MWW Artwork of the Day (8/6/22) Ife Culture (SW Nigeria) Head (possibly a King)(c. 12th–14th c.) Terracotta w/ residue of red pigment & traces of mica, 26.7 x 14.5 18.7 cm. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth TX

The art of Ife, which flourished from the twelfth to the fifteenth century in southwestern Nigeria, in the area occupied by the Yoruba people, is unique in Africa in representing human beings with extraordinary naturalism. The subject matter of most Ife art is centered around royal figures and their attendants, reflecting the political structure of a city-state ruled over by a divine king, the Oni of Ife. The physiognomy of this head has been modeled with extraordinary subtlety, and the striations, which may represent scarification patterns, are incised with great delicacy. The square crown, formed of four rectangular aprons overlying a conical form and embellished with a network of intersecting beads, is unparalleled in any other known examples of Ife art. The serene and dignified countenance, as well as the elaborate crown, suggests that this head represents an Ife king (Oni).

Bust of Costanza Bonarelli, terracotta, c. 1636, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in a private collection - photo by Charles Reeza

Yes, Costanza was confined to a monastery for wayward women for more than six months! The servant who slashed her face and Bernini’s brother were exiled from Rome. Bernini was originally fined 3000 scudi, but the Pope pardoned him because he was “Excellent in art.”

Costanza’ s husband was buried in their parish church, but she asked to be buried in the great Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Gian Lorenzo and Luigi Bernini were also buried there 18 and 19 years later.

Painted terracotta statuette depicting St. George, made by Pedro Millán in Seville, Spain, ca. 1487-1515

Dama a la Noche (trans. roughly to "Lady of the Night") // Gadu // terracotta // 1985

Terracotta sculpture of Astro Boy, from Osamu Tezuka

22 cm / 8,6 inches tall / About 6 hours in the making

Unknown, Ifé terracotta, Nigeria, 1200-1400

two wolves, three hours in 🐺 ♥ 🐺

~ Lamp.

Date: A.D. 1st century

Medium: Terracotta

Auguste Rodin: Torse of Adèle (1884)

Polychrome terracotta sculpture of the god Dionysos, holding an egg and a rooster. The unusual attributes may hint at a connection to Orphism, which held that the first deity, Phanes or Protogonos ("First-Born"), was hatched from a cosmic egg. Adherents of Orphism saw humankind as the descendants of Dionysos (under the name "Zagreus"), created when the Titans devoured the young Zagreus and were then struck by Zeus' thunderbolt. Artist unknown; created in Tanagra, Boeotia (an important center of terracotta production) ca. 350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.

woman figurine, terracotta, 3600 bc s

Terracotta bust believed to depict Juliette Récamier

Joseph Chinard

C. 1800-1805, Napoleonic era

Musée Cognacq-Jay

One of the side chapels in San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples holds this Renaissance terracotta polyptych by Domenico Napoletano with scenes from the Madonna and Child with St. Roch and St. Mark, and higher up a Pietà.

Photo by Charles Reeza

Terracotta bust of the Virgin Mary, Bohemian, ca. 1390-1395

Achilles. 1884. cast by P. Ipsen Comp. after Ernst Herter German 1846-1917. terracotta. http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

talking in bed by alessandro teoldi, 2023, terracotta, 22.5 × 21 × 20 centimeters