 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome copy of The Tiber at the Louvre ca. 1675-1700 terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"The problems posed by the techniques of reproduction used by firms such as Brucciani and Gerber are also of great consequence. Thus it is possible that the promiscuous familiarity encouraged by these techniques may have unintentionally diminished the glamour of the statues reproduced. To Josiah Wedgwood, addressing his customers in 1779, it was self-evident that multiplying copies of ancient masterpieces would, like the printing of scientific discoveries, prevent 'the Return of Ignorant and barbarous Ages'. Through copies, 'good Taste' would be diffused, 'the publick Eye . . . instructed' and 'all the Arts receive Improvement'. Nor, he added, 'can there be any surer way of rendering an exquisite Piece, possessed by an Individual, famous without diminishing the Value of the Original : for the more Copies there are of any Works, as of the Venus Medicis, for instance, the more celebrated the Original will be'. Ironically, however, it was when the Venus de' Medici was most multiplied that we can trace the first significant indications of a decline in her reputation."
– from Taste and the Antique : the Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900 by Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny (Yale, 1981)
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome copy of Cupid and Psyche (or Caunus and Byblis) at the Capitoline Museum, Rome ca. 1750-75 bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome copy of Cupid and Psyche (or Caunus and Byblis) at the Capitoline Museum, Rome ca. 1750 terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome copy of the Borghese Hermaphrodite at the Louvre 18th century terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome copy of Marsyas at the Uffizi, Florence ca. 1750 terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Florence copy of the Wrestlers at the Uffizi, Florence ca. 1600-1625 bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Pierre Legros copy of the Wrestlers at the Uffizi, Florence before 1717 terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Francesco Righetti copy of Centaur and Cupid at the Louvre 1787 bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Giuseppe Boschi copy of the Younger Furietti Centaur at the Capitoline Museum, Rome late 18th century bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Giuseppe Boschi copy of the Elder Furietti Centaur at the Capitoline Museum, Rome late 18th century bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor copy of the Farnese Flora in Naples ca. 1750 terracotta statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Anonymous Italian sculptor copy of the Borghese Gladiator at the Louvre ca. 1765 bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Giacomo Zoffoli copy of the Borghese Gladiator at the Louvre before 1785 bronze statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory copy of the Callipygian Venus in Naples ca. 1773-80 porcelain statuette Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
 |
| Paolo Andrea Triscornia copy of the Callipygian Venus in Naples ca. 1775-1800 full-size marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |