Mention marble sculpture and chances are that and most people think about such examples as Michelangelo’s David or Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. But there is a lot more to marble artwork than that. Obviously, no one denies that Italian marble statues are some of the best examples of the material ever made, but there is much more to working with the “crystalline rock” (its etymology via the ancient Greeks, masters of the material themselves) than what is popularly imagined.
Modern examples abound, in which marble is pushed to the limits. But for some people, probably the most majestic examples of marble sculpture are those Mother Nature herself has so lovingly crafted over untold eons of patient chiseling and polishing.
For who has not caught his or her breath on the startling simplicity of stalacites and stalagmites? Arising out of the coolness of the dark, or silently suspended off the cavern ceiling, these unmetamorphosed limestone might indeed be what first inspired humankind to chisel and polish.
Or consider such folded and weathered examples as stud the shorelines of lakes, rivers, and oceans. Why do people not generally consider such works in contemplations of marble? Nature is indeed full of beauty, had we but eyes to see.
Of course, human masterpieces are perhaps infinitely more versatile, whereas even the most astounding of natural wonders can only come about as the result of the same eternal forces which, after several hundred millennia, prove to be of a limited repertoire.
But the point is clear; marble has been worked on by much more than just man, and, for that matter, a lot more than Greeks and Romans and Italians! Marble is found not only in statue form, but some of its greatest achievements has been as buildings, for example, the incredible Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Next ye think of marble, then, think of everything!