A re-examination of the British collectors who bankrupted themselves to possess antique marble statues. Analyzing the motives the drove "Marble Mania" in England from the 17th to 19th centuries, it examines how the trend entrenches the ideals of connoisseurship and taste, exacerbates socio-economic inequities, and serves nationalist propaganda.

A lively re-examination of the British collectors of antique sculpture from 1640-1840, revealing a story of pride, rivalry, snobbery and obsession with posterity and possession.