Publication details
The Rise and Fall of the Museo de Copias : On the History of the Collection of Sculpture Replicas in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | The plaster casts and other replicas of classical, early modern, and neoclassical sculptures that were brought from Europe to Santiago de Chile around 1900 initially constituted a vast collection of more than 550 pieces. The shipment included, among others, reproductions of famous classical and modern statues, reliefs, architectural ornaments, and decorative art. The collection was intended to inspire artists, to promote the development of the national art scene, and to offer the general public a pedagogical introduction to good taste. The construction of a new building for the Museum and Academy of Fine Arts in 1910 that was supposed to house the collection indicates its significance at the time. Nevertheless, today less than ten percent of those works remain in the museum - the rest are scattered among other institutions, were destroyed during earthquakes, stolen, or otherwise lost during the past century. |