Plaster cast in the context of "Jean-Antoine Houdon"

The London cast of Dippy is a plaster cast replica of the fossilised bones of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton, the original of which – also known as Dippy – is on display at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The 26-metre (85 ft) long cast was displayed between 1905 and 2017 in the Natural History Museum in London, becoming an iconic representation of the museum. It began a national tour of British museums in February 2018. Dippy returned to London in June 2022, and then moved to Coventry as a long-term loan to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 2023.

Dippy is a composite Diplodocus skeleton in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the holotype of the species Diplodocus carnegii. It is considered the most famous single dinosaur skeleton in the world, due to the numerous plaster casts donated by Andrew Carnegie to several major museums around the world at the beginning of the 20th century.

The casting and distribution of the skeleton made the word dinosaur a household word; for millions of people it became the first dinosaur they had ever seen. It was also responsible for the subsequent popularity of the entire genus Diplodocus, since the skeleton has been on display in more places than any other sauropod dinosaur.

A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits. The main purpose of the death mask from the Middle Ages until the 19th century was to serve as a model for sculptors in creating statues and busts of the deceased person. Not until the 1800s did such masks become valued for themselves.

In other cultures a death mask may be a funeral mask, an image placed on the face of the deceased before burial rites, and normally buried with them. The best known of these are the masks used in ancient Egypt as part of the mummification process, such as the mask of Tutankhamun, and those from Mycenaean Greece such as the Mask of Agamemnon. When taken from a living subject, such a cast is called a life mask.

A pointing machine is a measuring tool used by stone sculptors and woodcarvers to accurately copy plaster, clay or wax sculpture models into wood or stone.In essence the device is a pointing needle that can be set to any position and then fixed. It further consists of brass or stainless steel rods and joints which can be placed into any position and then tightened. It is not actually a machine; its name is derived from the Italian macchinetta di punta.The invention of the tool has been ascribed to both the French sculptor and medallist Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux (1751–1832) and to the British sculptor John Bacon (1740–1799). It was later perfected by Canova. However, similar devices were used in ancient times, when the copying of Greek sculptures for the Roman market was a large industry.

The Royal Academicians in General Assembly is a 1795 oil painting by the English artist Henry Singleton. It depicts the assembled members of the British Royal Academy of Arts in the Council Chamber at Somerset House in London, then the headquarters of the academy. They are judging the various works of art produced by students of the academy. In his diary Joseph Farington noted disagreements amongst the Academicians about their respective placings in the picture. It includes many members who did not actually attend meetings including the two founding female members Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser.

On the wall on the right is a self-portrait of the first president of the Royal Academy Joshua Reynolds who had died in 1792. Two subsequent presidents are shown in the crowd, his successor the American-born Benjamin West and the young Thomas Lawrence, then an associate of the Royal Academy. West sits on the Presidential throne while to his right in a yellow waistcoat is the architect William Chambers who had designed the building at Somerset House. The noted portraitist William Beechey is included, although he wasn't elected for another three years. There are a number of casts of sculptures on display behind the artists, including the Apollo Belvedere, Borghese Gladiator, Laocoön and His Sons, and Venus de' Medici. The paintings include portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte by Reynolds, Christ Blessing Little Children by West, Spring by Mary Moser, The Tribute Money by John Singleton Copley and Samson and Delilah by John Francis Rigaud.

A sculptural pairing of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton (Ancient Greek: Ἁρμόδιος καὶ Ἀριστογείτων, romanized: Harmodios, Aristogeitōn) was well known in the ancient world in two major versions but survives only in Roman marble copies. The lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton were Athenian heroes whose assassination of the tyrant Hipparchus in 514 BC opened the way for Athenian democracy.