Many of the “must-see” sites were codified centuries ago as part of the Grand Tour, a journey undertaken by young aristocrats to complete their education and give them experience of the world. But by the late eighteenth century, the once-exclusive Grand Tour was giving way to more modern, democratic notions of travel.
No longer the preserve of a privileged elite, travel to Italy and other places came within the reach of a wider public, who were eager for tangible souvenirs of what they saw and experienced. This exhibition presents etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, gouache drawings by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, and other works depicting Rome and nearby Tivoli. These eighteenth-century artists, with their different temperaments, techniques, and styles, produced a breathtaking variety of art. A far cry from the monotony of the picture-postcard aesthetic, the works on view appealed to a wide array of tastes and allowed travelers of the period to marvel at the splendor and ruin of an ancient world long after they returned home.
Related Programs
Lunch-hour Talk: “Clerics, Scholars, and Drunken Englishman”
November 20, 2009
Lunch-hour Talk: “The Ruin as Souvenir”
February 5, 2010
Concert: Love, Italian Style
February 14, 2010
Lunch-hour Talk: “Views of Rome”
February 26, 2010
Lecture: “Through Piranesi’s Eyes: Vies of Rome”
April 1, 2010
Curator Tour
April 11, 2010
Film Series
See how the Grand Tour survives today in the contemporary film industry’s depictions of Italy.
A Room with a View
November 30, 2009
The Talented Mr. Ripley
December 15, 2009
The Portrait of a Lady
January 24, 2010
Roman Holiday
February 21, 2010
The Belly of an Architect
March 21, 2010
Enchanted April
April 6, 2010
Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago