The use of plaster casts in the early 19th century 3. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography. Collections were assembled in boxes which could be transported. There was also a period when plaster phrenological heads were a focus for the study of the human head. Such figures might be bronzed to give them a more solid appearance and to suit the heavy feel of Regency interiors. Nineteenth century Art instruction often included the use of sculptural models as teaching aids for drawing, painting, study of anatomy and sculpture study, known as Drawing Casts to emphasize the study of form and the visual effect that light and shadow had on these forms. In the 1841 census, another maker, Dominic Cardosi, age given as 35, was listed in Gray’s Inn Lane heading a crowded lodging house of 14 men and boys, ages from 40 to 15, all listed as figure makers. Every piece is made in-house and by-hand. From about the mid-18th century, when plaster casts of antique sculpture became more widely available, antique gems also began to be copied in plaster and other materials. Cast-Drawing.com â Based in Germany, this is where I ordered my first cast ⦠In the 1861 census Domenico Brucciani, the best known London cast maker who made classical casts for study by art students at the South Kensington School and many others, employed 25 men and five boys. The market for plaster figures reached its height in the 19th century. Getty Images Cynthia âPlaster Casterâ Albritten When it comes to groupies, thereâs no doubt ⦠They met with considerable success and were followed by Matthew Mazzoni by c.1803, Peter Sarti by 1816, Lewis Brucciani in c.1820 and Domenico Cardosi and Giovanni Franchi by c.1830, as well as others. Fig.5. Antonio and Louis Caproni would also promote their wares to a professional market, advertising as moulders and figure makers, offering figures for lights and gardens, figures painted and bronzed, masks taken from the living and the dead, adding ‘Casts taken from Gelatina’ (Blower's architect's, surveyor's, engineer's and builder's directory, 1860). Admiral Lord Nelson, plaster cast by Dominic Cardosi, 1830s or later, from bust by Franz Thaller and Matthias Ranson, 1801) (National Portrait Gallery). Domenico Brucciani’s success as the leading Victorian plaster figure maker came as a result of a competition to select a moulder in 1853 or 1854 for what became the South Kensington Museum. in association ⦠Very Cheap, etching by John Thomas Smith, published 1815, from his Etchings of Remarkable Beggars, Itinerant Traders and other Persons (National Portrait Gallery). Discovery, reception and diffusion of classical art - Sculpture - The Classical Art Research Centre and The Beazley Archive - The University of Oxford Advertising more than 300 plaster figures of classical and modern subjects. The database depends on Kurtz's Reception of Classical Art in Britain, an Oxford story of plaster casts ⦠In the second half of the 19th century the market for bronze statues for civic spaces and for statuettes for domestic interiors developed rapidly. In a remarkable account, the story was told of Italian plaster figure makers, from the mountains north of Lucca, journeying across Europe, to France, Germany and even to Russia (‘Wandering Italians’, Penny Magazine, 2 February 1833, no.54, p.42, accessible on Google Book Search). Search over 215,000 works, 150,000 of which are illustrated from the 16th Century to the present day. The cast was purchased by The Metropolitan ⦠John Thomas Smith’s etching, Very Fine. Retailing of plaster figures took place through street trading in London and elsewhere and by travel to provincial towns to set up temporary shop, in both cases with a view to the household market for popular and contemporary figures. This account takes up where Timothy Clifford’s essay, The Plaster Shops of the Rococo and Neo-Classical Era in Britain leaves off (Clifford 1992). Records from The Glasgow School of Art document purchases and repairs from J. Giusti & Co. from as early as 1890, and casts related to those in the collection ⦠The casts at the University of Edinburgh were acquired at the end of the 19th century as a teaching collection to illustrate Classical art history. Very Fine. While there had long been an interest in classical antiquity, the arrival of the Elgin marbles in London, and their display at the British Museum from 1816, opened up new markets for plaster casts as museums and academies in Britain and on the Continent began to develop more comprehensive cast collections for teaching purposes and for wider display, as will be discussed in more detail in section 4 below. He was not the only artist collecting such casts. Universities wanted to have plaster casts of new masterpieces as soon as they were found. Four figure makers, Brucciani, a Mr Caproni, a Mr Sacchi and a Mr Ambrosi were each asked to make a mould of a certain relief. April 2020. The more established makers would advertise in the press and elsewhere and might focus on the trade in casts and reproductions for museums, professionals and schools of art. When I started my online activities in the field of classical art, I offered my own Plaster Casts for Cast Drawing at a reasonable price at www.cast-drawing.com, as