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Grand Tour

2025-10-08T15:24:58Z

2A00:23C8:1382:8101:7810:EA7D:50EC:6F4C: /* Published accounts */

{{Short description|Journey around Europe for cultural education}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Nathaniel Dance-Holland - James Grant of Grant, John Mytton, the Hon. Thomas Robinson, and Thomas Wynne - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|A {{circa|1760}} painting of [[Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet|James Grant]], [[John Mytton#Early life|John Mytton]], [[Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham|Thomas Robinson]] and Thomas Wynne on the Grand Tour by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland]]]]

The '''Grand Tour''' was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through [[Europe]], with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by [[upper-class]] young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a [[cicerone|tutor]] or family member) when they had [[come of age]] (about 21 years old). The custom—which flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transport in the 1840s and was associated with a standard itinerary—served as an educational [[rite of passage]]. Though it was primarily associated with the [[British nobility]] and wealthy [[landed gentry]], similar trips were made by wealthy young men of other [[Protestantism|Protestant]] Northern European nations, and, from the second half of the 18th century, by some North and South Americans.

By the mid-18th century, the Grand Tour had become a regular feature of aristocratic education in [[Central Europe]] as well, although it was restricted to the higher nobility. The tradition declined in Europe as enthusiasm for classical culture waned, and with the advent of accessible rail and steamship travel—an era in which [[Thomas Cook]] made the "Cook's Tour" of early mass [[tourism]] a byword starting in the 1870s. However, with the rise of [[Industrialisation|industrialization]] in the United States in the 19th century, American [[Gilded Age]] [[nouveau riche]] adopted the Grand Tour for both sexes and among those of more advanced years as a means of gaining both exposure and association with the sophistication of Europe. Even those of lesser means sought to mimic the pilgrimage, as satirized in [[Mark Twain]]'s popular travel book ''[[The Innocents Abroad]]'' in 1869.

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==
[[File:Batoni - Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Portrait of Francis Basset]]'' by [[Pompeo Batoni]], 1778. The Grand Tourist, like [[Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset|Francis Basset]], would become familiar with antiquities, though this altar is an invention of the painter.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}]]

Rome for many centuries had already been the destination of pilgrims, especially during [[Jubilee (Christianity)|Jubilee]] when European clergy visited the [[Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome]].

In Britain, [[Thomas Coryat]]'s travel book ''[[Coryat's Crudities]]'' (1611), published during the [[Twelve Years' Truce]], was an early influence on the Grand Tour but it was the far more extensive tour through Italy as far as [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] undertaken by [[Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel|the 'Collector' Earl of Arundel]], with his wife and children in 1613–14 that established the most significant precedent. This is partly because he asked [[Inigo Jones]], not yet established as an architect but already known as a 'great traveller' and masque designer, to act as his [[cicerone]] (guide).<ref>E. Chaney, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rYB_HYPsa8gC&source=gbs_slider_thumb The Evolution of the Grand Tour]'', 2nd ed. (2000) and idem, Inigo Jones's "Roman Sketchbook", 2 vols (2006)</ref>

Larger numbers of tourists began their tours after the [[Peace of Münster]] in 1648. According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the first recorded use of the term (perhaps its introduction to English) was by [[Richard Lassels]] (circa 1603–1668), an [[expatriate]] [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]], in his book ''The Voyage of Italy'', which was published posthumously in Paris in 1670 and then in London.{{efn|[[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]] reported that the book was "esteemed the best and surest Guide or Tutor for young men of his Time." see [[Edward Chaney]], "Richard Lassels", [[ODNB]], and idem, ''The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion'' (Geneva, 1985)}} Lassels's introduction listed four areas in which travel furnished "an accomplished, consummate Traveller": the [[Intellectualism|intellectual]], the [[Society|social]], the [[Ethics|ethical]] (by the opportunity of drawing moral instruction from all the traveller saw), and the [[Politics|political]].
[[File:Jean Preudhomme.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton|Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton]], on his Grand Tour with his physician [[John Moore (Scottish physician)|Dr. John Moore]] and the latter's son [[John Moore (British Army officer)|John]]. A view of [[Geneva]] is in the distance where they stayed for two years. Painted by [[Jean Preudhomme]] in 1774.|left|261x261px]]

