The Craftsman Revealed: Adrien de Vries, Scupltor in Bronze

The sculptor Adriaen de Vries (1556-1626) spent much of his life working for the most discerning royal courts of the age, including that of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. A master of composition and technique, De Vries was relatively unknown until the J. Paul Getty Museum’s groundbreaking 1999 exhibition Adriaen de Vries: Imperial Sculptor, which firmly established the artist’s reputation and afforded a rare opportunity to study in depth a large group of bronzes. 

This heavily illustrated volume presents the results of the technical study of twenty-five bronzes from the exhibition. Introductory chapters provide background on the artist and technical methodologies. Subsequent chapters present case studies of individual statues, revealing the methods and materials used in their creation. The book will be of great interest to conservators, conservation scientists, art historians, curators, and sculptors.