Carrara marble

MFA Acc. #: 12.244

Description

A famous, fine-grain, white marble quarried in the Carrara district of the Apuan Alps in Italy since the 2nd century BCE. Carrara marble has a compact, crystalline grain that gives it a translucent, sugary appearance. Its colors range from pure white to a pale creamy color. Michelangelo carved many of his sculptures from this marble since it was a local stone.

Synonyms and Related Terms

lunense (Lat.); luniense (Lat.); luna marble; Italian statuary; Bianco P; Blanco P; marbre de Carrare (Fr.); mármol de Carrara (Esp.); mármore de Carrara (Port.); Carrara Marmor (Deut.)

Additional Images

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  MFA Acc. #: 1972.15

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  MFA Acc. #: 1991.534

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  Carrara marble

Authority

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Luciana and Tiziano Mannoni, Marble: the history of a culture, Facts on File Publications Comment: 2nd century BC

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• External source or communication Comment: Contributed information - John Herrmann, MFA

• Janet Burnett Grossman, Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2003

• Joel Leivick, Carrara. The Marble Quarries of Tuscany, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1999 Comment: First quarried by Romans in 155 BC

• R. Mayer, The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, Viking Press, New York, 1981

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 499

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)