METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. r SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO ENLARGE COLLECTION OF CASTS. REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS, FEBRUARY i, 1892. A GALLERY IN THE CAST COLLECTION OF THE TROCADERO. Pa s"6 \y\ 3 n cr "^ cr O O !" 'U (H I/) ri) (/; r o iiJ rti a> o p 1^ 3 1— • . O) < o K in n o m 1-1 C •-t rD i-i ^ 3- ^c 3 3 (/) o 3' (D i= P iJ. a v:3 :3 p O ru METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. SUBSCRIPTION TO ENLARGE COLLECTION OF CASTS. (To be mailed to Edward D. Adams, Tf-easurer, I20 Broadway, New- York.) I agree to pay to the Treasurer of the Museum Committee on Casts the amount set opposite my name, at the time or times herein specified, for the purpose of enlarg ing the Museum's collections of casts, in the expectation that the amount thus raised, together with collections already obtained, will give the Museum a fairly complete collection, both sculptural and architectural, illustrating ihe development of art in different periods. Address .. Amount payable on any desigTtated date or dates, or, if no date be designated, then yearly on April i, or any other designated date in i8g2, and on April i, i&)3 and i8g4. $ _. - Metropolitan Museum of Art. SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO ENLARGE COLLECTION OF CASTS. Import to Members and Subscribers. February i , 1 892 . WITH APPENDIX CONTAINING: PAGE. Report of Mr. Edward Robinson, Purchasing Agent 7 Why the Metropolitan Museum should contain a FULL Collection of Casts. (The First Statement issued by Committee) 34 List of Subscribers 38 "A complete collection of casts historically arranged so as to illustrate the progress and development of plastic art at all epochs." To obtain such a collection for the Metropoli tan Museum is the purpose for which this Commit tee was constituted and to which it is directing its efforts. This report is intended to be a brief state- 2 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. ment of what has been done and of what still remains to be done. The Committee believe, as the result of care ful investigation, that the judicious expenditure of $100,000 will give the Museum, in connec tion with the Willard and Marquand collections of casts already acquired, a more satisfactory general collection of casts than has yet been brought together in any part of the world. A somewhat larger sum will be necessary to make the collection complete in all departments. The amount already subscribed is $54,250, given by 72 persons in sums varying from $ 1 2,000 to $5. Most of the larger subscriptions have been made in three annual payments, at dates convenient to the donors, in the years 1891, 1892 and 1893. $45,750 are, therefore, still needed to make up the $100,000 originally named, and it is de sirable that this sum should be increased to at least $125,000. No special effort to solicit subscriptions has been made since last spring. The Committee deemed it wise to postpone such efforts until the conclusion of their preliminary work and the publication of this report. The subject to which the Committee have given most careful attention is that of selecting the objects which should form part of this col lection. With a view to obtain the best expert REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 3 knowledge on this subject, Tentative Lists were prepared, printed and sent early in the summer to leading experts in Europe and America, with requests for criticism and suggestion. Those for the Chaldean, Assyrian, Persian, Greek and Roman periods were made by Mr. Edward Robinson, Curator of Classical Antiqui ties of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The same gentleman prepared Italian and German Renaissance Lists, which afterwards received additions from Prof. A. L. Frothingham, Jr., of Princeton University. Those for the early Christian and Mediaeval periods and the French Renaissance were pre pared entirely by Prof. Frothingham. The Egyptian List was prepared by Prof. Allan Marquand of Princeton University. The Purchase Lists, adopted by the Committee at their November meeting, and since approved by the Trustees of the Museum, were completed with the advice and suggestions of many au thorities in art and archaeology, among whom may be mentioned Mr. Armstrong, Director for Art in the Science and Art Department at the South Kensington Museum, London; Prof. Ernst Curtius and Dr. Bode of Berlin; Prof. Treu, Director of the Albertinum at Dresden ; Prof. Brunn of Munich ; Prof. Michaelis of Stras- burg ; Brugsch Bey of Cairo ; and M. Salomon Reinach of the Musee de St. Germain. 4 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. No Purchase List for the Mediaeval periods has yet been adopted, because the Committee are not yet sufficiently informed what casts are obtainable from existing moulds. Mr. Edward Robinson was appointed pur chasing agent for the Committee. He has had recent experience in purchasing and arranging the cast collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and that of the Slater Memorial Museum at Norwich, and his preliminary report will show how thoroughly he is equipped for the work. The expenditure recommended by Mr. Rob inson in the departments embraced in the Ten tative Lists, estimating the expense of packing and forwarding to New -York at 45% of the cost of casts in Europe, is $97,585. To this should be added several thousand dollars to cover the expense of receiving the casts in New- York, transporting them to the museum and mounting them for exhibition. The recommendation at present includes an appropriation of $15,000 for mediaeval Chris tian art, for which a larger amount might proba bly be expended, particularly on the architectural side. The art of Moorish Spain, Arabian Egypt, India, and other eastern countries should also form part of a complete collection, and modern plastic art should perhaps be represented if suf ficient means were provided. Arrangements have been perfected to receive REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. S the casts upon their arrival and prepare them for immediate exhibition. The first orders have been given, and other orders will follow as funds at the disposal of the Committee permit. IT IS NOW SIMPLY A QUESTION OF RAISING THE MONEY NECES SARY TO GIVE OUR CITY THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF CASTS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD. Sub scriptions to complete the undertaking of the Committee are earnestly solicited. They should be sent to Mr. E. D. Adams, Treasurer, 120 Broadway, and may be made payable at what ever times and in whatever instalments are most convenient to donors. Dated February i, 1892. Henry G. Marquand, Chairman, 1 1 E. 68th St. Robert W. de Forest, Vice-Ckairman, 120 Broadway. Edward D. Adams, Treasurer, 120 Broadway. Howard Mansfield, Secretary, 35 Wall St. George F. Baker, John S. Kennedy, Pierre L. Le Brun, Allan Marquand, Augustus C. Merriam, metropolitan museum of art. Francis D. Millet, Frederick W. Rhinelander, Augustus St. Gaudens, Louis C. Tiffany, John Q. A. Ward, William R. Ware, Stanford White, Special Committee to enlarge the Col lection of Casts of the Metropolitan Museum, of A rt. APPENDIX. Import of Mr. Edward T^binson, PURCHASING AGENT. READ AT A MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE HELD NOVEMBER I3, 189I. Gentlemen: In beginning my initial report of work done in your service, I wish first of all to express to you my deep sense of the honor which you have done both myself and the museum to which it is my privilege