Gualtieri, studio Carrara

One man in his late fifties is working on a huge block of marble and I wait until he notices me through the dust which fills the air (the smell of which I have come to know well and love). I greet him with a hearty ‘buon giorno’ then with my very poor grasp of Italian I explain that I’m from England and a student of marble carving and that I wish to buy some marble to carve. I am happy, I am excited and I can see so many beautiful pieces of marble. I feel sure that I will find what I need here; there is a wonderful acceptance of my being here which goes beyond the fact that I am just buying some material.

I explain that I’m hoping to carve two pieces and we look around the yard. There are all sizes from 3 tonnes to a few kilograms. Then I show him the female and the boy from the block (both my study pieces to work from) and he looks me in the eye, an honest look, and says ‘you have a good eye’, a compliment indeed from such a master of this powerful material. He then shows me round his studio/yard and his work is truly beautiful. The first block I see is for the female torso I wish to carve, a beautiful statuary block and very pure, it’s a good size and will do very well. Next I’m drawn towards a larger block for the ‘boy from the block’ which has been ongoing for a while now, and I find a large block about 4ft x 18ins x 20 ins. This is much bigger than I was expecting (almost full size) but it was as if the time was right to begin this piece and my feelings were to go with the flow.