Enfilade

Sites to Behold: Travels in Eighteenth-Century Rome
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 3 November 2009 — 11 April 2010

Curated by Anne Leonard

Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, "View of Rome: The Tiber River with the Castel Sant’Angelo and St. Peter’s Basilica in the Distance," n.d., Gouache on paper. Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Gift of Lucia Woods Lindley, 2006.96.

Rome has long been a leading tourist destination. 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.

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Right about now, those of you attending CAA in Chicago are probably beginning to cringe at just how tight your schedule already looks. But in the event you can find a few hours to get away from the conference hotel, I would whole-heartedly recommend a morning or afternoon in Hyde Park. In addition to this exhibition at the Smart Museum, the campus of the University of Chicago offers the Oriental Institute Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, and the Renaissance Society (for ancient, modern, and contemporary aesthetic experiences). The Renaissance Society is currently showing the photographs of Anna Shteynshleyger. No visit is complete without a stop at the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore (one of the best academic bookstores in the world), and La petite folie makes for a lovely quiet lunch or dinner. Hyde Park is easily reached via the Metra commuter train system, available just a few blocks from the Hyatt at Millennium Station. –C.H.