to be attached, by asking me to help you in the selection and purchase of casts for your new and splendid collection. At the present day the formation of a gallery of casts is by no means the simple matter that it once was. The science of art, if I may so call it, has advanced rapidly in this as in other directions, and it demands first of all that in the selection of ob jects which are to go to make up such a collection, chance, whim, or preference which is not based upon good solid foundations shall play no part. There must be a good reason behind every object selected. The officers of most of the older collections of casts in Europe will tell you that they are often embarrassed by casts which have been brought into their museums, in past times, without special scientific purpose, and these now crowd the space which might be used for 8 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. better things, confusing the popular mind by putting before it too inany objects which either illustrate the same point or have no bearing whatever upon the de velopment of art. In beginning a collection to-day, the first consideration should be to avoid that aimless accumulation. The lines upon which the selection is to be based should be laid down in such a manner that the collection, however large or small, shall be an organic whole — a unit; it must have one governing thought running through it, and experience has con vinced me that it is the existence of that one govern ing thought, the conscious effort of those who have made the collection to keep it a unit, however many departments it may embrace, which is the secret of making a gallery of casts attractive to the public, al though those who visit it may be, and frequently are, unaware of this unity themselves. It is that which leads them to look carefully from one object to another, and keeps their interest quickened as they pass from room to room. It is the absence of it which produces a sense of bewilderment in the visitor's mind, and con firms the popular impression — now happily rapidly passing away — that casts are "cheap" in character as well as price, and which also makes the cast-rooms the least attractive sections of many museums. Of course, this sense of unity is effected largely by the arrangement of the collection, but the arrangement must begin with the selection ; in making this we must have the finished museum in our eye, and be sure that when the time comes no piece shall be wanting which ought to be there, and also that there shall be no pieces which we do not know what to do with. In both respects you have the advantage over every museum REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 9 in existence to-day, and it is only a question of your desires and your power to persuade the mighty dollar in an indefinitely multiplied form from the purse of the public, whether you will not maintain this advantage over collections of the future as well as the past ; for, in the first place, you are unencumbered by any use less accumulation inherited from former generations. The casts now in the museum, both of the Willard Col lection and those purchased from the Marquand fund, will but serve to make the collection more brilliant and important ; and looking forward as you do to the ulti mate possibility of exhibiting all the casts in a building erected especially and exclusively for that purpose, you will have every opportunity of realizing the perfect museum — a collection formed, without regard to re strictions and limitations of space, in a building de signed expressly for, and with a knowledge of, the objects it is to contain. This is the ideal combination, and if it is carried out upon the lines suggested by the Tentative Lists, you will make it necessary, as one of the most eminent of French archaeologists said to me this summer, for European scholars to come to New- York as they now go to Rome, Athens, or the other great centres of the study of art, in order to see the perfect museum of reproductions. And this one governing thought, of which I have spoken, what should the nature of it be ? I believe that in making the selection for a col lection of casts of sculpture and architecture, the main purpose to be kept in mind is the illustration of the history of art. This sounds like a truism, I am well aware, but if you were to make it the test of the per fection or completeness of existing galleries, — gal- IO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. leries of casts, I mean, in which it is possible, so far as the acquisition of specimens is concerned, that every epoch should be represented, — I think you would be surprised to find how few there are which are satisfac tory even within the limits they have set themselves. Many of them have been brought together haphazard, some under the old-fashioned theory that the proper basis for both the selection and arrangement of a col lection of classical sculpture was the mythological, and thus have assembled in one room all the represen tations of Zeus, of whatever epochs, in another all those of Apollo, and so on. This theory is now uni versally abandoned, if I am not mistaken, and the chronological system has taken its place. Therefore, when your committee did me the honor to ask me to make out a list of what I should consider a perfectly satisfactory collection of Greek and Roman sculpture, I took as a standard a complete illustration of the rise and decline of classical art ; and while endeavoring to include every piece yet discovered which would be considered of importance in illustrating any phase of that development, I excluded every piece which did not worthily fill its place in such a scheme. Pro fessors Marquand and Frothingham, you will have ob served, have followed the same plan in their respective departments, and the result is that your Tentative Lists amount really to an epitome of the history of art by monuments. Of course there are some epochs in which lack of material prevents our following this method. We cannot, for example, trace the development of Assy rian or ancient Persian art, and in cases like these the aim should be to present as many of the different REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. II characteristics of the periods of which monuments sur vive as we can bring together. Of the Italian Renais sance, too, the rise to the highest point was so rapid, and was shared by so many men of the same period, that a strictly chronological selection would not pro duce the same effect as in the illustration of Greek art ; therefore, in this case it was thought wiser to group the objects according to individual sculptors or schools, endeavoring to illustrate the style .and work of each as fully as was practicable, without attempting to collect by any means all the works of such prolific masters as Donatello, Michelangelo, or the Delia Rob- bias. It would have been too much to hope that in selecting for a collection of such pretensions as to com pleteness there would be no omissions, and omissions are easily remedied as time goes on ; the danger was that, with instructions to place no limitations as to size, — within, of course, a reasonable extent, — objects would creep into the Lists which had no business to be there, and I am happy to say that I heard no criti cism of this kind from the authorities to whom the Lists were submitted during the summer. If the selection is a matter which requires a most careful exercise of thought and judgment, the second stage of proceedings — purchasing — is hardly less so. There is, to be sure, a popular impression, among