Object Type
This drawing was made by a student at the School of Design in Ornamental Art. Students were expected to learn the principles of good design by studying plaster casts of classical sculptures and architectural ornament, and by making careful detailed drawings of them. To encourage high standards, prizes were offered for the best student work.

Purpose
Drawing from casts of figure sculptures was a long-established part of the training for painters and sculptors. When the first schools of design were set up they adopted this feature of art school training, but used casts of architecture and ornament instead of figures. Drawing from casts encouraged students to look closely at the forms and helped them to understand how things were constructed. It also developed their ability to represent a thing accurately and to scale. All these skills were vital for designers who had to make drawings and diagrams to be followed by makers and manufacturers.

Historical Associations
The School of Design in Ornamental Art was established in 1837. The School put together a collection of casts and other works of art for the students to study and copy. In due course these were added to the exhibits at the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, and eventually they became part of the collections of the V&A.