As a young man at the outset of his account of a repeat Grand Tour, the historian [[Edward Gibbon]] remarked that "According to the law of custom, and perhaps of reason, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman." Consciously adapted for intellectual self-improvement, Gibbon was "revisiting the Continent on a larger and more liberal plan"; most Grand Tourists did not pause more than briefly in libraries. On the eve of the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] era he played a significant part in introducing, [[William Thomas Beckford|William Beckford]] wrote a vivid account of his Grand Tour that made Gibbon's unadventurous Italian tour look distinctly conventional.<ref>E. Chaney, "Gibbon, Beckford and the Interpretation of Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents", The Beckford Society Annual Lectures (London, 2004), pp. 25–50.</ref>

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.<ref>Paul Fussell (1987), p. 129.</ref> In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholarly [[pilgrimage]] nor a religious one.<ref name="ce_pilgrimages">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12085a.htm |title=Pilgrimages |publisher=Newadvent.org |access-date=2012-07-20}}</ref> Grand Tourists in the 18th century frequently traveled with entourage, which could include tutors and servants, but still Grand Tourists used guide books.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Great Ages of Discovery: How Western Civilization Learned About a Wider World |author1= Stephen J. Pyne |date=2021 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=9780816541119 |page=137}}</ref> Popular [[guide book]] for the Grand Tour were prolifically published from the mid 18th century onward, though guide books for major Italian cities had been in circulation since 1660. These also frequently included detailed urban maps, increasingly facilitating more independent and self-guided experiences of cities and their ruins.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Boukouras |first=Efstathios |date=2023-11-15 |title=The Age of Ruinenlust: An Exploration of Tourism and Ruins in the Urban Context, in Rome, during the Grand Tour |url=https://sita.uauim.ro/article/11_04_Boukouras |journal=SITA |volume=2023 |issue=11 |doi=10.54508/sITA.11.05|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Grand Tour guide books were used by young [[aristocrat]]s, but had the [[bourgeoisie]] purpose of helping the reader make an authoritative [[choice]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy |author1= Stephanie Malia Hom |date=2021 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442648722 |page=37-38}}</ref> Grand Tour hot spots were [[Paris]] and [[Rome]]. European capital cities were Grand Tour stop overs frequently requiring traveling across the [[Alps]] and forcing Grand Tourists to gaze at length at natural sights such as [[Mount Etna]] and [[Mount Vesuvius]]. Climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and purchasing [[souvenir]]s were part of the traveling experience.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Great Ages of Discovery: How Western Civilization Learned About a Wider World |author1= Stephen J. Pyne |date=2021 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=9780816541119 |page=137-138}}</ref>

The Grand Tour offered a [[liberal education]], and the opportunity to acquire things otherwise unavailable, lending an air of accomplishment and prestige to the traveller. Grand Tourists would return with crates full of books, works of art, scientific instruments, and cultural artefacts – from snuff boxes and paperweights to altars, fountains, and statuary – to be displayed in libraries, [[Cabinet (room)|cabinets]], gardens, [[drawing rooms]], and galleries built for that purpose. The trappings of the Grand Tour, especially portraits of the traveller painted in continental settings, became the obligatory emblems of worldliness, gravitas and influence. Artists who particularly thrived on the Grand Tour market included [[Carlo Maratti]], who was first patronised by John Evelyn as early as 1645,<ref>E. Chaney, The Evolution of English Collecting</ref> [[Pompeo Batoni]] the [[portrait]]ist, and the [[vedutisti]] such as [[Canaletto]], [[Giovanni Paolo Pannini|Pannini]] and [[Francesco Guardi|Guardi]]. The less well-off could return with an album of [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi|Piranesi]] etchings<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Sweet |first=Rosemary |title=Cities and the grand tour: the British in Italy, c.1690-1820 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-52920-5 |series=Cambridge social and cultural histories |location=Cambridge}}</ref>.[[File:Shepherds beside Roman ruins.jpg|thumb|Northerners found the contrast between Roman ruins and modern peasants of the [[Roman Campagna]] an educational lesson in vanity (''[[vanitas]]''). Painting by [[Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem]], 1661, [[Mauritshuis]]]]