those who have not tried it, that the purchase of casts is like that of any other merchantable commodity — that, armed with our Lists, one need only look up an address, go there, and buy. To a certain extent this is true, but the extent is very limited. Even in a small collection there are always sure to be a few ob jects which are matters of especial and often lengthy 12 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. negotiations ; and in a collection such as the present aims to be, where it is your desire that the museum shall have certain distinctive features which shall mark it as unique among collections of reproductions, where many objects are desired of which no casts have ever been made, the transactions become difiScult, often delicate, and sometimes soar even to the regions of diplomacy. As an instance of this I may mention the fact that at the present moment one of the monuments on our Renaissance List is the subject of negotiation between the ambassadors of two European powers, a prominent official of the South Kensington Museum, and the Italian Minister of Public Instruction. Now, gentlemen, I beg you to believe that it is with no desire to magnify the office which you have conferred upon me that I relate these facts. I men tion them only to convince you that I am deeply im pressed with the responsibility which you have placed upon me. In the extent of the Tentative Lists and the beautiful style in which you have issued them, you have given hostages to fortune. It is not too much to say, and I think you will be convinced by what I have to relate of my summer's experiences, that with these in its hands, all Europe is now looking to New- York to produce the ideal museum of repro ductions, and all Europe not less than our own coun try is prepared to applaud if we do the work well, and to criticize if we fall below the standard we have set ourselves. On the 3d of June I sailed from New- York for England. In the three days preceding my departure I had several interviews with members of your Execu- REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 1 3 tive Committee, and attended one meeting of the Com mittee itself, at which I received instructions as to the course of action to be pursued by me during the sum mer months, the substance of which is stated in Sec tions 2 and 3 of the minutes of the Committee meeting held June i, which read as follows : 2. That [Mr. Robinson] should, during his sojourn abroad, so far as possible, ascertain the cost of ob taining casts from desirable objects included in the Lists, but of which no moulds are known to exist, or the maker of which and price of which are not therein contained ; ascertaining in the case of objects which have never yet been cast the comparative cost of a single as well as of several reproductions, so that the Museum can diminish the expense, if desirable, by in ducing other museums to join with it in obtaining casts. That he should also use his discretion in as certaining the largest discounts to be allowed on large orders, whether deliveries could be made in large lots, and all other details incident and necessary to order ing by correspondence, etc. 3. That he use his discretion in ordering any objects which will, in his opinion, undoubtedly be included in the Museum collection, in case it should be desirable to do so in order to obtain them before June i, 1892. It being obvious that with all possible industry I could not hope to master every question left unan swered in the Tentative Lists in the few months I should be able to spend in Europe, I determined to confine myself to those departments in which I was most competent to form a decision, and to make the endeavor to bring these up to a perfectly satisfactory basis, so that, in them at least, the way should be pre- 14 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. pared for final arrangement by correspondence, so soon as you had decided the approximate amount of money which you wished to devote to each branch of the col lection. For this reason I made once more, during my trip, a careful study of every object upon the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance Lists, from the original when possible, and in other cases from casts or other acces sible forms of reproduction ; so that I feel more cer tain than before of what we ought to have, and what we can spare. As to the Egyptian List, many of the most desirable objects entered by Professor Marquand are in Egypt, and casts of them are to be had only there if at all. As my travels did not take me so far, I was in no better position to attend to the subject while away than I should be at home, and therefore left that aside for the time. A valuable letter received within a few days from Professor Brugsch-Bey, direc tor of the Museum of Gizeh, in which he inclosed a manuscript list of the casts to be had of that museum, and also of those objects named in the Tentative Lists which cannot be cast because of the danger to the originals, has greatly facilitated affairs in this depart ment, and made the ordering a comparatively simple matter. Much of what we desire of mediaeval art either has never been cast or is to be had only through long governmental negotiations and a large amount of correspondence. Consequently I soon found that proper attention to this department would monopolize my time to the exclusion of all the others, and there fore decided to leave it until I had straightened out those which could be attended to immediately, or at all events of which I was fairly sure of being able to bring you a satisfactory report at the end of the season. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 1 5 With regard to negotiations concerning casts not actually in the market, it seemed to me that the best way to begin was by securing for the collection the attention, the respect, and, if possible, the personal in terest of the museum and governmental authorities who would have it in their power to grant or further your requests. So far as attention and respect were concerned nothing remained for me to do. Your Ten tative Lists, which had anticipated my arrival in every city except London, were the best possible introduc tion which one could have carried, for their size showed that New- York was about to realize what has long been the dream of archaeologists and artists in Europe, and the luxurious manner of their publication was an indi cation that the liberality which Europeans associate with public works in this country was to be applied to an object with which they were most heartily in sym pathy. I think not one of the museum officials whom I saw failed to speak of this, and their appreciation of the extent of the enterprise cannot be better expressed than in the letter which M. Salomon Reinach, of the Musee de St. Germain, recently wrote to the Evening Post, in which he says that " these Tentative Lists enu merate a mass of material which, when brought to gether, would compose the richest museum of casts in the whole world. The announcement of such a noble enterprise can only be greeted with warm recogni tion," and "the museums of Europe will certainly give every assistance in their power towards the ful filment of that scheme." It was in this spirit that I was greeted in every city which I visited; and where such unvarying courtesy and interest were shown it would be invidious — it l6 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. would even be impossible — to select any names for especial recognition. This you will see for yourselves from the account of what was done. The first city visited was London. Here some de lay was experienced owing to the non-arrival of the Lists, which I was desirous to produce in explaining the intentions of the Committee. But various causes combined to prevent their being issued at the date expected, so that I was dependent upon a copy of a late proof sent me by Mr. de Forest for what was done in London. One of the chief objects which I hoped to accomplish at the British Museum was a reconsideration of the restriction against having new casts made of the As syrian sculptures. