DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21832#0028
Milena Melfi • Old meets New.
of the statue emphasise its belonging to the category of cult statues from antiquity.
The cast of the Artemision Zeus is therefore exhibited as the quintessential image
of the ancient Greek cult statue, whether an original or a facsimile, by virtue of its
modern contextualization.
Works of art, copies or tools of scholarship
The casts of Apollo from Olympia and the Artemision Zeus are displayed by virtue
of their strong visual impact and complement the architecture of the new building.
Whether they add to the information contained in the display or are themselves
considered — as it is always the dilemma when dealing with plaster casts — works
of art, facsimile or tools of scholarship is difficult to clarify
The chosen display strategy entails a loss of information, because the casts appear
deprived of any historical context. Not many visitors will in fact know that the cast
of Apollo was purchased from a Berlin workshop in 1884, shortly after the Ger-
man excavators discovered the sculptures of the temple of Zeus in the sanctuary
at Olympia. It was the central piece of the west pediment of the temple, the larg-
est and most expensive example of architectural sculpture before the Parthenon.
The naked god stood in the centre of the west pediment of the temple, with his right
arm extended in an imperious gesture to calm a battle that raged around him. It was
ordered by Henry Francis Pelham, professor of ancient history at Oxford in charge
of assembling a first collection of casts for the University Galleries, in order to provide
students of Classical Archaeology with an "apparatus" for scholarship. After him
Percy Gardner, professor of Classical Archaeology from 1887, acquired other parts
of the sculptures at Olympia, and even small scale reproductions of the pediments
to provide an easier contextualization of the groups.
Similarly, the Artemision Zeus, brought to light between 1926 and 1927 from the sea
of Euboea, was acquired by the museum shortly after its discovery. It was donated
in 1930 by Arthur Evans, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean, but more famous
as the excavator of Knossos who developed the concept of Minoan Civilization. Both
the original sculptures of the Olympia Apollo and Artemision Zeus were crucial
for the scholarship of the late 19th and early 20th century because they helped define
an Early-classical, pre-Parthenonic style of Greek sculpture. Information such as this
and on the role played by casts from the antique in the study of Classical archaeology
at the University of Oxford will be available in the new Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean
Museum, which will open as a separate gallery at the end of this year.
This lack of information on the history of the casts, together with the fact that some
of the Ashmolean casts are now exhibited in main galleries along with original objects,
questions the traditional separation between originals and copies, and re-opens
the old debate on the status and use of casts from the antique in a museum. For more
than a century all casts of Oxford University have been gathered in the Cast Gallery
of the Ashmolean Museum and have been largely kept apart from other objects from
27
of the statue emphasise its belonging to the category of cult statues from antiquity.
The cast of the Artemision Zeus is therefore exhibited as the quintessential image
of the ancient Greek cult statue, whether an original or a facsimile, by virtue of its
modern contextualization.
Works of art, copies or tools of scholarship
The casts of Apollo from Olympia and the Artemision Zeus are displayed by virtue
of their strong visual impact and complement the architecture of the new building.
Whether they add to the information contained in the display or are themselves
considered — as it is always the dilemma when dealing with plaster casts — works
of art, facsimile or tools of scholarship is difficult to clarify
The chosen display strategy entails a loss of information, because the casts appear
deprived of any historical context. Not many visitors will in fact know that the cast
of Apollo was purchased from a Berlin workshop in 1884, shortly after the Ger-
man excavators discovered the sculptures of the temple of Zeus in the sanctuary
at Olympia. It was the central piece of the west pediment of the temple, the larg-
est and most expensive example of architectural sculpture before the Parthenon.
The naked god stood in the centre of the west pediment of the temple, with his right
arm extended in an imperious gesture to calm a battle that raged around him. It was
ordered by Henry Francis Pelham, professor of ancient history at Oxford in charge
of assembling a first collection of casts for the University Galleries, in order to provide
students of Classical Archaeology with an "apparatus" for scholarship. After him
Percy Gardner, professor of Classical Archaeology from 1887, acquired other parts
of the sculptures at Olympia, and even small scale reproductions of the pediments
to provide an easier contextualization of the groups.
Similarly, the Artemision Zeus, brought to light between 1926 and 1927 from the sea
of Euboea, was acquired by the museum shortly after its discovery. It was donated
in 1930 by Arthur Evans, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean, but more famous
as the excavator of Knossos who developed the concept of Minoan Civilization. Both
the original sculptures of the Olympia Apollo and Artemision Zeus were crucial
for the scholarship of the late 19th and early 20th century because they helped define
an Early-classical, pre-Parthenonic style of Greek sculpture. Information such as this
and on the role played by casts from the antique in the study of Classical archaeology
at the University of Oxford will be available in the new Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean
Museum, which will open as a separate gallery at the end of this year.
This lack of information on the history of the casts, together with the fact that some
of the Ashmolean casts are now exhibited in main galleries along with original objects,
questions the traditional separation between originals and copies, and re-opens
the old debate on the status and use of casts from the antique in a museum. For more
than a century all casts of Oxford University have been gathered in the Cast Gallery
of the Ashmolean Museum and have been largely kept apart from other objects from
27