Marble Mania

This fascinating catalogue documents the English obsession with marble sculpture, during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The display of classical sculpture was an essential requisite of every grand house in Britain during that period, and shaped the nature of the English country house - Holkham Hall, Kedleston Hall, Syon House, and many other equally famous examples. The master example was the Arundel collection, which itself drew on Italian precedents. There sculpture had been mounted in gardens, and the exedra as a means of display was taken over into English practice. The entrance hall with sculpture was then developed in unique form alongside the long gallery. Also to be considered are crypts and grottos, and study collections in the houses of men like Charles Townley, and indeed John Soane. This fascinating survey by Ruth Guilding gives valuable insight into an essential aspect of English 18th-century taste and culture. "...never forget that the most valuable acquisition a man of refined taste can make is a piece of fine Greek sculpture", as Hamilton wrote to Townley in 1771."