The "perhaps" in Gibbon's opening remark cast an ironic shadow over his resounding statement.<ref>Noted by Redford 1996, Preface.</ref> Critics of the Grand Tour derided its lack of adventure. "The tour of Europe is a paltry thing", said one 18th century critic, "a tame, uniform, unvaried prospect".<ref name="bd">Bohls & Duncan (2005)</ref> The Grand Tour was said to reinforce the old preconceptions and prejudices about national characteristics, as [[Jean Gailhard]]'s ''Compleat Gentleman'' (1678) observes: "French courteous. Spanish lordly. Italian amorous. German clownish."<ref name="bd" /> The deep suspicion with which Tour was viewed at home in England, where it was feared that the very experiences that completed the British gentleman might well undo him, were epitomised in the sarcastic nativist view of the ostentatiously "well-travelled" [[maccaroni]] of the 1760s and 1770s.

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.<ref name=":1" /> By constantly depicting Italy as a "picturesque place", the travellers also unconsciously degraded Italy as a place of backwardness.<ref>Nelson Moe, "Italy as Europe's South", in The View from Vesuvius, Italian Culture and the Southern Question, University of California Press, 2002</ref> 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."<ref>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italy Journey</ref>

[[File:Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein - Goethe in der roemischen Campagna.jpg|thumb|''[[Goethe in the Roman Campagna]]'', by [[Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein|Johann Tischbein]], 1787|left|220x220px]]

In Rome, antiquaries like [[Thomas Jenkins (antiquary)|Thomas Jenkins]] were also dealers and were able to sell and advise on the purchase of [[Marble sculpture|marbles]]; their price would rise if it were known that the Tourists were interested. The growing demand for antiquities during the Grand Tour also led to the development of dedicated tourist zones and early forms of tourism infrastructure around classical ruins and excavation sites.<ref name=":0" /> [[Numismatics|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 ''[[milord]]i'' 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 [[Ottoman Greece|Turkish rule]].<ref name=":1" />

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, [[Women and the Grand Tour|it became fashionable for young women as well]]; a trip to Italy, with a [[spinster]] aunt as [[Chaperone (social)|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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Grand Tour : adeliges Reisen und europäische Kultur vom 14. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert : Akten der internationalen Kolloquien in der Villa Vigoni 1999 und im Deutschen Historischen Institut Paris 2000|date=2005|publisher=Thorbecke|others=Babel, Rainer, 1955-, Paravicini, Werner.|isbn=3799574549|location=Ostfildern|oclc=60520500}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=De groote tour : tekening van de educatiereis der Nederlanders in de zeventiende eeuw|last=Anna.|first=Frank-van Westrienen|date=1983|publisher=Noord-Hollandsche Uitgeversmaatschappij|isbn=044486573X|location=Amsterdam|oclc=19057035}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Den statskloka resan : adelns peregrinationer 1610–1680|author=Winberg, Ola|date=2018|publisher=Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis|isbn=9789151302898|location=Uppsala|oclc=1038629353}}</ref> King [[Gustav III of Sweden]] made his Grand Tour in 1783–84.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kungligaslotten.se/english/articles-and-movies/news/2018-08-20-gustav-iii-and-the-museum-of-antiquities.html|title=Gustav III and the Museum of Antiquities - Kungliga slotten|website=www.kungligaslotten.se|language=en|access-date=2019-06-03|archive-date=2019-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603213323/https://www.kungligaslotten.se/english/articles-and-movies/news/2018-08-20-gustav-iii-and-the-museum-of-antiquities.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Typical itinerary==
[[File:Portrait of a Gentleman on the Grand Tour - Thomas Patch - 129 1993.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of a Gentleman on the Grand Tour'' by [[Thomas Patch]], c. 1769. This oil on canvas painting shows a gentleman facing right with Florence and the Duomo beyond.]]

The itinerary of the Grand Tour was not set in stone, but was subject to innumerable variations, depending on an individual's interests and finances, though Paris and Rome were popular destinations for most English tourists.

