Grand Tour
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Pompeo Batoni: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings
By Edgar Peters Bowron This meticulously researched catalogue presents an authoritative assessment of the works of Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), one of the 18th century’s most celebrated painters. Born in Lucca, Batoni established himself in Rome and received commissions from popes, princes, and...
Continue reading ...James Yorke reviews Roman Splendour, English Arcadia: The English Taste for Pietre Dure and the Sixtus Cabinet at Stourhead
Italian cabinets and tables decorated with inlaid semi-precious stones known as ‘pietre dure’ were a ‘must-have’ for English milords returning from their Grand Tours. The finest example is perhaps the Sixtus V cabinet at Stourhead, in Wiltshire, which has just been written up in a thorough,...
Continue reading ...The Age of Pleasure and Enlightenment
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA August 10, 2013 – February 24, 2014 European art of the 18th century increasingly emphasized civility, elegance, comfort, and informality. During the first half of the century, the Rococo style of art and decoration, characterized by lightnes...
Continue reading ...From Olschki: Paolo Coen’s Il mercato dei quadri a Roma nel diciottesimo secolo: la domanda, l’offerta e la circolazione delle opere in un grande centro artistico europeo
The binomial art-money, nowadays even obvious, existed in the past as well, although through partially different forms and mechanisms. Traditionally one of the centres of the pictorial market was Rome, favourite destination of artists and travellers coming from every part of the globe. The book reco...
Continue reading ...Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA 20 February-30 May 2011 Venice inspired a school of competitive view painters whose achievements are among the most brilliant in 18th-century art. The exhibition celebrates the rich variety of these Venetian views, known as vedute, through some 20 mast...
Continue reading ...Italy Observed: Views and Souvenirs, 1706-1899
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA 12 October 2010-2 January 2011 In the 18th century, privileged Europeans embarked on the Grand Tour, traveling principally to sites in Italy, where they visited cherished ruins of the ancient world and the splendid architecture of the Renaissance...
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