's
Discobolus. Towneley Marbles,
British Museum The antiquities collected by Townley, which now constitute the Townley Collection at the
British Museum, consists of some 300 items and includes one of the great collections of Graeco-Roman sculptures and other artefacts. Prominent amongst this collection are: •
The Cannibal a fragmentary sculpture of two boys fighting over a game of
knucklebones identified by
Johann Joachim Winckelmann as the
Astragalizontes by the classical Greek sculptor
Polykleitos •
Bust of Clytie, thought by Townley to be
Isis emerging from a
sacred lotus •
Townley Hadrian •
Townley Antinous • Cista Mystica • A
relief of
Pan with
Jupiter and three
nymphs holding shells • Pair of statues of
Pan, signed by • Tombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos •
Townley Caryatid •
Townley Discobolus by
Myron, from
Hadrian's Villa •
Townley Greyhounds •
Townley Sphinx •
Townley Vase, from the Villa of Antoninus Pius at Monte Cagnolo •
Townley Venus The Knuckle Bone Player (Roman c.150AD) British Museum from the collection of Charles Townley.jpg|The Knuckle Bone Player (Roman c.150AD) ClytieTownley.JPG|Bust of Clytie SFEC BritMus Roman 002.JPG|A relief from Townley's collection, from
Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli, ca. 125 AD Hydria acrobat BM VaseF232.jpg|A female acrobat next to a potter's turntable. Detail from a Campanian red-figure hydria, ca. 340-330 BC. Tombstone Xanthippos BM Sc628.jpg|Tombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos. Marble, Greek artwork, ca. 430-420 BC. From Athens Head tiger BM OA10617.jpg|Head of a tiger, possibly a boss from the arms of a throne; Indian
The collection in Townley's house at 7 Park Street In 1778, following his last Grand Tour, he moved into a large house located in London, at 7 Park Street, in Westminster (now 14 Queen Anne’s Gate). The house was built by Mr. Barrett and the architect
Samuel Wyatt. On the ground floor, the collection was displayed in the entrance hall, the drawing room and the dining room. The entrance hall features reliefs, urns and sculptures. The dining room was the largest room, housing most of the large marble sculptures of the collection, such as the
Discobolus, the
Townley Caryatid and the
Townley Venus. On the first floor, the collection was displayed in the library and two small drawing rooms. The collector arranged his home in a symmetrical display, where the artworks complemented each other. The interior of the house is depicted in William Chambers’ watercolors and in Johann Zoffany’s painting. His house was decorated in an ‘antique style’, with red and blue walls evoking Pompeian frescoes. They were also decorated with ionic columns, niches, friezes and theater masks. Charles Townley’s house was open to the public, he promoted his collection with a card designed by William Skelton. The collector gave tours of his collection and provided a visitor’s leaflet with information about the marbles (descriptions, dates, origins, restorations).
The collection in the British Museum When the collector died on 3 January 1805, the future of his collection was uncertain. Charles Townley had written a will in which he bequeathed all his marbles to the British Museum. However, shortly before his death he decided to leave it to the care of his brother Edward and his uncle John Townley on the condition that the sculptures should be exhibited in a purpose-built gallery. In reaction, the museum wrote a petition dated 5 June 1805, expressing the desire to acquire the collection for £20.000, because of its quality and its popularity. The trustees of the museum obtained a parliamentary grant specifically for the purpose. Therefore, his family accepted to sold the collection of marbles and terracottas to the
British Museum. The smaller antiquities, including coins,
engraved gems, and pottery, followed in 1814, they were purchased by the museum from Peregrine Edward Towneley. In order to house the massive collection, the
Montague House of the British Museum was enlarged with a new gallery entitled the Townley Gallery, opened on 3 June 1808. Its interior is known from watercolors and engravings. As the collection of the museum's Greek and Roman antiquities grew, it became clear that the original building was too small for its purpose. The old Jacobean mansion was pulled down in 1823. After the destruction of the Towney Gallery in 1846, the collection was moved to the new building housing the museum, designed by Sir
Robert Smirke, with grand rooms arranged over two floors around a central courtyard. The collection was displayed in the Graeco-Roman rooms. In 1984, under the Duveen Gallery, former storage rooms were converted into exhibition rooms, and a Townley Room was created reuniting the marbles. Today, the artworks are displayed in various rooms especially in the section ‘Greek and Roman sculpture’.
Painting by Johann Zoffany , 1782, Burnley. Top, on the bookcase, the
Townley Vase. Right, on a
puteal (wellhead), the
Townley Venus. Charles Townley 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 major sculptures (over forty are represented). 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
Discobolus, the
Nymph with a Shell, of which the most famous variant was also in the Borghese collection and a
Faun of the
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
Polykleitos). 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
Bust of Clytie was apparently Townley's favourite sculpture and the one he took with him when he was forced to flee his home during the anti-Catholic
riots of 1780. The
Townley Venus on a Roman
well-head that serves as drum pedestal had been discovered by
Gavin Hamilton at
Ostia and quietly shipped out of the Papal States as two fragmentary pieces. The marble
Townley Vase, also furtively exported, stands on the bookcase at the rear: it was excavated about 1774 by Gavin Hamilton at Monte Cagnolo. ==Notes==