Bronze Horse Sculpture - by Bronze Sculptor Patricia Crane

HORSE KNOWLEDGE CENTER Meet the Horse Artist: Sculptor Patricia Crane Contact

Bronze Horse Sculpture for a lifetime and beyond, Art for the Ages

Elegant yet anatomically precise, Patricia Crane's museum quality bronze horse sculpture unforgettably captures, in molten metal, the strength, the "aliveness", and very spirit of horses.

This casting metal, or alloy has been the medium of choice for many equestrian masterworks throughout the ages. And this most enduring of metals is the greatest test of the sculptor's skill, utterly demanding of the artist's time, talent and dedication.

The following pages present a representative sampling of Patricia's bronze horse sculpture:

Featured Bronze Horse Sculpture

5 Gaited Bronze Saddlebred 1/5 scale portrait of "The Phoenix"
a multi-titled Champion.

Horse Head Bronze Sculpture "Caledvwlch", the whispering horse.
An expressive head study, beloved by horsemen.

After the Class -- saddle off, ready to be cooled out.

Saddlebred Bronze "After the Class"
A show horse in cross-ties following a class.
Saddle off; cooler going on.

Mustang Horse Sculpture "Spooked" -- a Mustang, shying with
explosive energy from flushed quail.

The Gathering - grouping of bronze horses 4 feet across.

Compositional Bronze Horse Sculpture "The Gathering", a composition including a stallion and two broodmares,
but each also looks great standing alone

Thoroughbred 'Cooling Down' - a Blood-Horse after a workout.

Sporting Art: Thoroughbred "Cooling Down" - portrays a Thoroughbred just after a race, when blood-horse characteristics are so evident.

Thoroughbred bronze horses - a tribute to greatness.

Horse Racing Sculpture "Handicap Champion", in memory of Kelso and Forego.

Fine Harness Bronze "Triumph" in honor of fine harness horses - this one winning the championship ribbon.

Hackney, Man on the Town - the presence of a World Champion in motion.

Hackney Pony Sculptures "Man on the Town", 1/5 scale portrait of the Hackney pony.

Hackney pony, Risin' Tide, winner of ribbons and hearts.

Hackney Cob Tail Pony Sculpture "Risin' Tide", a winning Cob-Tail Pony.

Bronze horses protray Criterion - displaying a full racking gait.

Saddlebred Art "Criterion" - This bronze depicts
a full Racking Gait.

Bronze horses study of a Filly - depicts the essence!

Bronze Filly "The Filly" - A foal correct in every detail

Bronze Horse Statues A 1/5 scale head study on a walnut base, titled "Odyssey".

Accolade - bronze horses showing utter refinement of a 3 Gaited star.

3 Gaited Saddlebred A most elegant Three Gaited work, titled "Accolade".

STEP BY STEP CREATION OF A BRONZE HORSE SCULPTURE :

Life size bronze horse sculpture of The Phoenix

Visit the Life size Bronze "Phoenix" sculpture created for The International Museum in Kentucky, for a STEP BY STEP EXPLANATION, in words and images, of the fascinating process of how such bronze horses are created.

Commission for American Saddlebred Museum.

See also, the Life size "Supreme Sultan" created for the American Saddlebred Museum.

THE CASTING of BRONZE SCULPTURE

The oldest method known for the casting of bronze, is known in sculpting as the cire perdue (Lost wax) process, in which the mold is formed over a wax model. The wax is then melted out (or lost) to leave the hollow space in which to pour molten metal alloy. Variations of this process, used to create bronze horse sculpture today, were practiced in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China many centuries before the Christian era.

MUSEUM QUALITY BRONZE HORSE SCULPTURE

Museum quality means the completed casting is very high in over-all quality. The thickness of the walls of the bronze sculpture at any point, from ears to tail to legs of the horse, should be no more than one fourth of an inch thick. Solid or heavy castings are no longer necessary or desired. There should be NO tool marks on the surface of the horse as this detracts from the texture or lack of texture of the sculptor's original and denotes a lack of casting finesse. The patina (or final coloring of the bronze horse) should be achieved with the painstaking, time-consuming layering of actual chemicals that etch into the surface of the metal to provide a depth of color over transparent color - a patination that is achievable no other way.

There are many stages in the creation of a finished bronze sculpture, and each stage requires great knowledge, skill, and a very great deal of time for the result to be considered museum quality. Such quality absolutely requires that: a sculptor not only sculpts a competent original but oversees every detail in every stage during the long process, from lst mold to completed casting, and works with exacting and very talented artisans, in a fine arts foundry that pours the right alloy at the right temperatures.

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