Serial sculpture of bird flight

Serial sculpture of bird flight, after Étienne Jules Marey.

Marey modelled the wing positions of a pigeon, as revealed by his photographs, to give a graphic representation of the sequence of movements in flight. 'At Naples, where I then was, the almost lost industry of casting bronze in wax has been preserved from the most remote antiquity. I modelled in wax a series of figures representing the successive attitudes in a single revolution of the wing...these models, when given to a skilled moulder, were reproduced in bronze with perfect fidelity.' This sculpture was modelled for the Science Museum by Steven Harry with the kind permission of the College de France, the owners of the original.