It seemed poetic on Saturday that, as I was working on the production of the Roman epoch and destruction of Vesuvius in 79AD by the forces of nature, when wild storms unleashed their full fury on Melbourne.

Huge golf ball size hailstones cut swathes through people enjoying the festivities at Flemingteon races and those at the Moomba festival set up alongside the banks of the Yarra and they were covered physically with cuts all over their legs and arms to prove it.

Parents cowered in doorways shielding children while everyone ducked for cover just like the residents of Pompeii had done, to no avail, so long ago.  Flinders street became a river, while the accumulation of hailstones formed a giant iceberg on the glass roof of the cities main central station and down it came.

At South Yarra my son was forced to quickly tape up our glass windows in case they shattered inward and we were reduced to sitting and talking, which we both admitted later was a wonderful experience.  The power failed for hours giving us time for reflection and reading while also reminding us vividly of how crippled our civilisation is when energy sources failed.

It also strengthened and confirmed how important is the retention of knowledge and what can happen when it is lost. As darkness approached and we lit our candles it reminded us of the European dark ages, where often for so many of its inhabitants,  all must have seemed completely lost. Then suddenly, as a symbol of hope, the lights came on.

As the rain and gale force winds subsided my son returned to his world of websites while I returned to the land of which 19th century swoon poet Lord Byron said… ‘Oh Italia, thou hast the fatal gift of beauty……the orphans of the heart must turn to thee.

Carolyn McDowall at Melbourne – March 2010

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Whoever is open, loyal, true; of humane and affable demeanour; honourable himself, and in his judgment of others; faithful to his word as to law, and faithful alike to God and man…such a man is a true gentleman.  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1881)

Sir Christopher and Lady Sykes by George Romney - a young couple looking forward to a future full of hope and happiness

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the English found that a more rational way of confronting the challenges of their age was to use the first extended period of peace for centuries with Europe to take time to comprehend them. Over the century they further circumscribed the King’s powers and began to refine the Westminster system of government into an entity envied the world over.

The beheading of Charles I,  rule of Cromwell and the Commonwealth in the seventeenth century had been a disaster. However the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 offered a unique opportunity for a new generation of men of power and perception to put in place a system of government, one honouring the collective will of the people and respecting another point of view.

Liberty, the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force meant that many people would be called upon to make sacrifices for a future they could not even begin to comprehend, let alone contemplate.

The new peace also provided a unique opportunity for those with the ready necessary to travel abroad for the first time in centuries, at least for those who were still adventurous and well-prepared risk takers. It was a slow trickle at first, and conditions were truly awful, but by the end of the first twenty years of the eighteenth century taking a tour of the continent of Europe was a possibility and on the cards for all young men of privilege who wanted to succeed in politics, their professional life and, out and about in society.

Recurrent themes for men and women of sensibility to encourage was an evocation, or criticism of the past, an increasing concern and emphasis on women and their role in nurturing children as well as a greater respect of, and for, nature. These ideas would be debated all over the country, along with a wide range of topics, in a collection of interconnected men’s, and occasionally women’s, associations all of which grew their own mythologies and special codes of conduct. This did not necessarily translate into opposition to the government but rather more than often assisted in upholding a status quo.

A compleat gentleman promoted the emergence of new ideas and encouraged the raising of positive voices to benefit marginalized sections of society. An assertion of nationalism became a central theme of art and philosophy and a key to expanding creative ideas. Establishing enduring legacies meant highlighting the importance of local customs and traditions and growing an attitude that would eventually contribute to the various movements, which would help redraw the map of Europe following the revolution in France. So over the eighteenth century a healthy rivalry between men, who believed themselves rational, intelligent human beings as well as informed rulers of taste, would provide the impetus required for enlightened men to create a new style of urban environment in England.

Derwentwater, by John Constable

The eighteenth century in England would begin on horseback and end in the advent of the railway carriage. The population of nearly 6 million people lived on land under cultivation that was still tilled as in medieval times.

In the north impassable mountains, scarcity of population and poverty of the soil meant that the land was pretty barren. Roads were appalling and a man might spend his whole life and never go further than the village market.

This state of affairs would certainly not suit a man of vision or one seeking to harness the power of the imagination to envision and escape the realities and harshness of everyday life.

By the second half of the eighteenth century power had a broader base and royal favour was no longer a guaranteed way of obtaining land and wealth. The route to the top increasingly lay in outstanding success in a military career, in the law, the church or through trade in an ever expanding international market. Landownership formed a pyramid from the aristocracy down to the smallest yeoman farmer.

There were three levels; the peers, the gentry and the freeholders and, it was possible, with some difficulty and the aid of burning ambition and friends in all the right places to break in on well established old-money circles.

Since the Great Fire of London in 1666 there had been a genuine desire to gain regularity in architecture at London and turn previously dreaded dissolute ends of town into the most fashionable. Developers had, since the Restoration grown up in an atmosphere of classical architecture, natural garden design as well as the fine and decorative arts.

Berkeley Square, London

Spencer House Facade

In London much of the development in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century was in the hands of aristocratic landowners and mainly taking place on land available to the north and west.

Alongside their country estates and development interests they were also building, or extending, great houses in town so they could expand their increasingly lucrative international endeavours and enterprises. Spencer House formerly belonged to the family of Diana, Princess of Wales. It was an ambitious project even when it was built in 1756. Recently restored by its corporate occupants it is the only surviving intact eighteenth century private palace left in London.

