Biography

Tony Sigel is Senior Conservator of Objects and Sculpture at the Straus Center of Conservation, Harvard Art Museums, responsible for three-dimensional art from ancient to contemporary. He was trained as a conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, and received a BFA from its school.  He has worked five seasons at the archaeological excavations in Sardis, Turkey, most recently as supervising conservator, and has lectured and taught widely on conservation practice and technical art history. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the American Academy in Rome, he co-curated the 2013 exhibition, Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, at the Metropolitan and Kimbell Museums.

Project Summary

This project seeks to investigate, understand and document the technical evolution and uses of the terracotta sculptural model from the Renaissance to the Baroque, studying works including Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Gianbologna, Cellini, and other principal sculptors.