Cast Courts (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Most of the copies were made in the 19th century and in many cases they have better resisted the ravages of time, 20th-century pollution and over-zealous conservation than the originals.
In a few cases, such as the late 15th century Lübeck relief of Christ washing the Apostles' feet, the original has been destroyed and the cast is a unique record of a lost work.
By 1858 the museum had moved to its current location in South Kensington and the casts were displayed in various corridors and galleries.
[3] In 1862, the collection was inflated by the acquisition of over 2,000 casts of decorative wood carving that had been used as examples for the craftsmen working on the new Westminster Palace.
As with the acquisition of original sculptures, this work was driven primarily by Henry Cole and John Charles Robinson.
With this agreement, the Victoria and Albert Museum came to acquire the large and diverse collection of casts that it has today.
[3] The Courts were designed by Major General Henry Scott of the Royal Engineers and were opened to the public in July 1873.
The West Court is topped by a roof of glass that admits sunlight which is supplemented by electric lights; it predominantly contains casts of Northern European and Spanish sculpture and Trajan's Column.
It is said that the proportions of the West Court were informed by the need to display Trajan's column and the imposing Portico de la Gloria.
The Art Journal, while generally favourable, was particularly critical of the inclusion of Trajan's Column which had the 'effect of crowding out of sight those (casts) of more sensible proportions'.
The proposed move was rejected by the then director, Eric Maclagan which was fortunate because in 1936 Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire.
The original column in Rome is some 30m high and includes an internal spiral staircase which leads to a platform at the top.
[7] In 1865, Robinson had visited Santiago de Compostela and on seeing the cathedral urged for a cast of the doorway to be made.
[3] The casting of this immense structure required an arduous sea voyage and protracted, delicate negotiations with the ecclesiastical authorities.
The pulpit has inscriptions running round the frieze and the base that make it clear that the sculptor was Giovanni Pisano (1250–1314) and that the work was completed by 1311.
A new pulpit by Fancelli was installed 25 years later, it used some of Pisano's original carvings and the rest, including the narrative reliefs, were used elsewhere in the cathedral.
It was acquired in 1857 when it was sent as a gift from the Grand Duke of Tuscany to Queen Victoria[10] – apparently in an attempt to placate English anger at his refusal to allow the National Gallery to export Domenico Ghirlandaio's Madonna Enthroned.
From November 2003 until June 2004, artist Rachel Whiteread's cast of Room 101: the BBC office where George Orwell worked some years before writing his famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