Leading agricultural writer from Suffolk Arthur Young (1741-1820) visited London in 1772 and said of Spencer House ..I know not in England a more beautiful piece of architecture…in richness, elegance and taste, superior to any house I have seen. Its classically formatted facade was, like its country counterparts would become a role model for later developments in London and regional cities that resembled one great house.

Sweeping Ionic Column Terraces, London

Noble men, such as the Duke of Westminster, over the century would develop great sweeping crescents of row houses with vistas of clumps of trees all arranged around urban squares with gardens and then let them out to the burgeoning middle classes especially by the last 20 years of the eighteenth century when the industrial revolution was getting into gear.

The innovation was that they let them on 42, 60, 61 or 64 year leases with a 99 year lease in place by the end of the eighteenth century. The idea of developing urban squares was not new, they were first recorded by author, artist, architect, poet, priest and philospher Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) in Italy at a time when the city of Florence was undergoing great change. Transposed from there into France by Henry IV  the Great 1553-1610 (Place des Voges) they had now found their way to London and were re-invented to aid its growth.

With the emphasis on family being so important these new developers knew, through collective family memory and centuries of family experience, that the primary investment was in the land and those who managed to hold onto it through thick and thin were, and would remain fortunate.

The expansion of the population meant more purpose built properties for small business owners to serve the public could also be built. Coffee houses had been a seventeenth century innovation and the first English coffeehouse, named Angel, established in 1650 at Oxford, by a Jewish entrepreneur named Jacob.

By 1739 there were over 500 coffee houses in London offering customers chocolate, wine, brandy and punch served from a small bar in a corner of a main room, which was sometimes fitted out with snug booths for intimate conversation and private exchange. For a visitor London coffee houses shaped social and cultural life, open as they were to people from all walks of life and background and they became places of free expression. This did not endear them to authorities who viewed them as centers of ‘seditious, indecent and scandalous discourse’.

They certainly were snug centers of hot gossip and the latest news and information was exchanged by groups of men who gathered to drink, trade, debate and intrigue.

Booksellers met at the Chapter Coffee House on Paternoster Row, where they commissioned Johnson’s Lives of the English Poets at a meeting in 1777.

Coffee houses provided a wide range of newspapers and pamphlets, whose contents often provoked lively debate among the protagonists.  They thrived and coffee culture became a representative institution of urban life.

The persistent phenomenon of the time would be a Grand Tour for English noblemen, who would travel along with an entourage on a journey that would culminate in a visit to Italy and Rome and affect his life forever after.  He would adopt Italian art, Italian mannerisms and overlay his speeches and correspondence with Italian phrases. It became inevitable that when he came back to England to design an English estate, or to develop a piece of London and other important English towns and cities he would recall the example of Italy and create the ideal setting for those aspiring to see and be seen, as well as those striving to be ‘compleat gentlemen’.

Portrait of a Young Man by Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) 1530s - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Y

The idea of a Compleat Gentleman had developed in ancient Greece five centuries before the Christ event. By the fifteenth century at Florence in Italy it had achieved finely balanced attitudes and a Florentine man of learning worked for something beyond himself, whether in truth or beauty.

He set small store by his own gratification, equating honour with the greater good and his pursuit of knowledge was only exceeded by his desire for more. This ideal was one many young English gentlemen would discover and aspire to three centuries later during their travels to Europe.

Up until now English gentlemen had received their classical education at home. This included languages, literature and the history of Greece and Rome. Now these young grand tourists spent up to five years traveling through France and Italy returning home via Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

At last they had an opportunity to find out first hand if theory and practice were compatible bedfellows. It was an exciting prospect and, all roads led to Rome and by 1740 the Queen’s Lady of the Bedchamber Lady Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys, Countess of Pomfret (1698-1761), a keen writer and seasoned traveller herself was prompted to comment that ‘it was carried a great deal too far amongst the English’. By then the main aim for any young man was to see the sights and ‘set foot on classical ground’.

American Grand Tourist Joseph Allen Smith overlooking the Arno, by François-Xavier Fabre, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. His Grand Tour was undertaken between 1793 and 1807 as an aspiring diplomat. He traveled not just as a tourist, but as a representative of the world's first republic

The great majority of Grand Tourists went to Italy because visits to Greece remained very much the exception due to difficulties of travel and the drastic political situation with the occupation of the Turks.

The classical heritage of Rome then, for all intents and purposes at the time, civilisation.

They left London for Rome and Naples crossing the English Channel to Calais, and continuing across France, usually with a lengthy stopover in Paris to catch up with friends, see the sights, spend time discoursing in salons and purchasing the latest fashionable garments to wear.

There were two options for crossing into Italy either to travel cross the Alps or to book a sea voyage from southern France to Leghorn (today’s Livorno).

English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and politician Horace Walpole’s description of his journey through the Alps in his letter to his friend Richard West would challenge the most hearty.

‘We were eight days in coming hither from Lyons; the four last in crossing the Alps. Such uncouth rocks, and such uncomely inhabitants!’ On their return to England some tourists traveled through Germany and the Low Countries.

Modern Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini painted in 1757 depicting famous monuments of the city as paintings arranged in a sumptuous gallery

Parents sent their sons away for years rather than months, usually in the care of a tutor or trusted family friend or both.

The main mentor was often a clergyman and/or College fellow whose role was to safeguard his charge’s morals, oversee his studies and look after the practicalities of his travel and accommodation, including ensuring that their was no bed bugs.

