Full Name: Pryce, Frederick Norman
Gender: male
Date Born: 1888
Date Died: 1953
Home Country/ies: United Kingdom
Subject Area(s): antiquities (object genre), Classical, and Roman (ancient Italian culture or period)
Career(s): curators
Overview
Keeper of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum; the curator held principally responsible for the disastrous “cleaning” of the Elgin Marbles incident in 1937-1939. In 1935 he revised The Grandeur that was Rome, a survey originally written by J. C. Stobart (1878-1933). In 1936 Pryce became Keeper of the department of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Under Pryce the cleaning of the Elgin Marbles was resumed. The Elgin Marbles had periodically been washed throughout their history in England. In1932 the group was cleaned again. In the summer of 1937 fourteen blocks of north frieze and the west frieze block II were taken down and their plaster and Portland stone restorations removed. A second “cleaning” of the stones occurred and the group was replaced exhibit. This phase of cleaning continued through 1938.
Selected Bibliography
Corpus vasorum antiquorum. Great Britain. British Museum. Department of Greek and Roman antiquities. London: The Museum, fasicule 7. 1932; revised, Stobart, John Clarke. The Grandeur that was Rome: a Survey of Roman Culture and Civilisation. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1935.
Sources
The British Museum. section 2. “Cleaning of the Sculptures 1811-1936.” http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/parthenon/2