Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain and the setting of Italy and Rome and developments in art-collecting practices in Ireland between 1750 and 1900;
2. Demonstrate awareness of how the art market and patronage impacted artistic style and subject matter;
3. Assess the role of institutions in commissioning and displaying works of art;
4. Present, orally and in written form, analyses of relevant objects and literature;
5.Engage critically with the primary sources and secondary literature.
Indicative Module Content:
Students will gather an appreciation of the Grand tour in Italy and the dissemination of the architectural ideas in great moments such as Neoclassicism and with this in mind the added impact in the physical collection and display of objects. The culture of collecting in Ireland was already well established by 1749 and it is suggested here that the display of antiquities enjoyed equal significance as the subject matter and artefacts did in representing the classical past and carried with them the expressed interest in educating the next generation of scholars. Students will investigate beyond the monuments and findings of the tourists in Rome andNaples to the formation of structured landscapes and formal gardens, and the houses would contain designated architectural spaces in the form of entrance vestibules, courtyards, pavilions garden temples ornamented with classical sculpture; and moreover libraries with their contents of classical books left open and displayed as a first means of dissemination; and whole rooms dedicated with display cabinets of curiosities, or kunstkammer: this was part of the showcasing of the classical world as a part of the scene setting of the private domain of the great house in Ireland. Students will examine from the private to the public realm the objects on display in the capital city Dublin in the eighteenth century, appear to have come from a more international sphere with the focus of consumption more broad from a dedicated classical orientation to a more global position to include Southeast Asian, Oceanic and Chinese artefacts in the material culture on public display. This should be emphasised as the reach of the trade and travellers went far beyond Europe and the Grand Tour to more exotic locations during the eighteenth century.
Various themes will be explored in this module:
Ancient Rome and the Grand Tourist;
Mapping of Rome and Key Monuments;
Theme of the Lure of the Antique;
Collecting and Curating of Antiquities;
Dissemination of Architectural Styles
The Grand Tour Further afield