statuaryn.adj.
/ˈstatʃʊəri/, /ˈstatʃᵿri/, /ˈstatjʊəri/, /ˈstatjᵿri/, U.S. /ˈstætʃəˌwɛri/ A. n.
1. An artist who makes statues, a sculptor of statues. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [noun] > maker of statues
image-maker1500
statuary1542
statuist1620
statuarist1658
bust-maker1774
monumenter1890
portraitist1899
santero1931
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes ii. f. 197v Apelles the moste excellent peinter of the old tyme, and Lysippus the best statuarie.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions v. 35 If I..should seeme to contemne that principle, which brought forth..so many statuaries, so many architectes.
1607 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois i. 1 Vnskilfull statuaries, who suppose (In forging a Colossus) if they make him Stroddle enough..Their worke is goodly.
1632 P. Massinger Emperour of East ii. i. sig. E2 If Statuaries could By the foote of Hercules set downe punctually His whole dimensions.
1739 D. Hume Let. 17 Sept. (1932) I. 33 An Anatomist..can give very good Advice to a Painter or Statuary.
1777 S. Johnson Let. 20 Nov. (1992) III. 98 Mr. Nollikens the Statuary has had my direction to send you a cast of my head.
1814 W. Scott Diary 25 Aug. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1837) III. vii. 237 I think a statuary might catch beautiful hints from the fanciful and romantic disposition of the stalactites.
1890 Daily News 21 Mar. 5/4 Other cracks..may easily be discovered, and the statuary should be called in before the damage gets more serious.
1919 F. R. Fraprie tr. A. Hallays Spell of Alsace xiii. 183 He..ornamented his house with his own sculptures: as a statuary, unfortunately, he was no better than as a poet.
1950 M. Hadas Hist. Greek Lit. xviii. 288 He..was apprenticed to an uncle who was a statuary.
2. The art of making statues; the practice of this art, sculpture of statues.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > sculpture or carving > [noun]
entailc1300
sculpture1390
carving1531
engraving1552
statuary1563
engravery1566
insculption1599
scalpture1656
tomice1662
manusculpture1704
tooling1815
sculpturing1842
sculpting1876
mudding1892
machine sculpture1970
1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Biiiv Neither in painting like Apelles nor Plastes, or Stattuary like vnto Miron or Policrates.
1582 R. Mulcaster 1st Pt. Elementarie xi. 58 Drawing is a thing, whose thorough help manie good workmen do vse,..as architectur, pictur, embroderie, engrauing, statuarie.
1606 H. Peacham Art of Drawing ii. 8 Statuary or Caruing..doth expresse hir image..in the hollow and vneuen Superficies, really.
1691 L. Echard Compl. Compend. Geogr. i. 9 The Arts peculiar to Europe, and there invented, may be reckoned Painting, Printing, Statuary.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy Pref. sig. A3 The noblest Productions of Statuary and Architecture.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1776 II. 22 [Johnson:] The value of statuary is owing to its difficulty. You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot.
1833 H. Ellis Elgin Marbles I. v. 110 Statuary, or the art of making complete figures.
1896 M. Collignon in Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst.1895 609 The great masters of marble statuary.
1916 E. S. Bouchier Syria as Rom. Province v. 134 The Sidonian skill in statuary seems due to imitation of the Greek style.
1966 S. Attanasio tr. E. Gilson Forms & Substances in Arts iii. 80 Direct carving is superior to any other technique of statuary.
2000 E. Prettejohn in D. P. Corbett & L. Perry Eng. Art ii. 42 A revival of the lost Greek art of bronze statuary.
3.
a. As a count noun: a statue.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [noun] > statue
likenessOE
imagec1225
figurea1300
signa1382
statuea1393
staturea1393
statutea1393
statutec1430
statuac1450
picture1517
idol1548
portraiture1548
pattern1582
portrait1585
icon1587
monument1594
simulacrum1599
statuary1599
plastic1686
make1890
1599 R. Linche Fountaine Anc. Fiction sig. Bivv The Images and Statuaries of the gods in those daies were almost innumerable.
1633 W. B. tr. Philosophers Banquet (ed. 3) iii. 238 The Statuary, or Pillar of Salt into which Lots wife was turned, was..such an one that you scarce know it from glasse, or stone, or mettall, but by the saltish tast.
1673 R. Leigh Transproser Rehears'd 97 The image of episcopacy, like the statuaries in Pallas target.
1771 W. Cooke Boyse's New Pantheon (new ed.) xxxiv. 97 Phidias formed her [sc. Venus'] statuary of ivory and gold, with one foot on a tortoise.
1899 Kansas City Med. Index-lancet June 536 The facades are ornamented with statuaries of Christ, the Holy Mary, saints and cherubs.
1921 Jewelers' Circular 2 Feb. 154/3 In 832 Theophilus banished all the paintings and statuaries from the Eastern Empire.
1986 G. Lerner Creation of Patriarchy 159 Statuaries in her [sc. the Great Goddess's] likeness and with her symbols are widespread.
2010 A. Grey Earl to Enchant xv. 231 Morgan remembered the life-size statuaries of Venus and Athena that held up the marble mantle that graced the ornate fireplace.
b. Sculpture consisting of statues; statues collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [noun]
imagery1576
statuary1638
instonement1852
1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients ii. 137 The workes of statuary and picture.
1686 W. Aglionby Painting Illustr. (new ed.) 62 Riches, which they profusely layed out in Pieces of Painting and Statuary.
1701 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1909) 7 106 We were..to see ye fine antient pieces of Statuary, of which there are several of the Passion.