The most common itinerary of the Grand Tour<ref>See Fussell (1987), Buzard (2002), Bohls and Duncan (2005)</ref> shifted across generations, but the British tourist usually began in [[Dover]], [[England]], and crossed the [[English Channel]] to [[Ostend]] in [[Belgium]],{{efn|Ostend was the starting point for William Beckford on the continent.}} or to [[Calais]] or [[Le Havre]] in [[France]]. From there the tourist, usually accompanied by a tutor (known colloquially as a "[[Bear-leader (guide)|bear-leader]]") and (if wealthy enough) a troop of servants, could rent or acquire a [[Coach (carriage)|coach]] (which could be resold in any city – as in [[Giacomo Casanova]]'s travels – or disassembled and packed across the [[Alps]]), or he could opt to make the trip by riverboat as far as the Alps, either travelling up the [[Seine]] to Paris, or up the [[Rhine]] to [[Basel]].[[File:Robertspencer1641.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland]] (1640–1702), painted in classical dress in Rome by [[Carlo Maratti]]]]

Upon hiring a French-speaking guide, as French was the dominant language of the elite in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the tourist and his entourage would travel to [[Paris]]. There the traveller might undertake lessons in French, [[dancing]], [[fencing]], and [[Equestrianism|riding]]. The appeal of Paris lay in the sophisticated language and manners of French high society, including courtly behavior and fashion. This served to polish the young man's manners in preparation for a leadership position at home, often in government or [[diplomacy]].

From Paris he would typically sojourn in urban [[Switzerland]], often in [[Geneva]] (the cradle of the [[Protestant Reformation]]) or [[Lausanne]].<ref name=ATR>{{cite journal |last1=Towner |first1=John |title=The grand tour: A key phase in the history of tourism |journal=Annals of Tourism Research |date=January 1985 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=297–333 |doi=10.1016/0160-7383(85)90002-7 }}</ref> ("Alpinism" or [[mountaineering]] developed later, in the 19th century.) From there the traveller would endure a difficult crossing over the Alps (such as at the [[Great St Bernard Pass]]), which required dismantling the carriage and larger luggage.<ref name="ATR"/> If wealthy enough, he might be carried over the hard terrain by servants.

Once in [[northern Italy|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|Tribuna]]'' of the [[Uffizi|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]],<ref>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]).</ref> [[Bologna]], and [[Venice]]. The British idea of Venice as the "locus of decadent [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] allure" made it an epitome and cultural set piece of the Grand Tour.<ref>Redford, Bruce. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YiJ0pYyhxVgC Venice and the Grand Tour]''. [[Yale University Press]]: 1996.</ref><ref>Eglin, John. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=s0uG9Gw6LT0C Venice Transfigured: The Myth of Venice in British Culture, 1660–1797]''. [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]: 2001.</ref>

From Venice the traveller went to [[Rome]] to study the [[ancient Rome|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 site]]s of [[Herculaneum]] and [[Pompeii]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/04/cargo-culture-grand-tour-unpacked |title=The captured cargo that unpacks the spirit of the grand tour |work=The guardian |date=4 May 2012 |access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref> 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]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Freller|first1=Thomas|title=Malta & The Grand Tour|date=2009|publisher=Midsea Books|location=[[Malta]]|isbn=9789993272489|url=https://www.midseabooks.com/publications_detail.aspx?pid=12930#.VfxVH9-qqkp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20161108161007/https://www.midseabooks.com/publications_detail.aspx?pid=12930%23.VfxVH9-qqkp|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-11-08}}</ref> 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 language|German-speaking]] parts of Europe, visiting [[Innsbruck]], [[Vienna]], [[Dresden]], [[Berlin]] and [[Potsdam]], with perhaps a period of study at the universities in [[University of Ingolstadt|Ingolstadt]] or [[Heidelberg University|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==
[[File:Grand Tour William Thomas Beckford.jpg|thumb|William Beckford's 1780-1781 Grand Tour through Europe shown in red]]
[[File:Map Evolution of tourism 1992 - Grand Tour - Touring Club Italiano CART-TEM-107 B.jpg|thumb|Routes of the Grand Tours of Montesquieu, de Brosses, Goethe, Stendhal, and Dickens]]

