![]() Good examples are Elgin's early nineteenth-century casts of the West Frieze of the Parthenon, now housed in the Acropolis Museum, preserving significantly more detail than do the original sculptures (Payne 2019), the Victoria and Albert Museum (hereafter V&A) plaster cast of Trajan's Column (Museum no. ![]() Loss of detail in, or even destruction of the original means that while Victorian copies were created to have a disseminating role, they have also become acts of preservation (Brown 2016 Payne 2019). ![]() The role and perception of reproductions are still subject of discussion, constituting what Bilbey and Trusted ( 2010) defined as ‘the question of casts’. In this review the terms copy, reproduction, and replica will be used as synonyms, as in their original meaning, even though over time they have been adopted with different connotations (for example, 'copy' often implies a sense of 'forgery' for the untrained observer). Understanding of the ‘copy’ and ‘reproduction’ in critical theory encouraged an intellectual shift that influenced the management, curation, and conservation of these collections. Over the last 20 years, increasing attention has been paid to the study and conservation of cast collections following decades of debate about whether copies are valuable or expendable. Examples from the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection support the information found in the historical literature. This review aims therefore to provide a summary of materials used by the nineteenth-century plasterer, and technical information for the use of conservators, researchers, and curators who engage in the care and study of historical plaster casts. This paper also offers a brief introduction to plaster moulding and casting as well as a summary of historical recipes on how to treat the surfaces of plaster casts to change the surface properties or their appearance. The introduction to the review shows how relevant archival, historical, and technical investigation demonstrates that nineteenth century replicas are works of cultural significance in their own right, by means of a synthesis of background information. It reviews a selection of manuals, treatises, and recipe books on the art of the cast makers as well as a selection of patents related to the manufacturing of casts and the coating of their surfaces. This review paper offers a summary of historical techniques and materials used to produce plaster casts and to treat their surfaces, as found in the historical literature.
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