DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.803#0008
.' ELGIN MARBLES. 3
Lusieri on the almost daily injury which the originals
were suffering from the violent hands of the Turks,
who were engaged in dilapidating the building piece-
meal, in order to dispose of the fragments to travel-
lers, he was at length induced to consent to the
removal of whole pieces of sculpture, and thus after
some years spent in the operation, succeeded in
acquiring all those exquisite statues, and alti and
bassi rilievi which are now called the Elgin Marbles.
At his Lordship's departure from Turkey in 1803,
he withdrew five out of the six artists, sent home
what he had collected, and left Lusieri to continue
such further operations as might tend to make his
collection more complete.
In 1811, Mr. Perceval was disposed to recom-
mend the sum of 30,00(M. to be given for the collec-
tion as it then existed, but the offer was declined on
the part of Lord Elgin, who still continued to add
to his treasures. As late as 1812, eighty cases addi-
tional to the collection arrived in England *.
In 1815 the negotiation was renewed, Lord Elgin
offering, in a petition to the House of Commons,
to transfer the property of his Collection to the public,
upon such conditions as the House might deem
advisable, after an inquiry upon evidence into its
merits and value.
In the House of Commons this proposal met with
a partial opposition.. On one side, it was regretted
that these sculptures should have been taken from the
* Among the articles added at this time, were the neck and
shoulders of the colossal central figure of the -western pediment,
called by Visconti, Neptune; the forehead of Minerva; and the
two heads of the horses of Hyperion; three metopes, the most
perfect in the collection, marked 6, 9, and 13, in Visconti's list;
twenty slabs of the procession on the frieze; an antique lyre, and
two ancient flutes of cedar wood ; a bronze urn, with a marble
urn which enclosed it; and a cabinet of medals*
Lusieri on the almost daily injury which the originals
were suffering from the violent hands of the Turks,
who were engaged in dilapidating the building piece-
meal, in order to dispose of the fragments to travel-
lers, he was at length induced to consent to the
removal of whole pieces of sculpture, and thus after
some years spent in the operation, succeeded in
acquiring all those exquisite statues, and alti and
bassi rilievi which are now called the Elgin Marbles.
At his Lordship's departure from Turkey in 1803,
he withdrew five out of the six artists, sent home
what he had collected, and left Lusieri to continue
such further operations as might tend to make his
collection more complete.
In 1811, Mr. Perceval was disposed to recom-
mend the sum of 30,00(M. to be given for the collec-
tion as it then existed, but the offer was declined on
the part of Lord Elgin, who still continued to add
to his treasures. As late as 1812, eighty cases addi-
tional to the collection arrived in England *.
In 1815 the negotiation was renewed, Lord Elgin
offering, in a petition to the House of Commons,
to transfer the property of his Collection to the public,
upon such conditions as the House might deem
advisable, after an inquiry upon evidence into its
merits and value.
In the House of Commons this proposal met with
a partial opposition.. On one side, it was regretted
that these sculptures should have been taken from the
* Among the articles added at this time, were the neck and
shoulders of the colossal central figure of the -western pediment,
called by Visconti, Neptune; the forehead of Minerva; and the
two heads of the horses of Hyperion; three metopes, the most
perfect in the collection, marked 6, 9, and 13, in Visconti's list;
twenty slabs of the procession on the frieze; an antique lyre, and
two ancient flutes of cedar wood ; a bronze urn, with a marble
urn which enclosed it; and a cabinet of medals*