The Maclaren collection: towards a scientific catalog (2)

The discussion was charged because of institutional interests in the background, so that a platform was needed for an open discussion among experts. But even at the Toronto Symposium that took place on 6 Nov. 2001, a detailed analysis of the collection could not be presented and no descriptive catalog was available.

Since no written records exist on the precise point in time individual items were created, dating the plasters has remained an "educated guess", based on connoiseurship and the casting history of the subjects. Since plasters were not highly valued till recently, Dr David Schaff, Senior Curator of the Toronto exhibition, may be right in assuming that the age of foundry plasters rougly corresponds to the year in which the Rudier Foundry produced a series of bronzes from the subject. Musée Rodin curator Ms Antoinette Romain, on the other hand, maintains that the signature stamps attached to the plasters would indicate they were all produced only after Rodin´s death.

To lay the ground for a more differentiated, objective evaluation, Hans de Roos has tried to learn more about the background and quality of single plasters, through his correspondence with Dr David Schaff and the MacLaren staff. As a result, a first, tentative overview of the plaster collection could be created, based on categories derived from this correspondence.

This proposal is also documented as part of the report Rodin at the R.O.M. - What Is The Original?