Re: The Magic of Recreating Ancient Greek Masterpieces (video) | GreekReporter.com

A laudable enterprise and a nice earner for beleaguered institutions.

I'm sure that 'The replicas, which are also sent to universities and
related institutions for educational purposes, are cast from the originals
and bear an official seal attesting to this fact' is not to be taken
literally, as these days one can hardly envisage priceless works being
slung into wet plaster to make moulds of them. No doubt high-resolution
computer scanning is used. The video shows what looks like 'resin bronze'
being poured into a mould, so probably the bronzes on sale are not all that
metallic. It doesn't matter as long as they are faithful copies.

The Victorians were much more ruthless in copying antique works, as anyone
who has visited the Cast Court at London's Victoria and Albert Museum will
know. Every copy there was made from a physical cast of the original. The
exhibits include a cast of the whole shaft of Trajan's Column -- heaven
knows how it was done -- divided into two sections to fit into a lofty room.

RH