It has taken years to decide the fate of the Bouchardon Bust, which was made by French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon in the early 18th century and depicts the late landowner and politician John Gordon.

A council is preparing to sell a valuable marble bust worth £2.5 million after it was found propping up a garden shed and bought for just £5. The sculpture of Sir John Gordon was made by French ...

When he was carving white marble, for example, he tried to suggest color: fashioning the eyes in his portrait busts, he would incise the irises deeply so that they lay in shadow and appeared dark.

It features 622 sculptures, including sarcophagi, statues of deities and marble busts of Roman emperors. After being locked away for much of the 20th century, the collection toured Europe in a ...