What happened to all of the leftover marble when a Renaissance statue was completed?

by SaintShrink

This may sound like a ridiculous question, but I was thinking about how much excess there is from a marble block compared to the statue, and I think it's an interesting jumping off point to discuss a few things.

  1. Who owned the marble? Was it Michaelangelo, or one of his patrons?
  2. Who owned the leftovers?
  3. Was it useful for anything, could it be resold?
  4. Did you just throw it away? What did throwing it away look like? Find a field at dump it? Was it really so worthless?
Cedric_Hampton

u/aldusmanutius and I recently gave responses to a similar question: [What did marble sculptors do with all of the excess marble they chipped away?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/po2vvb/what_did_marble_sculptors_do_with_all_of_the/)

They--or another user--might be able to provide answers to your questions about ownership. The fine white Carrara marble used for statues like Michelangelo's David was extremely expensive, so it's likely every little chip was used for another purpose.

As an addendum to my previous response, I can point to Book 7, Chapter VI of the ancient Roman architect Vitrivius' treatise Ten Books on Architecture for a description of the use of marble dust to make stucco:

Marble is not produced everywhere of the same kind. In some places the lumps are found to contain transparent grains like salt, and this kind when crushed and ground is extremely serviceable in stucco work. In places where this is not found, the broken bits of marble or "chips," as they are called, which marble-workers throw down as they work, may be crushed and ground and used in stucco after being sifted.