Editing Relief (section)

===High relief===
[[File:The Parthenon sculptures, British Museum (14063376069) (2) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|High relief [[Metope (architecture)|metope]] from the Classical Greek [[Elgin Marbles|Parthenon Marbles]]. Some front limbs are actually detached from the background completely, while the [[centaur]]'s left rear leg is in low relief.]]

High relief (or {{lang|it|altorilievo}}, from [[Italian language|Italian]]) is where in general more than half the mass of the sculpted figure projects from the background. Indeed, the most prominent elements of the composition, especially heads and limbs, are often completely undercut, detaching them from the field. The parts of the subject that are seen are normally depicted at their full depth, unlike low relief where the elements seen are "squashed" flatter. High relief thus uses essentially the same style and techniques as free-standing sculpture, and in the case of a single figure gives largely the same view as a person standing directly in front of a free-standing statue would have. All cultures and periods in which large sculptures were created used this technique in [[monumental sculpture]] and architecture.

Most of the many grand figure reliefs in [[Ancient Greek sculpture]] used a very "high" version of high relief, with elements often fully free of the background, and parts of figures crossing over each other to indicate depth. The [[metopes of the Parthenon]] have largely lost their fully rounded elements, except for heads, showing the advantages of relief in terms of durability. High relief has remained the dominant form for reliefs with figures in Western sculpture, also being common in Indian temple sculpture. Smaller Greek sculptures such as private tombs, and smaller decorative areas such as friezes on large buildings, more often used low relief.
[[File:Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho 20.jpg|thumb|High-relief deities at [[Khajuraho]], India]]
[[File:Olhares sobre o Museu do Ipiranga 2017 021 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Very high relief at the [[Monument to the Independence of Brazil]] in [[São Paulo]]; derivative representation of [[Pedro Américo]]'s 1888 painting ''[[Independence or Death (painting)|Independence or Death]]'']]

[[Hellenistic]] and Roman [[sarcophagus]] reliefs were cut with a drill rather than [[chisel]]s, enabling and encouraging compositions extremely crowded with figures, like the [[Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus]] (250–260 CE). These are also seen in the enormous strips of reliefs that wound around Roman [[triumphal column]]s. The [[Sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] in particular exerted a huge influence on later Western sculpture. The European Middle Ages tended to use high relief for all purposes in stone, though like [[Ancient Roman sculpture]], their reliefs were typically not as high as in Ancient Greece.<ref>Avery, ii and iii</ref> Very high relief re-emerged in the Renaissance, and was especially used in wall-mounted [[funerary art]] and later on [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] [[pediment]]s and public monuments.

In the Buddhist and Hindu art of India and Southeast Asia, high relief can also be found, although it is not as common as low to mid-reliefs. Famous examples of Indian high reliefs can be found at the [[Khajuraho]] temples, with voluptuous, twisting figures that often illustrate the erotic [[Kamasutra]] positions. In the 9th-century [[Prambanan]] temple, Central [[Java]],  high reliefs of [[Lokapala]] [[devata]]s, the guardians of deities of the directions, are found.

The largest high relief sculpture in the world is the [[Stone Mountain#Confederate Memorial Carving|Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial]] in the U.S. state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], which was cut 42 feet deep into the mountain,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/|title=What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial?|author=Boissoneault, Lorraine|magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]]|date=August 22, 2017|accessdate=May 26, 2021|archivedate=August 22, 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822212142/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/}}</ref> and measures 90 feet in height, 190 feet in width,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/things-you-might-not-know-about-stone-mountain-park/bdffmFbsNskCuHX2mgEHpO/|newspaper=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]|title=50 things you might not know about Stone Mountain Park|date=July 10, 2018|accessdate=May 26, 2021|archivedate=November 11, 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111190336/https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/things-you-might-not-know-about-stone-mountain-park/bdffmFbsNskCuHX2mgEHpO/}}</ref> and lies 400 feet above the ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-stone-mountain/the-worlds-largest-confederate-monument-faces-renewed-calls-for-removal-idUSKBN2441C7|author=McKay, Rich|title=The world's largest Confederate Monument faces renewed calls for removal|publisher=[[Reuters]]|date=July 3, 2020|accessdate=May 26, 2021|archivedate=July 3, 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703135728/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-stone-mountain/the-worlds-largest-confederate-monument-faces-renewed-calls-for-removal-idUSKBN2441C7}}</ref>