Gipsmodellen voor beeldhouwwerken op het Palais du Louvre: links "Le Commerce" en rechts "L'Agriculture" door Joseph Pollet c. 1855 - 1857

Edouard Baldus made this photograph of plaster models in the mid-19th century, likely as a record for the sculptors and architects involved in the Louvre’s ongoing construction. Plaster is an interesting material. On the one hand, it’s extremely cheap and easy to use. You can see it here, capturing the flowing forms of allegorical figures – Commerce and Agriculture. Yet plaster is also associated with the reproduction of high art. Think of plaster casts of ancient sculpture, long used in art academies. Here, Baldus is not only documenting sculpture, but also the broader culture of artistic production. The photograph flattens the three-dimensional plaster reliefs, creating a kind of double remove from the finished work in stone. It makes us consider the many hands and processes required to produce the Louvre’s ornamentation, and indeed, the entire edifice of high culture. What begins with an idea, takes shape through skill and labor.