Bronze

Bronze, a major exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) in 2012, featured 150 bronze sculptures, vessels, and decorative objects. It was probably the greatest exhibition of bronze sculpture ever assembled. The equally stunning exhibition catalogue, edited by David Ekserdjian, includes large colour plates with detailed photographs of each object, and comprehensive essays on the international history of bronze sculpture.

The exhibition included two sculptures of bacchants riding on panthers, and the catalogue notes that their attribution "has been much debated, but remains unresolved." Earlier this year, they were finally and conclusively attributed to Michelangelo.

Wilhelm Lubke's History Of Sculpture (1872) was "the first time the attempt has been made to write a general history of plastic art." Carola Giedion-Welcker wrote the first history of modern sculpture, Modern Plastic Art (1937; expanded in 1954 as Contemporary Sculpture). Sculpture (1986-1991; reprinted by Taschen), edited by Georges Duby and Jean-Luc Daval, remains the most comprehensive history of sculpture available.