Copper Facts: Copper In Art

Copper and its alloys have been used throughout the ages for artistic pursuits. Due to the metal's unique physical properties, it can be manipulated into various shapes, designs and structures of all sizes. And, it looks good. Today, copper fixtures and decorative copper finishes are an exciting trend in home décor and can be found on everything from small appliances to refrigerators, countertops, fireplace surrounds and more.

While copper is known for its rich red-gold hue, it doesn't often appear that way in nature. Instead, it can be found masquerading in shades of blue, green, red and turquoise. Thousands of years ago, the Egyptians learned that certain minerals contained valuable deposits of copper. These minerals include malachite (green), azurite (blue), cuprite (red) and turquoise (blue-green).

Famous artworks like Auguste Rodin's The Thinker were cast in bronze using the same techniques developed by the Egyptians. Thousands of years later, sculptors still rely on this process, called the "lost wax" method, to produce works of art.

The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was built in the third century BC from bronze reclaimed from confiscated war implements. The bronze plates covered an iron frame, much like the Statue of Liberty (which is about the same size at 111 feet). The Colossus was destroyed by an earthquake some 50 years later, and the bronze was gathered up and sold as scrap - another early example of recycling copper metals.

The Statue of Liberty contains 160,000 pounds of copper. It came from the Visnes copper mines on Karmoy Island near Stavanger, Norway, and was fabricated by French artisans. The Lady's pure copper sheets are 3/32-inch thick. Her natural, green patina is about 0.005-inches thick and has protected her from corrosion since 1886.

A showcase motorcycle named "Spirit of Liberty," better known as the "Copper Chopper," was built from scrap metal removed from the Statue of Liberty during the restoration for its centennial in 1986.

Copper-based pigments were an important ingredient in ancient paints, and the metal itself was frequently employed as a "canvas" on which Renaissance artists painted. Copper also served as an engraving plate for etchings and prints by master artists such as Rembrandt. As an ingredient in paint, natural copper ores such as azurite (blue) and malachite (green), add a depth and dimensionality to paintings that cannot be duplicated by man-made substitutes. As for copper's use as a canvas, there was virtually nothing else available to artists in pre-technological times that approached its smoothness and durability.

Around the time of the U.S. Revolution paint pigments were generally not available. Some people made a greenish pigment by suspending copper metal in a container over a pool of vinegar. This would result in a patina or copper salt to form on the surface of the copper which could then be scraped off and used, ground up, and used in paint to produce a paint color we call verdigris.

Beginning in the early 16th century, European artists often painted on sheets of copper. Those artists include some of the most famous painters of all time: Leonardo da Vinci, Jan Brueghel, El Greco and Rembrandt. They found that copper provided a smooth, durable surface that held the paint very well and allowed for marvelous effects.