Shattered Skull

In the catacombs of Paris there’s a class of skulls I find intriguing– those displaying the blow that killed its owner. It’s often a sword to the cranium, an arrow to the face, or an axe or halberd wound. These imperfections tell us stories about the individual.

This skull’s story is that it was made to be broken. I went through many versions to get my stone the right color, texture, and thickness to look and break like bone. When satisfied, I tossed it onto the pavement outside my shop to see how it would react, then painted the result to look like it had been underground for a long time.