Many a traveller who set out on his Grand Tour during the first half of the 18th century was warned to make preparations and precautions to deal with the very severe problem of head lice and bed bugs. Head lice were not as big a problem as bed bugs because many aristocratic men out on the town painted their faces to hid their syphillitic sores or pox marks. The paint contained lead which hastened their hair loss, so wigs were employed and they were easier to clean than real hair.

They knew to send their servants ahead to attend to the bed bugs, which certainly had no respect for titles. Now bed bugs are not usually associated with the Age of Elegance, however, they plagued Europe for centuries and aspiring young gentleman would often have to sleep in a special bag made from linen to combat these pesky little critters.

Grand tourist James Boswell during his travels recorded in his journals the hazards of the accommodation by night where he ‘discovered beasts’. Samuel Pepys, the diarist also recorded ‘ he had found a bed, good but lousy’, which sounds rather odd, and poor Lord Herbert lamented ‘ he saw hundreds of bugs on their march home, full of prey’, as he had been bitten ‘on a very tender part, which I shall forbear mentioning and which we Brittons think the best part of the bullock to make steak of’.

Roman Emperor Augustus in his role as Priest his Toga swathed over his head in reverence to the Gods

Eighteenth century noble gentlemen felt a strong kinship to the age of first century Emperor Augustus through the works of the Roman poets. Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil), Poet Laureate Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace) and Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), who had given their energies to satires, lyrical pieces and odes.

From the third century in Western Europe their works were considered essential reading to help train young minds to think, to rationalise, to reason, to strive for harmony and order in the universe and, to be objective.

Augustus was a heroic figure and this was an age that revered heroes,  one in which young men marched into battle as brothers, shoulder to shoulder -  an emotional bond that would often prove more powerful than any other.

The Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Latin: Deeds of the Divine Augustus) was another text they studied. It had been copied  on bronze pillars near his mausoleum and carved in stone throughout the empire on stone columns of Roman Temples, which is why we have a complete copy of it.

It  gave a first person record of his life and accomplishments, considered by some scholars to be a piece of highly succesful propaganda about a monarch whose desires, were in reality, backed by the swords of legions. Whatever the truth, the images of Augustus we have are powerful, presenting him as a man well able to contribute to the stability and peace of any society, and a noble ambition for any gentleman in any age to aspire to.

In Italy the grand tourist was well catered for because there were plenty of famous personalities to meet and the Opera and Catholic processions were something to see. There was a hope of gaining good health, enjoying entirely different food and natural phenomena to examine, such as Vesuvius blowing off steam.

Col Hon William Gordon by Batoni

As well there were many amazing and interesting archaeological digs underway and treasures from antiquity coming up for sale and most importantly, you could have your portrait painted by Pompeo Batoni (108 – 1787).

It was truly an exciting and fruitful time to be there.

To make a tour an’ take a whirl To learn bon ton, an’ see the worl’   Robbie Burns

Artist Pompeo Batoni made a healthy living off his Grand Tourists by depicting them grandly. Italians of the eighteenth century did not care much for portraiture so much as they did for symbolism. Batoni was, for them, a revered painter of allegorical and devotional paintings commissioned by the Italian elite.

American born painter Benjamin West, who lived in London would complain while visiting Rome that Italian artists “talked of nothing, looked at nothing but the works of Pompeo Batoni”.

For his British patrons however, Batoni was able to offer a powerful image  of themselves to display proudly when they had returned home.

His portrait of Col Hon William Gordon has great emotional intensity and is also an interesting cultural comment.  Issue 3 of publication by the Association of Art Historians 2004 says it was ‘Painted in Rome for return to Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire, the portrait is also implicated in Enlightenment debates about Scotland as a ‘primitive’ land and as a centre of intellectual and cultural achievement’.  Col Gordon cuts a dashing figure in his plaid in front of the Colosseum standing next to the statue of a seated Roma, the personification of the city of Rome.

Andrea Palladio Antichita de Roma Frontespiec

The buried buildings of Herculaneum and Pompeii began revealing their treasures from 1738 and 1748 respectively, affecting contemporary interests and tastes. Learned societies and architects setting out intentionally to survey these ancient monuments and the increased interest provided accurate information about proportion, scale and ornamental detail with numerous publications coming into circulation.

The finest guide for travellers to Rome had actually been written in 1554 by successful sixteenth century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. Entitled Le Antichita de Roma. It described the buildings of Ancient Rome and as might be expected of an architect of Andrea Palladio’s reputation the guide was closer to the original Roman buildings than any other. The ruins were viewed through his eyes, which is one of the reasons that Palladio exerted such an amazing influence on the course of architectural history, especially for young men from England who were in pursuit of the perfect house.

Charles Towneley and his Friends in the Towneley Gallery, 33 Park Street, Westminster (1781-83) by Johann Zoffany. Boys with their Toys.

A whole new genre of art was invented and an army of copyists would reproduce any old master painting of your choice, for a price,  from the splendid selection on display in the art galleries.

Portrait painters, illustrators and landscape artists all prospered, or at least survived, by providing memories of the British in Italy. Some copies of European paintings were so convincing they fooled many into believing they were the real deal.

Many a modern museum has been embarrassed to discover purchases made over a hundred years ago that have always been taken on face value were fakes. Until recently no one had really questioned their validity and many are now only displayed for their social history connotations.