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 (historian)|Jeremy Black]]<ref>Black, "Fragments from the Grand Tour" ''The Huntington Library Quarterly'' '''53'''.4 (Autumn 1990:337–341) p 338.</ref> detects the element of literary artifice in these and cautions that they should be approached as [[travel literature]] rather than unvarnished accounts. He lists as examples [[Joseph Addison]], John Andrews,<ref>Andrews, ''A Comparative View of the French and English Nations in their Manners, Politics, and Literature'', London, 1785.</ref> [[William Thomas Beckford]] (whose ''Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents''<ref>{{Gutenberg | no=7258 | name=Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents}}</ref> was a published account of his letters back home in 1780–1781, embellished with stream-of-consciousness associations), [[William Coxe (historian)|William Coxe]],<ref>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.</ref> [[Elizabeth Craven]],<ref>Craven, ''A Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople'' London 1789.</ref> [[John Moore (Scottish physician)|John Moore]], tutor to successive dukes of Hamilton,<ref>Moore, ''A View of Society and Manners in Italy; with Anecdotes relating to some Eminent Characters'' London, 1781</ref> [[Samuel Jackson Pratt]], [[Tobias Smollett]], [[Philip Thicknesse]],<ref>Thicknesse, ''A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain'', London, 1777.</ref> and [[Arthur Young (writer)|Arthur Young]].

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."<ref name=Brown2006>{{cite journal |id={{Project MUSE|205844}} |last1=Brown |first1=Iain Gordon |title=Water, Windows, and Women: The Significance of Venice for Scots in the Age of the Grand Tour |journal=Eighteenth-Century Life |date=2006 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=1–50 |doi=10.1215/00982601-2006-001 |s2cid=144657874 }}</ref> 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".<ref name=Brown2006/>

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."<ref name=Brown2006/> He describes his time with the Italian women he encounters and shares a part of history in his written accounts.

[[File:The Innocents Abroad - p341.jpg|thumb|A plate of the ruins of the [[Acropolis]] from [[Mark Twain]]'s grand tour, a five-month 20,000 mile excursion of Europe, the Middle East, and the [[Holy Land]] satirized in his ''[[Innocents Abroad]]'' (1867)]]

[[Lord Byron]]'s [[Byron's letters|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."<ref>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).</ref> 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.<ref>Jeremy Black, ''Italy and the Grand Tour'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 118-120.
</ref>

Inventor Sir [[Francis Ronalds]]' journals and sketches of his 1818–20 tour to Europe and the Near East have been published online.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/gtour.html|title=Sir Francis Ronalds' Grand Tour|website=Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family|access-date=9 Apr 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-78326-917-4|location=London}}</ref> The letters written by sisters Mary and [[Ida Saxton McKinley|Ida Saxton]] of Canton, Ohio in 1869 while on a six-month tour offer insight into the Grand Tour tradition from an American perspective.<ref>Belden, ''Grand Tour of Ida Saxton McKinley and Sister Mary Saxton Barber 1869'' (Canton, Ohio) 1985.
</ref>

Immediately following the [[American Civil War]] U.S. author and humorist [[Mark Twain]] undertook a decidedly modest yet greatly aspiring "grand tour" of Europe, the Middle East, and the [[Holy Land]], which he chronicled in his highly popular satire ''[[Innocents Abroad]]'' in 1867. Not only was it the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime,<ref>Norcott-Mahany, Bernard (14 November 2012) "Classic Review: Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain." ''The Kansas City Public Library'' (Retrieved 27 April 2014)</ref> it became one of the best-selling travel books of all time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=Jeffrey Alan |title=Mark Twain, Travel Books, and Tourism: The Tide of a Great Popular Movement |date=2009 |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |id={{Project MUSE|6659|type=book}} |isbn=978-0-8173-1350-0 }}{{pn|date=September 2023}}</ref>

==In literature==
[[File:Cinquante jours en Italie.tif|thumb|Georges Bastard, ''Cinquante jours en Italie'' ("Fifty days in Italy"), 1878, one of the many reports of the Grand Tour in Italy.]]

