Richelieu - Figuralia Inspired Miniatures

[Guy]

Richelieu
1/9th scale resin
sculpted by Luca Piergentili
painted by Jean Paul Dana
5 parts
4 page painting guide / references
Figuralia Miniatures - click here

I just received yesterday a copy of Figuralia's newest bust,

Richelieu and was excited to see the kit out of the box. Once again Luca Piergentili has raised the bar with his flawless casting ( and I mean flawless.....no seam lines) of his rendition of Richelieu.

The kit is comprised of 5 parts. The bust and a 4 part pedestal. The instruction guide comes complete with a sbs of how to do the pedestal in marble.

Here we see the bust and 2 parts of the pedestal from different views.

Here are a couple of close-ups of the bust showing the detail Luca has sculpted into this masterpiece.

SBS on sculpting the bust by Luca Piergentili

SBS of painting the box art by Jean Paul Dana

 

[garyjd]

Guy, Thanks for the review. The packaging and instructions are very impressive. The casting looks very clean. My only comments are that the bust appears very long necked and when viewed from the side very flat. My two cents.~Gary

 

[Guy]

The bust was sculpted from a painting and I would say "spot on" as to the legnth of the neck as the artist of the painting also has the neck the same way. If Luca was sculpting from another source, then I think we would see it done differently.

 

[Calvin]

Gary, you are right, moreover I appreciate your honest comment, you know I do not like too much the 'how cool' attitude. As I explained on the web site (look at the end of page, into the 'Notes' section) and on the reference sheet, aside sculpting a face with some likeness, my only intention was to represent the idea expressed by the original paintings of Philippe de Champaigne (here and here) and by the Bernini bust (here), that is, a triangle symbolizing the social piramid with Richelieu on the top. He was represented that way to emphasize the contrast between his slender build and the enormous power he got over an entire nation.

Now I know that symbolism does not fit so well into the miniature's world, and this is the reason for which that bust got a very bad review on the Creafig forum (look at the related comments clicking on the notepad icon near to the picture on the main page). Aside one or two guys, all the world there just rejected the piece, underlining and stressing about the 'wrong' anatomy. It seems that some people is unable to see the meaning behind a shape, or in other words, the world of miniatures is not the right place to do such kind of renditions. There is a sort of professional bias which makes unable to consider the sculpt under a different light.

On the opposite, on a forum which has nothing to do with the scale figures, we (me and Jean Paul) got some very good notes (look here). Those people is not used to see and judge sculpts from a 'technical' point of view, so they simply get charmed by the overall look, understanding the game played by the triangle symbol.

Sincerely, I do not know who is wrong here, I think nobody because each one tend to see what he is used to see. I think meaning is not into things, but it depends by the observer, so I simply do not care about criticism as well about positive notes, I simply do what I like to do following my own way. I am glad when I have the opportunity to explain why I do it that way, but everyone is free to express his own opinion, from the worse to the most kind. People tend to take comments as personal, but this is not my case.

 

[garyjd]

Luca, I see nothing wrong with a figure/bust being inspired by a particular "style". You are right that this is not normally how miniatures are done. If the purpose of this piece was to compliment a certain style then my comments are null and void, regardless of them not following what would be considered proper anatomy. I feel the piece paints up beautifully as evidenced by the boxart. I'm sorry that the figure may have gotten mixed reviews because of this. Regardless of what reviewers say I admire your decision to sculpt the subjects you have a passion for.~Gary

 

[Cicero]

One can only cheer for someone who is prepared to follow less conventional ways. I think Luca's artistic viewpoints are very refreshing.

Johan