Very few original classical sculptures found their way to Britain during the eighteenth century, so most enthusiasts of this art form had to make do with taking home excellent cast.

Taking home a cast or a copy of an original was not shameful. It was the only way to share with friends and family what the years away had meant and how much you had learned about the heritage of Greece and Rome. However if you were after a really outstanding piece of classical sculpture, or an original High Renaissance master such as Titian or Raphael while they were extremely difficult to find, they were not impossible if you had the right connections. Country Gentleman Charles Towneley (1733 – 1805)  formed a formidable collection of antiquities, which the British Museum purchased from the family in 1805. It was housed in his purpose built town house in the west of London in his lifetime so he and his friends could discuss the merits of each piece.

What is significant is that many of them appear in a conversation piece painted by artist Johann Zoffany, himself a luminary of the day.  In August 1781 Townley wrote to his dealer in Rome “Mr Zoffany is painting… a room in my house, wherein he introduces what Subjects he chuses in my collection. It will be a picture of extraordinary effect & truth…

Marriage a la Mode - 1 of a Series by William Hogarth

Artist and social commentator William Hogarth campaigned vigorously against fashionable taste.

His witty cartoons also assisted in expanding more serious debate about issues affecting the society of his day, especially the idea that rich people are automatically happy.

His Marriage a la Mode series was a comment on the dissolute lives many of them really led because they were so unhappy in marriages arranged by parents wanting to further expand their own estates.

The whole sad story starts in the mansion of the Earl Squander, who is arranging to marry his son off to the daughter of a wealthy merchant and it all ends tragically with the murder of the son and suicide of the daughter.

A pair of Regence period ormolu Chenet

In 1753 Hogarth wrote an Analysis of Beauty contemplating the virtues of a sinous, serpentine line of beauty as it was applied to visual and formal applications from mundane everyday objects to classical sculpture,  clocks, serpentine shaped sideboards or sinuously shaped Chenet, especially by French designer and chaser Jacques Caffiéri 1678–1755 whose gilded bronze furniture mounts, andirons for the fire and other objects were highly sought after.

In his book, Hogarth wrote “the eye hath this sort of enjoyment in winding walks, and serpentine rivers, and all sorts of objects, whose forms, as we shall see hereafter, are composed principally of what I call the waving or serpentine lines… intricacy in form, therefore, I shall define to be that peculiarity in the lines, which compose it, that leads the eye a wanton kind of chace, and from the pleasure that gives the mind, entitles it to the name of beautiful”

It was a serious attempt by Hogarth to make considerations of design accessible to a broader range of people. His membership of St. Martin’s Lane Academy guaranteed he was in touch with up to the minute contemporary aesthetic discourses and with the publication of his theoretical treatise, he formally inserted himself into high-stakes contemporary debates on the subject.

By mid century London was the largest city in Western Europe with 750,000 inhabitants. (Edinburgh 57,000 Dublin 90000). It offered a different quality of life and nowhere else in Britain was so urban; no other city so exciting or so shocking!.

Mozart in London

A great night out was to gape at the antics of the beau monde while they were out and about on the town.

You could do that at Vauxhall Gardens, which occupied about 12 acres across the Thames from Westminster Abbey. Class distinction did not apply, so for young aristocratic risk takers with the ready necessary it was dangerous, and glamorous. For rogues, ruffians, pimps and prostitutes it was a place where they could earn a good living, and for everyone else in between it was to coin a contemporary term,  ‘a great gaze’.

Just up the river was Ranelagh Gardens. English writer, critic and renowned conversationalist Dr. Samuel Johnson said Ranelagh produced ‘an expansion and gay sensation’ such as he had never experienced anywhere else before.

It certainly must have been wonderful to be there on June 19, 1764 when eight year old child prodigy Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert.

The young genius, his father and sister stayed in London for just over one year, not departing until 17 September 1765. Wolfgang’s father reported in a letter home ‘What we have experienced here surpasses everything’ .

Pantheon at Rome and its Grand Tourists

They were given 24 guineas after performing privately for a small group including two princes, the brother of the King and brother of the Queen. The King gave a benefit on the 5th June and placed before the young genius pieces by Bach and Handel and he also accompanied the Queen in an air improvised on one of Handel’s airs playing the melody so beautifully it astonished everybody.

The family resided in Chelsea where Wolfgang wrote a set of sonatas K10 – 15 dedicating them to Queen Charlotte, for which she sent fifty guineas. The Rotunda at Ranelagh was thought by contemporaries to compare favourably with the Pantheon at Rome, the only intact Roman building from antiquity.

The Grand Tour was so often protracted it is not surprising that many great treasures found their way to England’s shores including paintings by the Italian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Il Canaletto, (1697-1768).

The son of a theatrical scene-painter Giovanni had studied in Rome and between 1746 and 1756 worked in London.

Grand Canal Venice, Canaletto, National Gallery, Lond

Following his return to Venice English grand tourists, guided by English entrepreneur, Joseph Smith who lived there, sought him out.

Smith’s own collection was later sold to King George III in 1758 and the British Royal Collection still has the best selection of Canaletto’s works anywhere.

In the summer of 1772 German born artist Johann Zoffany left London for Florence and he would not return until 1779.

Zoffany was commissioned by Queen Charlotte to paint ‘the Florence Gallery’ and to do that he needed to enlist the help of influential Englishmen, such as Sir Horace Mann and George, 3rd Earl Cowper who were living there.

