Recently Hape Sculpture, based out of Laion, Italy, revealed a collaborative piece with the atelier of Ana Rocha. This particular collaboration involved Hape producing the hand-carved wooden sculpture itself -- in this instance, a baroque-inspired statue of St. Peter -- while Ms. Rocha's studio further brought their creation to life by applying the decorative gilding and paintwork on the piece.
The end result is really rather striking:
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| St. Peter |
While a native of Brazil, Ms. Rocha's practical training (and current practice) is firmly rooted in the old world; specifically Florence -- where she obtained a Masters in Sacred Art from the Università di Firenze Prior to this she studied architecture in Lisbon, Portugal and there fell in love with Portugese baroque.
The exuberant and decorative nature of the Portugese baroque in particular caught Ms. Rocha's attention and inspired her in her current enterprise, but suffice it to say, be it Brazil, Portugal or Italy, all would have been notable baroque influences upon her.
After returning to Brazil for a time, Ms. Rocha would re-establish her presence in 2019 in Florence, Italy, with a specific focus on "developing work in partnership with Italian sculptors from the Val Gardena region" -- which includes, of course, Hape Sculpture.
She currently teaches gilding and polychromy at the Scuola di Arte Sacra in Florence, in addition to working in her own studio which focuses on the preservation of traditional painting techniques. As she rightly points out:
A polychrome work of a sacred sculpture is traditionally carried out by two people: the skilled sculptor who transforms a simple piece of wood or clay into a work of art and then ... a trusted painter. Unlike a blank canvas, the painting of a sculpture is not free; it reveals what is already there, and can either suppress it or highlight it.
We would invite you to see the studio's website and Facebook page and invite you to consider some further examples coming out of Ms. Rocha's atelier.
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| St. John Marie Vianney |
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| St. Benedict |
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| St. Cecilia |
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| The Blessed Virgin |
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| St. Augustine |
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| St. Joseph |
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| Pieta |
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| Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception |
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| St. Paul |
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| Pieta |
Details
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