The two marbles this week sold for £15,200 at Auctioneum Ltd in Bristol. Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said: “These two marbles changed not only the course of the war but the entire world as we know it.

Next spring, a traveling exhibition of the rarely-seen Torlonia Marbles will head to Chicago, Fort Worth, and Montreal. Many of these centuries-old sculptures will leave Rome for the very first time.