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Semitic Museum of Harvard University, and, I believe, several other institutions have made attempts to get casts of the colossal winged lion and bull which stand at the entrance of the Nimroud Gallery. For your collection they would be invaluable, both for decorative purposes — placed at either side of the en trance to an Assyrian Room — and because there are no other pieces in any museum so well adapted for giving a conception of the colossal side of Assyrian art without being so large as to overpower every thing else in their department. Moulds of these were made years ago, which, although they are still adver tised in Brucciani's catalogue, no longer exist; and now the trustees of the British Museum have passed a vote forbidding new moulds to be made from them and most of the other Assyrian sculptures, the reason being that the material — alabaster — is injured by the water used in making the moulds. From what I was REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 1 7 told at the museum, I cannot doubt that injury has been done by this means in the past; but with the various processes of dry moulding now used generally upon the Continent, there is no reason why objects of the greatest delicacy should not be cast without danger, and it is to be hoped that these processes will soon be introduced in the British Museum. For the present, however, casts are made only in the old-fashioned way, and while this is in vogue it is useless to expect that the restrictions will be removed. Mr. Renouf, the keeper of Oriental Antiquities, was away while I was in London, but from what I learned from other officials in the museum I came to the conclusion that it would be of no use to address a memorial or petition to the trustees upon the subject. The same restriction unhappily exists with regard to small bronzes, a condition of affairs particularly de plorable, from our point of view, as the collection of these is remarkably rich in specimens of the most ex quisite beauty. In this case there is another reason to be added to the fear of injury, namely, the fear of forgery, since it is believed that if casts of these figures became marketable, they would facilitate the efforts of counterfeiters of antiques. I am happy to say that the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris and the Musee de St. Germain have followed the example of the Berlin Museum in not weighing this risk against the benefit to science and art of circulating copies of their bronzes, so that it is now possible, within the most liberal limits, to order copies of whatever we wish from these three valuable collections. The British Mu seum, however, never has allowed casts of its bronzes to be made; what there are in the market are re- 1 8 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. produced from moulds made before the objects passed into its possession ; and there is no present prospect of this prohibition being raised. All I was able to accomplish there, therefore, in connection with new moulds, was to arrive at an understanding with regard to a few marbles. At the South Kensington Museum I received cour teous attention from Mr. C. Purdon Clarke, of the Indian Department, and from other of the officers of the institution, but my relations were chiefly with Mr. Armstrong, the Director for Art in the Science and Art Department. He is at the present time occupied in adding to the casts of monumental works at South Kensington, and in developing the provincial muse ums, and also the new museum at Melbourne. The prospect, therefore, of having a cooperator upon so large a scale as that indicated by the Lists was cordially welcomed by him ; and both in the summer and after my return to London in September, he gave a great deal of his valuable time to the discussion and con sideration of various items on the Lists, and assured me that whenever we wanted somebody to help share the expense of having new moulds made of monu mental works he should be glad to hear from us, pro vided the objects were such as would come within the scope of that museum. He was also good enough to give me information of several works which he con templated ordering, offering us the opportunity to co operate with him should we so desire. The most important of these, to secure which steps have actu ally been taken, is the equestrian statue of Bartolom- meo Colleoni, in Venice. On the Lists are entered a number of objects the REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 1 9 originals of which are in the South Kensington Mu seum. Of several among these no moulds at present exist. From Mr. Armstrong I learned that practically the same restrictions exist here as in the British Mu seum; and in this case I must say the reason was most evident and forcible, for he showed me a number of beautiful pictures of sculpture and architecture on which the wretched processes employed in making the moulds had left a disagreeable yellowish bloom, which can be removed only with the most careful labor, and at considerable expense. As it does not seem possi ble to get better work done in London at the present time than that employed in making the casts which had left these unpleasant traces, Mr. Armstrong said the authorities would certainly not consent to have any new moulds made, and he therefore advised us to defer any attempts to order either new things or those of which casts are now sold in the market, in the hope that within a year or two the condition of affairs would be improved. From London I went to Berlin, where I found sincere and sympathetic interest in the collection, and every desire, on the part of the museum au thorities, to assist the project in whatever way they could. The Berlin Museum has always been most liberal in allowing casts to be made of its treasures, large and small, and has made restrictions only in the case of objects which obviously would be injured by having moulds made from them, such as marble fragments on which delicate traces of color are left, bronzes with a crusty, flaking patina, etc. As a re sult there was, I believe, only one object from the Berlin Museum on our Greek and Roman Lists of which casts 20 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. are not already for sale. Professor Kekule, however, the director of this part of the museum, was good enough to give me information as to the sources from which a number of rare casts in their collection were obtained, and the probability of being able to get copies of them now. In the Renaissance Department, which probably includes the richest collection of early Florentine sculpture outside of the Bargello, there are a number of desirable objects which have not yet been cast, and Dr. Bode, the director, most kindly promised to have a mould made of each piece about which I asked, whenever it should be requested, and offered to see to it himself that the casts ordered of Renaissance works in his collection should be satisfactory. More over, he gave me several mornings of his valuable time, going carefully