Taste & Temptation

Food and drink in the 1700s was more than mere sustenance. A table could display wealth, style, and luxury, be the setting for gossip and social intrigue, and reveal powerful political allegiances.

This autumn and winter, each room of historic East Melbourne townhouse Fairhall, has been theatrically reimagined to evoke the lavish art of eating and drinking in Europe in the eighteenth century.

Experience The Johnston Collection transformed into a series of atmospheric tableaux. Period-appropriate sights, sounds, and scents bring each room to life.

Explore a haven for political rebels; a stylish Continental Kaffeeklatch where women enjoyed coffee and conversation; a sumptuous dessert setting; a baroque dining room laden with silver; and an elegant morning room for the rituals of dressing and hot chocolate.

View exquisite fine and decorative arts from The Johnston Collection in an exciting new arrangement, and discover the taste and temptations of eighteenth-century drinking and dining.

About the Guest Curator
Dr Matthew Martin is a specialist in European luxury arts of the 1600s-1800s. For 13 years, he was a curator in the Department of International Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria and is currently a faculty member in Art History and Curatorship at the University of Melbourne.

Your ticket includes:

- an introduction to The Johnston Collection by one of our knowledgeable Volunteer Guides

- an intimate tour experience with no more than 8 visitors per guide (groups of up to 22 are welcome)

- tea or Market Lane coffee served from our Wedgwood fine bone china

- time to explore a wide range of exclusive gifts, books, and homewares at TJC Emporium

This exhibition is supported by The Friends of The Johnston Collection.

Image: attributed to: Melchior d’Hondecoeter, Still Life with Cats, c.1650. Foundation Collection, 1989. The Johnston Collection, Melbourne.