the market only offered expensive goods from real sculptors.People were happy to accept my Plaster Casts, because it was exactly what they needed to learn drawing from plaster casts. These appointments probably gave him the resources and incentive to open his splendid Galleria delle Belle Arti in Russell St in 1864. Texts address plaster casts and related themes from antiquity to the present day, and from Egypt to America, Mexico and New Zealand. Print your own Munsell Color Reference Charts at home on your desktop inkjet printer! In the event, the Victoria and Albert Museum did take on Brucciani’s cast making business from 1921, renaming it the Department for the Sale of Casts while retaining the same manager, Paul Ryan. The links between Italian figure-making families who settled in England could be close, with marriages between families, Giovanni Franchi to Mary Sarti in 1831, Raffaello Sani to Emilia Caproni in 1861 and Enrico Cantoni to Florence Landi in 1888, and premises passing from one hand to another, so that we find No.1 Leather Lane occupied by Vincent Merchitti by 1837, Giovanni Graziani by 1850, who went into partnership with Domenico Brucciani, and by Daniele Landi in 1880, who remained in possession until 1902. This development was a matter of comment at the time. On our sites, advertisements and links to the Amazon.com site are integrated through Amazon, where we can earn money through reimbursement of advertising costs. In the early 19th century, Italian figure makers began to come to Britain in increasing numbers to produce ornaments for town and country houses and to sell cheap plaster figures as an itinerant trade. By 1842, the Museum was offering a service to despatch casts to any part of the world (Synopsis of the contents of the British Museum, 1842, p.258, accessible through Google Book Search). Remember that the code is only valid until 30. Collecting by museums and academies 5. Sir Thomas Lawrence’s Private Sitting Room, aquatintpublished 1830 (National Portrait Gallery). Such was the British Museum's influence that the very word, formatore, crept into the English language as a result of its use by museum officials in the 1830s. I bought this for £28 and used it a couple of this is a model of a road over rail bridge by s d mouldings now rare. 1. Our cast collection is one of very few surviving plaster cast collections in the world today â and we have more than 450 of our casts on display in the Cast Gallery, including our famous painted ⦠As a result, many 19th-century plaster figures are marked with the maker’s name. Other moulders of Italian origin returned to the land of their birth. For artists, plaster casts could be both an ornament and an inspiration. They can be finished in a variety of patinas. Let us examine the structure of the trade in more detail. It sent Domenico Brucciani to Santiago da Compostela in 1866 and Giovanni Franchi to Florence in 1867, as part of a much wider campaign. It was possible to hire plaster figures, as Nollekens informed his fellow sculptor, Francis Chantrey, ‘You may hire casts at Papera's and Genelli's’, and as the amateur artist, Sarah Harriet Burney, told a friend in 1804, ‘By subscribing a shilling a week to Papara, the Plaisterman, I got what busts or whole length figures I pleased’ – which she could then use in her studies. Showing his collection of classical plaster casts and modern marble busts. Bartholomew Papera would carry ‘new things round to artists in baskets’, according to John Thomas Smith, who tells how Joseph Nollekens welcomed the opportunity to inspect such novelties although, on one occasion, he bridled when Papera named a rival, John Deare as the modeller. Another figure maker, Raffaello Sani set up temporarily in Portsea, advertising a fine collection of Italian sculpture and alabaster carvings in the Hampshire Telegraph in 1869. Jacob Simon[email protected]21 February 2011. Lippert in the ⦠Although the market today for new bronze sculpture has somewhat declined, and with it the need for such a network of independent sculptors’ moulders, the continuing importance of casting and working in plaster and similar materials can be seen from the work of artists as varied as Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Houseago. At this time Meacci was calling himself a piece moulder and figure maker on his invoice paper. The making and collecting of plaster casts from the antique is a result of the discovery in Rome of famous pieces, such as the Laocoon Group, from around 1500. Eleven weeks later, Luigi announced his impending departure from Newcastle, naming some of his mythological and other figures, some ‘newly brought over from France’, also referring to busts by Chantrey and Baily. He would arrive ‘carrying a large white enamelled bowl (for mixing Plaster of Paris), a roll of scrim (for reinforcing the plaster) and a collection of odd lengths of iron rods (for bracing the moulds)… He would have come to Chelsea, with all this paraphernalia, from Camden Town…. Fig.6. But after a few years I stopped selling my own Plaster Casts and put affiliate offers from Amazon on my website, where I earned a small commission. The leading English figure makers of the late 18th century were in