The majority of the works went to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. By 1903, the museum had to close its doors and the collection was divided. Collecting them was not only an attempt to improve art and architecture in England, but also to educate the nation and “silently, but surely raise the standard of taste in the community.” In 1881, George Gilbert Scott desired to establish an educational museum in London, the Royal Architectural Museum. Authenticity was not a concern for most collectors, as reproductions and casts became largely desirable.ĭrawing from life at the Royal Academy, Somerset House ĭuring the 19th century in London, England, an increased interest developed in publicly displaying plaster casts. The effects of the sculptural rebirth began to reverberate throughout Europe in the art academies and universities. Art schools made use of plaster casts from recently unearthed antiquities because they felt the works of the ancients were incomparable. In addition, the rise of Christianity largely influenced the destruction of sculptures and plaster casts, in order to conceal references to previously held pagan beliefs.Ī tremendous rediscovery of antiquities occurred in 15thcentury Renaissance Europe. The collapse of the Roman Empire ended the popularity of collecting art in the Mediterranean World. The first known location of a plaster cast collection was Imperial Rome. The Greeks, followed by the Romans, adopted the plaster techniques, as a means of reproducing copies of famous Greek marble and bronze statues. In the mid-third millennium B.C., the Egyptians first pioneered the casting method, by plastering the heads of mummies for portraits of the deceased. As a result, many plaster casts are emerging from the dusty storage spaces, and are being displayed again throughout museums and teaching institutions. Today, there is a renewed interest in antiquities, as well as an appreciation for the design quality of the casts. The museum casts were either put into storage, or destroyed. But the museum collections began to dwindle when they chose to stock their precious space with original sculpture works.
North America followed suit in the mid- nineteenth century. During the neoclassical craze of Western Europe, private individuals and museums began to collect them in large quantities.
For centuries, artists and students have copied original masterpieces for their sense of beauty and inspiring workmanship. Plaster Casts are the reproductions of original sculptural artwork.
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