Casting a sculpture

A Casting (Moulding) From Life (Nature), 1887

A painting by Edouard Joseph Dantan (1848-1897).

Details in the painting are very revealing, with the exception of some modern alternatives such as silicone and alginate, the art of life casting has changed very little in the twenty-first century studio. Note the bust hanging on the rear wall, the two plaster portraits in the foreground and the large mortar a pestle for grinding gypsum plaster. It appears obvious from the items in the studio that these are dedicated life casters, mold makers and potters (see the shelves stocked with pottery in the back) as opposed to classical stone sculptors.

Further examination shows models of two famous Renaissance works including Michelangelo's Dying Slave of 1513. But more importantly Dantan seems to be providing an additional historic life casting clue to the distant past. Because the second model is Francesco Luarana's (1430-1502) Portrait of a Woman, 1472-74. Laurana was also a life caster as he was known to have worked from plaster casts and death masks and to have painted his sculpture.

I'm rather deficient in knowledge of the fine arts, and until encountering this painting, I didn't realize that "lifecasting" was used to produce sculptures.   It's also interesting to note another allusion to painted sculptures in the 15th century.

Via Sloth Unleashed.