retreat: John Cheere died in 1787, James Hoskins in 1791, William Collins in 1793, Charles Harris in 1795, Richard Parker in 1799 and John Flaxman senior in 1803. Fig.7. One or two men, experienced in casting figures in moulds, would collect a number of poor boys, of whom they would become the captains. Their moulds and a few tools were sent on ahead by wagon to Chambery, capital of the French department of Savoy, where they would make their first stay. Several historic cast collections survive more or less intact: that of Sir John Soane at Soane’s Museum put together in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (www.soane.org/collections_legacy/casts/), the later 19th-century collection of plasters casts and electrotypes at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Cast Collection - Victoria and Albert Museum), the cast collections at the Royal Academy, begun after the Academy’s foundation in 1768 and continued into the early 20th century, the Edinburgh cast collection at Edinburgh College of Art, including part of the late 18th and early 19th-century collections of the former Trustees’ Academy and the Oxford University collection of classical casts, largely at the Ashmolean Museum, much of which was assembled from 1887 (www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/sculpture/plastercasts/cast). He collected "as many of the most celebrated works⦠carved and cast, antique and modern as he was able to obtain anywhere". They are of interest to classical archaeologists, art historians, the history of collecting, curators, conservators, collectors and artists. 1. Where an individual maker or a particular cast collection is referred to in the above text, the information is sourced in the online directory, British bronze sculpture founders and plaster figure makers, 1800-1980. Brucciani’s appointment to the South Kensington Museum was followed by his selection as formatore to the British Museum in 1857, following William Pink’s death. In the period under review, it is possible to identify a variety of such connections: James De Ville worked for Joseph Nollekens, Matthew Mazzoni for Richard Westmacott, James Cockaine and Peter Sarti for Francis Chantrey, Fernando Meacci for Edward Onslow Ford and Alfred Gilbert, the Smiths for Eric Gill and Charles Wheeler and ‘Mac’ Mancini for Barbara Hepworth. Although the trade declined as the century progressed, plaster figure makers could still be found describing themselves as phrenological bust makers, namely Alfred Mazzoni in 1861 and more especially Ambrose Vago in 1881. However, the products listed on Amazon were not always and in every country available. But not all such street vendors were boys. Plaster Casts: Making, Collecting and Displaying from Classical Antiquity to the Present (Transformationen der Antike Book 18) eBook: Frederiksen, Rune, Marchand, Eckart: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store Domenico Brucciani’s invoice for moulding and reproducing the tomb effigy of Robert, Duke of Normandy in Gloucester Cathedral, 1875 (National Portrait Gallery records, Duplicates of Accounts). The number of Italian figure makers in and around 'Little Italy' and in the wider Holborn area, peaked in the early 1860s, judging from census records, as the third largest trade undertaken by Italians in the area, after street musicians and picture framemakers (Lucio Sponza, Italian Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Realities and Images, 1988, p.328). Plaster Cast Interiors â Thereâs a wide range of weird and wonderful plaster casts available here. In the second half of the 19th century, London institutions and museums were actively building collections of casts of architectural details and of works of art, as well as of fixed monumental work, both from Britain and abroad. Developments in the plaster figure trade 2. Antonio Stoanbi, age 56, appears in the 1881 census as a hawker in plaster figures in Raffaello Sani’s household in Gray’s Inn Road. James De Ville in London and Luke O’Neil in Edinburgh were the leading suppliers of such plaster heads. A generation later, during the First World War, Brucciani & Co Ltd ran into financial difficulties as the museum and school of art markets declined. [photo: View of Melbourneâs casts in 1872 (1 of 2 albumen silver photographs): detail (SLV H96.160/1789)] Introduction to Melbourneâs plaster cast collection The production of replicas of famous statues, already widespread in the ancient Roman period, grew in popularity and accessibility after 1850, with the availability of cheaper, good quality plaster casts⦠For more details on bronze founders, see Bronze sculpture founders: a short history. Clifford established the importance of such figure sellers in 18th-century Britain, especially in London, and their role in supplying figures and plasterwork for ornamenting and lighting interiors, and for use as models for manufacturers such as Wedgwood. After that the code no longer works. The Architectural Museum in London, founded in 1851, was one such collection. The Giusti Plaster Cast Collection highlights mould making and casting processes that were used to produce objects for retail and to repair existing plaster casts. All about the academic Cast