1770 Descr. Eng. & Wales X. 157 In the arcade is a fine groupe of statuary, containing three figures.
1848 H. Rogers Ess. I. vi. 305 The persons of the drama stand out in their appropriate characteristics as distinctly as the various forms in a group of Greek statuary.
1881 J. H. Curry Descensus Averno vi. 69 A magnificent grove, or park, filled with choicest statuary and crystal-flowing fountains.
1913 National Mag. Sept. 994/2 There are about one hundred varieties of marble quarried in Vermont, ranging from the purest white, suitable for statuary, to jet black.
1989 A. Stevenson Bitter Fame viii. 162 The gardens were studded with marble statuary, pools, fountains, and wooded walks.
2006 P. Birnbaum Glory in Line xxiv. 175 Rivera had been dabbling in Cubism, and Foujita had been studying Greek statuary.
B. adj. (attributive).
1. Consisting of a statue or statues; sculptured.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [adjective] > having quality of a statue
statuary1609
statuesque1799
1609 Bible (Douay) I. 2 Paralipomenon iii. 10 He made..in the house of Sanctum sanctorum two Cherubs of statuarie worke [L. opere statuario]: and he couered them with gold.
1629 J. Maxwell tr. Herodian Hist. 100 He..presented them also to publike view, in Statuarie Representations.
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 64 Sir Francis Bacon..hath there a fair statuary monument erected for him of white Marble.
1753 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 159 The statuary work by him executed.
1821 W. M. Leake Topography Athens ix. 393 The statuary decorations, in the two fronts of that temple [sc. the Parthenon].
1880 A. Laing Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 9 Jan. 18/1 You at once find the statuary piece to have new beauty and interest.
1919 G. Fitch in W. Harper Off Duty 113 Do you suppose I came out here to be art director of a statuary exhibit?
1999 Victorian Aug. 6/1 A statue of Victoria with a series of surrounding statuary groups.
2. Of or relating to the making of statues.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [adjective]
statuary1627
statuelike1663
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iii. v. 198 And therefore Plato banished Poets from his common-wealth; and Moses,..both painting and the statuary Art.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1683 (1955) IV. 317 Nor doubt I at all but he will prove as greate a Master in the statuary Art.
1727 E. Strother tr. P. Hermann Materia Medica II. xiv. 232 This Stone [sc. marble] is only us'd in the statuary Business.
1788 Gentleman's Mag. July 587/2 The acquisition of a statue would be of considerable importance to a people as yet rude in the statuary art.
1818 J. Warburton Hist. Dublin II. 1187 He was supposed to have brought this inferior department [sc. wax-modelling] of the statuary art to a higher degree of perfection.
1899 G. G. Chisholm Europe I. ii. 67 The purest [stone] is highly valued for statuary purposes.
1922 W. E. Connelley & E. M. Coulter Hist. Kentucky III. 213/2 At the age of fifteen he left school..and for three years was in Philadelphia assisting his father in the statuary business.
1998 S. Michalski Public Monuments i. 17 The results of the competition were no doubt representative of the state of statuary art in France.
3. Of a material: suitable for making statues; spec. designating a type of white marble having dark veins. Chiefly in statuary marble.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [adjective] > suitable for statuary (of materials)
statuary1736
1736 R. Morris Lect. Archit.: Pt. Second ix. 151 The Chimney-piece of Statuary Marble.
1795 J. Farington Diary 12 Dec. (1978) II. 438 These are the only quarries from which we can import White, Statuary marble.
1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. iii. 73 The crystalline translucent qualities of statuary marble.
1864 Newcastle Courant 22 July 5/3 A large statuary vein marble chimney piece.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Statuary-brass, an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, used for statuary, generally known as bronze.
1909 W. G. Renwick Marble & Marble Working 218 Statuary Vein, white Italian marble having a statuary ground and fine blue veins traversing the formation.
1970 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 60 135 The second [type of marble]..was used both as a statuary marble and for paving and pool-linings.
2006 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 11 Feb. f3 The master bathroom has statuary vein marble floors.
4. Resembling that of a statue; statuesque.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [adjective] > statuesque
statuary1759
statuesque1838
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [adjective] > resembling
statuary1759
1759 O. Goldsmith Bee 13 Oct. 57 Actresses..who have..what connoisseurs call statuary grace, by which is meant elegance unconnected with motion.
1862 J. B. Everhart Misc. 32 The lady's own book,..showing how the waist should be boddiced; the parasol handled; the statuary attitudes; the Parisian curtsy.
1869 Utah Mag. 19 June 108/2 The strong workings of a laboring mind lined his face, and held back his wonted emphasis of conduct in statuary silence.
1911 E. Le R. Rice Monarchs of Minstrelry 339 Mr. Sullivan appeared in classic statuary poses.
2004 K. A. Livers Constructing Stalinist Bodies iii. 168 The photo series ends with trainer having successfully contorted the boy's body into a classical, statuary pose.
Compounds
General attributive and objective, as statuary maker, etc.
ΚΠ
1788 Public Advertiser 14 Nov. Houdon, a Statuary Sculptor.
1858 C. C. Spalding Ann. City of Kansas 90 (table) Statuary makers.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Statuary-casting.
1914 Daily News 15 Jan. 12 I was admitted to the inner sanctum of the statuary-makers' haunts.
1928 O. R. Cohen Florian Slappey goes Abroad 31 In the arcade was a statuary store, and Florian's eye lighted on the miniature of a statue.
2009 J. Brugmann Welcome to Urban Revol. i. vi. 102 Statuary makers are supplied by the local plastic recyclers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1542