Cast Gallery

During the 19th century, plaster casts frequently offer the only way to learn about antique sculpture, and an important exchange system is established among the museums of north-west Europe.

The Allard Pierson collection comprises almost 300 casts, mainly copies of sculptures from classical antiquity, most of them from the Greek Classical and Hellenistic periods. Eras and cultures collide on various levels in these sculptures. You are looking at plaster casts made to be sketched more than a century ago. They are copies of works by Greek sculptors as well as Roman sculptures that, in turn, are copies of Greek originals. Moreover, the rediscovery of antique sculptures in the 16th and 17th centuries exerts a huge influence on Western European art.