Paintings were brought in from the Pitti Palace so he could paint them in situ, and he was able to repay his patrons by including portraits of them in what is an amazing conversation piece, which caused a great deal of criticism when it was put on display in London.

Tribuna of the Uffizi by Johann Zoffany Royal Collection, Windsor Castle

Horace Walpole called it ‘a flock of travelling boys, and one does not know nor care whom’.

Zoffany was careful to include himself in the piece for posterity and the connoisseurs, diplomats and other Grand Tourists he included are all identifiable.

Returning Grand Tourists arrived back in England with bags bulging.  Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) returned to England from his Grand Tour of Europe and Italy just in time for his 21st birthday.

He brought with him artist and designer William Kent, whom he had met on his travels, as well as 878 pieces of luggage, containing numerous treasures of paintings, statues, objects of virtu, bas reliefs, a marble table, porphry vases and twelve miniatures, not to mention the set of silver dessert baskets from Paris, a bountiful supply of books and fourteen pairs of gloves!

Burlington and his friends were all heavily influenced by the many and varied essays on the subject as well as their travels where they had seen paintings in which architecture and nature were blended together in a pictorial effect. Burlington and Kent would contribute greatly to the quest for nature. Of great influence were the paintings by French artist Claude Lorrain, Claude Gellée, dit le Lorrain) (c. 1600 – 21 or 23 November 1682) they had seen on their grand tour. They featured hills and valleys, great clouds, splendid trees with soft foliage with buildings, or groups of buildings of classical ancestry. These romantic concepts were fused together with the search for an ‘Arcadian’ idyll

Detail Claude Lorrain Landsca

These new ‘Rulers of Taste’ sought that moment of perfection inspired by all their intellectual and poetic notions, which now played a major part in the broadening their sensibilities. Buildings came to be appreciated not merely as architecture, but for the thoughts and the feelings they inspired and the resultant “Cult of the Picturesque” would be debated well into the next century.

Garden designer extraordinaire Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1715-1783) was in the perfect position to offer returning Grand Tourists a gardening style that suited there newly found sensibilities.

He had worked with landscape style innovator William Kent in the garden he was creating at Stowe and found himself in a position to offer his clients an intimate,  personal view of nature by ‘softening nature’s harshness and copying her graceful touch’.

Brown’s style of natural countryside was the sort of place where you could believe that nymphs and shepherds came together with their elegant eighteenth century counterparts, and felt comfortably at home.

The Bridge at Stourhead in a landscape of autumnal colours

He transformed great tracts of the English landscape into natural curves crowning them with clumps of trees. He used mostly elm, oak, beech, lime, Scots fir, plane, larch and the Cedar of Lebanon.

At Stourhead in Wiltshire the contrived circuit walk around the lake was built for the enjoyment of its new young owner banker Henry Hoare “The Magnificent”.

Its interplay of light and shadow were a triumph for the contrived and well-laid out park.

Horace Walpole said ‘Such was the effect of his genius …..so closely did he copy nature that his works will be mistaken for it’.

How right he was. Brown and his colleagues, during the course of the eighteenth and nineteen centuries would change the whole shape and character of the English countryside from one end of the country to the other in their Quest for Nature. It was human intervention on a monumental scale.

Temple of Flora at Stourhead

THE classical buildings in the garden at Stourhead were a reminder for Henry Hoare of his wonderful years spent in Italy. They were suitable  for all sorts of entertainments during the course of the eighteenth century, including playing music by Mozart.

Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to strive again
Not chaos like together crushed and bruised
But as the world, harmoniously confused;
Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree
Alexander Pope

An eighteenth and nineteenth century gentleman’s broad ranging education, went hand in hand with an improvement in wine processes and a distinct desire to appreciate wine for its own sake and it became a subject for serious study.

Sir Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer

Golden Asses by Thomas Patc

Connoisseurship became an important concern and men’s clubs devoted to pursuing a passion for art, architecture and the decorative arts sprang up everywhere.

This in itself spawned many new trades and expanded employment for those catering to their peace loving luxurious seemingly happy leisure filled lifestyle. After all the art of pleasure is a serious business.

In Italy Caricatura was a recognised art form. Thomas Patch, one of the Englishmen feature in Johann Zoffany’s Tribuna of the Uffizi at Florence arrived at Italy when he was 24 to study human physiognomy as part of a career path to be a doctor. This would prove beneficial in providing portraits for grand tourists and in Florence he earned his living by catering to the tourist trade. As well as caricatures of the aristocracy at play he also painted landscapes, capturing a serious eruption of Vesuvius on October 19, 1767

Society of Diletannti by William Say

Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baronet of West Wycombe Park was one of the centuries most colourful characters who, by all accounts, was seldom sober. He also was 2nd Postmaster General, Master of the Great Wardrobe, Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 1734 at London he founded the Society of Dilettanti (dilettante (from the Italian dilettare – to delight) for men who had completed their grand tour of Europe.

Over the course of the century the Society of Dilettanti would sponsor serious archaeological expeditions, assemble celebrated collections of antiques and art and advance the study of classical art, architecture and music and science.

The popular dining club met in Italy, and at home, where they combined ribald revelry, wit, complete irreverence with a serious study of antiquity, which they all associated with the good times spent in Italy, albeit at their parents expense.

