Plaster cast of The Schreyer-Landauer Monument by Jacob Rotermundt about 1872, depicting an elaborate funerary memorial containing scenes from the life of Christ, made by Adam Kraft in Nuremberg, Germany, 1490–92.

Plaster cast of the Schreyer-Landauer Monument, which is carved in sandstone with representations of Christ bearing his Cross, the Crucifixion, the Entombment and the Resurrection, on the exterior of the apse of St Sebaldus, Nuremberg. The artist has probably included a representation of himself within the tableau, to the right, wearing a fur hat and carrying sculpting tools. The colour and texture of the cast closely reproduces the original sandstone.

Cast of The Schreyer-Landauer Monument created in Germany by Jacob Rotermundt. The cast is of The Schreyer-Lauder Monument, an elaborate funerary memorial on the exterior of the apse of the church of St Sebaldus in Nuremberg. The original was sculpted by Adam Kraft in Nuremberg, Germany between 1490–92 and was commissioned by the Schreyer and Landauer families. The cast was purchased from Jacob Rotermundt in 1872 for £110.

Making plaster copies is a centuries-old tradition that reached the height of its popularity during the 19th century. The V&A's casts are of large-scale architectural and sculptural works as well as small scale, jewelled book covers and ivory plaques, these last known as fictile ivories.

The Museum commissioned casts directly from makers and acquired others in exchange. Oronzio Lelli, of Florence was a key overseas supplier while, in London, Giovanni Franchi and Domenico Brucciani upheld a strong Italian tradition as highly-skilled mould-makers, or formatori.

Some casts are highly accurate depictions of original works, whilst others are more selective, replicating the outer surface of the original work, rather than its whole structure. Like a photograph, they record the moment the cast was taken: alterations, repairs and the wear and tear of age are all reproduced in the copies. The plasters can also be re-worked, so that their appearance differs slightly from the original from which they were taken.

To make a plaster cast, a negative mould has to be taken of the original object. The initial mould could be made from one of several ways. A flexible mould could be made by mixing wax with gutta-percha, a rubbery latex product taken from tropical trees. These two substances formed a mould that had a slightly elastic quality, so that it could easily be removed from the original object. Moulds were also made from gelatine, plaster or clay, and could then be used to create a plaster mould to use for casting.
When mixed with water, plaster can be poured into a prepared mould, allowed to set, and can be removed to produce a finished solid form. The moulds are coated with a separating or paring agent to prevent the newly poured plaster sticking to them. The smooth liquid state and slight expansion while setting allowed the quick drying plaster to infill even the most intricate contours of a mould.
Flatter, smaller objects in low relief usually require only one mould to cast the object. For more complex objects, with a raised surface, the mould would have to be made from a number of sections, known as piece-moulds. These pieces are held together in the so-called mother-mould, in order to create a mould of the whole object. Once the object has been cast from this mother-mould, the piece-moulds can be easily removed one by one, to create a cast of the three-dimensional object.

The Schreyer and Landauer families commissioned the sculptor Adam Kraft to create an elaborate funerary memorial. The original monument, commemorating the two families, is on the exterior of the apse of the church of St Sebaldus in Nuremberg. Its scenes from the life of Christ, the Crucifixion and the Entombment are full of sensitively realised observational details, typical of Kraft’s work. The artist has probably included a representation of himself within the tableau, to the right, wearing a fur hat and carrying sculpting tools.

REPRO.1872-53