Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-26
CELEHRIrIEs INPLAsTER.
something of Interest About ihc ara ie
In Plaster Casts.

I =
chcap ihia9es' winch were carried around
| upon a board and prddled from door to door
| ro-.lny IL il uiutr n ,l,frnrrn, ,n,,,,r Som.
.a,o,a',,., aa,,a,., ,.. 49,, '''''
'"'"''s"'' ''''"'' HI" one hundred 10
hve hundred hEuics, many of them being
taken from the finest works of sculptu,,.
Won c,p Inv i, Now yorl ,o
's" Wy ;" io'N 'o,'"y Ro"d
casts o' almost any oil inc carved mastcr-
pieces in European galleries. Yet only
few vp,rs 400 teachers found il dinc,I, T..
ru the lew works necessary for class ine,r,c
ton"
"Who arc your largest customers ," .-k.d
the reporter "Mnslcians and art scho ais
such institutions during Tho noe, S,,, Guy 49,
hive been springnp up all over The coun,rv
To the ar, schools, and even IN Mi fire, 'ra,o
schools and colleges. casts are nov jnds-
pensiblc. and no nuseum cnn afford IN n,
without ,hem-expcnsiye as thew arc, And
they are expensive. You NAV easily snend
from $1,000 10 5000 for n scnln,,,re de-
partmeut in a museum, and make no very
great show either. Why. n first-c,ass enc,
of the Laocoon alone is worth $3.50. and
would be hardly above six feet hgb nj
that. The Apollo, the Venus di Medicj
Minerva, Diana. Diving Gladiator. An,
tinous. and many others of Greek origin.
are worth full size. from S75 To Sl0O each
and it takes quite a number of them to make
any kind of an impression, even IN small
museum. The art schools buy most LARGELY
of course, and there are now great number
of them Only ten years ago there were
plenty of towns in this State in which there
was hardly person who could draw even n
hat properly, yet very many Of them now
have at art school, where drawing from
casts is done. Here is n little lii have
;,,et "A ,ko
Cayuga county and this is an order from
the SulIicld Conn Literary Institute. Such
institutions do not, of course, buy our large
antique figures. but get n good variety
of smaller articles for object drawing
etc.
(Which are the most popular of the
larger works? Well, for figure drawing the
Medicean Venus and Discobolus or Quot
Thrower. In simple busts the Ariadnc and
Clytie are favorites. Mosques of the
Jupiter of Phidias and of the various
heads of gols and godesses are always in
demand. The schools also buy wagon loads
of odd plaster feet, hands and limbs, or
other parts of the human frame, in all i'm.
aginable positions. My list includes over
1000 casts of all kinds Most of the great
antique figures or torsos furnish in three
| sizes, and all schools can afford to have the
smaller ones.
"The most popular things in my line for
libraries are portrait busts Shakespeare.
Byron, and Burns ale most largely called
for, and in antiques .Eschylus, Atistoph
anes and Dcmostnencs' Country libraries
send for plaster heads of modern poets and
philosophers. The trade in busts of modern
Statesmen has fallen off somewhat. My
Giant moulds are by no means,overworkcl
| Just now. OF recent writers Dickens sells
best of modern generals, Napoleon. De-
batting clubs run to Ciccros, Webstcrs and
Clays, and medical societies to f cua.
Plus and lIippocrares, but GaIen has fallen
| off badly. For railways, bus's of the Cpsais
are in vogue. Country social clubs want
| busts of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Shakes
peare. Milton, Pope, aud Dryden. Here is
| an order from literary club whose secretary
wants -four good, celebrated, literary husts,
large size, at lowest figures And there's III
| order from fat mans club They want a
good cast, not less than three feet hieh, OF
the three Graces, for centre table. Fauns
and Bacchuses also 90 well among the social
clubs. Political clubs take the busts of
jefferson of late. Washington always sells
well-ou horseback or oif-aud SO does jack
son. The German clubs delight in the bust
of the great musicians. The most popular
class among educated men? Well, in busts
should say that the Young Augustus has
the call. Among the Venuses that of Melos
is best liked. We sell very large number
of these. They bring from 81. so to So,
according to size. Some people of taste
prefer the Psyche of the Naples Museum
In the way of male beauty. notice great
change in taste. Cultivated people used to
prefer the Apollo to the Antinous To-day
| sell dozen figures of the latter to one of
the former The Mercury of John of Bolo.
gna is very popular with almost all Ameri-
caus who care at all for statues. They like
lite grace and its action. The Fighting
Gladiator and Michael Angeles Wresllers
also sell well nowadays have sold more
of them in the past two years than in the
previous ten wears. OF late | have sold
many exquisite casts from the friezes of the
Vatican They are largely used for interior
decorative purposes.
"Where d. get my moulds and first
cast The best of them are made in
Rome now aud then | get a tlne thing
from Paris. don't lmpoit my moul,s i
get the best casts from abroad and make
the moulds here. The making of IL good
mould is a very serious matter. Look at
this one of the Belvidere Apollo. The figure
is but % inches high. vet the mould is com.
posed OF seventy or eighty pieces, and each