Module manager: Dr Kerry Bristol
Email: k.a.bristol@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
This module is not approved as a discovery module
The Grand Tour’s origins lie in the early seventeenth century, when a small number of British aristocrats left their native islands to explore the cultural capitals of Europe. By the eighteenth century, it had developed into a rite of passage for privileged young men sent abroad to expand their knowledge of the visual arts, architecture, music and foreign political systems. Its culmination was Rome, where a thriving cultural industry arose to meet the demand for paintings, objet d’art and antiquities. The module will follow atypical Grand Tour itinerary; assess the importance of certain travellers, guides, artists and dealers; explore key publications (some of which are held in Special Collections of the Brotherton Library);and analyse the classification systems and modes of display of major Grand Tour collections in Great Britain and Ireland.
On completion of this module, students should;
-have a critical awareness of the development of the Grand Tour as a cultural phenomenon, tracking and interpreting its continental itinerary from the British Isles to the Italian city states and beyond;
-be familiar with key travellers, cicerone, artists, and dealers in art and antiquities;
-be able to analyse critically important publications such as guidebooks associated with the Grand Tour and/or excavation sites such as Herculaneum, Pompeii, Palmyra and Athens;
-be able to identify key collectors and major collections in Great Britain and Ireland.
1.Produce a logically developed, coherent analysis and interpretation of the Grand Tour as a gendered phenomenon influenced by concepts of history and Britain’s place within it;
2.Understand the complex relationship between the object/antiquity as excavated, the object as restored, and the object as displayed in the aristocratic town-or country house;
3.Understand the complex relationship between the building/antiquity as excavated and that same building/antiquity as published;
4. Understand the international networks that supported Grand Tourists, from painters to bankers and dealers.
Indicative content:
-Origins and itineraries
-Guidebooks and publications
-Travelling women
-Excavations and the formation of collections
-Portraits and the business of portrait painting
-Panini, Piranesi and Roman vedute
-Naples, Herculaneum, Pompeii and Paestum-Canaletto and the Venetian cityscape
-Beyond Italy
–Palmyra, Baalbek, Greece, Egypt
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
180 hours comprised of weekly reading(60 hours), seminar presentation preparation(10 hours), researching and writing mid-semester essay(40 hours) and researching and writing final essay (70 hours)
Oral presentation, participation in class discussion.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 2000 - 2200 word essay | 40 |
| Essay | 2500 - 3000 word essay | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 4/29/2024
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team