[above: Reproduction of the list in AR 1870-71, pp.28-29, detailing Murphy’s donation]

 

As mentioned, many of the casts originally selected for their general aesthetic and/or historical value to the Melbourne Public Library obviously came to be regarded increasingly as Gallery School assets, as the century progressed. Indeed, several groups of casts were clearly intended from the start to be teaching tools, as listed here. Given the quantities involved, and the fact that almost all of these casts are (a) unidentifiable and (b) no longer extant, they are treated in groups, rather than numbered individually.

[NB a similar collection of casts was mentioned in the Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue (1888), p.93, as “purchased by the ‘N.S.W.Academy of Art’ for their School of Design, and transferred to the Trustees on the closing of that Institution in 1880;” it was added that most of these were not on display, “for want of space.”]

 

III (i)     Casts donated by James Murphy, 1862

The largest group of casts of this type in Melbourne was listed in AR 1870-71 (surveying the development of the institution from 1853-70), under “Models and Illustrations of Art for the School of Design. Presented to the Trustees by James Murphy, Esq.” (pp.28-29, Schedule XXIX): a full copy is appended above; see also NGV 1880, pp.35-36.

The date and further details are provided on p.69 of the 1871 Report, under the heading “The Schools,” noting that the MPL Trustees had long believed in “the advisability of affording facilities for the teaching of drawing,” that Murphy’s 1862 gift of £50 was accordingly spent on casts “similar to those used in the South Kensington Museum,” that Domenico Brucciani made a selection available at a very reduced price, and that unfortunately the casts has to be kept in storage until a suitable room became available, in 1868.

The donor, whose connection with the MPL is unknown, may have been the James Murphy (1821-88) recorded as having arrived from Ireland in c.1839, working as a brewer and publican, and then serving as a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1853-55: see now Casts -Donors.

All told, there were approximately 200 individual casts in this group. Of these, several large casts of statues and busts (including a number catalogued separately in NGV 1894) are listed in sections I and II (see I.8 etc.). The rest, comprising casts of body parts, animals, fruit and foliage, and architectural ornamentation, were evidently gauged to be art school resources, and were not catalogued separately in the major list of casts included in NGV 1894. Many of them clearly correspond to casts listed for sale by Brucciani & Co., whose catalogues of the period, often sub-titled “Casts for Schools” included many pages of such items, sometimes reading rather like lists of personal accident insurance pay-outs from days gone by (“Sections of the Face… Left Eye of David… Foot of Farnese Hercules… Child’s hands,” and so on).

Only a few of these casts appear to be extant (or were until recently), as follows:

      • Lioness (AR 1870-71, p.28, Section IV): see Galbally, “Lost Museum” (1988), p.45, fig.9: as in the Sculpture School, RMIT University, 1988 (photo by Alison Inglis): see now I.102
      • Cast of Fruit – Three Apples; Cast of Building Ornament – Moulding from St Stephen’s Westminster; Cast of Building Ornament – Acanthus leaf; Cast of building ornament – Scroll: see Galbally & others, First Collections (1992), cat.75-78: as held at RMIT (but incorrectly identified as purchased with funds donated by Frederick Dalgety)

    Finally, two related casts were listed in AR 1900, p.31, as lent to the Melbourne Men’s Working College (now RMIT University): a Corinthian capital, and a cast of grapes and leaves; it is unclear where they are now.

     

    III (ii) Other casts purchased by 1870

    Besides the detailed lists of casts of statues, busts and reliefs in AR 1870-71, a small group of additional casts is noted on p.44, apparently related more specifically to the casts acquired for art students, as listed above, under III (i):

        • The Soulages Chimney Piece – S.Kensington Museum. This particular cast was later listed as lent to the Trustees of the Exhibition Building (AR 1909)
        • Venetian Fire Dogs – S.Kensington Museum
        • Two Goats and Head of Girl
        • A set (10 pieces) of bases and caps, representing the Five Orders of Architecture (also recorded in NGV stock-book, p.6)

     

    III (iv)  Casts donated by the Victorian Education Department in 1903

    This group of casts, described as “very valuable from an educational point of view,” is noted in AR 1893 (in the report on the NGV Drawing School submitted by McCubbin); several are listed separately in NGV 1894:

        • Winged Victory: see I.116
        • Head of Nicolo da Uzzano attrib.to Donatello: see II.93
        • Virgin & Child, also attrib.to Donatello: see I.114-115
        • “Hand from Nature”
        • “Foot of Hermes’ Statue, by Praxiteles”: cf.I.64
        • “Study of Apple (plaque)”
        • “Study of Plum (plaque)”

    NB several other casts are recorded separately as also having been donated by the Education Dept., by 1894: see I.8, II.4 and II.94 (another cast of the head of Nicolo da Uzzano)

     

    III (iv)  Casts purchased in 1900

    Besides other stand-alone casts listed in AR 1900, p.29 (see e.g.II.78 etc.), further student-oriented casts were recorded as purchased in that year, as follows (including prices paid):

        • Hands (two), from life £0/7/-); cf.Brucciani (1891), pp.11-12 (various casts of hands)
        • Female Head, Tête inconnue, by A.Murray, from original in the Louvre (£0/8/-) (the “A.Murray” mentioned here and in the next two items has not been identified)
        • Hand (French), by A.Murray (£0/4/-)
        • Foot (French), by A.Murray (price unclear)

     

    III (v) Casts purchased in 1904

    A similar group of casts listed, again with prices, in AR 1904, p.25 (some also listed above: see e.g. II.3):

      • Three Anatomical statuettes (£0/4/-)
      • Relief of Virgin and Child. M.Angelo (£1/10/-) (cf. I.66-68)
      • Right arm of Houdon’s Anatomical Statue (£0/12/6) (cf. I.7-8)
      • Left Arm of Fighting Gladiator (£0/12/6) (cf. I.58)
      • Right Arm and Leg of Mercury, John of Bologna (£1/5/-) (cf. I.80)
      • Anatomical Statuette. M.Angelo (£0/8/6)
      • Mask No.3.R (£0/3/4)
      • Mask No.13.R (£0/3/4)