DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21832#0015
Jean-Marc Hofman • The cast collection of the Musee des Monuments Francais .
Fig. 2. Saint-Mihiel
(Meuse), Church
of Saint-Etienne,
The Entombment,
1554-1564. Original
work by Ligier Richier
(1500 -1567). Cast
by Edouard Charles
Pouzadoux. Entered
the museum collec-
tions in 1895 and 1899.
Interior vault and walls
cast by the firm Merin-
dol in 2005
To form the collections, sculptors and cast makers were commissioned by the Museum
of comparative sculpture's subcommittee and, more specifically, by the architects
of historic monuments. The latter often worked with skilful local artists on their
restoration projects. On the technical front, the subcommittee was careful to respect
the original monument during the casting.7 But the major part of the work was en-
trusted to the Casting workshop of the museum settled in the basement of the Tro-
cadero palace. The cast maker Jean Pouzadoux (1829 -1893) supervised about ten
cast-makers and workers. He enjoyed a solid reputation within the Committee
on Historical Monuments for the quality of the casts he had realised for Notre-Dame
de Paris or the Sainte-Chapelle. Commissioned by the subcommittee, he had the
privilege to exploit the moulds for commercial purposes. Consequently the casting
workshop assumed a role of distribution of French models towards departmental
museums but also international institutions and private citizens. In 1893, on the death
of Jean Pouzadoux, the concession was taken by Edouard Pouzadoux (i860 -1940),
his son and co-worker, then by Ernest Velten. In 1927, the casting workshop of the
museum was absorbed in the so-called "Casting Workshop of National Museums".
It remained in the basement of the palace until 1997.
In May 1882, at the inauguration of the Museum of comparative sculpture, two
rooms were opened to the public. The selection of the artworks was in accordance
with the philosophy of Viollet-le-Duc's programme. In the first room, dedicated to
the "Hieratic period", "types" of French sculpture from the 11th and 12th centuries
were compared with Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek archaic sculptures. Monumental
casts of architecture, such as the portal of the basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in
Vezelay (Burgundy) or the tympanum of the church of Saint-Pierre in Moissac, were
executed with the technical process of the clay mould. This process allowed for the
13
Fig. 2. Saint-Mihiel
(Meuse), Church
of Saint-Etienne,
The Entombment,
1554-1564. Original
work by Ligier Richier
(1500 -1567). Cast
by Edouard Charles
Pouzadoux. Entered
the museum collec-
tions in 1895 and 1899.
Interior vault and walls
cast by the firm Merin-
dol in 2005
To form the collections, sculptors and cast makers were commissioned by the Museum
of comparative sculpture's subcommittee and, more specifically, by the architects
of historic monuments. The latter often worked with skilful local artists on their
restoration projects. On the technical front, the subcommittee was careful to respect
the original monument during the casting.7 But the major part of the work was en-
trusted to the Casting workshop of the museum settled in the basement of the Tro-
cadero palace. The cast maker Jean Pouzadoux (1829 -1893) supervised about ten
cast-makers and workers. He enjoyed a solid reputation within the Committee
on Historical Monuments for the quality of the casts he had realised for Notre-Dame
de Paris or the Sainte-Chapelle. Commissioned by the subcommittee, he had the
privilege to exploit the moulds for commercial purposes. Consequently the casting
workshop assumed a role of distribution of French models towards departmental
museums but also international institutions and private citizens. In 1893, on the death
of Jean Pouzadoux, the concession was taken by Edouard Pouzadoux (i860 -1940),
his son and co-worker, then by Ernest Velten. In 1927, the casting workshop of the
museum was absorbed in the so-called "Casting Workshop of National Museums".
It remained in the basement of the palace until 1997.
In May 1882, at the inauguration of the Museum of comparative sculpture, two
rooms were opened to the public. The selection of the artworks was in accordance
with the philosophy of Viollet-le-Duc's programme. In the first room, dedicated to
the "Hieratic period", "types" of French sculpture from the 11th and 12th centuries
were compared with Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek archaic sculptures. Monumental
casts of architecture, such as the portal of the basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in
Vezelay (Burgundy) or the tympanum of the church of Saint-Pierre in Moissac, were
executed with the technical process of the clay mould. This process allowed for the
13