and minutely with me through the Renaissance collection both of originals and casts, and also through our Renaissance Lists. I need not say that I received many valuable suggestions from him, both with regard to the selection of objects and the best manner of getting them. The official under whose immediate charge the ad ministration of the Royal Cast Foundry belongs is the secretary of the Royal Museums, Herr Walther. With him I had several interviews in reference to this collection. He had received a copy of the Tentative Lists, and kindly took the trouble to have prepared from this a list of all the objects indi cated as purchasable in Berlin, of which he gave me a copy. From this it appears that the whole number marked " Berlin " is 360, the total cost of which, ex clusive of packing, is 28,169x25 marks, plus the cost of four casts which have never yet been made and for REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 21 which a price has not yet been fixed. I mention this here merely by way of curiosity, as it is probably the largest order, in the number of pieces, that would be placed at any one establishment. Fortunately, the Berlin Museum is at present in excellent condition to undertake an order of this extent, as its new foundry at Charlottenburg is equipped with a good force of men, has plenty of space, and is in immediate con nection with a railroad, so that cases of casts can be packed in the freight-cars upon the grounds of the foundry, and thus one danger of transhipment is avoided. By the courtesy of Herr Walther, Mr. de Forest and myself were permitted to inspect the whole establishment, and passed an afternoon there most profitably, under the guidance of the superin tendent. The most important piece of work accomplished at Berlin, however, and perhaps the most important of my whole trip, was the perfection of arrangements for having a new model of the Akropolis made. You will remember that the first item on the Lists under the heading of " The Parthenon " reads as follows : " Have a model of the Akropolis made, somewhat larger than that now in the market, about 5 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, which shall show clearly the results of all excavations up to date.'' The only model of the Akropolis at present in the market, of which copies are to be seen in almost all museums of casts, is at best only a sketch, in which details are scarcely more than suggested, and it has been antiquated for some twenty years, by excava tions and other alterations in the appearance of the surface. As the entire inclosure of the Akropolis has 22 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. now been excavated, and as there is no prospect of a change in its appearance for an indefinite period, no time could be more happily selected for reproducing its modern appearance, and I can scarcely describe to you the pleasure of Professor Ernst Curtius when I told him of your intention. "Tell your Committee from me," he said, "that in undertaking a work like this they are making their collection of the greatest benefit to science, and I shall gladly do all in my power to help them." He recommended to me, as the man most qualified to do the work, the sculptor Heinrich Walger, who for over twenty years has made a specialty of relief maps. With an introduction from Professor Curtius I called upon Herr Walger, told him what was desired, and as a result of several confer ences we came to the agreement which is represented in the contract I am about to read to you. Fortu nately for me, Mr. de Forest was in Berlin at the time of the negotiations, so that I was able to act under his advice and with his consent in the matter. To have the model as complete a success as was desired it was necessary to be sure of the cooperation of sev eral authorities. Professor Curtius had promised his help, as I have told you ; and Herr Walger also se cured that of Professor Kaupert, the geographer, the first living authority on the geography of Athens ; and on all questions of detail which required drawings, photographs, or other data from the site itself, promised to consult Dr. Dorpfeld, the resident head of the Ger man Institute in Athens. In reply to a letter which I subsequently wrote him on the subject. Dr. Dorp feld expressed his hearty interest in the scheme, and promised to contribute in any way he could toward REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 23 its fulfilment. The model, therefore, when finished will represent the combined work of the four most eminent specialists of the present day in the subject to be treated — Curtius on the history, Kaupert on the geography, Dorpfeld on the significance of local details, and Walger as the artist. {_Mr. Robinson here read the contract between Herr Walger and himself, as agent of the Committee, dated at Berlin August ^, iSpi.'] My next stopping-place was Dresden, where I passed about ten days in studying the new museum called the Albertinum, which is by all means the best- arranged collection of casts in Europe, and disputes with the Trocadero the distinction of being the most beautiful. In no museum is the artistic value of the once- despised plaster cast so insisted upon by the careful attention given to the study of lighting it, and by the sumptuousness of its setting. These are sub jects which do not occupy you at the present moment, so I will not delay you with a description or discus sion of them. I found very few casts in the collection which were not already upon our Lists. Its strength is naturally in the Classical Department, the director of the museum. Prof Georg Treu, being one of the first authorities upon the history of Greek sculpture, and having especial charge of the publication of the sculptures found at Olympia. For this reason Olympia plays a part in the Albertinum which might be con sidered disproportionate in any other museum of its size, while the Italian Renaissance is not fully repre sented, and the Middle Ages scarcely at all. Of the interest which Prof Treu took in your collec tion I can give no better proof than the fact that he 24 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. worked on the Lists with me one evening from half- past seven till after twelve — going carefully over every item in the Greek and Roman sections, with criticisms and suggestions which were the more valua ble from his having been over the ground so recently in the enlargement of his own collection. We also went through the museum very carefully together, at several different times, and he called my attention to a number of original sculptures there not on our Lists, which it was important we should add. Upon these casts Prof Treu has had a number of interesting ex periments made by Dresden sculptors, in restoring fragmentary pieces, and he kindly offered to have copies of these made for your collection if it should be desired. The most important of these are upon the two pediment groups from the temple of Zeus at Olympia. On these he has had such missing parts as there can be no reasonable doubt about supplied in plaster, indicating the restorations by a pale clay- colored tint so that they may be readily recognized. The result, of course, is a great improvement in the effect of the two groups, which, as you know, were found in a badly broken condition, and at no loss to the archaeologist. Prof Treu kindly agreed to have casts made of these restorations for your collection, if you should desire them, when the time for ordering arrived, provided the authorities at Berlin, who make the casts of the Olympian sculptures, should offer