Charles Townley, a draft catalogue of sculptures at Park Street, Westminster

London, England, AD 1802-3

At the end of the eighteenth century, Charles Townley's magnificent collection of classical sculpture and other antiquities was one of the great sights of London. Townley was happy to guide visitors around his collection, which was displayed at his house in Park Street, Westminster. To inform his visitors he also produced a series of catalogues, mainly written in his own hand. He updated them as the collections expanded and the displays altered.

In the introduction to this catalogue, Townley explains its purpose:

'Many persons who come to see these marbles being desirous to know their subject and the places where they were found or formerly stood, this catalogue is compiled for that purpose with as much brevity, for the sake of the cursory observer, as a wish to satisfy the more inquisitive would allow.'

The entry shown here describes a Roman sculpture showing Actaeon being savaged by his hounds after he incurred the displeasure of the goddess Diana. The group was one of a pair, both of which were acquired by Townley, although he later exchanged the other with the antiquities dealer Thomas Jenkins.

B.F. Cook, The Townley Marbles (London, The British Museum Press, 1985)

A. Wilton and I. Bignamini (eds.), Grand Tour: the lure of Italy (London, Tate Gallery Publishing, 1996)