Bronze Portraits ›› Overview

Bronze portraiture is a discipline of both skill and inventiveness. It is an amalgamation of talents by artist and foundry.

A bronze portrait is not just a likeness of a person for posterity, it is an art work and sculpture of outstanding beauty and unaffected by the passing of time. Bronze is the most beautiful metal for portraiture, it is enhanced by the glow of its patination, and by the play of light and shadow upon its surface.

Richard Neal has been inspired by the work of sculptors from the neo-classical period. He admires their attention to detail, their style and approach to create a portrait capturing likeness and character.

The human race has the same facial features and anatomical structure, yet, within this facial appearance, there is an infinite variation which gives us our individuality. These subtle differences, make the face one of the most complex parts of the human form to sculpt.

Richard enjoys the challenging responsibility of carving the features and breathing life into clay so that the vital character and likeness of the sitter is captured.

His unique working methods can reduce the sitter’s labour to just a few hours. Information is gathered by all means available, including accurate measurements and photographs.

The portrait in clay is carved, confirmed with the client, then taken to Scotland’s finest bronze foundry to be reproduced in bronze using the traditional lost wax process.