They had the latest and best wines on hand to toast exalted beauties, the consideration of serious matters in a playful vein (Serio Luda) while they contemplated a lengthy future for the fine arts (Viva laVirtú). Having these interests and concerns gradually became the measure of a man of refined taste and style.

Dashwood also revived the Hellfire Club and went ‘clubbing’ with his clique, the so-called ‘Medmenham Monks’ on the banks of the Thames at Medmenham Abbey just 6 km away from his country house. He revived the remains of the Abbey as a picturesque ruin. Over the doorway to the a garden which had been purpose built filled with erotic statues and contained a shrine dedicated to the erect penis, rather than the penitent penis, it said Fais ce que tu voudras – a shortened version of Aime et fais ce que tu veux… by St Augustine – Love and do what you want.

West Wycombe Park, Memories of an Italian Loggia

West Wycombe Manor was set in a beautiful Park and the perfect setting for a man of means who also enjoyed the good life.

Its colonaded west front is highly unusual, for a climate like England recalling perhaps many happy times spent lazing in the loggia of an Italian Palazzo.

While smaller than most of his friends country houses today it is a perfect film set for eighteenth century period films because it encapsulates and reflects in architecture the society of a time when young men of privilege went in passionate pursuit of civilised life.

Is it the perfect Temple to Taste of a Compleat Gentleman?

© The Culture Concept 2010

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Bacchus the Roman God of Wine

Wine, Women and Song is a fine example of a tripartite motto originating in ancient times. It is when three words are used to express one idea, in this case a warning about the imminent danger of becoming a fool for those whose life was spent in the pursuit of pleasure.

Wine, Women and Song (Wein, Weib und Gesang) also became a choral waltz written by Johann Strauss II for the Vienna Men’s Choral Association so-called Fool’s Evening held on the 2nd February 1869.

Wine was made before history was recorded and for thousands of years has evoked high spirits, given comfort and pleasure, as well as made fools of many different people in many different countries and cultures.

And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyards for the winepress, say in your heart; “I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress, And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels. And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup; And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress*

In his witty and erudite study of antiquity’s larder, first published in 1853 The Pantropheon (History of Food and its Preparation in Ancient Times), renowned flamboyant French Chef Alexis Benoit Soyer said, Tell me what thou eatest and I will tell thee who thou art’.

The Pantropheon was a cornucopia of food data dealing with the preparation of food for the table in classical antiquity. In it Soyer calls upon the ancient Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Egyptians and Jewish peoples to reveal themselves and their traditional ways of eating and drinking. It was made available to an even wider public than ever before because of the invention in 1843 of the rotary printing press by Richard Hoe in America, which allowed millions of copies of a page to be printed in a single day.

Plump, ready for picking, red wine grape

Reform Club, London

Alexis Benoit Soyer (1810 – 1858)  was considered, in his time a gastronomic genius. Quite simply it seems he was the rage of stylish, mid nineteenth century England.

He devoted his vast energies and resources to serving both the rich and poor.

In 1846 he assisted architect Charles Barry to design the kitchens at London’s Reform Club in Pall Mall when it was founded and he was its celebrated chef for twelve years.

However, on the opposite side of the coin if you like, he also designed and organised ‘soup kitchens’ during the Irish famine of the late 1840’s providing soldiers with nourishing food during the Crimean War in 1855. This was achieved in collaboration with nursing luminary Florence Nightingale and Soyer gave of his talents and money to aid social profit causes for all of his life.  Soyer describes wine as that ‘grateful drink’ one that ‘draws the ties of friendship closer’ and one that all ‘honest people, all generous souls’ are eager to taste.

In The Pantropheon he recorded that Livia, consort of Roman Emperor Augustus in the first century said when she was 82 years of age that she was indebted to Bacchus, the God of Wine for her long existence. But what of wine…what do we know about its evolution in terms of our cultural growth and continuing passion for it today…

…Amethyst it bore as its fruit,
Grape vine was trellised, good to behold,
Lapis Lazuli it bore as grape clusters,
Fruit it bore, magnificent to look upon.

If we are talking poetry in relation to wine then The Epic of Gilgamish is one of the oldest poems in the world, which mentions it. From Sumeria it dates from eighteen centuries BCE (Before the Christ event). Modern archaeologists have proved a great deal of relevance to ancient sites and cultural practices in its prose.

Cup Bearer from Persepolis

Gates of Ancient Ninevah

The poem survived because it was recorded on ceramic material, rediscovered between 1845 – 1851 by British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard 1817 –1894.

A Victorian gentleman, diplomat, politician, art connoisseur and man of letters, Lanyard was many things but not what we would call a professional archaeologist.

Layard and his Turkish colleague Hormuzd Rassam [1826-1910] discovered thousands of fragments of broken clay tablets, while excavating on the east bank of the Tigris River in modern day Iraq at the site of the ancient city of Ninevah. Capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah was an important city in Persia in ancient times. It occupied a central position on the great highway between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, where east met the west.

Siduri, courtesy of Winemakers Adam & Dianna at Siduri Winery, Santa Rosa California

The fragments were shipped to England where pioneering English Assyriologist George Smith sorted classified and rejoined them. Smith discovered the narrative that filled twelve tablets was a poem, which recorded the collective wisdom of Gilgamesh historical King of Uruk [2750 -2500 BCE] who it is said saw everything, learned everything and understood everything

The text refers to a woman named Siduri as the ‘maker of the wine’ and Enkidu, a wild man of the woods, who is given his first experience of civilisation by a temple woman, or harlot, who shows ‘him human manners and gives him wine to drink’.

