Enfilade

Art and Travel in the Mediterranean, 1600-1900: A Series of Five Lectures
Paul Mellon Centre, London, November 2009 — February 2010

The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean –Samuel Johnson, 1776

In the history of British travel since the late sixteenth century, the Mediterranean has always played a prime role and inevitably captured the imagination like no other European region. Travel to the Mediterranean was stimulated by its art and architecture and in return inspired new art, architecture, collecting and art criticism. Images drawn, painted or photographed on these journeys by a diversity of travellers – artists, antiquarians, scientists, ethnographers, diplomats, navy personal, amateurs and tourists, to name just a few – have fulfilled a whole variety of purposes. This lecture series, organised by the National Maritime Museum’s Centre for Art and Travel and generously hosted by the Paul Mellon Centre, attempts a new overview on the subject from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century.

26 November 2009
Edward Chaney (Southampton Solent University), The Origins of the Grand Tour and the Discovery of Art

10 December 2009
Charles Newton (V&A), ‘Present under the rose…’: Stratford Canning, His Greek Artist, and the Last Chance to See Turkey before the Tanzimat

21 January 2010
Briony Llewellyn (Independent Scholar), ‘These inhuman trafficers in flesh & blood’: British Artists and the Slave Trade in Egypt

4 February 2010
David Howarth (University of Edinburgh), Revolving Mirrors: Britain and Spain from the Armada to the Spanish Civil War

18 February 2010
Jenny Gaschke (National Maritime Museum), ‘Hellas… in one Living Picture’: British Artist Travellers in Greece

All lectures will begin at 6pm in the seminar room at the Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3JA. They are free of charge and there is no need to book, but if you wish to reserve a place, please contact Janet Norton, Research Administrator at 020 8312 6716 or research@nmm.ac.uk. For details along with abstracts for each lecture, see the website for the series.