Categories
Close
Latest Arrivals
Also See
Contact Account
Search Lassco
Close

An English cast plaster relief of a scrolled acanthus frond,

Cast at LASSCO Three Pigeons by Peter Hone, from the Victorian original by D. Brucciani & Co.

An English cast plaster relief of a scrolled acanthus frond,

Cast at LASSCO Three Pigeons by Peter Hone, from the Victorian original by D. Brucciani & Co.

the square plaque centred by the relief cast leaf,

£280

Add to Wishlist
Dimensions: 57cm (22½") High, 58cm (22¾") Wide
Stock code: 44207
Categories:
Location:

The plaque bearing the maker's mark - incised by hand - and the catalogue number "2593".

Domenico Brucciani (1815-1880) was born in Lucca, Italy, moved to London as a young man, by at least 1837, and soon became a revered formatore - plaster-caster. His business built up special links with both the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum (later re-named The Victoria & Albert Museum).

His most substantial commission for the South Kensington Museum was the casting of the Pórtico de la Gloria, the 12th-century façade of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, in 1866. This huge undertaking - and many others including, famously, Trajan's column itself - followed the agreement forged by Henry Cole and Prince Albert at the Paris Exposition of the previous year, signed by all the Crowned Princes of Europe, to further the common man's experience of sculpture in-the-round by the reciprocal casting of great European sculpture. What followed was the Cast Courts at prestigious museums across Europe and beyond; Brucciani was foremost among the formatore.

He taught sculpture, moulding and casting at the Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School) from 1853 to 1861.

His company, "D Brucciani & Co.", with workshops in Clerkenwell, survived its founder with the Covent Garden outlet still operating into Edwardian times. A catalogue of their wares is held at The National Art Library. However, by the turn of the century, the direct casting of priceless sculpture was becoming frowned upon; travel across Europe was now much easier anyway - the common man could now use the train. The company faltered. In the 1920's its casting workshops were subsumed by the Victoria & Albert Museum.

LASSCO is delighted to have saved a number of the original piece-moulds. The making of piece-moulds - a plaster negative jigsaw enabling a cast to be released by the careful removal of the solid mould in pieces - is today a lost art; it has been rendered redundant by pliant silicons. We have duly made a silicon mould in order to preserve Brucciani's work. The accuracy and detail of the resulting casts, taken as they are directly from the original is plain to see, and a delight.

Recently Viewed Items

  • A mounted buffalo horn trophy-0

    A mounted buffalo horn trophy

    £780 Stock code: 41488
    Add to Wishlist

    A mounted buffalo horn trophy

    mounted on a shield backplate,
    Dimensions: 57cm (22½") High, 89cm (35") Wide, 36cm (14¼") Deep
    Stock code: 41488
    £780
  • Monkeys – Pygmy Ape, and Alpinus Ape,

    £260 Each Stock code: P01303 D
    Add to Wishlist

    Monkeys – Pygmy Ape, and Alpinus Ape,

    The English Encyclopaedia was published in 1802 by George Kearsley and it gave an unusual insight into early 19th century new discoveries in zoology.
    Dimensions: 38cm (15") High, 29cm (11½") Wide, 3cm (1¼") Deep
    Stock code: P01303 D
    £260 Each
  • Large nineteenth century Rococo giltwood console table,

    £8,250 Stock code: 78698
    Add to Wishlist

    Large nineteenth century Rococo giltwood console table,

    with shaped and moulded Carrara marble top, the table boldly carved with c and s scrolls, trails and festoons of foliage and a cabochon to the centre. on scrolled feet. English c.1850.
    Dimensions: 94cm (37") High, 203cm (80") Wide, 53cm (20¾") Deep, marble top is 183.5 cm wide x 50 cm deep
    Stock code: 78698
    £8,250
  • Cattle Drinking, George Charlton

    £975 Stock code: AD1529
    Add to Wishlist

    Cattle Drinking, George Charlton

    A farmyard scene by the artist George Charlton. The painter George Charlton was born in London in 1899. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1914 before joining the staff in 1919. He later taught at the Willesden School of Art from 1949–59 and was an examiner in art for the University of London for many years. Showed widely in London he achieved his first one-man show at Cork Street's Redfern Gallery in 1924 before exhibiting solo at the avant-garde Beaux Arts Gallery on Bruton Place. His work is held by the Tate Gallery in London.    
    Dimensions: 43cm (17") High, 53.5cm (21") Wide, 2.5cm (1") Deep
    Stock code: AD1529
    £975