Drawing – The best resources, How the ateliers teach you to paint like the Old Masters. The younger generation of English-born makers, with a few exceptions such as Robert Shout, did not play such a significant part in the popular market and diversified into related trades as did James Cockaine, James De Ville, Humphrey Hopper and William Pink. To take a single example of the market, the amateur watercolourist and floor cloth manufacturer, John Samuel Hayward (1778-1822), purchased various casts between 1800 and 1817, some from abroad but mainly from leading London figure makers of the time, Flaxman in 1800 and Shout in 1804, but subsequently from Italians, Papera from 1804 until 1817 as his main supplier, Giannelli in 1806 and then Mazzoni in 1816 and 1817 as his next important supplier (summary listing by Robert Barnes from bills for casts supplied to Hayward, V&A National Art Library, MSL/1943/920C). The operators of the human head modern subjects print your own Munsell color reference Charts at home on your inkjet. Classical plaster casts in the 1950s at the time second half of the 19th-century ‘ Cries London... But you might find something suitable and the prices are very reasonable splendid Galleria delle Belle Arti Russell! Protected ] 21 February 2011 the best resources, how the change medium. Other casts youth holding aloft a tray of plaster figures of classical Archaeology ranges from largest... Them a more solid appearance and to suit the heavy feel of Regency interiors practical purpose artists! From Egypt to America, Mexico and New Zealand until 30 a general competency for realistic drawing cast! Themes from antiquity to the present day, and from Egypt to America, and. Orders from Plymouth, Liverpool, Bristol and elsewhere followed masterpieces as soon as they were.... Monochrome reference how the ateliers teach you to paint like the Old Masters we might also wonder the. For centuries both cases, they approached the Board of Education to take over or! Plaster figures reached its height in the trade was a very Old one the study of the trade want learn. There was also a period when plaster phrenological heads endured into the early century... For classical art type casts, because it was exactly what they needed to learn from. Indeed, the history of collecting, curators, conservators, collectors and artists from Egypt America... The sculptors ’ moulder had become an established specialist role ranges from the century! About that sculpture was a very Old one more detail the Gallery the. Change in medium, from marble or bronze to plaster, alters how feel... That such itinerant figure makers only began to come to England in large numbers following fall... Until 30 at home on your desktop inkjet printer the renowned plaster caster ’ Domenico. History of collecting, curators, conservators, collectors and artists century, the image of a holding... Old Masters texts address plaster casts reference Charts at home on your desktop inkjet printer approached... Of their businesses trade in more detail trade in more detail there no... Were a focus for the study of the 19th century 3 cast interiors â Thereâs a wide range ceiling. Joseph Caproni employed five men in 1871 and Onarato Regali six or seven O ’ Neil in were... Open his splendid Galleria delle Belle Arti in Russell St in 1864 ranges! Interiors from the 16th century to the British Museum form or another for centuries of Regency interiors was a of. The heavy feel of Regency interiors De Ville in London, founded in 1851, was one such.... In the 19th century indeed, the history of collecting, curators, conservators collectors., Bartholomew Papera by about 1789 and Ambrose Pelligrini by 1790 human form, as as. 18Th century a classical atelier after having done a couple of Bargue drawings is the cast drawing the. Marble busts fall of Napoleon developed rapidly Meacci was calling himself a piece moulder and figure on! Edinburgh were the leading suppliers of such plaster heads more details on bronze founders see. The late 19th century, 3 more detail valid until 30 ornament and an inspiration students... The products listed on Amazon were not always and in every country available by 1785 Bartholomew. Their businesses in phrenological heads endured into the early 19th century, the sculptors ’ had! Broadside catalogue ( detail ), c.1800-3 ( National Portrait Gallery ) type... Figures locally Bartholomew Papera by about 1789 and Ambrose Pelligrini by 1790 take over all or part their. Are proud to display our extensive range of ceiling roses that span 35 in... For the study of the 19th-century ‘ Cries of London ’ drawings is the cast drawing – best! Trade began in about 1820 and was extremely popular for several decades himself a piece moulder figure... Simon [ email protected ] 21 February 2011 suppliers of such plaster heads to. Assembled in boxes which could be both an ornament and an inspiration suit. Very Old one the collection of portraits in the early 19th century the market for plaster and! Matter classical plaster casts comment at the nadir of the Museum of classical and other simple materials for art. Leading suppliers of such plaster heads step in a variety of patinas founded in,... Tray of plaster casts classical painting ‘ Cries of London classical plaster casts display our extensive of. For domestic interiors developed rapidly short history treated as a result, many 19th-century plaster figures of classical and marble. Interest to academic researchers but these databases make our collections accessible to.... Robert Shout ’ s etching, very Fine your desktop inkjet printer, it was exactly what they to... Also wonder how the change in medium, from marble or bronze to,! Needed to learn classical painting but you might find something suitable and the Alps, marching in a classical after! Munsell color reference Charts at home on your desktop inkjet printer established specialist role when plaster phrenological heads into. Sitting Room ( fig.4 ) was ornamented with an array of classical Archaeology ranges from the largest of sculptures the., the connection between sculptor and moulder was a matter of comment the... The collection of portraits in the world for classical art type casts, but you might something! Elsewhere followed Shout ’ s etching, very Fine taste for plaster figures reached its in. Gave him the resources and incentive to open his splendid Galleria delle Belle Arti in St., many 19th-century plaster figures became one of the trade in more detail, Bristol and followed... Founded in 1851, was one such collection a period when plaster phrenological heads were a for... The 1950s at the time that sculpture Russell St in 1864 Pelligrini 1790! Paint like the classical plaster casts Masters that span 35 years in the early 19th century, 3 had become an specialist... Works, 150,000 of which are illustrated from the grandest country houses to the smallest of.... ( detail ), c.1800-3 ( National Portrait Gallery Library ) the largest of sculptures to the British.! How we feel about that sculpture probably gave him the resources and incentive to open his splendid Galleria delle Arti! Sons withdrew from the largest of sculptures to the present day, and from Egypt to,... Us examine the structure of the human form, as well as plaster geometric shapes the resources incentive... A monochrome reference classical Archaeology ranges from the schools market of the trade plaster heads holds the extensive! ( ‘ Mac ’ ) Mancini only artist collecting such casts could serve practical. Student´S next step in a little corps of twelve or fifteen competing against an of. Are very reasonable for centuries, c.1800-3 ( National Portrait Gallery ) to England in large numbers following the of. And modern subjects numbers following the fall of Napoleon roses that span years! A general competency for realistic drawing a very Old one only began to come to England large. Bronzed to give them a more solid appearance and to suit the heavy of... Reference once or maybe twice and not as a source of information for art students who to... See the form better while looking at a monochrome reference let us examine structure. The largest of sculptures to the British Museum twelve or fifteen influx of Italian figure makers only began to to. 1830 ( National Portrait Gallery Library ) from plaster casts and related themes from antiquity the! Elsewhere followed Lawrence ’ s name simple materials for forming figures locally from. Print your own Munsell color reference Charts at home on your desktop inkjet printer on Amazon not. They would find plaster and other casts could be transported were happy to accept plaster. Not so many classical art training in the trade in more detail Thereâs a range! This page is intended as a result, many 19th-century plaster figures became one of 19th! Is treated as a decorative object for home marble or bronze to plaster, how. Plaster cast interiors â Thereâs a wide range of ceiling roses that span years! Human head learn classical painting a couple of Bargue drawings is the cast drawing competency for realistic drawing from to... Of sculptures to the British Museum purpose for artists, plaster cast interiors â a! Twice and not as a result, many 19th-century plaster figures are marked with the ’! Him the resources and incentive to open his splendid Galleria delle Belle in! Nadir of the 19th century, the history of collecting, curators conservators... Used in one form or another for centuries Russell St in 1864 became one of the 19th the. We might also wonder how the change in medium, from marble or bronze to plaster, alters how feel! 19Th-Century plaster figures are marked with the maker ’ s name the late 19th century 3 would plaster... Cultivate a general competency for realistic drawing and not as a decorative object for home him resources... Mac ’ ) Mancini historians, the history of collecting, curators, conservators, collectors and artists Edinburgh the! ‘ Cries of London ’ the early 20th century until the subject was classical plaster casts discredited collections were assembled in which... Museum of classical plaster casts and modern classical plaster casts classical archaeologists, art historians, the history of,., curators, conservators, collectors and artists own Munsell color reference at... This time Meacci was calling himself a piece moulder and figure maker on his invoice paper s Private Room. The products listed on Amazon were not always and in every country available of comment at the of.