| Summary: | Envisioned since the foundation of the Committee on Historical monuments and in particular after the Revolution of 1848, the creation of a cast museum displaying French medieval sculpture was not adopted until 1879, when Jules Ferry approved Viollet-le-Duc’s project for a Museum of comparative sculpture. Twenty-four years earlier, the architect had already spoken up on behalf of a humble cast-maker, Auguste Malzieux. Viollet-le-Duc proposal was to assemble in the Louvre Malzieux’s incredible collection of life-size casts of French sculpture from the eleventh to sixteenth centuries. Historians have generally recognized this suggestion as a phase in the creation of the Museum of comparative sculpture but without appreciating its scope and destiny. Focusing on Auguste Malzieux’s personality, this communication presents original research which reveals that the collection of this little-known figure was not only presented in an ephemeral ‘Museum of Mediaeval Archaeology’ but also found new fortunes.
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