AUSTRIAN BRONZE SCULPTURES
Vienna Bronze Figures
The tradition of Vienna Bronze can be traced to the middle of the 19th century. Around 50 manufacturers resided in Vienna at the turn of the century, as small Austrian bronze sculpture with its fine detail enjoyed great popularity.
Vienna Cold Painted Bronze Sculpture
In the late 19th Century a number of Austrian bronze foundries situated in Vienna and the Austrian-Bohemian border began to specialise in the technique of ‘cold painted’ processes. This naturalistic finish was created by painting the raw bronze with several layers of special and secretive enamel colours called ‘dust paints’, which resulted in fine life like studies of the various models and sculptures. This process was often applied when the cast was still warm, the natural shrinkage on cooling adding to the permanency of the colour as it annealed the paint firmly into the metal. As the colour was not ‘fired’ this process is referred to as ‘cold painted’.