Charles Townley
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 15:38, 16 September 2009 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) (Charles Towneley moved to Charles Townley) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| '''Charles Townley''' or '''Towneley''' (1733–January 3, 1810), English [[antiquary]] and [[collector]] of marbles, famously represented in ''[[Charles Towneley in the Park St. Gallery]]'' a conversation piece by German painter [[Johann Zoffany]]. | '''Charles Townley''' or '''Towneley''' (1733–January 3, 1810), English [[antiquary]] and [[collector]] of marbles, famously represented in ''[[Charles Towneley in the Park St. Gallery]]'' a conversation piece by German painter [[Johann Zoffany]]. | ||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| == Biography == | == Biography == | ||
| He was born at [[Towneley Hall|Towneley]], the family seat, near [[Burnley]] in [[Lancashire]], on the 1st of October 1737. (He regularly spelt his name Townley, so this is the spelling usually used in modern literature.) From a Catholic family and thus excluded both from public office and from English universities, he was educated at the [[University of Douai|college of Douai]], and subsequently under [[John Turberville Needham]], the physiologist and divine. In 1758 he took up his residence at [[Towneley Hall]], where he lived the ordinary life of a country gentleman until 1767, when he left England on the [[Grand Tour]], chiefly to Rome, which he also visited in 1772-3 and 1777. He also made several excursions to the south of Italy and Sicily. In conjunction with various dealers, including [[Gavin Hamilton, artist and antiquarian ]], and [[Thomas Jenkins (antiquary)|Thomas Jenkins]], a dealer in antiquities in Rome, he got together a splendid collection of antiquities, which was deposited in 1778 in a house built for the purpose in Park Street, in the West End of London, where he died on the 8th of January 1805. His solitary publication was an account of a Roman cavalry helmet found at [[Ribchester]]. | He was born at [[Towneley Hall|Towneley]], the family seat, near [[Burnley]] in [[Lancashire]], on the 1st of October 1737. (He regularly spelt his name Townley, so this is the spelling usually used in modern literature.) From a Catholic family and thus excluded both from public office and from English universities, he was educated at the [[University of Douai|college of Douai]], and subsequently under [[John Turberville Needham]], the physiologist and divine. In 1758 he took up his residence at [[Towneley Hall]], where he lived the ordinary life of a country gentleman until 1767, when he left England on the [[Grand Tour]], chiefly to Rome, which he also visited in 1772-3 and 1777. He also made several excursions to the south of Italy and Sicily. In conjunction with various dealers, including [[Gavin Hamilton, artist and antiquarian ]], and [[Thomas Jenkins (antiquary)|Thomas Jenkins]], a dealer in antiquities in Rome, he got together a splendid collection of antiquities, which was deposited in 1778 in a house built for the purpose in Park Street, in the West End of London, where he died on the 8th of January 1805. His solitary publication was an account of a Roman cavalry helmet found at [[Ribchester]]. | ||
| The trustees of the [[British Museum]] obtained from parliament a grant of £20,000, probably not half the original cost; and for this sum his marbles and the larger bronzes and terracottas were purchased from the family in 1805, and still form the core of its [[Graeco-Roman]] collection. The small antiquities, including coins, [[engraved gem]]s, and pottery, followed in 1814. | The trustees of the [[British Museum]] obtained from parliament a grant of £20,000, probably not half the original cost; and for this sum his marbles and the larger bronzes and terracottas were purchased from the family in 1805, and still form the core of its [[Graeco-Roman]] collection. The small antiquities, including coins, [[engraved gem]]s, and pottery, followed in 1814. | ||
| - | |||
| - | He became the most famous member of the family and another of the treasures now at Towneley is a conversation piece by [[Johan Zoffany]] of Townley in his London house surrounded by an imaginary arrangement of his sculptures. Engaged in discussion with him are three fellow connoisseurs, the palaeographer [[Charles Astle]], Hon. [[Charles Francis Greville]], F.R.S., and [[Pierre-François Hugues D'Hancarville]]. Prominent in front are Townley's Roman marble of the ''[[Discobolos]]'', the ''Nymph with a Shell'', of which the most famous variant was also in the Borghese collection and a ''Faun'' of the [[Barberini Faun|Barberini type]]. On a pedestal in front of the fireplace, the ''Boys Fighting'' from the Barberini collection had been Towneley's first major purchase, in 1768: [[Winckelmann]] had identified it as a lost original by [[Polyclitus (sculptor)|Polyclitus]]. In point of fact, Towneley's only Greek original appears to have been the grave relief on the left wall above the ''Bust of a Maenad'' posed on a wall bracket. The so-called ''Bust of Clytie'' perches on the small writing-table, in Zoffany's assembly of the Townley marbles: it was extensively reproduced in marble, plaster, and the white bisque porcelain called parian ware for its supposed resemblance to [[Parian marble]]. [[Goethe]] owned two casts of this. The ''Townley Venus'' on a Roman [[Puteal|well-head]] that serves as drum pedestal had been discovered by [[Gavin Hamilton]] at [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia]] and quietly shipped out of the Papal States as two fragmentary pieces The marble "[[Townley_Vase|Towneley Vase]]", also furtively exported, stands on the bookcase at the rear: it was excavated about 1774 by Gavin Hamilton at Monte Cagnolo. | ||
| A large archive of Townley's papers, including diaries, account books, bills, correspondence, and catalogues, was acquired by the British Museum in 1992. | A large archive of Townley's papers, including diaries, account books, bills, correspondence, and catalogues, was acquired by the British Museum in 1992. | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Charles Townley or Towneley (1733–January 3, 1810), English antiquary and collector of marbles, famously represented in Charles Towneley in the Park St. Gallery a conversation piece by German painter Johann Zoffany.
Biography
He was born at Towneley, the family seat, near Burnley in Lancashire, on the 1st of October 1737. (He regularly spelt his name Townley, so this is the spelling usually used in modern literature.) From a Catholic family and thus excluded both from public office and from English universities, he was educated at the college of Douai, and subsequently under John Turberville Needham, the physiologist and divine. In 1758 he took up his residence at Towneley Hall, where he lived the ordinary life of a country gentleman until 1767, when he left England on the Grand Tour, chiefly to Rome, which he also visited in 1772-3 and 1777. He also made several excursions to the south of Italy and Sicily. In conjunction with various dealers, including Gavin Hamilton, artist and antiquarian , and Thomas Jenkins, a dealer in antiquities in Rome, he got together a splendid collection of antiquities, which was deposited in 1778 in a house built for the purpose in Park Street, in the West End of London, where he died on the 8th of January 1805. His solitary publication was an account of a Roman cavalry helmet found at Ribchester.
The trustees of the British Museum obtained from parliament a grant of £20,000, probably not half the original cost; and for this sum his marbles and the larger bronzes and terracottas were purchased from the family in 1805, and still form the core of its Graeco-Roman collection. The small antiquities, including coins, engraved gems, and pottery, followed in 1814.
A large archive of Townley's papers, including diaries, account books, bills, correspondence, and catalogues, was acquired by the British Museum in 1992.
