A campanha dos gessos: compras de moldes escultóricos de Eduardo Schiaffino para o Museu Nacional de Belas Artes de Buenos Aires (1903-1906)

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a purchase campaign of plaster casts carried out by Eduardo Schiaffino, director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, between 1903 and 1906. On the one hand, I examine the arguments used to justify the approval of a budget for the purchase. On the other, the creation of a collection of plaster casts was strongly informed by a commercial circuit guided by a dynamic of supply and demand, given the existence of state and private international workshops that provided plasters at affordable prices and with varied availability. Through the systematization of tentative purchase lists and invoices, I argue for the hypothesis that Schiaffino enrolled in an institutionalized commercial circuit alongside efforts to obtain copies with authorship marks.