{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128365"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128365/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KN4636/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KN4636/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KN4636","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O128365/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128365","accessionNumber":"REPRO.1871-59","objectType":"Architectural cast","titles":[{"title":"Apprentice or Prentice Pillar","type":"popular title"},{"title":"Prentice Pillar","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"The intricately decorated pillar, walls and ceiling arches are cast from a corner of Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. The chapel was built near Edinburgh for William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney. The decoration illustrates the skill of the chapel’s original stone carvers, who covered its surface with elaborate sculptures of figures and ornate foliage. The pillar is known as the ‘Apprentice’ or ‘Prentice Pillar’ because of a later legend that tells of the murder of the gifted apprentice who carved the pillar by his jealous master.\r\n\r\nThis cast was made by engineers at South Kensington, working under the supervision of Giovanni Franchi (about 1832–70), who ran a successful plaster cast manufacturers in London. It is also an impressive achievement, reproducing the complex decoration and undercutting of the stone. The Museum commissioned the cast in 1871, just before the Cast Courts opened in 1873.","physicalDescription":"Plaster cast of The Apprentice Pillar and the South-East Corner of Rosslyn Chapel depicting the elaborate sculptures of figures and ornate foliage that cover the chapel's origial stone.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Giovanni Franchi","id":"A2558"},"association":{"text":"supervisor","id":"AAT25437"},"note":"Copy"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"South Kensington Museum, Engineers","id":"A18114"},"association":{"text":"casters","id":"AAT25257"},"note":"Copy"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Plaster","id":"AAT14922"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Cast","id":"x32615"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted plaster cast","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"},{"text":"Plaster Cast","id":"THES270451"},{"text":"Cast Courts","id":"THES280650"},{"text":"Copies and Facsimiles","id":"THES253072"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2017KN4636"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"46A (VA)","id":"THES49799"},"free":"","case":"WW","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES396327"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Copy of the Apprentice Pillar and the South-East Corner of Rosslyn Chapel","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragments","id":"AAT117130"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Copy"},{"place":{"text":"Roslin","id":"x40169"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Original"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1871","earliest":"1866-01-01","latest":"1875-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Copy"},{"date":{"text":"ca. 1450","earliest":"1445-01-01","latest":"1454-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Original\r\n\r\n"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"412.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"137.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Cast of The Apprentice Pillar and the South-East Corner of Rosslyn Chapel created in plaster in London about 1871 by the engineers at the South Kensington Museum and supervised by Giovanni Franchi. It was acquired by the Museum in 1871 at a cost of £76 5s. The cast shows the skill of both the original stone carvers and the casters who reproduced it due to the details that cover the piece. The original section of the Rosslyn Chapel was sculpted by an unknown artist in stone in Roslin, Scotland about 1450.","historicalContext":"Making plaster copies is a centuries-old tradition that reached the height of its popularity during the 19th century. The V&A's casts are of large-scale architectural and sculptural works as well as small scale, jewelled book covers and ivory plaques, these last known as fictile ivories. \r\n\r\nThe Museum commissioned casts directly from makers and acquired others in exchange. Oronzio Lelli, of Florence was a key overseas supplier while, in London, Giovanni Franchi and Domenico Brucciani upheld a strong Italian tradition as highly-skilled mould-makers, or formatori.\r\n\r\nSome casts are highly accurate depictions of original works, whilst others are more selective, replicating the outer surface of the original work, rather than its whole structure. Like a photograph, they record the moment the cast was taken: alterations, repairs and the wear and tear of age are all reproduced in the copies. The plasters can also be re-worked, so that their appearance differs slightly from the original from which they were taken.\r\n\r\nTo make a plaster cast, a negative mould has to be taken of the original object. The initial mould could be made from one of several ways. A flexible mould could be made by mixing wax with gutta-percha, a rubbery latex product taken from tropical trees. These two substances formed a mould that had a slightly elastic quality, so that it could easily be removed from the original object. Moulds were also made from gelatine, plaster or clay, and could then be used to create a plaster mould to use for casting. \r\nWhen mixed with water, plaster can be poured into a prepared mould, allowed to set, and can be removed to produce a finished solid form. The moulds are coated with a separating or paring agent to prevent the newly poured plaster sticking to them. The smooth liquid state and slight expansion while setting allowed the quick drying plaster to infill even the most intricate contours of a mould. \r\nFlatter, smaller objects in low relief usually require only one mould to cast the object. For more complex objects, with a raised surface, the mould would have to be made from a number of sections, known as piece-moulds. These pieces are held together in the so-called mother-mould, in order to create a mould of the whole object. Once the object has been cast from this mother-mould, the piece-moulds can be easily removed one by one, to create a cast of the three-dimensional object.","briefDescription":"Plaster cast of the Apprentice Pillar and the South-East Corner of Rosslyn Chapel made by the engineers at South Kensington under Giovanni Franchi. The original was made by an unknown artist in about 1450.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Copy","id":"THES48865"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"columns (architectural elements)","id":"AAT1571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Cast of\r\nUnknown artist\r\nThe Apprentice Pillar and the South-East Corner of Rosslyn Chapel\r\nAbout 1450\n\nThe intricately decorated pillar, walls and ceiling arches are cast from a corner of Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. The chapel was built near Edinburgh for William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney. The decoration illustrates the skill of the chapel’s original stone carvers, who covered its surface with elaborate sculptures of figures and ornate foliage. The pillar is known as the ‘Apprentice’ or ‘Prentice Pillar’ because of a later legend that tells of the murder of the gifted apprentice who carved the pillar by his jealous master.\n\nThis cast was made by engineers at South Kensington, working under the supervision of Giovanni Franchi (about 1832–70), who ran a successful plaster cast manufacturers in London. It is also an impressive achievement, reproducing the complex decoration and undercutting of the stone. The Museum commissioned the cast in 1871, just before the Cast Courts opened in 1873.\n\nCast\r\nMade by the engineers at South Kensington under Giovanni Franchi\r\nAbout 1871\r\nPainted plaster\r\nLondon\r\nMuseum no. Repro.1871-59\n\nOriginal\r\nCarved stone\r\nRoslin, Midlothian, Scotland\r\nRosslyn Chapel, Roslin","date":{"text":"04/07/2018","earliest":"2018-07-04","latest":"2018-07-04"}},{"text":"The plaster cast of the famous fifteenth-century so-called Prentice Pillar at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, along with the south-east angle of the chapel, exemplifies the virtuoso skill of the original stone-carvers in the chapel, as well as the adept mastery of plaster casting by the makers of this cast, working in London in the second half of the nineteenth century. The surface is encrusted with intricate decorative foliage forms entwined around the central column.  The name, the Prentice Pillar, originated in a legend dating from the eighteenth century according to which The pillar is known as the Prentice Pillar because of a legend, probably dating from the 18th century, of a gifted apprentice who carved it, and was then killed by his jealous master. The chapel was built for William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney.\r\n\r\nThis cast was acquired by the Museum in 1871 at a cost of £76 5s., shortly before the Cast Courts (or Architectural Courts as they were then called) opened in 1873. Engineers at the Museum had made it in c.1871, under the supervision of Giovanni Franchi (c.1811-1874), who ran a successful company producing plaster casts in London.\r\n\r\nHolly Trusted","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["REPRO.1871-59","REPRO.1871:1-59"],"accessionNumberNum":"59","accessionNumberPrefix":"REPRO","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2026PN0750","2025PL1219","2025PH3232","2022ND5062","2023NL8334","2023NL9682"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-05","availableToBook":false}}