
Luke Batterham
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"Privately printed. Fifty copies were struck off for presents" (Lowndes).
Henry Blundell (1724-1810), of Ince Blundell in Lancashire, had begun collecting (mostly Old Master paintings) in the 1760s. In 1776, encouraged by his neighbour, the antiquary Charles Townley, he travelled to Italy, where he started to purchase antiquities. During three subsequent journeys (the last in 1790) he amassed the largest private collection in England. It was kept at Ince until the sale of the estate in 1959, when the collection was gifted to the City of Liverpool, and is now housed at the Walker Art Gallery. See illustration overleaf.