WILLIAM THE SECOND EARL OF LONSDALE’S COLLECTION OF ANCIENT SCULPTURE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-12

From 1842 until his death in 1872, Sir William Lowther, the second Earl of Lonsdale, gathered a remarkable collection of ancient works of art. The collection was displayed in two galleries added for this purpose to his manor in 1866. Of the great assemblage, acquired through the dismemberment of previous British collections, little information has come to our days. It was composed of more than 100 pieces of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, and mostly Roman sculpture, whose selection reflected during the Victorian era the spirit of the collections of the Golden Age of Dilettantism.
Mainly due to its dispersion, occurred through a series of sales between 1947 and 1970, the collection of antiquities set up by the Second Earl of Lonsdale at Lowther Castle is one of the least documented and investigated among those formed in 19th century England. The purpose of this contribution is to give an overview of the formation and the dispersion of the collection and try to clarify which cultural factors determined the gathering of that eclectic set of ancient objects.

Starting from primary sources, archival documents, and the scant reports published between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century this paper also aim to reconstruct the original display concept of the collection at Lowther Castle, understanding which parts of its original meaning can be extrapolated from its objects, now scattered worldwide in important public and private collections.


Author(s): Fadda, Salvatore (Università degli studi di Sassari)