This book gathers a collection of marble busts and heads that formed part of the Townley collection. The Townley collection was formed by Charles Townley, a wealthy Englishman with a passion for sculpture, who spent most of his life building one of the most celebrated collections of antiquities of his time. Upon his death in 1805, the collection was bought by the British Museum and remains one of the most important sources of Classical sculpture in the world. This book documents the busts and heads in the collection as they were in 1818, and provides detailed descriptions and historical context for each of the pieces. Each sculpture is accompanied by an accessible overview of what is known about its subject and the broader historical and literary contexts for the piece. The book is a significant contribution to the study of Classical art, providing a valuable record of one of the most comprehensive collections of Roman sculpture in the world, and a fascinating insight into the art and culture of the Classical world.

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