H 305 x W 229 mm
438 pages
14 figures and 154 plates in full colour throughout
Published Oct 2020
ISBN
Hardback: 9781789696554
Keywords
Wilton House; Classical Sculpture; Roman; Antiquity; Catalogue; Early Modern
Related titles
Edited by Peter Stewart
Hardback
£90.00
The Wilton House sculptures constituted one of the largest and most celebrated collections of ancient art in Europe, formed around the late 1710s and 1720s by Thomas Herbert, the eccentric 8th Earl of Pembroke. Lavishly illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, this catalogue offers the first comprehensive publication of the collection.
Preface ;
Image Credits ;
Introduction ;
Catalogue ;
Statues, Statuettes, and Herms ;
Busts and Heads ;
Reliefs and Miscellaneous Objects ;
Architectural Elements ;
Plates ;
Appendix 1 Works Formerly in the Collection ;
Appendix 2 Concordance to Michaelis ;
Index of Names and Places
'This volume on the marbles at Wilton House forms an impressive addition to the literature on the privately owned collections of antiquities in Britain.' – Clare Hornsby, Journal of the History of Collections (2021)
'This impressive book is the first comprehensive publication of the sculptures assembled in the early eighteenth century at Wilton House near Salisbury in Wiltshire by Thomas Herbert (1656–1733), eighth Earl of Pembroke... This book is a must for anyone interested in classical art and its subsequent artistic history, interpretation, and reception.' – Mark Merrony, Antiqvvs, Issue 9, Winter 2021/22
'Attentive readers will glean that a number of pieces sold off in the last century have returned to Wilton, a poignant demonstration of the current generation’s devotion to preserving the family’s important classical legacy. Stewart, too, advances this effort; his up-to-date, informative catalogue admirably succeeds in introducing the 150 or so sculptures on view at Wilton today to a scholarly audience. His work clears away the many cobwebs that have entangled the reception of Wilton’s antiquities and lays a solid foundation for future investigations.' – Elizabeth Bartman (2022): American Journal of Archaeology
‘P. Stewart does not fail to capture the personality of Pembroke, to evoke its eccentricity – which has earned a number of works preposterous identifications – but also its culture, which was also reflected in an impressive collection old books and medals, successively sold between 1828 and 1920. What was undoubtedly the largest collection of antiques in the kingdom and a real tourist attraction of which the guides of the 18th century keep the memory had almost sunk into oblivion and it is all the credit of William, 18th Earl of Pembroke and 15th Earl of Montgomery, and the Wilton Trustees for restoring it to some luster by truly resuscitating it, at the price of redemptions in public sales where reappeared certain works and research in the various dependencies of the area where a few items had gone astray in conservation conditions often deplorable, to have carried out certain restorations and decided to entrust P. Stewart the task of producing this catalog, which he has done all the more exemplary that the difficulties were numerous.
…this large volume is very well edited (beautiful matte paper, sturdy hardback and illustrated dust jacket) by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.’ – translation of Jean-Charles Balty (2022): L’Antiquité Classique 90