The restoration of two plaster casts acquired by Velázquez in the seventeen century: The Hércules and Flora Farnese.
- Judit Gasca Miramón 1
- Ángeles Solís Parra
- Silvia Viana Sánchez
- Jose María Luzón Nogué
- 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Bellas Artes. Departamento de Pintura y Conservación-Restauración.
Editorial: Editorial De Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110208566, 9783110216875
Año de publicación: 2010
Páginas: 385-402
Congreso: This volume originates from an international conference (Oxford University, 2007). Texts address plaster casts and related themes from antiquity to the present day, and from Egypt to America, Mexico and New Zealand. They are of interest to classical archaeologists, art historians, the history of collecting, curators, conservators, collectors and artists. Articles explore the functions, status and reception of plaster casts in artists' workshops and in private and public collections, as well as hands-on issues, such as the making, trading, display and conservation of plaster casts. Case-studies on artists' use of material and technique include ancient Roman copyists, Renaissance sculptors and painters, Dutch 17th-century workshops, Canova, Boccioni and others. A second theme is the role of plaster casts in the history of collecting from the Renaissance to the present day. Several papers address the dissemination of visual ideas, models and ideals through the medium. Papers on modern and contemporary art illuminate the changing uses and semantic values of plaster casts in this period. Amongst the types of casts discussed are artists' models and final works as well as casts after antiquities, including sculpture, architecture and gems (dactyliothecae). The volume demonstrates the richness of the field, both in terms of the material itself and modern scholarship concerned with it. Conceived as a handbook for students, academics, curators and collectors, the text will form a standard work on the role of plaster casts in the history of Western sculpture.
Tipo: Aportación congreso
Resumen
In the course of the conference that preceded this volume we were able toinvestigate how various European courts developed a taste for collecting an-tiquities during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This common interestwas also shared by the Spanish court. An instructive example for this develop-ment in Spain can be found in the plaster cast collection at the Real Academiade Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1649 the Court Painter DiegoVelázquez travelled to Italy under royal decree with a special command thatwould keep him in Rome for two years. During this period he would visit themost important art collections in the city. His charge was to acquire for KingPhilip IV copies of the most admired sculptures of the time. These copieswould decorate the rooms of the Royal Alcázar on the site of the presentRoyal Palace in Madrid that had been enlarged and remodelled during theprevious years. The specific function of the acquired casts meant that he wasrequired to look for sculptures that were not only considered beautiful orfamous but that would also complement the existing sculptures in the newlydecorated Palace.