[[Margaret Mitchell]]'s [[American Civil War]]-based novel, ''[[Gone with the Wind (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|date=October 2021}}

==Popular culture==
In 1998, the BBC produced an art history series ''Sister Wendy's Grand Tour'' presented by British [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] nun [[Sister Wendy]]. Ostensibly an art history series, the journey takes her from [[Madrid]] to [[Saint Petersburg]] with stop-offs to see the great masterpieces.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=no indication the naming is related to this article}}

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|date=June 2022|reason=no indication the naming is related to this article}}

In 2009, the Grand Tour featured prominently in a BBC/PBS miniseries based on ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-04-12 |title=Little Dorrit and The Grand Tour: PBS Masterpiece Classic |url=https://janeaustensworld.com/2009/04/12/little-dorrit-and-the-grand-tour-pbs-masterpiece-classic/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Jane Austen's World |language=en}}</ref> 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 [[United Kingdom|British]] architects.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Matthew Cracknell - Kevin Mccloud's Grand Tour of Europe |url=http://www.matthewcracknell.com/kevin-mcclouds-grand-tour-of-europe |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Matthew Cracknell |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Camino de Santiago]]
* [[Gap year]]
* [[Hippie trail]]
* [[Walking tour]]
* [[Overseas experience]]
* [[Field trip]]
* [[Grand touring]]

==Footnotes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* 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}}
* 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}}
* Brian Dolan, ''Ladies of the Grand Tour'' (HarperCollins, London, 2001). {{ISBN|978-0-007-10532-8}}
* [[Paul Fussell]] (1987), "The Eighteenth Century and the Grand Tour", in ''The Norton Book of Travel'', {{ISBN|0-393-02481-4}}
* [[Christopher Hibbert]] (1987), ''The Grand Tour'' (Methuen, London, 1987). {{ISBN|978-0-423-02040-3}}
* Sánchez-Jáuregui-Alpañés, Maria Dolores, and Scott Wilcox. ''The English Prize: The Capture of the [[Westmorland (ship)|Westmorland]], An Episode of the Grand Tour.'' New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0300176056}}.
* Stephens, Richard. ''[http://francistowne.ac.uk A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739–1816)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616171857/http://francistowne.ac.uk/ |date=2016-06-16 }}'' (London: Paul Mellon Centre, 2016), {{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.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Grand Tour}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/grand_tour/index.html Grand Tour online at the Getty Museum]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548fs In Our Time: The Grand Tour: Jeremy Black, Edward Chaney and Chloe Chard]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723020015/http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/grandtour_tourism/grandtour.html |date=July 23, 2018 |title=The Grand Tour }}, English course taught at the University of Michigan
* ''[https://archive.org/details/wanderingsinland00daugrich 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.
{{Tourism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Types of tourism]]
[[Category:Types of travel]]
[[Category:Cultural tourism]]
[[Category:Rites of passage]]

Lord David Cecil

2025-10-08T15:19:49Z

2A00:23C8:1382:8101:7810:EA7D:50EC:6F4C: /* Further reading */

{{Short description|British biographer, historian, and scholar (1902 – 1986)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Lord David Cecil
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]]
| image = Lord David Cecil in 1954.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|4|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Hatfield House]], [[Hertfordshire]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|1|1|1902|4|9|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Cranborne]], [[Dorset]], England
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| monuments =
| other_names =
| education = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| occupation = {{Flatlist|
* [[Biographer]]
* [[Historian]]
* [[Academic staff|Academic]]
}}
| employer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Wadham College, Oxford]]
* [[New College, Oxford]]
}}
| organization =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| style =
| television =
| spouse = {{marriage|Rachel MacCarthy|1932}}
| partner =
| children = 3, including [[Jonathan Cecil|Jonathan]]
| parents = {{Plainlist|
* [[James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury]]
* Lady Cicely Gore
}}
| awards =
}}
[[File:Lord David Cecil and T. S. Eliot, 1923 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Lord David Cecil (left) with [[T. S. Eliot]], photo by [[Lady Ottoline Morrell]]]]
'''Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil''', [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]] (9 April 1902 – 1 January 1986) was a British biographer, historian, and scholar. He held the style of "Lord" by [[courtesy title|courtesy]] as a younger son of a marquess.

