Brucciani & Co. was founded by Domenico Brucciani in the first half of the nineteenth century. His work involved casting objects from international collections via commissions or for commercial sale. In 1837 he opened a Gallery of Casts in Covent Garden, and the company was employed from 1857 until 1921 by the British Museum. Brucciani & Co. was incredibly important for art education because cast reproductions were not only highly fashionable home decor pieces, but also vital learning resources for students. Copying from low quality images or books was inefficient, but the Classical/Renaissance art style revival in pre-war Britain meant a surge of casts being produced in these styles. Brucciani & Co. sold off-casts or unsold original works to schools via catalogues from the 1880s, thus allowing more students access to almost primary drawing references and style guides.
This post is part of Beyond the Ure, a sculpture trail around the Edith Morley Building on the University of Reading, Whiteknights campus.