Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/191

Rh the visitors to our museums, there are very few who are studying the history of sculpture so profoundly that a crowded or careless arrangement which would be intelligible to a specialist is of any interest. On the contrary, the purpose of a cast collection is to stimulate enthusiasm in the study of art among all visitors. It is, therefore, essential that an interesting group should be chosen and that it should be well arranged. The same amount of care and money should be spent on the installation of a series of casts as of originals, if the public is to understand and enjoy them. (G. Treu, Die Sammlung der Abgiisse im Albertinum zu Dresden, Archaeologischer Anzeiger, 1891, No. 1.)

The first point to be observed is the same in this as in every other class of material,—beware of overcrowding. The museum of comparative sculpture of the Trocadero, admirable as it is in many ways, has this fault. We are faced by an overwhelming quantity of objects all clamoring for our attention simultaneously. A few well-chosen figures illustrate the artistic development sufficiently; the rest should be stored and brought out only for lectures or for diversity.

Perhaps the most discussed point in connection with a cast collection is the desirability or undesirability of coloring the casts to suggest the