==Early life and studies==
David Cecil was the youngest of the four children of [[James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury]], and the former Lady Cicely Gore (second daughter of [[Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran]]). His siblings were [[Beatrice Ormsby-Gore, Baroness Harlech|Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Cecil]] (afterwards Baroness Harlech), [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury]] (1893–1972) and Lady Mary Alice Cecil (afterwards [[Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire]]). Cecil was a delicate child, suffering from a tubercular gland in his neck at the age of 8 years, and after an operation he spent a great deal of time in bed, where he developed his love of reading.

Because of his delicate health his parents sent him to [[Eton College]] later than other boys, and he survived the experience by spending one day a week in bed. After school he went on to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], as an undergraduate.

==Career==
Cecil read Modern History at Oxford and in 1924 obtained first-class honours. From 1924 to 1930 he was a Fellow of [[Wadham College, Oxford]]. With his first publication, ''The Stricken Deer'' (1929), a sympathetic study of the poet [[William Cowper|Cowper]], he made an immediate impact as a literary historian. Studies followed on [[Walter Scott]], early Victorian novelists and [[Jane Austen]].

In 1939 he became a [[Oxbridge Fellow|Fellow]] of [[New College, Oxford]], where he remained a Fellow until 1969, when he became an Honorary Fellow.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cecil|work=[[Who Was Who]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=December 2007|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U162782|accessdate=5 February 2009}}</ref>

In 1947 he became Professor of [[Rhetoric]] at [[Gresham College]], London, for a year; but in 1948 he returned to the [[University of Oxford]] and remained a Professor of English Literature there until 1970. For a time Cecil was an associate of the literary group known as the "[[Inklings]]", which included notable authors such as [[J. R. R. Tolkien|J.R.R. Tolkien]], [[C. S. Lewis|C.S. Lewis]], and [[Owen Barfield]]. While a professor at New College Cecil's pupils included [[Kingsley Amis]], [[Bidhu Bhusan Das]], [[R. K. Sinha]], [[John Bayley (writer)|John Bayley]], the [[John Milton|Milton]] scholar Dennis Burden, and [[Ludovic Kennedy]]. Neil Powell describes Amis's relationship with him, or lack of a relationship, as follows:

<blockquote>[Amis's] allocated supervisor was Lord David Cecil, who seemed disinclined to supervise anything at all; after a term and a half had passed without any contact between them, Kingsley decided to go in search of him at New College. This caused much amusement at the porters' lodge, as if he had asked for the Shah of Persia: "Oh no, sir. Lord David? Oh, you'd have to get up very early in the morning to get hold of him. Oh dear, oh dear. Lord David in college, well I never did."</blockquote>

A 1949 lecture by Cecil is credited with inspiring [[L. P. Hartley]]'s famous line "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." (''[[The Go-Between]]'', 1953). Cecil's words were:
<blockquote>Past periods are like foreign countries: regions inhabited by men of like passions to our own, but with different customs and codes of behaviour.<ref>Paul Binding, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/a-cindery-path-out-of-childhood-1341042.html "A cindery path out of childhood"], ''The Independent'', 9 March 1996</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Cecil | first = David | year = 1957 | title = The Fine Art of Reading, and other Literary Studies | chapter = The Fine Art of Reading | publisher = Constable | publication-place = London | pages = ix, 11 | url = https://archive.org/details/bwb_KR-663-656 | url-access = registration | quote-page = 11 }}</ref></blockquote>

During his academic career Cecil published studies of [[Thomas Hardy|Hardy]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Thomas Gray]], [[Dorothy Osborne]] and [[Walter Pater]]. As well as his literary studies he also published a two-volume historical biography of [[Lord Melbourne]] (to whom he was distantly related) and appreciations of visual artists – [[Augustus John]], [[Max Beerbohm]], [[Samuel Palmer]] and [[Edward Burne-Jones]]. In retirement he published further literary and biographic studies of [[Walter de la Mare]], Jane Austen, [[Charles Lamb]] and [[Desmond MacCarthy]], as well as a history of his own family, ''The Cecils of Hatfield House'' and an account of ''Some Dorset Country Houses''. His anthology of writers who had given him special pleasure, ''Library Looking Glass'', appeared in 1975.

==Family and personal life==
In 1932 Cecil married Rachel MacCarthy, daughter of the literary journalist [[Desmond MacCarthy|Sir Desmond MacCarthy]]. They had three children, including actor [[Jonathan Cecil]].

