Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-10-16
OBTAINING PLASTER CASTS
now hepiicas OF Famou. Pi.ca
uary Are Supplied the Mu.. Sta

-'."NrumS
we get our plaster casts Of
orated statues and other art v oe,e
from the great m useums of tho ,n oiks
In Rome, Berlin. Paris and Iondao.
sand the curator of the Corcoran
lery to Washington Star re aan gai-
In those great institutions -epolter
not more than half dozen in pnm naps
ARE gathered practically all of ,s
important original antiques in s,; ine
ence. The only way in which !.
possible to secure reproductiors
such priceless relics is to obta;n VI
mission from the authorities in cbaprn
OF the museums to take casts NJ
always Is such a liberty easy IN Seor, wi
You must remember that art worI'a
the sort are absolutely irreplaceable
and, inasmuch as there is ALWAYS soms
danger incidental to the MAKING &c
casts, no matter how carefnlIv tS
thing is done, you will readily nndan
stand how it is that reluctance il W..
to be felt in allowing the THING 70 ~
done. Not infrequently it has bo~
pened that the taking of SINGLE cap,
was permitted, but a repetition of t5a
process refused, simply because if wa0
not thought desirable to take anv n "as
chances. There would be no object in
taking second cast were it not that .
mold wears out after a while and viii
not reproduce the original satisfacto.
rlly. 1t is fact that nearly all of the
casts used in art schools for draw;no
from and such purposes are casts madee
from casts and not from originals
Casts exhibited in galleries. however
ought always to be tirst-hand. becauss
the secondhand ones lack the finest
sculptured outline"
How do you procure the castspn
I'VE send to firms in the cities 7
have mentioned, which regularly make
business OF supplying things of the
sort, having arrangements of conf.
dence with the great museums. If il
is a statue from the British Museum
that we want a replica of we are
obliged to send to a dealer named
Brecciani, who is the only person per-
mitted TO make casts of art objects in
that institution. Brecciani and the
other dealers in this line of business
publish regular annual catalogues
which they send around to art galleries
and merchants everywhere, price lists
accompanying. According to their
schedules, bust of Caesar is worth
$3.50, a fragment of an ancient frieze
the same amount, reproduction Of
the celebrated Disk Thrower' $37, a
caraytid $780, aud whole happy tomb
$40. The last, of course, is partic-
ularly elaborate piece. When we want
anything in the way of cast we send
on an order, just as for any other kind
of merchandise. The making of
cast from a statue is an exceedingly
difficult affair. For the head and face
alone fifty or sixty pieces are required
to make the mold; the ear will take
twelve pieces. Work is begun, say,
by placing one scrap of moist plaster
of paris over small section of the
face, taking care not to cover any
more surface than the plaster when
hardened can readily be withdrawn
from without breaking. When this
piece has become hard it is permitted
to remain sticking to the statue, while
another scrap of plaster is applied to
an adjoining section of surface. In
this way the task slowly progresses
until the entire statue is covered with
the hard plaster, the bits being sepa-
rated from each other by IA sort Of
shellac on their edges, which prevents
them from sticking together. After
this has been accomplished 1t only
remains to remove the pieces of plas-
ter which fit together, into the shape
of the desired mold. Probably the
finest collection of antique sculpture
in existence is in Rome. The drawing
books sold for children are designed
by artists of more or less merit and
nullisAel hy the mI.aI stalinnerS.M