Font thumbnail 1
Font thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Cast Courts, The Ruddock Family Cast Court, Room 46A

Font

1876-77 (made), 1107-18 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The original font’s function is reflected in its decoration, which includes a depiction of St John the Baptist baptising Christ. There are also twelve oxen supporting the font, evoking a passage from the Bible that describes a basin from King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. The entire font was cast in one piece, like a bronze bell. This skilful technique and the font’s sophisticated relief sculpture meant it was a key work to be copied.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painted plaster cast
Brief description
Plaster cast of a font with a depiction of St John the Baptist baptising Christ, cast in Brussels in about 1876-77. The original was made by Rupert of Deutz and Rainer of Huy in 1107-18.
Physical description
Plaster cast of a font with representations of St. John the Baptist baptising the Publicans, a group of penitents, and Christ; St. Peter baptising Cornelius; and St. John the Evangelist baptising Cato the philosopher. The oxen carrying the font are an analogy to the molten sea supported by oxen in the Temple of Jerusalem (I, Kings, vii, 23) and identified as symbols of the Twelve Apostles by Rupert of Deutz in his treatise De Trinitate written at Liège about 1117.
Dimensions
  • Height: 107cm
  • Diameter: 135cm
Style
Production typeCopy
Gallery label
Cast of Unknown artist Bronze Font 1107–18 The original font’s function is reflected in its decoration, which includes a depiction of St John the Baptist baptising Christ. There are also twelve oxen supporting the font, evoking a passage from the Bible that describes a basin from King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. The entire font was cast in one piece, like a bronze bell. This skilful technique and the font’s sophisticated relief sculpture meant it was a key work to be copied. Cast About 1876–77 Painted plaster Probably Brussels Presented by the Belgium Royal Commission for Promoting Reproductions of Works of Art Museum no. Repro.1877-1 Original Bronze Rupert of Deutz and Rainer of Huy Originally in Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts, Belgium Church of Saint Barthélemy, Liège, Belgium(21/06/2018)
Object history
Copy of a font made in plaster probably in Brussels about 1876-77 and acquired in exchange with the Belgian Royal Commission for Promoting the Reproduction of Works of Art in 1877. The original was made in bronze by Rupert of Deutz and Rainer of Huy in Liège, Belgium, 1107-18. The bronze font was originally in Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts, but is now in the Church of Saint Barthélemy, Liège.
Historical context
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.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The original font’s function is reflected in its decoration, which includes a depiction of St John the Baptist baptising Christ. There are also twelve oxen supporting the font, evoking a passage from the Bible that describes a basin from King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. The entire font was cast in one piece, like a bronze bell. This skilful technique and the font’s sophisticated relief sculpture meant it was a key work to be copied.
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1877-1

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Record createdJuly 11, 2000
Record URL
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