature that no ordinary See also:climatic influences affect the See also:form it assumes, even when it is See also:cast in thin laminae. The facilities which wax offers for modelling have been taken See also:advantage of from the remotest times. Figures in wax of their deities were used in the funeral See also:rites of the See also:ancient Egyptians, and deposited among other offerings in their See also:graves; many of these are now preserved in museums. That the Egyptians also modelled fruits can be learned from numerous allusions in See also:early literature. Among the Greeks during their best See also:art See also:period, wax figures were largely used as dolls for See also:children; statuettes of deities were modelled for votive offerings and for religious ceremonies, and wax images to which magical properties were attributed were treasured by the See also:people. Wax figures and models held a still more important See also:place among the ancient See also:Romans. The masks (See also:effigies or imagines) of ancestors, modelled in wax, were preserved bypatrician families, this See also:jus imagotum being one of the privileges of the nobles, and these masks were exposed to view on ceremonial occasions, and carried in their funeral processions. The closing days of the Saturnalia were known as Sigillaria, on See also:account of the See also:custom of making, towards the end of the festival, presents of wax models of fruits and waxen statuettes which were fashioned by the Sigillarii or manufacturers of small figures in wax and other See also:media. The practice of wax modelling can be traced through the See also:middle ages, when votive offerings of wax figures were made to churches, and the memory and lineaments of monarchs and See also:great personages were preserved by means of wax masks as in the days of See also:Roman See also:patricians. In these ages malice and superstition found expression in the formation of wax images of hated persons, into the bodies of which See also:long pins were thrust, in the confident expectation that thereby deadly injury would be induced to the See also:person represented; and this belief and practice continued till the r 7th See also:century. Indeed the superstition still survives in the See also:Highlands of See also:Scotland, where as recently as 1885 a See also:clay See also:model of an enemy was found in a stream, having been placed there in the belief that, as the clay was washed away, so would the See also:health of the hated one decline. With the See also:renaissance of art in See also:Italy, modelling in wax took a position of high importance, and it was practised by some of the greatest of the early masters. The See also:bronze medallions of See also:Pisano and the other famous medallists owe their value to the art qualities of wax models from which they were cast by the cire perdue See also:process; and indeed all early bronzes and See also:metal See also:work were cast from wax models. The See also:tate de cire in the Wicar collection at See also:Lille is one of the most lovely examples of See also:artistic work in this medium in existence. Wicar, one of See also:Napoleon's commissaries, brought this figure from Italy. It represents the See also:head and shoulders of a See also:young girl. It has been claimed as a work of See also:Greek or Roman art, and has been assigned to Leonardo da See also:Vinci and to See also:Raphael, but all that can be said is that it probably See also:dates from the See also:Italian Renaissance. In 1909 Dr See also:Bode, the director of the Kaiser See also:Friedrich Museum at See also:Berlin, See also:purchased in See also:England, for (it was stated) £8000, a See also:life-sized See also:half-length See also:female figure in wax, which he attributed to Leonardo da Vinci or his school. The figure was shown to have once been in the See also:possession of See also:Richard See also:Cockle See also:Lucas (1800-1883), a sculptor and worker in See also:ivory, wax, &c. It was claimed that the figure was really Lucas's work and was a See also:reproduction in wax of a picture of " See also:Flora" attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, now in the possession of the See also:Morrison See also:family at Basildon See also:Park, near Pang-See also:bourne; this view was repudiated by Dr Bode, but was generally accepted in England (see The Times, Oct.-Dec. 1909; and particularly the See also:Burlington See also:Magazine, May, See also:June, See also:August, r91o). Till towards the See also:close of the 18th century modelling of medallion portraits and of See also:relief See also:groups, the latter frequently polychromatic, was in considerable See also:vogue throughout See also:Europe. About the end of the 18th century See also:Flaxman executed in wax many portraits and other relief figures which See also:Josiah See also:Wedgwood translated into pottery for his See also:jasper See also:ware. The modelling of the soft parts of dissections, &c., for teaching illustrations of See also:anatomy was first practised at See also:Florence, and is now very See also:common. Such preparations formed See also:part of a show at See also:Hamburg in 1721, and from that See also:time wax-See also:works, on a See also:plane See also:lower than art, have been popular attractions. These exhibitions consist principally of images of See also:historical or notorious personages, made up of waxen masks on See also:lay figures in which sometimes mechanism is fitted to give See also:motion to the figure. Such an See also:exhibition of wax-works with See also:mechanical motions was shown in See also:Germany early in the 18th century, and is described by See also:Steele in the Tatler. The most famous See also:modern wax-work exhibition is that of Madame See also:Tussaud (q.v.) in See also:London. WAX-See also:TREE, WAX See also:MYRTLE, CANDLEBERRY, popular names of See also:species of Myrica, especially M. cerifera, a See also:North See also:American plant, the fruits of which have a waxy covering and are used as a source of See also:vegetable wax. M. See also:Gale is the native See also:British gale (q.v.) or sweet-gale. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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