For more than 100 years, they have been the models that all arts students have followed. Now 200 of the classical sculptures of the Glasgow School of Art are being restored for a new generation of artists in training.
For more than 100 years, they have been the models that all arts students have followed.
Students who could never afford to travel to Rome, Florence, the Louvre or Greece found the replica statues of Glasgow's world-famous art school provided an instant access to - and inspiration from - the ancient world and the Renaissance.
Now 200 of the classical sculptures of the Glasgow School of Art are being restored for a new generation of artists in training.
The Glasgow School of Art has produced hundreds of fine artists since the 1900s when the plaster casts were first put into use to inspire and instruct students at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed art school.
However over the years the statues, which are seen by the thousands of visitors to the school standing in school corridors and other public areas, have been bashed, damaged, stained - not only by pollution, but by wine, wax and other substances - and have for some time been in need of repair.
The plaster casts, although often large, are also valuable and very delicate, with only a few millimetres of plaster in some instances.
However, because they were often cast from ancient sculptures more than 100 or more years ago, the detail on the statues are often better than in the existing statues, which have lost detail over time.
Now, as part of the ongoing Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project, the £8.6m project dedicated to revamping the Mackintosh building which celebrates its centenary in December 2009, the hundreds of plaster casts are being restored.
Graciela Ainsworth, one of Scotland's leading restoration artists, is now leading a nine-strong plaster cast restoration and conservation team as they work on restoring the statues to their former greatness. She is working on casts such as Dying Captive, Rebel Slave, two Medici tombs and the "Bruges" Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, Donatello's St George and ancient Greek statues such as the Nike, or Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo and the Aphrodite and Dione figures from the East Pediment of the Parthenon.
The art school values the work as they give students, staff and the public the chance to get up close to such significant moments of art history.
Ms Ainsworth has run a conservation business in Edinburgh since 1990 and has 22 years' experience, including work on the Kibble Palace in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens, and the revamp of the Jenner's department store in Edinburgh's Princes Street.
"There are around 300 in total and we are working on 200 of them, it is a big job," she said. "In their time they have been moved around a lot, students have taken casts of them, people have used them as places to put glasses of wine and the thing about moving them is that although they look big and solid they are extraordinarily fragile, sometimes only five millimetres thick.
"Some of them date from the 1800s and were made be Lord Elgin when he visited the Parthenon, so they are also historically important."
The plaster casts are first dry-cleaned, because any moisture is dangerous to the plaster.
Then they are touched up and repainted but Ms Ainsworth and her team are not replacing major amputations or damage. "We are removing stains, including splashes of old wine from time to time - people have been guilty of resting a glass of wine or two on a sculptural plinth, even though they are works of art, and not furniture," she said.
"We also have to fill cracks to stop dirt and insects getting inside them. On the main pieces, if they are damaged, we are tending to leave them with those parts missing - they are, after all, casts and sometimes there is more than one. We can replace bits missing but it is not considered vital for what the students use them for."
It is thought that much of the conservation work will be finished by June.
Once the pieces in the GSA collection have been restored, special cast tours will be held so members of the public can learn more about the sculptures and the role the casts have played in Mackintosh history.
