A view of Rome from the Palatine Hill

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, was appointed Ambassador to Constantinople in 1799. His tenure was characterised by a desire to make Classical culture more available to British artists, as part of which he hoped to publish accurate drawings of ancient buildings and to make plaster casts of the main pieces of ancient sculpture in Athens. He also oversaw the removal and shipping to England of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, now in the British Museum, London.