DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21832#0034
Milena Melfi • Old meets New.
Under successive professors of classical archaeology the casts have been catalogued, Fig-13- Ashmolean
conserved, modern restorations have been removed. The collection is generally Museum from above
i r ■ T^-rr i r i n i • 1 during the building
in a good state of preservation. Differently rrom many other cast collections, which , ° ,
' ' works. The door
were earlier dismantled because casts are fragile, difficult to handle and occupy too in tjie building
much space in the restrictions experienced by many museums, Oxford's collection at the top gave access
has suffered relatively few losses and is now ready to be re-displayed in a rejuvenated to the Cast Gallery
museum environment. built 111 the 19605
Old casts in a new museum
Within the new Ashmolean project the existing Cast Gallery will be incorporated
in the enlarged public display area, and the cast display will be directly accessible
from the main building. A door will lead to it from the gallery dedicated to Roman
art and archaeology. The thematic approach of the main museum will not continue
in the Cast Gallery, where we chose to adopt a contextual display fitting the selection
of casts and the needs of the teaching of classical archaeology
After more than a hundred and fifty years the casts will therefore be returned close
to the centre of the Ashmolean Museum, as Randolph's benefaction of 1797 intended.
In most cases, the physical distance created between the plaster cast collection
and the antiquities on display will provide the necessary separation between originals
and copies. Exceptions such as the Apollo from Olympia and the Artemision Zeus
will nevertheless keep posing interpretative problems, as much as the remainder
of Sir Chantrey's endowment of casts. These were portrait busts of contemporary
politicians, aristocrats, scientists, and are now dramatically redisplayed on the "Chant-
rey Wall" of the new museum (fig. 14). The "Chantrey Wall" is visible from at least
three storeys of the secondary stairway and constitutes a self-contained display
where the identification of original or copies is not required.
33
Under successive professors of classical archaeology the casts have been catalogued, Fig-13- Ashmolean
conserved, modern restorations have been removed. The collection is generally Museum from above
i r ■ T^-rr i r i n i • 1 during the building
in a good state of preservation. Differently rrom many other cast collections, which , ° ,
' ' works. The door
were earlier dismantled because casts are fragile, difficult to handle and occupy too in tjie building
much space in the restrictions experienced by many museums, Oxford's collection at the top gave access
has suffered relatively few losses and is now ready to be re-displayed in a rejuvenated to the Cast Gallery
museum environment. built 111 the 19605
Old casts in a new museum
Within the new Ashmolean project the existing Cast Gallery will be incorporated
in the enlarged public display area, and the cast display will be directly accessible
from the main building. A door will lead to it from the gallery dedicated to Roman
art and archaeology. The thematic approach of the main museum will not continue
in the Cast Gallery, where we chose to adopt a contextual display fitting the selection
of casts and the needs of the teaching of classical archaeology
After more than a hundred and fifty years the casts will therefore be returned close
to the centre of the Ashmolean Museum, as Randolph's benefaction of 1797 intended.
In most cases, the physical distance created between the plaster cast collection
and the antiquities on display will provide the necessary separation between originals
and copies. Exceptions such as the Apollo from Olympia and the Artemision Zeus
will nevertheless keep posing interpretative problems, as much as the remainder
of Sir Chantrey's endowment of casts. These were portrait busts of contemporary
politicians, aristocrats, scientists, and are now dramatically redisplayed on the "Chant-
rey Wall" of the new museum (fig. 14). The "Chantrey Wall" is visible from at least
three storeys of the secondary stairway and constitutes a self-contained display
where the identification of original or copies is not required.
33