no objection. Those of you who attended the meeting of this Committee in February last, when I had the honor of being present, may remember that I then urged the desirability of introducing some special features into REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 25 the proposed collection, such as would add to its at tractiveness, and, if possible, make it unique within the province of reproductions. At that time I sug gested, as the most beautiful project of this kind which occurred to me, the reproduction of all the bronzes from Herculaneum which are in the Museum of Na ples, in the material and colors of the originals, and their arrangement in a room devoted exclusively to them. The plan is perfectly feasible and would give great brilliancy to a collection, though it has never been attempted except in the case of a few specimens, as, for example, at South Kensington. At that time I recommended to the Committee as the man to do the work Sabatino de Angelis, of Naples, whose art seems to be hardly less exquisite than that of the objects he reproduces, and whose skill is attested by the number of specimens of his work to be found in many of the European collections. At a meeting of the Committee held June 12, after my departure, it was voted to authorize me to order of him such a collection as I had described ; and it was in great measure to carry out these instructions that I found it necessary to go to Italy. By appointment, Signor De Angelis met me in Florence early in September, where I explained the project. Of the bronzes, as illustrated in La Villa Ercolanese, by De Petra and Comparetti, a number have never been reproduced. Upon these, conse quently, Signor De Angelis was unable to figure, but he gave me in writing prices on the rest, which are the most important as well as the largest. To sum up briefly what can be explained to the Executive Com mittee in detail, the total number of bronze busts and statues enumerated in Section XII of the Lists is forty 26 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. twenty-two large busts, eight small busts, and ten statues. Of these, De Angelis can at present under take to make thirteen large busts, three small busts, and seven of the statues. This leaves nine large busts, five small busts, and three statues for which especial authority will have to be obtained of the Italian gov ernment in order to enable us to complete the collection. Not wishing to close a contract with Signor De Angelis until I knew whether he would be permitted to make the entire collection, I excTianged memoranda with him of the prices he had named on the several subjects of which he has the moulds, and left the matter there until I could communicate with the government. I then wrote to Signor Villari, the Minister of Public Instruction, upon the general subject of the collection, sending him a copy of the Tentative Lists at the same time. In reply I received a very courteous autograph note, in which he said that we might depend on his doing all he could in favor of the Metropolitan Museum. I also wrote a letter to Signor De Petra, Director of the Museum of Naples, in which I stated specifically our desires in the matter of these bronzes, asking him to forward our petition to Rome if he approved of it. His reply was encouraging: he expressed great interest in the plan, and said that he would himself make the request for us to the Minister, with his " hearty recom mendations," and he trusted that the reply would be favorable. The answer from the ministry has not yet reached me. It is, however, too soon to argue any thing unfavorable from this delay, — it is merely an illustration of what I said at the beginning, that get ting casts is not always so simple a matter as is often supposed, — and we have every reason to hope that REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 27 our desires will be granted. At all events, we are sure of having a superb, if not a complete, collection of these bronzes from what De Angehs is already able to make, so that we are free to speak of this as one of the features of the collection.^ The process of getting permission to have new moulds made of works in Florence and other Italian towns is a long and tedious one. Everything must be referred to the Central Government at Rome. For merly one addressed a simple petition to the Com- missariato delle Belle Arti at the capital of whatever province it happened to be, and could follow up the mat ter personally and secure an answer pretty promptly. Moreover, the trouble was generally taken off one's hands altogether by the cast-maker who was to execute the work; but at present the individual or museum de siring the cast must make the petition to the local Com- missariato, the Commissariato forwards the same with comments to the Minister of Public Instruction, and then it takes its place among the thousands of matters requiring attention in that quarter. There are a num ber of very important monuments on our Renaissance Lists which have never been reproduced, and it was my endeavor while in Florence to ascertain whether we could have casts made of these, and to get estimates on them. In spite of all efforts, I found there was no "short cut" to the desired information, and had to submit to the ordinary routine. I made the petition in writing to the Inspector of Works of Art in Tuscany, 1 The Committee take pleasure in announcing that since the meeting at which Mr. Robinson's report was read he has received notice of the consent of the government to have moulds made of all these bronzes, and Mr. Edward D. Adams has generously offered to present the entire series as his contribution to the collection. 28 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. with whom I had an interview, and in due time we shall hear from him or from the Minister at Rome. While speaking of this matter, I wish to express our great obligations to Signor Bernardy, Vice-Consul of the United States at Florence. The Consul being away, Signor Bernardy was in charge of the office; and he placed himself entirely at my disposal, and by his advice, resulting from long experience in his position, his assistance in the matter of correspondence, and his generous offer to further the plans of this Committee in any way and at any time hereafter, he proved him self a most valuable ally, whose interest is certain to be of great service to the Committee. I made only one actual purchase in Florence, but this was of an object which it was highly desirable to secure at once — a cast of the entire Marsuppini mon ument in the church of Santa Croce. This is undoubt edly the finest of all the Italian Renaissance tombs, and the cast secured, being one of four taken from the original gelatine moulds, could not have been more satisfactory in every way than it was when I saw it at Lelli's storehouse. From Florence I went to Milan, wishing to arrange terms with Pierrotti, and also to go carefully over the Certosa. Fortunately, I found Pierrotti at the Cer- tosa, engaged on a piece of work for the Metropoli tan Museum, and was able to spend a day there with him, going carefully over the things of which he ad vertises casts, and discussing others of which he has not yet made moulds. Terms were arranged with him which I think will be satisfactory if his work proves good. In Paris I visited the cast-establishments of both REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 29 the Louvre and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and se cured the lists of all the moulds made at each of these since the publication of their last