Charles Townley

Charles Townley FRS (1 October 1737 – 3 January 1805[1]) was a wealthy English country gentleman, antiquary and collector, a member of the Towneley family.

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

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 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.

Prominent in front are Townley's Roman marble of the Discobolus,[b] the Nymph with a Shell, of which the most famous variant was also in the Borghese collection[c] and a Faun of the 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 (Winckelmann had identified it as a lost original by Polykleitos).

The Townley Venus on a Roman well-head that serves as drum pedestal had been discovered by Gavin Hamilton at Ostia and quietly shipped out of the Papal States as two fragmentary pieces.

[28] 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.