Beyond the Ure
A sculpture trail:
Explore beyond the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology to find sculpted monuments (or casts thereof) around the School of Humanities within the Edith Morley building that are relevant to the Ure Museum and its history. The University of Reading’s building originally designated ‘Faculty of Letters & Social Sciences’ is now named for Edith Morley, the first female professor in the UK, who was a Professor of English at University College Reading in the early 20th century, when its founders Annie Ure and Percy Ure first created the Museum of Greek Archaeology (as the Ure Museum was then called).
The monuments in this trail are relevant therefore not only to the Ure Museum and its history but to the history of these individuals and the University of Reading more broadly.
The route takes the visitor around the corridors of the School of Humanities and then back into the Ure Museum. A sculpture is a three dimensional artwork and a cast is a modern copy of a sculpture made in a mould. Casts allow us to study art that may long since have broken or lost. The inspiration of the trail was the Ure Museum’s newest acquisition, namely a bust of Professor Percy Ure (no. 13 on the trail), donated by his descendants. Text in turquoise provided under some entries provides additional information about how the monument has a personal link to the Ures.
Please follow the links below in order, jump from one to another, or follow specific themes—modern sculpture, specific artists, mythology, Roman era, Egyptian art or links to Africa. To access a theme simply click on the relevant word under the heading ‘Tag’ in the right sidebar.
Follow the Trail
1. Cast of a fragment from the Erechtheion frieze
2. Cast of a fragment from the Parthenon frieze
4. Casts of the Ludovisi and Boston Thrones
9. Cast of a relief depicting Egyptian soldiers in Ethiopia
10. Cast of a relief depicting Egyptian soldiers sailing to Ethiopia
11. Cast of a head of a Lapith
12. Tombstone of Domita Rogata
Further reading
NB see also references linked to relevant posts.
- A brief history of the University of Reading’s Classics Department
- A brief history of the Ure Museum provided by Professor Emerita Jane Gardner
- Reading Guild of Artists exhibition in the Reading Museum
- Annie Ure’s timeline
- Biography of Eric Stanford from The Court Gallery
- Wade, R. 2018. Domenico Brucciani and the Formatori of 19th-Century Britain. London: Bloomsbury.
- Watson, E.V. 1980. A history of the Reading Guild of Artists, 1930–1980.
- The University of Reading: A Pictorial History
- Ure, A. n. d. History of the Museum of Greek Archaeology [Ure Museum archives D12]
Credits
This trail was prepared by Chloe Gardner as part of an undergraduate academic placement module. It incorporates research conducted by several other students, as part of similar placements: Paige Churchill-Farmer (Protesilaus); Molly Spillane (Memnon); and Naomi Miller (Helen). Thanks are also due to Paul Davies for information about the School of Humanities casts, Jayne Holly for information about the Egyptian casts and Michael Twyman, who uncovered the mystery of the sculptor of Percy Ure’s bust.