Grand Tour

The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through

The primary value of the Grand Tour lay in its exposure to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent. It also provided the only opportunity to view specific works of art, and possibly the only chance to hear certain music. A Grand Tour could last anywhere from several months to several years. It was commonly undertaken in the company of a cicerone, a knowledgeable guide or tutor.

History

The typical 18th-century stance was that of the studious observer travelling through foreign lands reporting his findings on human nature for those unfortunates who stayed at home. Recounting one's observations to society at large to increase its welfare was considered an obligation; the Grand Tour flourished in this mindset.[3]

In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholarly pilgrimage nor a religious one,^[4] though a pleasurable stay in Venice and a cautious residence in Rome were essential. Catholic Grand Tourists followed the same routes as Protestant Whigs. Since the 17th century, a tour to such places was also considered essential for budding artists to understand proper painting and sculpture techniques, though the trappings of the Grand Tour—valets and coachmen, perhaps a cook, certainly a "bear-leader" or scholarly guide—were beyond their reach.

The advent of popular guides, such as the book An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy published in 1722 by

The Grand Tour offered a

Also worth noticing is that the Grand Tour not only fostered stereotypes of the countries visited but also led to a dynamic of contrast between northern and southern Europe. By constantly depicting Italy as a "picturesque place", the travellers also unconsciously degraded Italy as a place of backwardness.[8] This unconscious degradation is best reflected in the famous verses of Lamartine in which Italy is depicted as a "land of the past... where everything sleeps."^[9]

In Rome, antiquaries like Thomas Jenkins were also dealers and were able to sell and advise on the purchase of marbles; their price would rise if it were known that the Tourists were interested. Coins and medals, which formed more portable souvenirs and a respected gentleman's guide to ancient history were also popular. Pompeo Batoni made a career of painting the English milordi posed with graceful ease among Roman antiquities. Many continued on to Naples, where they also viewed Herculaneum and Pompeii, but few ventured far into Southern Italy, and fewer still to Greece, then still under Turkish rule.

After the advent of steam-powered transportation around 1825, the Grand Tour custom continued, but it was of a qualitative difference — cheaper to undertake, safer, easier, open to anyone. During much of the 19th century, most educated young men of privilege undertook the Grand Tour. Germany and Switzerland came to be included in a more broadly defined circuit. Later, it became fashionable for young women as well; a trip to Italy, with a spinster aunt as chaperone, was part of the upper-class women's education, as in E. M. Forster's novel A Room with a View.

British travellers were far from alone on the roads of Europe. On the contrary, from the mid-16th century, the grand tour was established as an ideal way to finish off the education of young men in countries such as Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.^[10] In spite of this the bulk of research conducted on the Grand Tour has been on British travellers. Dutch scholar Frank-van Westrienen Anna has made note of this historiographic focus, claiming that the scholarly understanding of the Grand Tour would have been more complex if more comparative studies had been carried out on continental travellers.^[11]

Recent scholarship on the Swedish aristocracy has demonstrated that Swedish aristocrats, though being relatively poorer than their British peers, from around 1620 and onwards in many ways acted as their British counterparts. After studies at one or two renowned universities, preferably those of Leiden and Heidelberg, the Swedish grand tourists set off to France and Italy, where they spent time in Paris, Rome and Venice and completed the original grand tour on the French countryside.

Once in Italy, the tourist would visit Turin (and sometimes Milan), then might spend a few months in Florence, where there was a considerable Anglo-Italian society accessible to travelling Englishmen "of quality" and where the Tribuna of the Uffizi gallery brought together in one space the monuments of High Renaissance paintings and Roman sculpture. After a side trip to Pisa, the tourist would move on to Padua,^[16] Bologna, and Venice. The British idea of Venice as the "locus of decadent Italianate allure" made it an epitome and cultural set piece of the Grand Tour.^[17][18]

From Venice the traveller went to Rome to study the ancient ruins and the masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture of Rome's Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Some travellers also visited Naples to study music, and (after the mid-18th century) to appreciate the recently discovered archaeological sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii,^[19] and perhaps (for the adventurous) an ascent of Mount Vesuvius. Later in the period, the more adventurous, especially if provided with a yacht, might attempt Sicily to see its archeological sites, volcanoes and its baroque architecture, Malta^[20] or even Greece itself. But Naples – or later Paestum further south – was the usual terminus.

Returning northward, the tourist might recross the Alps to the German-speaking parts of Europe, visiting Innsbruck, Vienna, Dresden, Berlin and Potsdam, with perhaps a period of study at the universities in Ingolstadt or Heidelberg. From there, travellers could visit Holland and Flanders (with more gallery-going and art appreciation) before returning across the Channel to England.

