Editing Charles Townley

{{Short description|English art collector and antiquarian (1737–1805)}}
{{for|the British officer of arms|Charles Townley (officer of arms)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
[[File:Charles Townley, miniature by Josiah Wedgewood.jpg|thumb|Charles Townley, miniature by [[Josiah Wedgwood]]]]
'''Charles Townley''' [[Royal Society|FRS]] (1 October 1737 – 3 January 1805<ref>{{cite DNB |last=Wroth |first=Warwick William |author-link=Warwick William Wroth |wstitle=Towneley, Charles |volume=57 |pages=97–98 }}</ref>) was a wealthy English country gentleman, antiquary and collector, a member of the [[Towneley family]]. He travelled on three Grand Tours to Italy, buying antique sculpture, vases, coins, manuscripts and Old Master drawings and paintings. Many of the most important pieces from his collection, especially the '''Townley Marbles''' (or '''Towneley Marbles''') are now in the British Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities. The marbles were overshadowed at the time, and still today, by the [[Elgin Marbles]].

==Biography==
[[File:Bust of Charles Townley (1735-1805 CE), by Christopher Hewetson, Rome, 1769 CE. Collector and Trustee of the British Museum. It is housed in the British Museum, London.JPG|thumb|Bust of Charles Townley (1735–1805), by [[Christopher Hewetson]], [[British Museum]]]]
Charles Townley was born in England at [[Towneley Hall]], the family seat, near [[Burnley]] in Lancashire, on 1 October 1737.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Towneley, Charles |volume=27 |page=111}}</ref> He was the eldest son of William Towneley (1714–1741) and Cecilia, daughter and heiress of [[Standish family|Ralph Standish]] of [[Standish, Greater Manchester|Standish, Lancashire]], and granddaughter of [[Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk]].<ref name=DNB>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Towneley, Charles|volume=57}}</ref> From a Catholic family and thus excluded both from public office and from English universities,<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Test Acts|volume=26|pages=665–666}}</ref> he was educated at the [[English College, Douai]], and subsequently under [[John Turberville Needham]], the biologist and [[Roman Catholic]] priest.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1758 he came of age and took up his residence at Towneley Hall,<ref>{{cite web | title=Towneley Hall |website=Burnley Borough Council |date=1 January 2017 |url=http://www.burnley.gov.uk/towneley/ }}</ref> where he made improvements to his estate. In 1765 he left England on the [[Grand Tour]], where he established a base in Rome.<ref name="EB1911"/> He also visited Florence,  [[Southern Italy]] and Sicily.<ref name=DNB /> He returned to London in 1772, but continued to make occasional visits to Italy until 1780.<ref name=DNB /> In conjunction with various dealers, including [[Gavin Hamilton (artist)|Gavin Hamilton]], and [[Thomas Jenkins (antiquary)|Thomas Jenkins]], a dealer in antiquities in Rome, he got together a splendid collection of antiquities,<ref name="EB1911"/> known especially for the "Townley Marbles" (or "Towneley"),<ref>{{cite book|title=Collectors &amp; Collections|publisher=British Museum|date=1977|page=40}}</ref> which was deposited in 1778 in a house built for the purpose in Park Street, now No. 14 [[Queen Anne's Gate]], in the West End of London, where he died on 8 January 1805.<ref name="EB1911"/>

His solitary publication was an account of the [[Ribchester Helmet]] in ''[[Vetusta Monumenta]]'', a Roman cavalry helmet found near Towneley Hall,<ref name="EB1911"/>{{sfn|Wroth|1899|pp=97–98}} and now in the British Museum.<ref name="bm">{{Cite web| title=Cavalry sports helmet | url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/c/cavalry_sports_helmet.aspx | publisher=[[British Museum]] | access-date=1 September 2010 }}</ref> He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in March 1791.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |title=Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007 |publisher=The Royal Society |access-date=19 July 2010 |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324095152/http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |archive-date=24 March 2010 }}</ref> He became a member of the [[Society of Dilettanti]] 1786, and made a [[List of trustees of the British Museum|trustee of the British Museum]] in 1791.{{sfn|Wroth|1899|pp=97–98}}

A large archive of Townley's papers, including diaries, account books, bills, correspondence, and catalogues, was acquired by the British Museum in 1992.

A bust of Townley was made in Carrara marble in 1807 by his associate and friend, sculptor [[Joseph Nollekens]].  It shows Townley in herm form – head and neck only, without full shoulders or arms – with a bare neck, dishevelled hair and a pensive expression.  The [[National Heritage Memorial Fund]], in whose 2008-9 annual report the bust is described as "masterfully executed", made a grant of £187,000 to help purchase the bust so that it could be returned to Towneley Hall Museum in the collector's former family home on the outskirts of Burnley.

==Townley Collection==
[[File:Discobolus side 2.jpg|thumb|Roman marble copy of [[Myron]]'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]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-7|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Clytie (Oceanid)#Bust .28Townley collection.29|Bust of Clytie]], thought by Townley to be [[Isis]] emerging from a [[Nymphaea lotus|sacred lotus]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=portrait bust {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-79|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Townley Hadrian]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=bust {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-94|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Townley Antinous]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=portrait head {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-97|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* Cista Mystica<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/britain/enlightenment_religion/charles_townleys_cista_mystica.aspx ''Charles Townley's cista mystica'']. The British Museum.</ref>
* A [[relief]] of [[Pan (god)|Pan]] with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and three [[nymphs]] holding shells<ref>{{Cite web|title=relief {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-470|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* Pair of statues of [[Pan (god)|Pan]], signed by [[Marcus Cossutius Cerdo]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-28|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* Tombstone of the shoemaker Xanthippos<ref>{{Cite web|title=stela {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-183|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Townley Caryatid]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=caryatid {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-44|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* ''[[Townley Discobolus]]'' by [[Myron]], from [[Hadrian's Villa]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-43|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Townley Greyhounds]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-8|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Townley Sphinx]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue; table (probably) {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-40|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Townley Vase]], from the Villa of Antoninus Pius at Monte Cagnolo<ref>{{Cite web|title=vase {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-218|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Townley Venus]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=statue {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-15|access-date=2020-10-14|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>

