At ARS ESSENTIA, our contemporary art gallery dedicated to the presentation and sale of sculpture, we showcase works created using a wide variety of techniques: direct carving in wood or stone, clay modelling for ceramics, and ironwork for ferrous metals. Yet it is bronze sculpture that sparks the most curiosity. Its presence, its density, its unique patina captivate our visitors. This is why we offer a complete introduction to the lost‑wax casting technique, an ancestral pro

Isabelle Carabantes: Instituting the Living, Reinventing Contemporary Animal Sculpture.

Prehistoric sculptures from Vogelherd, Germany. The history of animal sculpture is a fascinating journey that begins in prehistoric times. The earliest known works date back to the Magdalenian period, around 15,000 years ago. The humans of that time carved animals from mammoth ivory and bone. For example, the famous "small horse of Lourdes," found in the Espélugues cave in Lourdes, is a figure carved from mammoth ivory. However, the oldest animal sculptures in ivory were disc