The Baptismal Font from Siena
From Oct 20, 2024 Mitte
A restored 1876 plaster cast model of Siena’s baptismal font shown with Donatello’s bronze Putto with a Tambourine in the museum’s crypt.
The permanent show pairs two objects: Donatello’s bronze putto of 1429, under forty centimetres high, and a 59-part plaster model of the Siena baptismal font, over five metres tall, cast by the Gipsformerei in 1876 and restored in 2023.
A panoramic research display traces how the moulds were taken in Siena, how the model was made and used in Berlin, and the role of casts in 19th- and early 20th-century museums. It argues that a cast is an original in its own right. A publication by Schnell + Steiner accompanies it.
Museum Mitte
