Lot Essay
The present cast by Neil Simmons (responsible for a large statue of Margaret Thatcher in 2002) was taken from a 19th century cast of Clitus by Domenico Brucciani as it was found to be in a bad state of disrepair.
In the 19th century casts were sometimes commissioned directly from the formatore (an Italian term used to describe the specialist Italian mould and cast-makers). Domenico Brucciani was one such formatore who had special links with both the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum. Born in Lucca in 1815, he set up business in London, establishing a Gallery of Casts in Covent Garden by 1837. His most illustrious commission for the South Kensington Museum was the casting of the Portico de la Gloria, the 12th-century facade of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, which he did in 1866. This monument was considered so important that when the Cast Courts (then called the Architectural Courts) were built in 1873 they were specially designed to accommodate the whole 18-metre width of the enormous cast.
The Great Altar of Pergamon, a massive stone podium about one hundred feet long and thirty-five feet high, was originally built in the 2nd century BC in the Ancient Greek city of Pergamon (modern day Bergama in Turkey) in north-western Anatolia, 25.74 kilometers (16 miles) from the Aegean Sea. The Great Altar of Pergamon has figured in lists of the Wonders of the World. The altar is now reconstructed and displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
In the 19th century casts were sometimes commissioned directly from the formatore (an Italian term used to describe the specialist Italian mould and cast-makers). Domenico Brucciani was one such formatore who had special links with both the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum. Born in Lucca in 1815, he set up business in London, establishing a Gallery of Casts in Covent Garden by 1837. His most illustrious commission for the South Kensington Museum was the casting of the Portico de la Gloria, the 12th-century facade of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, which he did in 1866. This monument was considered so important that when the Cast Courts (then called the Architectural Courts) were built in 1873 they were specially designed to accommodate the whole 18-metre width of the enormous cast.
The Great Altar of Pergamon, a massive stone podium about one hundred feet long and thirty-five feet high, was originally built in the 2nd century BC in the Ancient Greek city of Pergamon (modern day Bergama in Turkey) in north-western Anatolia, 25.74 kilometers (16 miles) from the Aegean Sea. The Great Altar of Pergamon has figured in lists of the Wonders of the World. The altar is now reconstructed and displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.