sale catalogues. With regard to having new and special casts made of French monuments, such, for example, as those in the Trocadero, I consulted our Minister, Mr. Reid, to whom Mr. Adams kindly sent me an introduction, and was advised by him to take no steps for the present, as he is negotiating with the French government to secure one of the portals of Notre Dame for the Willard Com mittee, and thought it unwise to ask for anything else until that matter had been settled. For the moment, therefore, I am unable to report upon the possibility of securing any French Gothic work other than that advertised in the usual sale catalogues. There is, however, one cast to be had now to which I wish to urge your favorable attention. This is from the fa mous frieze of the Archers, from Susa, which was re cently set up in the new Persian Rooms in the Louvre. Casts of this were made for the South Kensington Museum and the Museum of Edinburgh, and by per mission of the authorities of the Louvre these were painted in exact imitation of the original — which you will remember is of glazed and colored bricks — by the same artist who had been employed to restore the missing parts of the frieze when it was set up. I saw the original and the colored casts within a few days of each other, and the latter seemed to me one of the most remarkable reproductions I have ever seen, the quaHty of color in the Persian tiles — strikingly like that of their modern work — being rendered with remarkable success. The relief itself is so flat, and its effect so interfered with by the interstices between 30 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. the bricks, that an uncolored cast would give but a very imperfect idea of the original, and I hope you will allow me to petition the authorities of the Louvre for permission to have casts painted like those I have described. The expense will naturally be consider able, but I believe it will be justified by the result. The cast measures roughly about 12 by 15 feet, and includes five of the archers with all the decoration above and below them. This ends my account of the summer's work. The chief end which I can claim to have accomplished is to have secured for you the active interest of the au thorities who can be of most service when the actual time for ordering comes. This, if I can believe what has been said to me repeatedly, has been done, and you may rest assured that you have awakened not only the interest, but the expectations of all those who are occupied with such matters, and that great results will be looked for. I must not omit to mention that during the summer a number of letters were received from officers of museums and others whom I was un able to see, in response to copies of the Lists which had been sent them. To Professors Michaelis of Stras- burg and Brunn of Munich we are under especial ob ligations for two of these, containing suggestions and information which will be of great assistance to us. From the director of the museum at Palermo I have learned that permission will not be given to have moulds made from the metopes of Selinus — a sub ject of regret which is shared by all European col lections in common with ourselves. Now, gentlemen, before bringing this lengthy re port to an end, I must ask your patience just a few REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 3 1 minutes, to consider the subject of estimates. The first question to be determined, before we reach the point of ordering, is the amount which shall be appro priated to each period or section of our Lists, so that we may consider which objects, if any, must be cut out. At the time the Lists were issued it was not possible to make such a calculation in any but the most general terms, as there were many objects of which it was impossible at that time to ascertain the price, or, indeed, whether they were to be had at all. Even at present it is not possible to answer all the questions indicated by the blank spaces in our Lists, but, except in the Egyptian and Mediaeval sectiorls, we can come near enough for our immediate pur poses ; and, with a view to helping you in the matter, I have prepared a set of estimates based upon the in formation gained this summer. In these estimates I have excluded all those casts entered on our Lists which I am not pretty sure of being able to obtain, and also those already in the Metropolitan Museum. I have allowed for the 25 per cent, discount offered by the Ecole des Beaux Arts on its catalogue prices, but not for that of other makers. There is still a number of large pieces of which the cost estimated is conjectural, but the number of these has been considerably reduced since the publication of the Lists. As the estimate does not pretend to be any thing more than a rough one, I have, for the sake of convenience, reckoned marks and shillings at four to the dollar, and francs at five to the dollar. With regard to casts to be ordered from Athens, I have still quoted Martinelli's prices, although the establish ment no longer exists. The prices are to be regarded 32 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. as safe in an estimate, however, since it is scarcely to be conceived that the Greek government, or any other successor of Martinelli, will charge more than he did. As I have already stated, a large proportion of the objects entered in the Mediaeval Lists are not at present in the market; and as the possibility of securing them, and the prices at which they could be obtained, would be matters of perhaps lengthy correspondence, I think the best method of proceeding in this department, by way of beginning, would be to appropriate a certain sum for the purchase of mediaeval casts, and do all that can be done with this. Upon the basis of the other sections, and bearing in mind the objects already ordered by the Willard Commission, it seems to me that $15,000 would be a liberal allowance, and I therefore name this sum in the recommendations which follow : \_Jlfr. Robinson here submitted detailed estimates of the several divisions and subdivisions of the Tentative Lists, the substance of which is given in the subjoined abstract."] I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, November 13, 1891. EDWARD RoBlNSON. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 33 Recommendations of the Amounts to be Appropri ated FOR THE Several Departments of the Collection of Casts, based upon the Estimates of November i, 1891. Department. Amount as per estimate. Amount re commended. Notes. / Increase to allow for casts Egyptian $242.40 $1,000.00 } of which no information ( has yet been obtained. Chaldaean .... 110.75 200.00 'Does not allow for the colossal figures, of which Assyrian 44.25 100.00 ¦ there is no prospect of ob taining casts for the pres- ,ent. Persian 552.00 1,000.00 Greek and ^ Roman, not 1 including Herculanean J 16,221.09 20,000.00 I In this is included an } allowance of $1000 for ( Roman sarcophagi. Herculanean } bronzes . . . . ^ 4,710.00 5,000.00 Mediaeval 15,000.00 J See remarks on this at ( close of Report. ("Increase to allow for monumental works of Renaissance . . . 