Cast Court

While in London this time I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I did not have time to see what looked to be a wonderful exhibit on the Aesthetic movement, but enjoyed seeing the Victorian mish-mash of the general collection.

In particular the Cast Court is spectacularly bizarre. During the Victorian period, collecting these casts was a popular activity–as collecting was in general. Both rooms are filled with casts produced to replicate the original item such that it felt as if I were walking around a wax museum. These casts replicate Trojan's column, pulpits from Florentine churches, and other European sites that the English commoner of the 19th century might not otherwise see. I am accustomed to medium-sized casts in white used in art schools to teach students how to draw shadow; these seemingly boring classes are actually wonderful classes in which one can really learn how to bring an object or face to life with the shades of black and white. Walking around this overflowing room of fakes was disorienting. With a friend visiting from Paris, I kept asking both of us how and what I was supposed to admire.

Seeing something she liked, we discovered the original–The Nymph of Fontainebleau by Cellini–is at the Louvre, where she plans to make a point of finding it. A quite interesting trip, I decided, would be to make a list of all the court items and plan a trip around Europe to see the originals. Perhaps one day...In the meantime, it is one of my most favorite, strange things I have recently experienced with exception to the fact that the Brits all seemed surprised by the constant downpour as if it were not an international joke that it rains here constantly. As it has, thereby permitting me to sleep, read, and on the next trip spend even more time inside museums because being outside is nearly impossible.