Colonette

ca. 1862 (made), ca. 1137-40 (made)
Place of origin

During the French Revolution, parts of churches associated with the aristocracy were vandalised. The original colonette, or slender column, was removed from the church of St-Denis, near Paris, in the 18th century, and displayed in the Musée des Monuments Français, which collected fragments like this. When the church of St-Denis was restored in the early 19th century, a cast of the colonette was used to reconstruct parts of the church’s west façade.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painted plaster cast
Brief description
Plaster cast of a colonette from the church of St-Denis made about 1862. The original was made about 1137-40.
Physical description
Plaster cast of a colonnette from the door jamb of one of the lateral portals of the West facade at Saint-Denis.
Dimensions
  • Height: 197cm
Production typeCopy
Gallery label
(21/06/2018)
Cast of
Unknown artist
Colonette
About 1137–40

During the French Revolution, parts of churches associated with the aristocracy were vandalised. The original colonette, or slender column, was removed from the church of St-Denis, near Paris, in the 18th century, and displayed in the Musée des Monuments Français, which collected fragments like this. When the church of St-Denis was restored in the early 19th century, a cast of the colonette was used to reconstruct parts of the church’s west façade.

Cast
About 1862
Painted plaster
Probably Paris, France
Museum no. Repro.1862-2671

Original
Limestone
Originally in the church of St-Denis (the south portal of the west façade)
Musée de Cluny, Paris
Object history
Copy of a colonette from the church of St-Denis, made in plaster probably in Paris about 1862 and acquired in 1862, further details of acquisition unrecorded. The original was made in limestone in France about 1137-40. The original colonette was removed from the chruch during the French Revolution to prevent damage.
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.
Subject depicted
Summary
During the French Revolution, parts of churches associated with the aristocracy were vandalised. The original colonette, or slender column, was removed from the church of St-Denis, near Paris, in the 18th century, and displayed in the Musée des Monuments Français, which collected fragments like this. When the church of St-Denis was restored in the early 19th century, a cast of the colonette was used to reconstruct parts of the church’s west façade.
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1862-2671

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Record createdJune 28, 2000
Record URL
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