and snow , soot caused by the burning of fossil fuels , neglect , and vandalism .
In the past twenty years , I have had the opportunity to provide conservation treatments for memorials , monuments , grave markers , fountains , architectural elements , and objects of art . These objects were fabricated from a variety of mediums including granite , limestone , marble , sandstone , lead , zinc , and iron . However , the objects which seem to garner the most attention are made from bronze .
Bronze : alloy made from copper
What we call statuary bronze today is approximately 90 % copper with some percentages of tin , zinc , and lead . The use of copper and its alloys have been used by artists to create objects since the Neolithic period . Since then great societies from around the world have used some form of copper alloy to tell stories , grace their landscape with beauty , and memorialize people and events .
Around the turn of the 20th century , technology improved in United States ’ metal foundries which allowed for complicated bronze statuary to be cast in the U . S . rather than in Europe . This made it cheaper , easier and more practical to use bronze as an artistic medium . This coincided with the expansion of and beautification of outdoor public spaces . It also coincided with society ’ s wish to erect memorials to commemorate the services of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War . Many of these memorials were cast in bronze .
Two distinct examples of this new American affair with bronze can been seen about 400 yards away from each other in the Boston Common , one of the country ’ s first public parks . Martin Milmore ’ s stoic Soldiers and Sailors Monument sits atop Flagstaff Hill and serves as a reminder to the sacrifices made by the Union in the Civil War . At the four corners of the memorial are heroic-sized figures of Army and Navy dressed in full military attire , and allegorical figures of Peace holding a laurel branch , and History writing in a book ; both figures are draped in robes looking pensively across the landscape . Atop a seventy-foot tall granite column resides the allegorical figure of America . She is draped in heavy robes , holds an American flag and her expression is serious and stern . If America were to look out of the corner of her eyes and down to the left , she would see something similar in composition , yet very different : The Brewer Fountain is a copy of a French fountain designed by Michel Joseph Napoléon Liénard for the 1855 Paris World ’ s Fair . It was purchased by the Beacon Hill merchant , Gardner Brewer , and placed in the Common at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets . The soft lines of the scantily clad figures of water gods and cherubs and flowing water adds beauty , tranquility and whimsy to the urban landscape . I have had the privilege of being involved in the conservation of both of these great objects . We completed work on the Brewer Fountain in 2010 , and it was the first step in the re-design of the Tremont Street entrance to the park . We are in the process of completing the final treatment phases of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument which includes a redesign of the pathways and plaza which surround the memorial . This work will help to vitalize an area in the park which has been underutilized .
Traditionally , bronze sculptures start as clay models fabricated by artists in their studios . After a sequence of enlargements , molds , casts and fittings that are generally performed at foundries , cast bronze sculptures emerge . Large scale objects are cast in several sections and joined internally using mechanical attachments or by brazing , and in some cases internal armatures are used . The thickness of the bronze in a typical turn of the century casting is about ½ ”. A single heroic sized figure can weigh up to 2,000 lbs .
After the surface is chased to remove the artifacts of the casting and joining processes , and to add sculptural
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