This plaster cast is taken from a terracotta model for a marble portrait of the physician Apollonio Massa of 1572 by Alessandro Vittoria, formerly in the church of San Domenico di Castello in Venice. Although the sitter is represented in contemporary dress in the model, in the final version he is shown wearing classicizing drapery. Alessandro Vittoria was an architect, stuccoist, sculptor of bronzes, and renowned portrait sculptor in 16th-century Venice. The cast was made by Signor Tombola, a plaster-cast maker in Venice.

Plaster casts were especially sought after during the 19th century, when reproductions of great works of sculpture and architecture were thought crucial for the training of artists. A separating substance was applied to the surface of the work to be reproduced, and a plaster mould made from that. The mould would then be used to make any number of additional plaster copies. These were often sold to artists, and later in the century to art colleges for study purposes.

Gallery location:
Cast Courts, Room 46b, The Weston Cast Court , case FS, shelf N

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London