My project is to map 19th-c. French and British artists’ replicas, which were works of art that are versions of a first version and made by the artist of that first version. Given that the replica was usually the hub of its own cultural, economic and social changes, my mapping project will spatially explore replicas’ contributions to art production, reception, the market, and aesthetic value across time since the early 19th century. I want to map (1) geographic sites where replicas and first versions were produced, commissioned, and collected and (2) explore how changing provenance of these objects to measure changes in taste over time and the transatlantic market for replicas. I would like to determine whether exhibitions of a replica or first version inspired commissions, or if these trajectories were distinct, indicating replicas’ independence from exhibition networks, and if they helped define and shape the 19th-c. political economy of art.

Source: MY Doing DH project