It reportedly took Queirolo seven years to fabricate this marble net, which he crafted without a workshop, apprentice, or other form of external assistance. The Sansevero Chapel Museum notes that this is because even the most specialized sculptors “refused to touch the delicate net in case it broke into pieces in their hands.”

MARBLE?!?!

It's daunting

the part that's hardest to believe about that story is

seven years doesn't feel like enough time

honestly the non-net parts are also pretty impressive

the cloth and book page folds

the feathers

the paper

the thing that kills me the most is like... okay much is made of the flex that is sculpting diaphanous fabric in marble, and like, rightly

take this example from the same chapel, which honestly isn't even the MOST insane example I've seen

but the fishing net is like

each knot in the net is a point of tension

that's what makes it such an unthinkable flex, the way each knot pulls on each segment of rope and the tension changes over the whole piece, it gathers and pushes and pulls on itself in a way totally different from fabric

and that motherfucker Queirolo nailed it

Museo Cappella Sansevero (@museocappellasansevero) •...

Also the simple factor that, like, even sheer fabric is a solid piece; net is made of holes

yes

you know what, I'm going to keep this as a reminder to myself for when I'm working on a piece and get too into details that don't matter

even The Guy Who Carved An Entire Fishing Net Out Of Marble gave himself a break and didn't finish details in places where it wasn't important to have them

also my god the fuzz of dust you can just see on a couple bits there has made me realize that oh yeah somebody has to dust this fucking thing

holy shit

i was gonna say it kinda reminds me of this one in terms of "how the fuck did you get marble to look like that" but the net is even more impressive i think. jesus.The Veiled Virgin - Wikipedia

I love that one too

YEAH that's the one I think of first when I think of sheer fabric in marble

I've worked with alabaster which is a soft, soft stone compared to marble and admittedly that was two pieces almost 20 years ago, if I kept at it I'd have got better! but I mainly remember finding it so hard to work with.
stone is such a difficult medium but man, people who're good at it!

stuff like this is why I don't think I could ever work to sculpt in real media with my real hands - I would Abso-fucking-lutely overwork details like that rope, and snap it about 2000 times trying to get it perfect

yeah. christ.

dusting that net must be the most stressful job in the world.

Yeah, this man decided that making soft flowing cloth from hard stone wasn't enough of a flex and he had to go even further.