‘AMONG THE SHINING ANTIQUE MARBLES’: Grand Tourists responses to ancient sculpture in Rome with Lisa Beaven

This lecture explores the sensibility that Grand Tourists brought to the experience of viewing ancient statues and the emotional responsiveness that emerged in this encounter. The vogue for looking at various sites and statues by moonlight and torchlight clearly reveals that many wanted to engage their imagination as well as their sight in their encounter with antiquity. Drawing on travel writings and travel accounts, the lecture reconstructs the 18th century Roman context for this viewing experience.

Lisa Beaven is a lecturer in art history at La Trobe University. She has written widely on patronage and the history of collecting in 17th century Rome, and her book An Ardent Patron: Cardinal Camillo Massimo and his antiquarian and artistic circle in Rome was published in 2010.

While continuing to write about 17th century art collecting, she is also interested in travel and travel writing in early modern Europe.

Dying Gaul, Capitoline Museum, Rome