Student drawing from a cast

Drawing from casts as a means of training artists is a product of the Renaissance and was institutionalized in the European art academies of the seventeenth century. The importance of casts is underscored by Bloemaert’s print, which shows a busily sketching student surrounded by plaster heads, hands, arms, and legs. Until well into the twentieth century, the ability of ancient sculpture to capture the human form and its expression made casts the starting point in any artist’s education. Cornell’s own plaster cast collection, begun by President A. D. White and funded by Henry Sage, eventually numbered in the hundreds. (“Highlights from the Collection: 45 Years at the Johnson,” curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 27–July 22, 2018)