Lot 130A
BOX CONTAINING PLASTER CASTS OF THE PARTHENON AND PHYGALIAN FRIEZE
BY JOHN HENNING, 19TH CENTURY
Auction: 9 December 2009 at 11:00 GMT
Description
forty-eight plaster casts housed within a wooden box of eight shelves
Dimensions
Each plaque 6cm x 23cm
Footnote
Note; In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries classical sculpture was so popular that a trade in plaster casts of the sculptures also developed. The casts were used in country houses and art academies as decoration and for study.
These miniature copies of the famous sculptures from the Parthenon were made by John Henning (1771-1851), who came to London from Paisley in Scotland in 1811. Henning was struck by the beauty of the sculptures from the Parthenon frieze and asked for permission to draw and model them. Henning carved versions in slate as sunken impressions, from which raised versions were then cast in white plaster. Henning reproduced the frieze in sections measuring 5cm (two inches) by 15cm (six inches). These were sold in boxed sets.
Henning and his son John Henning Junior (1802-57) later became well known for carving a partial replica of the Parthenon frieze around the Atheneum, the gentleman's club in Waterloo Place, London, in 1828. (British Museum online catalogue)