When Townley died in 1805 his family sold the collection of marbles, larger bronzes and terracottas to the [[British Museum]] for £20,000 – a sum probably a fraction of its original purchase price. The trustees of the museum obtained a parliamentary grant specifically for the purpose.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1805/jun/05/petition-from-the-british-museum ''Petition from the British Museum, Respecting Mr Townley's Collection'']. Hansard HC Deb 5 June 1805 vol 5 cc170-2.</ref> The smaller antiquities, including coins, [[engraved gem]]s, and pottery, followed in 1814.

Townley fully intended to leave this collection to the British Museum, as indicated in his will. 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. The gallery was duly constructed, but as the collection of the museum's Greek and Roman antiquities grew, it became clear that the old [[Montagu House, Bloomsbury|Montague House]], the original home of the museum, was too small for its purpose. The old Jacobean mansion and its Palladian-style Townley Gallery were pulled down in 1823 and gradually replaced with grand rooms arranged over two floors around a central courtyard, today's quadrangular building.<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/departments/greece_and_rome/history_of_the_collection.aspx ''History of the collection'']. The British Museum.</ref>
<gallery>
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
</gallery>

===Painting by Johann Zoffany===
[[File:Zoffani, Johann - Charles Towneley in his Sculpture Gallery - 1782.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Charles Townley in the Park St. Gallery by [[Zoffany]], 1782, Burnley. Top, on the bookcase, the [[Townley Vase]]. Right, on a [[puteal]], 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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burnley.gov.uk/towneley/collections/parkst/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060115213310/http://www.burnley.gov.uk/towneley/collections/parkst/ |archivedate=2006-01-15 |title=Charles Townley and friends in the Park Street Gallery, Westminister |website=Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museums |publisher=Burnley Borough Council}}</ref> by [[Johan Zoffany]] of Townley in his London house surrounded by an imaginary arrangement of his major sculptures (over forty are represented).<ref group=lower-alpha>In August 1781 Townley wrote to [[James Byres]], the antiquary and dealer in Rome, that ''"Mr Zoffany is painting, in the Stile of his [[Tribuna of the Uffizi (painting)|Florence tribune]], a room in my house, wherein he introduces what Subjects he chuses in my collection. It will be a picture of extraordinary effect & truth..."'' (Kitto 2005).</ref> 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]]'',<ref group=lower-alpha>It was discovered at [[Hadrian's Villa]] in 1790 and purchased by Towneley in 1792; it was such an important addition to the Towneley marbles that Zoffany was called in to add it to the painting. The head looking forward was a controversial restoration.</ref> the ''Nymph with a Shell'', of which the most famous variant was also in the Borghese collection<ref group=lower-alpha>Now at the [[Musée du Louvre]].</ref> 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 ([[Johann Joachim Winckelmann|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''<ref group=lower-alpha>Towneley purchased it directly from the Laurenzano family in Naples in July 1772 for 530 ducats (Kitto 2005)</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Francis |last1=Haskell |first2=Nicholas |last2=Penny |year=1981 |title=Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500–1900 |page=68 }}.</ref> 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 [[Gordon Riots|riots]] of 1780.

The ''Townley Venus'' on a Roman [[Puteal|well-head]] that serves as drum pedestal had been discovered by [[Gavin Hamilton (artist)|Gavin Hamilton]] at [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]] and quietly shipped out of the Papal States as two fragmentary pieces.<ref>{{harvnb|Haskell|Penny|1981|p=68}}.</ref> 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==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* I. Bignamini, C. Hornsby, ''Digging And Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome'' (2010), p.&nbsp;326–331
* Tony Kitto, 'The celebrated connoisseur: Charles Townley, 1737–1805', in ''Minerva Magazine'' (May/June 2005), in connection with a British Museum exhibition celebrating the bicentennial of the Townley purchase. 
* ''A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701–1800, Compiled from the [[Brinsley Ford]] Archive by John Ingamells'' (1997)
* [https://archive.org/details/townleygalleryc00elligoog <!-- quote=greek sculpture. --> Sir Henry Ellis: ''The Townley Gallery of Classic Sculpture in the British Museum'' 1846.]
*{{cite journal
  |title = Townley at the B. M. and Cavaceppi at the Clarendon Gallery. London
  |last = Penny
  |first = Nicholas
  |journal = [[The Burlington Magazine]]
  |issn = 0007-6287
  |volume = 126
  |issue = 970
  |year = 1984
  |pages = 2, 54–6
  |jstor = 881529
  }}
*B.F. Cook, The Townley Marbles London, The British Museum Press, 1985
*Nicole Cochrane, '[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1754-0208.12775 Ancient art and the eighteenth-century auction: Collecting, catalogues and competition]' ''Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies'' 2021

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[[Category:1737 births]]
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[[Category:18th-century antiquarians]]
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[[Category:English art collectors]]
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[[Category:People associated with the British Museum]]
[[Category:Townley collection|*]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
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[[Category:English College, Douai alumni]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Towneley family|Charles]]