We are told he ‘drank seven times, his thoughts wandered and he became hilarious his heart full of joy as his face shone’… a condition many have had after drinking wine.

The Persians in antiquity enjoyed the luxury and enchantments of the table.

It was from Persia during the reign of their heroic King Jemsheed in the C6 BCE that a ‘poetic’ story about wine emerged 

“It seems he was fond of eating grapes and kept vast quantities in jars so he would always have a ready supply. It is reputed he found a batch no longer sweet and labelled it poisonous. A woman of his harem, distraught with nervous headaches, desired to end her life so drank of the juice in the jar and was so overpowered she fell into a heavy sleep”

Not surprisingly after a long deep sleep our lady of the harem awoke refreshed and revealed all to Jemsheed, who then distributed the drink to his courtiers.

In light of this story is perhaps feasible for us to presume grapes kept overlong in ceramic storage bowls, in the right conditions of temperature would have fermented… and that the first style of wine could have been fermented from raisins, grapes dried in the sun and stored.

Rhyton, Achaemenid period 500 –330 BCE, Persia

Bucchero ware drinking-cup (kantharos) Etruscan, about 600 BC Inscribed with the owner's name courtesy British Museum, London

If this is so they would have produced a very tasty wine, something in the manner of a Tokay.

Our poet would have enjoyed drinking it from the Kantharos,  a deep drinking cup, which had a vase like bowl usually mounted on a slender stem with twin handles that curved up above the rim of the bowl.

Originating with the Etruscans in Italy in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, drinking cups of this kind were exported all over the Mediterranean and the form was also adopted by the Greeks (British Museum).

The other style of drinking vessel in ancient times was a Rhyton or drinking horn, such as this example of fine craftsmanship. In copper, silver and gold this example dates from the Achaemenid period of the Persian Empire 500 –330 BCE. Originally carved in the form of a bull’s horn, wine poured in at the top came out through a narrow stream between the griffin’s legs and poured into a wine cup or directly into the mouth.

Vitis Vinifera

The first book of the Bible, Genesis relates how Noah was a man of the soil, the first to plant a vineyard, drink the wine and become drunk. The grape vine was one of the first plants domesticated, although its nature required certain conditions of geography and climate for it to grow and produce its fabulous fruit.

There is an amusing Jewish legend recorded in Brewster’s Phrases and Fables that states the devil buried a lion, lamb and a hog at the foot of the first vine planted by Noah and that hence, we receive from wine, ferocity, mildness or, wallowing in the mire, or gutter as we would say …and there is also a biblical injunction that says ‘a little wine maketh glad the heart’.

Modern research has revealed that wine, sensibly taken, may be beneficial to our health and well being. I don’t know about you but that’s the one I would prefer to believe when imbibing.

We would not have wine without the Vitis Vinifera, the famous vine of Europe and the Middle East. It emerged in the area around the Black Sea during the Quaternary, the period that runs from about a million years ago and includes the Upper Palaeolithic period, which ended about 8000 BCE.

The Vitis Vinifera’s stock provided the basis for most historical wine.

Nearly all primitive tribes it seems developed some sort of intoxicant to help them face the harsher realities of life.

Wine Jar Hajji-Firuz courtesy Universy of Pennsylvania Museum

Poppy juice, fungi and dried flowers of cactus are among such sources. However, none can compare in economic or social importance than alcohol, which is considered the most pleasant of all the benign poisons we consume.

Wine making developed, alongside a variety of food processing techniques, made possible when nomadic groups of peoples began permanent settlements.

In Hajji Firuz in Iran, one Neolithic house dating from 5400-5000 B.C has yielded six wine jars with a residue of wine still in them.

In the ancient capital at Thebes in the Valley of Nobles archaeological remains bear testimony to Egyptian civilisation at its height. Wall paintings date from 1500 years before Christ and relate various stories about grapes and vines including men being carried from a drinking party. One graphically depicts a women being ill after consuming far too much wine. In another vines trained on horizontal trellises or pergolas were set into formalised gardens that were planted with figs, pomegranates and sycamores.

Treading the Grapes in Thebes, Ancient capital of Egypt

In Egypt as time progressed winemaking techniques advanced.

The treading of the grapes took place in large tanks supported by an elaborate structure of poles with ropes or straps for the men to hold onto while they sought purchase with their feet.

A light roof sheltered them from the heat of the sun while they worked. The grape vine served a triple purpose; it gave shade, provided food and drink and, was highly decorative.

Ancient Egyptian Wine Jar with Lid

In King Tutankhamun’s tomb found in 1922 by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in the food provided for his afterlife some grapes had been kept for eating; the rest made into wine.

Wine jars were filled and stoppered with mud on a pad, or a wad of palm wood fibres.

They were sealed, the contents labelled, some of which have remained intact for archaeologists to interpret. These include the royal seals of Tutankhamun.

Because of the excellent preservation of the objects in his tomb we know that his ‘wine list’ contained a choice of some thirty varieties; the jars still labeled with wine, year, vineyard and vintner.

Dionysus Greek god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature from Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée. Paris, 188

The wine of the grape became a medium through which alcohol could be enjoyed in a air of conviviality and companionship.

In primitive, and later Christian tribes, wine also became an instrument of religious experience, a practice that continues unabated to the present day but more on that later.

