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Capital

circa 1150-1170 (made), after 1850 (cast)
Place of origin

This capital, carved with four salamaners, is from the north side of the chancel arch at Adel Church, Yorkshire.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Plaster cast
Brief description
Capital carved with four salamanders from Adel Church, Yorkshire. 19th century plaster cast after 12th century Anglo-Norman original.
Physical description
Capital carved with four salamanders.
Dimensions
  • Approximately height: 43cm
  • Approximately width: 43cm
  • Weight: 7.10kg
Style
Object history
This capital is from the north side of the chancel arch at Adel Church, which is one of most complete Anglo-Norman Churches in Yorkshire. However, many of the decorations on the chancel arch were recarved in Victorian times.
Historical context
In the last decade of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century, enthusiasm towards acquiring new plaster casts and electrotypes for the V&A waned. A Report of the Committee of Re-Arrangement, produced by the Board of Education in July 1908, had a section entitled 'The Question of Casts'. In this report, proposals to expand the cast collection to include examples of the development of British architecture were rejected. However, a large donation of casts from sculpture and architecture in British churches and cathedrals was received from the Royal Architectural Museum of the Architectural Association in 1916. This museum had been founded in 1851 by a group of architectural professionals lead by George Gilbert Scott, and by the 1870s included over 4500 casts from English church portals, tombs, and windows. Many of these casts were assembled by John Ruskin (1819-1900) and William Burges (1827-1881), respectively. In the early 20th century, the pedagogical focus of the teachers at the Association changed from Gothic to classicising, and the Royal Architectural collections were deemed to be no longer of use for students. The premises of the Royal Architectural Association Museum were sold in 1917, and the casts were donated to the V&A.
Production
19th century plaster cast after 12th century Anglo-Norman original
Subject depicted
Summary
This capital, carved with four salamaners, is from the north side of the chancel arch at Adel Church, Yorkshire.
Bibliographic references
  • 'AA School of Architecture - History.' AA School Homepage. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.
  • Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie. ' "The Question of Casts" - Collecting amd Later Reassessment of the Cast Collections at South Kensington'. In Frederiksen, Ruth and Marchand, Eckhart (eds). Plaster Casts: Making, Collecting and Displaying from Classical Antiquity to the Present. (Berlin, 2010).
  • Jenkins, Simon. 'Adel, Yorkshire: St. John the Baptist.' Country Life vol. 193 issue 36 (9 Sept 1999): 180
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.A.1916-54

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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