The Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch lived and worked in the late Middle Ages (1450-1516) - and yet his surreal imagery seems incredibly modern. He combined the grotesque with the satirical in an incomparable way and so made the vicious humanity look in the mirror. This kind of artistic perspective was taken over by surrealists centuries later.

In the art history Hieronymus Bosch was known as "the Bosch case ", as people didn’t know what to do with him. For a few hundred years he was completely forgotten, there is hardly any biographical information, and his works do not fit with his time at all. The painting of the late Gothic and early Renaissance were rather characterised with realism and grace, however, Bosch created revolutionary works: hideous hybrids of humans and animals, hunchbacked demons, creatures with bird bodies and eyeglasses, strange tree people and other bizarre characters. Yet Bosch was a respected artist in his time, and had admirers of high rang: Philip the Fair or Margaret of Austria, regent of Netherlands were obviously fascinated by this unique imagery.

(Rebirth). Designation of art from about 1350 until the 16th century.

A state of mind that developed in Florence in the late 14th century that was retrospectively classified as rebirth of the classical ideals of Greek and Roman antiquity. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance spread first over Italy and then all over Western Europe and determined the entire artistic creation. Such brilliant artists as Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dürer, Holbein, Cranach and Fouquet created their immortal works by following the humanistic premises and putting a human being in the center of all thinking.

Renaissance experienced its heyday in literature through dramatic works and poems of William Shakespeare.

At the end of the 16th century, Renaissance had to make way to the luxury of baroque before its ideas had their rebirth in the classicism of the 18th century.

A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.

While sculptures from wood, ivory or stone are made directly from the block of material, for bronze casting a working model is prepared at first. Usually it is made of clay or other easily shaped materials.

The prime time of sculpture after the Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Also the contemporary artists, such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz enriched the sculpture with outstanding works.

Collective term for all casting processes that ars mundi carries out with the help of specialized art foundries.

Cast stone
Equivalent of artificial marble, with the difference that the substitute stone in powder form is used instead of marble powder.

Cold cast bronze
Bronze powder bound by a polymer. By special polishing and patination techniques the surface of the casting gets a look that corresponds to the bronze.

ARA wooden copy
In order to guarantee absolute fidelity to the original, an artificially manufactured imitation wood is used as a base material which has typical wood characteristics: density, workability, color and surface structure.

Ceramic casting
As a rule castable clay is used in ceramic casting, which then is fired and possibly glazed. Plaster molds are often used instead of the usual rubber molds in ceramic casting and in porcelain production.

Bronze casting
In this case, the thousand-year-old lost-wax technique is used. It's the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.

Related links:
ARA Kunst
Bronze casting
Lost-wax casting technique