Crawford Gallery’s historic collection cast in new light
A remarkable collection of casts, commissioned by a pope during the Napoleonic era as a gift to Britain before later being gifted to Cork, has been restored to mark its bicentenary.
The reconditioned Canova Casts will be unveiled in their revamped gallery space in Cork City’s Crawford Gallery at a special event tonight before returning to public display from tomorrow.
Gallery director Mary McCarthy invited people to visit and experience the works in their renewed setting: “The works continue to be an inspiration and are a source of wonder.
"The exciting changes to the gallery space and the representation of the works is in line with the current international revival of interest in sculpture casts, as seen by the recent reopening of the Cast Courts at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Cork is a significant part of that international story.”
The collection, which was made under the supervision of renowned Italian sculptor Antonio Canova, was commissioned by Pope Pius VII as a gift to the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in thanks for Britain’s role in deposing Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Moulds were taken directly from marble works in the Vatican collection to create more than 200 plaster busts and statues which were sent to London.
The collection was later gifted to Cork, arriving in November 1818, before they were housed in the early 1830s in what is today the Crawford Art Gallery.
At the time, plaster casts weren’t as highly valued as bronze and marble and the pieces have been painted several times over the last two centuries to give the appearance of marble.
West Cork-based conservator of sculpture Eoghan Daltun, who worked on the delicate and complex restoration of the collection, funded by the Heritage Council, said he believes some pieces could have up to 12 layers of paint.
Each piece was cleaned, washed using special conservation-grade liquid soap, before defects such as paint spatters and even hardened lumps of chewing gum were removed and cracks in some of the casting joints repaired.
Mr Daltun, who spent several years training in Italy, said the most invasive restoration work was done to the 200-year-old wooden base of Laocoon, the collection’s most complex piece which depicts Apollo and his sons wrestling with a serpent.
The base had cracked and was detracting from the viewers’ enjoyment of the overall piece, he said: “I spent a lot of time removing old paint and cracked plaster, and used fillers to build up several layers before painting over it again.
The collection is hugely important for a variety of reasons, but particularly in art history terms. It’s really important to Cork and the nation.
The collection’s gallery space has been repainted a vibrant Mediterranean blue to contrast with the casts, the collection display has been revised, and new visitor interpretation has been installed thanks to support from the Department of Culture, Pat McDonnell Paints, and the Friends of the Crawford Art Gallery.
Dyane Hanrahan, gallery marketing and communications manager, said the Canova Casts are much-loved but not fully understood.
“Their extraordinary 200-year history involving a Pope, prince, and Napoleon has never been fully told until now. Recasting Canova unfolds that story,” she said.