19,187.52 25,000.00 •{ which prices, etc., had not been received by warding at (_ November i. Packing and for At Der cent*. $67,300.00 30,285.00 *^J fc*%** «^%«A.41* • $97,585.00 * Of this item it is impossible to form any but the most general estimate, as the charges for packing vary largely in the different establishments. The highest price is that fixed by the British Museum, of 40%, whatever the size of the order. At some other establish ments it is not more than 20%. In the Berlin Museum the purchaser is charged only the actual cost. WHY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM SHOULD CONTAIN A FULL COLLECTION OF CASTS. (STATEMENT PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE IN MARCH, I§91.) WHEN the authorities of the Royal Museum at Berlin looked about for means to increase its sculptural and architectural collections, they found themselves unable to obtain any considerable number of original works of merit, because these were, for the most part, already in the possession of other museums. They, therefore, determined to obtain casts of all the masterpieces which were scattered in the different collections of the world, and to bring these together under such an arrangement as would best exemplify the progress of plastic art at all epochs. As a result of this poUcy, while there may be museums in Europe richer in original works of sculpture and architecture than the Museum of Berlin, there is certainly none of greater interest and utility to the student of art. The example set by Berlin has been followed by almost every great city of Europe. The South Ken sington and Fitzwilliam Museums, in England, and the Museums of Strasburg, Dresden,' Bonn, Vienna, Munich, and Nuremberg, in Germany, all illustrate the extent of this movement. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 35 Nowhere, however, has the fundamental plan of such a collection been better initiated than in the museum recently established by the French government in the Palace of the Trocadero at Paris, under the inspiration of M. VioUet le Due. It is the purpose of this collec tion, as stated by him, to show the relations existing between styles of art belonging to different historic epochs by casts selected from the best examples and carefully classified. The extent to which this purpose has been attained in French mediaeval and renaissance art, during the brief period of nine years which has elapsed since the museum was opened, furnishes an admirable illustration of what can be accomplished in our own city with adequate means. Indeed, we need go no farther than New England for an example, where the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston is provided with a sculptural collection superior in arrangement and selection to any other similar collection in this country. The reasons which compelled the Berlin and other museums to look to casts for their sculptural and archi tectural collections apply with even greater force to our own museum. We can never expect to obtain any large collection of original works, but we can ob tain casts, which, for students of art and archaeology, and indeed for the general public, are almost their equivalent; and these casts can be so arranged as to group together all works pertaining to the same epoch, however widely their originals may be separated, so that the whole history of plastic art can be traced through its masterpieces from the earliest to the latest time. A collection of casts thus furnishes the best means for studying the history of art. In it the archseolbgist 36 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. finds indispensable material for his studies; the artist, the most perfect productions of all styles and schools ; and the general public, a sure means of forming taste and cultivating an enjoyment of the beautiful. If in connection with such a collection we follow the example of European museums and establish a moulding atelier, in which reproductions can be made, the growing needs of American museums and educa tional institutions in this particular can be supplied from New- York instead of from Europe, as is now the case, with all the disadvantages of expense and delay. An ideal collection of casts would include all impor tant works so arranged as to illustrate the historical development of art, and to be ultimately placed in a building so constructed as best to classify and dis play them, of which a lecture-room should form a part. An excellent beginning has already been made at the Metropolitan Museum in a collection of sculptural, and in the Willard collection of architectural, casts. Only parts of these collections are now displayed. It is estimated that $100,000 will furnish the neces sary means to give the museum, in connection with what it already possesses, a fairly complete historical collection of casts. The new wing of the museum, now in process of erection, with those parts of the old build ings already used for that purpose, will furnish space for its classification and arrangement. If orders for new casts can be promptly given, they can be filled in time to display the collections at the opening of the new building. The Trustees recently appointed a Special Commit tee "to extend the museum collections of casts." REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 37 The Committee decided to take immediate steps to raise $ 1 00,000 for this purpose. Of this amount nearly $40,000 has already been subscribed. Additional subscriptions are hereby solicited. They may be made in any amount, payable either at a single designated time, or in three annual instalments, begin ning on April i, 1891. While, the sum needed must undoubtedly be made up in great part by larger gifts, any contribution, how ever small, will be gladly received, and will aid the effort beyond a mere money value by showing a general interest in its success. Any person who may desire to form a special collec tion either of a particular period or master, rather than to contribute toward a general fund, is invited to communicate with some member of the Committee. New- York, March, 1891. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. Subscriptions to Fund up to January i8, 1892. Subscribers of %\oo and upward. A mount subscribed. Henry G. Marquand $12,000 Edward D. Adams 5,000 Original subscription $3,ooo Additional 2,000 which, with the original $3,000, is on account of his contribution to the cost of the Hercula neum Bronzes. C. L. Tiffany 4,500 George F. Baker 3,000 H. C. Fahnestock 3,000 John Taylor Johnston 3,000 John S. Kennedy 3,000 Fred'k F. Thompson 3,000 C. T. Cook 1,500 Robert W. de Forest 1,500 Samuel P. Avery , 1,000 Charles T. Barney 1,000 Mrs. P. M. Bryson 1,000 Robert Hoe 1,000 E. C. Moore 1,000 Jacob H. Schiff 1,000 Louis C. Tiffany 1,000 Mrs. Louis C. Tiffany 1,000 Stanford White 1,000 George C. Cooper 500 David L. Einstein 500 Charles F. McKim 500 H. C. VON Post 500 " Classic " (Allan Marquand) 300 James J. Goodwin 250 D. Willis James 250 Amount carried forward $51,300 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CASTS. 39 Amount brought forward $51,300 John A. King 250 Howard Mansfield 250 Augustus St. Gaudens 250 William R. Mead 150 Charles T. Wills 150 John D. Archbold 100 Frank S. Bond 100 Hugh N. Camp 100 Samuel Colman 100 D. Stuart Dodge 100 Mrs. Esther Herrman 100 E. R. HOLDEN 100 C. H, Ludington 100 Thomas F. Ryan 100 Mrs. Jos. B. Skidmore 100 Phebe Anna Thorne 100 H. WUNDERLlCH & CO 100 Amount carried forward $S3>S5° Subscribers of less than $ioo. Jose M. Andreini. Frederick Keppel & Co. C. Armstrong. Mary Maghee. Addison Brown. T. H. Mead. William L. Bull. Prof. A. C. Merriam. Helen C. Butler. Henry Metcalfe. Dr. N. L. Campbell. Miss Grace Mitchell. William Carey. James C. Mix. Miss Julia B. de Forest. Rev. "Henry Mottet. William Gayer Dominick. Henry F. Osborne. William T. Evans. Sarah R. Osgood. Henry Gade. H. T. Peck. Samuel Hammerslough. Dr. JtiLius Sachs. George R. Howe. Mason A. Stone. E. Francis Hyde. R. R. Willets. S. ZlCKEL. Total amount subscribed January i8, 1892 $54,250 f