Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 2 of 2: With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.Edwards, Edward
History
Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 2 of 2: With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.
Edwards, Edward
Book collectors -- Great Britain; British Museum
3. _Gallery of the Rotunda._—From one hundred and eighty to one
hundred and ninety feet in circumference, and about nine feet wide.
The powerful light from the centre of the dome would be favourable to
terracotta statuettes and bas-reliefs, which could all be contained in
shallow wall-cases, that would not materially narrow the gangway.[48]
The Townley Collection of bas-reliefs, now in the Second Vase Room,
might be arranged in panels all round, so as to produce a decorative
effect, agreeable to their original destination.
[Sidenote: ACCOMMODATION FOR TERRACOTTAS.]
The entire space provided in these two rooms is much more than our
terracottas can absolutely require; but this will facilitate an
ornamental arrangement of the collection, appropriate to the character
of the larger room. The small spaces between the Rotunda and the main
building would serve for closets.
[Sidenote: GLASS ROOM.]
4. _Glass Room_, twenty-eight feet by twenty-six.—The fittings proper
for glass being different from those of terracottas, it is desirable
to give it a separate room. This should be similarly arranged to the
Vase Gallery, with wall-cases eight feet high, and table-cases in the
centre.
[Sidenote: BRONZE GALLERY. ITS ACCOMMODATION.]
5. _Bronze Gallery_, three apartments united; together eighty-two feet
by twenty-eight.—As the advantage of a skylight for the bronze
statuettes is necessarily sacrificed by the adoption of an upper
floor, it would be best to place them, as far as possible, against
each side of the transverse projections, separating those sides by
internal partitions, and employing some contrivance to protect the
bronzes from the cross light of the further windows, an arrangement
possible with small objects in glass cases, though not with large
statuary. In the middle of the gallery might be table-cases, placed
longitudinally, or important objects on pedestals. The increase of
accommodation in the Bronze Gallery, as in the Vase Gallery, is more
than proportionate to the increase of space. Though the superficial
area is only two thousand two hundred and ninety-six feet, in lieu of
our present quantity, two thousand and twenty-one, the extent of
wall-cases, which now is only one hundred and thirty-eight feet,
would, even allowing doorways of twelve feet wide between each of
these compartments, be increased to two hundred and fifty feet,
equivalent, after allowing for the difference in height of the cases,
to two hundred feet. This, if the Etruscan bronzes were transferred as
already suggested, would liberally provide for the Greek and Roman
Collection.
[Sidenote: SECOND FLOOR OF NEW BUILDINGS FOR ANTIQUITIES.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account