Charles Towneley

[poliphilo]

Charles Towneley (1733-1805) by Johan Zoffany.
 
Towneley was under the impression that his statues were Greek; we now know they were mainly Roman copies. Near the centre of the composition is the bust of Clytie- possibly a portrait of Mark Antony's daughter Antonia- which Towneley liked to refer to as his "wife". During the anti-catholic Gordon riots, when his London town house was under threat by the mob, Towneley went back inside- at some personal risk- to rescue Clytie. Unlike most connoisseurs Towneley allowed his collection to be viewed by the public. After his death the British Museum bought the collection from the family for £20,000.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There's a gallery in London's Victoria and Albert Museum where they keep all the plaster casts. Not only do they have statues, but entire gothic archways and the like. I've always thought it would be a brilliant place to film a Hitchcockian chase sequence.