Published accounts

Published accounts of the Grand Tour provided illuminating detail and an often polished first-hand perspective of the experience. Examining some accounts offered by authors in their own lifetimes, Jeremy Black

Although Italy was written as the "sink of iniquity", many travelers were not kept from recording the activities they participated in or the people they met, especially the women they encountered. To the Grand Tourists, Italy was an unconventional country, for "The shameless women of Venice made it unusual, in its own way."^[28] Sir James Hall confided in his written diary to comment on seeing "more handsome women this day than I ever saw in my life", also noting "how flattering Venetian dress [was] — or perhaps the lack of it".^[28]

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian women, with their unfamiliar methods and routines, were opposites to the western dress expected of European women in the eighteenth and nineteenth century; their "foreign" ways led to the documentation of encounters with them, providing published accounts of the Grand Tour.

James Boswell in the 18th century courted noble ladies and recorded his progress with his relationships, mentioning that Madame Micheli "Talked of religion, philosophy... Kissed hand often." The promiscuity of Boswell's encounters with Italian elite are shared in his diary and provide further detail on events that occurred during the Grand Tour. Boswell notes "Yesterday morning with her. Pulled up petticoat and showed whole knees... Touched with her goodness. All other liberties exquisite."^[28] He describes his time with the Italian women he encounters and shares a part of history in his written accounts.

Lord Byron's letters to his mother with the accounts of his travels have also been published from the early 19th century. Byron spoke of his first enduring Venetian love, his landlord's wife, mentioning that he has "fallen in love with a very pretty Venetian of two and twenty — with great black eyes — she is married — and so am I — we have found & sworn an eternal attachment ... & I am more in love than ever... and I verily believe we are one of the happiest unlawful couples on this side of the Alps."^[29] Many tourists enjoyed sexual relations while abroad but to a great extent were well behaved, such as Thomas Pelham, and scholars, such as Richard Pococke, who wrote lengthy letters of their Grand Tour experiences.^[30]

Inventor Sir Francis Ronalds' journals and sketches of his 1818–20 tour to Europe and the Near East have been published online.^[31][32] The letters written by sisters Mary and Ida Saxton of Canton, Ohio in 1869 while on a six-month tour offer insight into the Grand Tour tradition from an American perspective.^[33]

Immediately following the

Margaret Mitchell's American Civil War-based novel, Gone With The Wind, makes reference to the Grand Tour. Stuart Tartleton, in a conversation with his twin brother, Brent, suspects that their mother is not likely to provide them with a Grand Tour, since they have been expelled from college again. Brent is not concerned, remarking, "What is there to see in Europe? I'll bet those foreigners can't show us a thing we haven't got right here in Georgia". Ashley Wilkes, on the other hand, enjoyed the scenery and music he encountered on his Grand Tour and was always talking about it.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture

In 1998, the BBC produced an art history series Sister Wendy's Grand Tour presented by British

In 2005, British art historian Brian Sewell followed in the footsteps of the Grand Tourists for a 10-part television series Brian Sewell's Grand Tour. Produced by UK's Channel Five, Sewell travelled by car and confined his attention solely to Italy stopping in Rome, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, Turin, Milan, Cremona, Siena, Bologna, Vicenza, Paestum, Urbino, Tivoli and concluding at a Venetian masked ball. Material relating to this can be found in the Brian Sewell Archive held by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, the Grand Tour featured prominently in a BBC/PBS miniseries based on Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens.^[36] Set mainly in Venice, it portrayed the Grand Tour as a rite of passage.

Kevin McCloud presented Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour on Channel 4 in 2009 with McCloud retracing the tours of British architects.^[37]

