Plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculptures provided the principal means of studying classical works of art from the 15th century until the end of the 19th century. This fascinating and ambitious study presents a history of taste, beginning in late medieval Italy and ending in Oxford in 1897, which is also a history of Classical scholarship in Oxford. Illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings of statues, collectors, scholars, buildings and Oxford, Kurtz discusses early collectors of Classical art, Britain's earliest collections, the Grand Tour, 18th-century archaeology and the Classical museums and galleries of Britain. Scholars discussed include Percy Gardner, John Davidson Beazley, Bernard Ashmole, Martin Robertson and John Boardman. Includes a lengthy chronology.