Export/Import: Italian Plaster Casts Come to the United States

Martha Dunkelman

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Chapter 1 Export/Import: Italian Plaster Casts Come to the United States

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Martha Dunkelman

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Art:: Kapitel

Seiten:: 13–43

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004680449_003

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Abstract

Plaster reproductions of sculpture and architecture constituted a significant sector of the art market in the late nineteenth century. Casts of Greek and Roman monuments dominated sales, but representatives of Italian Renaissance art were an important component. Collectors in America bought Italian works from dealers such as Oronzio Lelli in Florence, the Malpieri and Gherardi families in Rome, and Pietro Pierotti in Milan. Catalogs dating from the 1880s to the 1920s. Catalogs and sales flyers, along with records of public collections and surviving casts, serve as guides to the available reproductions of Italian works sold in Italy. This essay will concentrate on purchases of reproductions of works of Italian Renaissance art by American consumers.

American museums and schools were the largest consumers of plaster casts, and reviewing their purchases is central to understanding how the nineteenth century viewed Italian art. It was considered an important part of the education of the populace about past achievements, as well as a way of providing examples for moral development. Despite a bias in the United States against Italians and the Catholic Church, Italian works, especially from the Roman empire and the Renaissance, were admired. Plaster reproductions were purchased in large quantities to serve as moral guides and tastemakers.

Additionally, casts were a significant feature of the private world during the Gilded Age, where they reflect many of the same ideals. Period photographs, written descriptions, and occasional items still in situ attest to the popularity of casts in home decoration. Among the best sellers for both private and public venues, as indicated by their constant availability in catalogs and their frequent survival, were many works by Donatello, as well as the panels of Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria, portions of Michelangelo’s Medici tombs. Dealers offered various sizes and formats.

Another noteworthy portion of privately owned casts includes those that provided study and source material for nineteenth-century artists, who bought works that appealed to them, and, conversely, were influenced by the reproductions that they owned. A reproduction of Donatello’s St. George, for example, hovered over the workshop of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907); its features haunt many of his figures.

The items that sold the best do not always correspond to what would be considered the most significant works today. The absence of casts of Donatello’s San Lorenzo pulpits in the United States, for example, suggests that the image of Donatello in the nineteenth century was less dramatic and more secular than the one we now hold.

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Italy for Sale

Alternative Objects - Alternative Markets

Reihe: Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets, Band: 19

ISBN:: 9789004680449

Verleger:: Brill

Print-Publikationsdatum:: 01 Aug 2023

Fachgebiete
- Kunstgeschichte
  - Kunstgeschichte
  - Kunstmarkt
- Geschichte
  - Frühe Neuzeit

Front Matter

Part 1 Possession by Replica

Part 2 Possession via Various Afterlives

Part 3 Art and Its Removal

Part 4 Italy for America

Back Matter

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Chapter 1 Export/Import: Italian Plaster Casts Come to the United States

Abstract

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Italy for Sale

Alternative Objects - Alternative Markets

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