See also

• Gap year
• Hippie trail
• Walking tour
• Overseas experience
• Field trip

Footnotes

References

Notes

1. ^ E. Chaney, The Evolution of the Grand Tour, 2nd ed. (2000) and idem, Inigo Jones's "Roman Sketchbook", 2 vols (2006).
2. ^ E. Chaney, "Gibbon, Beckford and the Interpretation of Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents", The Beckford Society Annual Lectures (London, 2004), pp. 25–50.
3. ^ Paul Fussell (1987), p. 129.
4. ^ "Pilgrimages". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
5. ^ E. Chaney, The Evolution of English Collecting
6. ^ Noted by Redford 1996, Preface.
7. ^ ^{a b} Bohls & Duncan (2005)
8. ^ Nelson Moe, "Italy as Europe's South", in The View from Vesuvius, Italian Culture and the Southern Question, University of California Press, 2002
9. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italy Journey
10. OCLC 60520500.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
11. OCLC 19057035
    .
12. OCLC 1038629353
    .
13. ^ "Gustav III and the Museum of Antiquities - Kungliga slotten". www.kungligaslotten.se. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
14. ^ See Fussell (1987), Buzard (2002), Bohls and Duncan (2005)
15. ^
    doi:10.1016/0160-7383(85)90002-7
    .
16. ^ The Registro dei viaggiatori inglesi in Italia, 1618–1765, consists of 2038 autograph signatures of English and Scottish visitors, some of them scholars, to be sure. (J. Isaacs, "The Earl of Rochester's Grand Tour" The Review of English Studies 3. 9 [January 1927:75–76]).
17. ^ Redford, Bruce. Venice and the Grand Tour. Yale University Press: 1996.
18. ^ Eglin, John. Venice Transfigured: The Myth of Venice in British Culture, 1660–1797. Macmillan: 2001.
19. ^ "The captured cargo that unpacks the spirit of the grand tour". The guardian. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
20. ISBN 9789993272489. Archived from the original
    on 2016-11-08.
21. ^ Black, "Fragments from the Grand Tour" The Huntington Library Quarterly 53.4 (Autumn 1990:337–341) p 338.
22. ^ Andrews, A Comparative View of the French and English Nations in their Manners, Politics, and Literature, London, 1785.
23. ^
    • Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents at Project Gutenberg
24. ^ Coxe, Sketches of the Natural, Political and Civil State of Switzerland London, 1779; Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark London, 1784; Travels in Switzerland London, 1789. Coxe's travels range far from the Grand Tour pattern.
25. ^ Craven, A Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople London 1789.
26. ^ Moore, A View of Society and Manners in Italy; with Anecdotes relating to some Eminent Characters London, 1781
27. ^ Thicknesse, A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, London, 1777.
28. ^
    Project MUSE 205844
    .
29. ^ George Gordon Byron and Leslie A. Marchand, Byron's Letters and Journals: The Complete and Unexpurgated Text of All Letters Available in Manuscript and the Full Printed Version of All Others (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1994).
30. ^ Jeremy Black, Italy and the Grand Tour (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 118-120.
31. ^ "Sir Francis Ronalds' Grand Tour". Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family. Retrieved 9 Apr 2016.
32. ISBN 978-1-78326-917-4
    .
33. ^ Belden, Grand Tour of Ida Saxton McKinley and Sister Mary Saxton Barber 1869 (Canton, Ohio) 1985.
34. ^ Norcott-Mahany, Bernard (14 November 2012) "Classic Review: Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain." The Kansas City Public Library (Retrieved 27 April 2014)
35. Project MUSE book 6659.^{[page needed}
    ]
36. ^ "Little Dorrit and The Grand Tour: PBS Masterpiece Classic". Jane Austen's World. 2009-04-12. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
37. ^ "Matthew Cracknell - Kevin Mccloud's Grand Tour of Europe". Matthew Cracknell. Retrieved 2022-06-28.

Sources

• Elizabeth Bohls and Ian Duncan, ed. (2005). Travel Writing 1700–1830 : An Anthology. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0-19-284051-7
• James Buzard (2002), "The Grand Tour and after (1660–1840)", in The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing.
  ISBN 0-521-78140-X
• ISBN 0-393-02481-4
• Edward Chaney (1985), The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion: Richard Lassels and 'The Voyage of Italy' in the seventeenth century(CIRVI, Geneva-Turin, 1985.
• Edward Chaney (2004), "Richard Lassels": entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Edward Chaney, The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations since the Renaissance (Frank Cass, London and Portland OR, 1998; revised edition, Routledge 2000).
  ISBN 0-7146-4474-9
  .
• Edward Chaney ed. (2003), The Evolution of English Collecting (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2003).
• Edward Chaney and Timothy Wilks, The Jacobean Grand Tour: Early Stuart Travellers in Europe (I.B. Tauris, London, 2014).
  ISBN 978 1 78076 783 3
• Lisa Colletta ed. (2015), The Legacy of the Grand Tour: New Essays on Travel, Literature, and Culture (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, London, 2015).
  ISBN 978 1 61147 797 9
• Sánchez-Jáuregui-Alpañés, Maria Dolores, and Scott Wilcox. The English Prize: The Capture of the
  ISBN 978-0300176056
  .
• Stephens, Richard. A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739–1816) Archived 2016-06-16 at the
  doi:10.17658/towne
  .
• Geoffrey Trease, The Grand Tour (Yale University Press) 1991.
• Andrew Witon and Ilaria Bignamini, Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth-Century, Tate Gallery exhibition catalogue, 1997.
• Clare Hornsby (ed.) "The Impact of Italy: The Grand Tour and Beyond", British School at Rome, 2000.
• Ilaria Bignamini and Clare Hornsby, "Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth Century Rome" (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2010).
• Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome, eds. D. Marshall, K. Wolfe and S. Russell, British School at Rome, 2011, pp. 147–70.
• Henry S. Belden III, Grand Tour of Ida Saxton McKinley and Sister Mary Saxton Barber 1869, (Canton, Ohio) 1985.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grand Tour.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Grand Tour.

• Grand Tour online at the Getty Museum
• In Our Time: The Grand Tour: Jeremy Black, Edward Chaney and Chloe Chard
• The Grand Tour at the Wayback Machine (archived July 23, 2018), English course taught at the University of Michigan
• Wanderings in the Land of Ham by a daughter of Japhet, London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1858. A description of an Oriental Grand Tour at the Internet Archive Digital Library.