DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21832#0031
Plaster Casts of the Works of Art
Casts from the antique donated by the Duncans were exhibited in the long gallery
— the Randolph Gallery1 — together with others, mostly donated by the heirs
of Sir Francis Chantrey after his death. These constituted the collection of a practic-
ing sculptor who appreciated recumbent horizontal figures, vertical uprights, images
in movement and nudes. Original ancient sculptures of the university collections
featured next to the casts, in particular, the Arundel marbles donated by the Countess
of Pomfret in 1755. It seems like the casts from the antique were regarded more highly
than the Arundel and Pomfret marbles, which were too fragmentary and in need
of restoration to be appreciated by the wider public.1 Casts from the antique ultimately
formed the main part of the exhibition on the ground floor of the University Galleries.
This miscellany of originals and facsimile, modern and ancient gave way to endless
discussions between the curators of the Galleries and the University. In the 1880s
a more modern approach seemed to prevail, inspired by the ongoing collabora-
tion between German and English scholars. This was the period when German
Museums and German scholarship promoted the study of Classical Archaeology
through the knowledge of casts from original sculptures. In the same years original
sculpture at Oxford was being studied in a scientific manner, after Adolph Michaelis,
professor at Strasbourg, had travelled to Britain to prepare a catalogue of Greek and
Roman sculpture in collections outside the British Museum. His criticism of the
deplorable conditions in which Oxford kept its collection of classical sculpture was
particularly damaging.
In 1884, it was deliberated that a new museum of Art and Archaeology should take
over the ground floor of the University Galleries. This would have joined the Uni-
versity collections of original ancient sculpture and the Ashmolean archaeological
objects related to Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and Great Britain. At this point
in time, the Ashmolean was still a separate museum in a different location from the
University Galleries and the collections of which mostly appealed to ethnographic
and geographic interests.1 It was also deliberated that a series of plaster casts "to illus-
trate the whole history of Greek and Roman sculpture", plus a "collection of models
in illustration of ancient architecture", should be purchased under the direction of the
Professor of Classical Archaeology.4 From the late 1880s until the present day the
selection and display of plaster casts from the antique were never disjointed from
the teaching and studying of Classical Archaeology at the University.
Between 1883 and 1913 Oxford acquired more than 500 casts. The professor of Clas-
sical Archaeology, Percy Gardner, and the Keeper of the Ashmolean, Arthur
Evans, collaborated in building up a substantial collection of casts, complemented
by an apparatus for classical scholarship, including electrotypes of coins and gem
impressions, an archaeological library and a lecture room. Ready availability of good
quality mechanical reproductions and the discovery of a great deal of new original
sculpture after the 1880s contributed to the fast growth of cast collections in universi-
ties in general. A cast collection came to be regarded as a tool of scholarly research,
especially at Oxford University, where Classical Archaeology was still pre-eminently
the study of ancient sculpture.
30
Casts from the antique donated by the Duncans were exhibited in the long gallery
— the Randolph Gallery1 — together with others, mostly donated by the heirs
of Sir Francis Chantrey after his death. These constituted the collection of a practic-
ing sculptor who appreciated recumbent horizontal figures, vertical uprights, images
in movement and nudes. Original ancient sculptures of the university collections
featured next to the casts, in particular, the Arundel marbles donated by the Countess
of Pomfret in 1755. It seems like the casts from the antique were regarded more highly
than the Arundel and Pomfret marbles, which were too fragmentary and in need
of restoration to be appreciated by the wider public.1 Casts from the antique ultimately
formed the main part of the exhibition on the ground floor of the University Galleries.
This miscellany of originals and facsimile, modern and ancient gave way to endless
discussions between the curators of the Galleries and the University. In the 1880s
a more modern approach seemed to prevail, inspired by the ongoing collabora-
tion between German and English scholars. This was the period when German
Museums and German scholarship promoted the study of Classical Archaeology
through the knowledge of casts from original sculptures. In the same years original
sculpture at Oxford was being studied in a scientific manner, after Adolph Michaelis,
professor at Strasbourg, had travelled to Britain to prepare a catalogue of Greek and
Roman sculpture in collections outside the British Museum. His criticism of the
deplorable conditions in which Oxford kept its collection of classical sculpture was
particularly damaging.
In 1884, it was deliberated that a new museum of Art and Archaeology should take
over the ground floor of the University Galleries. This would have joined the Uni-
versity collections of original ancient sculpture and the Ashmolean archaeological
objects related to Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and Great Britain. At this point
in time, the Ashmolean was still a separate museum in a different location from the
University Galleries and the collections of which mostly appealed to ethnographic
and geographic interests.1 It was also deliberated that a series of plaster casts "to illus-
trate the whole history of Greek and Roman sculpture", plus a "collection of models
in illustration of ancient architecture", should be purchased under the direction of the
Professor of Classical Archaeology.4 From the late 1880s until the present day the
selection and display of plaster casts from the antique were never disjointed from
the teaching and studying of Classical Archaeology at the University.
Between 1883 and 1913 Oxford acquired more than 500 casts. The professor of Clas-
sical Archaeology, Percy Gardner, and the Keeper of the Ashmolean, Arthur
Evans, collaborated in building up a substantial collection of casts, complemented
by an apparatus for classical scholarship, including electrotypes of coins and gem
impressions, an archaeological library and a lecture room. Ready availability of good
quality mechanical reproductions and the discovery of a great deal of new original
sculpture after the 1880s contributed to the fast growth of cast collections in universi-
ties in general. A cast collection came to be regarded as a tool of scholarly research,
especially at Oxford University, where Classical Archaeology was still pre-eminently
the study of ancient sculpture.
30