Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, has been in use from a remote period in the history of the arts. Its adaptability for casting, its durability, utility and colour have rendered this material one of the most useful and valuable. Of the many fine examples of the early Egyptian and Assyrian bronze now in the British Museum, the most beautiful are the bronzes of Siris, two fragments of armour, with reliefs in repoussÉ (fig. 4). The many Greek statues in the round, of their Gods and heroes, show the most skilful technique and beauty of form. The Etruscans were clever workers in this material, and they used a most expressive treatment of incised lines, which differentiates their decorative bronzes from those of Greece, with their delicate low reliefs. The bronze mirrors (fig. 2) and the Cista are typical examples of the Etruscan treatment. The finest known cista is that called the “Ficoroni Cista,” by Morios Plantios (3rd century B.C.) and is now in the Collegio Romano; a description, with illustrations of this example is in the “Magazine of Art,” April, 1884. Descriptions of this cista and of the many fine examples in the British Museum are given in “Murray’s Handbook of Greek ArchÆology.” Of small decorative bronzes, Naples Museum alone has over 13,000 examples, consisting of candelabra, tripods, tables, chairs and couches, which, eighteen centuries ago, were used by the wealthy Roman citizens. Of bronze equestrian statues, the most renowned are those of Marcus Aurelius, at Rome, A.D. 175; Bartolomeo Coleone, at Venice, A.D. 1488, by Andrea Verrocchio; and Alessandro Leopardo; and that of Gattamelata, at Padua, 1453 A.D., by Donatello.

A remarkable bronze figure of the Renascence period is that of Perseus, by Benvenuto Cellini, 1500-1570, at Florence, and the figure of Neptune on the fountain at Bologna by Giovanni da Bologna, 1524-90.

The bronze doors of San Zenone, at Verona, (see plates 1 and 3 in “Aratra Pentelici” by John Ruskin), and those of the Baptistery, at Florence, by Andrea Pisano and Ghiberti (see Renascence) are typical examples of early Renascence bronzes. The casting of these Bronzes was by the “Cire Perdu” method, that is, by forming a core of firm material nearly the size and shape required, then covering with sheet wax and finishing with the detail required, with sticks of wax projecting to form vents for the escape of steam in casting. The wax is then brushed over with a composition of fine clay and ground crucibles to some thickness and the mould thus formed is connected with the inner one by bronze rods. The wax is then melted out, leaving a cavity Into which the liquid bronze is poured, the core and mould being afterwards removed. Bronze is also cast in piece moulds taken from the model; the piece mould is then lined with sheet clay and put together and the core run in. The clay is then removed and the bronze run in as in the former process. The sand process for casting has now reached a high degree of perfection in which the core and mould are formed by pressure in a fine tenacious sand.