==Publications==
[[File:TheYoungMelbourne.jpg|right|thumb|''The Young Melbourne'' <br/>Pan Books edition, 1948]]
*''The Stricken Deer or The Life of Cowper'' (1929) [on the poet [[William Cowper]]; this won the 1929 [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]]]
*''Sir Walter Scott: The Raven Miscellany'' (1933)
*''Early Victorian Novelists : essays in revaluation'' (1934)
*''Jane Austen'' (1936)
*''The Young Melbourne and the Story of his Marriage with Caroline Lamb'' (1939; reprinted 1948 and 1954)
*''The English Poets'' (1941)
*''The [[Oxford Book of Christian Verse]]'' (1941) [editor]
*''Men of the R.A.F.'' (1942) [with [[Sir William Rothenstein]]]
*''Hardy the Novelist: an Essay in Criticism'' (1942) [Clark Lectures]
*''Antony and Cleopatra, the fourth W. P. Ker memorial lecture delivered in the University of Glasgow, 4 May 1943'' (1944)
*''Poetry of Thomas Gray'' (1945) [Warton Lecture]
*''Two Quiet Lives'' (1948) [on [[Dorothy Osborne]] and [[Thomas Gray]]]
*''Poets & Story-tellers'' (1949) [essays]
*''Reading as One of the Fine Arts'' (1949) inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 28 May 1949
*''Lord M, or the Later Life of Lord Melbourne'' (1954)
*''Walter Pater--the Scholar Artist'' (1955) [[Rede Lecture]]
*''Augustus John: Fifty-two Drawings'' (1957)
*''The Fine Art of Reading and Other Literary Studies'' (1957)
*''Modern Verse in English 1900-1950'' (1958) [editor with [[Allen Tate]]]
*''Max'' (1964) [biography of [[Max Beerbohm]]]
*''Visionary and Dreamer : Two poetic painters, Samuel Palmer & Edward Burne-Jones'' (from the A.W. Mellon Lectures, 1969)
*''The Bodley Head Beerbohm'' (1970) [editor]
*''Max Beerbohm: Selected Prose'' (1970) [editor]
*''A Choice of Tennyson's Verse'' (1971) [editor]
*''The Cecils of Hatfield House: a Portrait of an English Ruling Family'' (1973)
*''Walter de la Mare'' (1973) [English Association leaflet]
*''A Victorian Album: Julia Margaret Cameron and her Circle'' (1975) [with Graham Ovenden]
*''Library Looking-Glass: A Personal Anthology'' (1975) [anthology]
*''Lady Ottoline's Album'' (1976)
*''A Portrait of Jane Austen'' (1978)
*''A Portrait of Charles Lamb'' (1983)
*''Desmond MacCarthy, the Man and His Writings'' (1984) [editor]
*''Some [[Dorset]] Country Houses'' (1985)
*''A Choice of [[Robert Bridges|Bridges's]] Verse'' (1987) [editor]

== See also ==
[[File:The Uffizi Society, Oxford.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Uffizi Society, Oxford, c. 1920. Ralph Dutton (wearing glasses) is seated third from left. Also in the front row are Lord Balniel, later 28th Earl of Crawford (2nd from left); [[Anthony Eden]], subsequently Prime Minister and Earl of Avon (4th from left); and Lord David Cecil (5th from left). Second row: later Sir Henry Studholme (5th from left).]]
* List of [[Gresham Professor of Rhetoric|Gresham Professors of Rhetoric]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* Glyer, Diana (2007) ''The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community''. {{ISBN|978-0-87338-890-0}}

==Further reading==
* ''David Cecil – A Portrait by his Friends Collected And Introduced By Hannah Cranborne'' (Dovecote Press, 1990)
* W. W. Robson (ed.) ''Essays and Poems Presented to Lord David Cecil'' (Constable, 1970)

== External links ==

{{Wikiquote}}
* {{LCAuth|n79008214|David Cecil|80|ue}}

{{Inklings}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cecil, Lord David}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Cecil family|David Cecil, Lord]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:British literary critics]]
[[Category:Younger sons of marquesses]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Inklings]]
[[Category:Academics of Gresham College]]
[[Category:James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century British biographers]]