Bas-relief

Bas (pronounced bah)-relief is a method of sculpting which entails carving or etching away the surface of a flat piece of stone or metal. The word is derived from the Italian basso rilievo, the literal translation meaning "low contrast" as opposed to "alto rilievo" ("high contrast"). To explain simply, it is a sculpture portrayed as a picture. The portrayed image is raised above the background flat surface. For example, if a stone slab is two inches thick before sculpting begins, the non-image (background) area may be one inch thick when the art work has been completed, and the image area will vary from one inch to two inches, depending on the final image. That would be considered to be "low relief" within the context of Bas-Relief. In a few major works of art, the actual human figure may have "near natural" depth, but still, the background is greatly flattened and is only a few inches behind the rounded figures. This might be characterized as "high bas-relief". The advantage of the natural contour of the figures allows the work to be viewed from many angles without distortion of the figures themselves, but the background depth is only suggested. There is a continuum of the bas relief technique into the next category, alto-relievo, or high relief. This technique combines the rounded figures with significantly deeper backgrounds. Instead of the backgrounds being a few inches deep, they may be a foot to several feet deep. To qualify as relief, of either kind, the sculpture figures must float out from the background. A good rule of thumb, to classify a work, might be that the "bas" technique always has less depth behind the faces or figures than the actual faces or figures would have, when measured. In "alto" technique, the depth behind the figures may equal or exceed the depth of the faces or figures, which are usually natural in depth.