It was the rise of civilisations around the Aegean and Mediterranean that first gave a European meaning to the drinking of wine.

The introduction of viticulture to ancient Greece is both prehistoric and a subject for conjecture. The ancient Greeks took grape growing and wine making seriously.  Six centuries before Christ there were vineyards spread all over Attica, where the pattern of life was, to some extent shaped by its proximity to the city of Athens.

By the seventh century before Christ vineyards were also all over Arcadia,  the region of Greece in the Peloponnesus, which takes its name from the mythological character Arcas.

Silenus with the infant Dionysus

On On Run, dance, delirious, possessed!
Dionysus comes to his own;
Bring from the Phrygian hills to the broad streets god, child of a god,
Spirit of revel and rapture, Dionysus

Dionysus was the ancient Greek god of wild and fertile nature, of the vine and wine and a great many festivals grew up around his cult. As a child he was fed the wine, he was reputed to have invented from a cornucopia, or horn of plenty.

Raised in a cave on Mount Nysa, as a baby Dionysus was tutored by Silenus a rural god whose statue of the two of them is attributed to one of the most famous sculptors of his day, Lysippus.

Dionysus is said to have had many adventures, including introducing viniculture to India. However, it was mostly because of the popularity of wine based worship, that he grew in stature to become one of the ruling Greek Olympian Gods seated at the right hand of his father Zeus, the father of Gods and Men

The bleating lambs, the ivy leaf, the vat,
Full-bosomed matrons hurrying to the farm,
The tipsy maid, the drained and emptied flask,
And many other blessing

Dionysus and his followers on a Sacrcophagus Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yor

The Greek wine drinking party, or Symposium had an etiquette that had, over time been perfected to a fine art form.

Music was provided by flute-girls, garlands of flowers were worn and there were competitions for songs and riddles.  It was a night when men of culture, philosophers and scholars held elevated discussions and enjoyed the charms of male friendship. The cost of getting together, talking and drinking was shared by all those who attended.

The ideal Symposium was also a framework for a debate on love, especially ‘Platonic love’ which referred to an argument for the supremacy of non-sexual love between people of like minds what we would call today, ‘soul mates’. However it is a fact the very same ‘flute girls’ who played the music, were also called upon to exercise their talents in other ways for men of power and influence.

Of the gay danseuse of ripened charms
I’ve told you; hear me, pray,
Of the budding flute-girl who saps the strength of the sailor man for pay’

Dionysus painting on the interior of a Kylix

Kylix by the Euergides Painter, courtesy British Museum

The most usual style of wine drinking cup was a Kylix, a shallow two-handled bowl on a short stem whose beauty of shape was enhanced by the wonderful art of the vase painters.

One of the great masterpieces of black figure painting is by Exekias is a famous kylix, which depicts Dionysus on a ship with Pirates, who had tried to abduct him. They were all transformed into dolphins and he made vine leaves spring from the mast to act as sails.

Dionysus was the personification of man’s earthly passions, the God of plant life whose vitality was renewed each spring.  He was linked to fertilisation, the life cycle and the mysterious and the potent forces underlying both life and death and that meant he also became a symbol for immortality.

Wine was mixed with water, one part to three, in a Crater, the large vessel at the back and it was used by the Greeks for that purpose; dilution with water was not only necessary but a much needed economy to make wine last from one harvest to another.

Gluttony, sottishness and stupefaction were considered ‘madness’ to an educated Greek as they dulled and distorted an active, appreciating mind and luxury was an extravagance worthy of ridicule, rather than admiration.

Some of the most exquisite craftsmanship of the Hellenistic age went into elaborate gold work now associated with luxury. This detail is from a gilded Crater was found at Derveni in Thessalonica depicts Dionysus seated under a sinuously trailing vine.

Ancient Greeks loved the delights of life and the pleasure considered the greatest and the expense the least.  This does not mean they would get carried away. The dignity of life and value of an individual lay in the exercise of his consciousness and diminishing this exercise would have meant diminishing the individual himself.

A man’s intellectual and moral make up demanded a very high personal standard of attitude, stance and behaviour, or we could say his words, deeds and actions needed to be in harmony with each other.

Nobody would take mulled claret;
Everybody chose, you know,
Wine that had been ‘welled’ or mingled not with water but with snow

It was expensive, but snow was used in hot weather to cool wine, or for economy, the wine was chilled by lowering it down a well

If I’m no fool, Dad’s put us down the well, like wine to cool

Bacchus Roman God of Wine, Musée du Louvre

At Imperial Rome the centurion’s staff of office was the sapling of a grape vine. During the first century, inspired by descriptions of Dionysian worship, a cult spread among the youth of Rome. The festivals of Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine, or Bacchanalia as they were called, were scenes of drunken revelry.

According to that great documenter of Roman times, Titus Livius (59 BC – AD 17) or Livy, these occasions concealed aspects far more menacing than drunkenness and sexual promiscuity; he believed that they threatened total anarchy and served as a disguise for more horrendous crimes.

There were rumours of human sacrifice and he suggested they were a sign that ordinary people had needs that state religion could not provide. This was well recognised by some of those in authority, who were struggling to prevent such rites taking place.

By way of contrast the Roman banquet itself was a sign of civility,  the perfect occasion for a man to affirm his accomplishments and show off to his peers.

The Emperors of Rome kept no court, although most lived in a ‘palace’ on the Palatine Hill. The exception was Emperor Augustus in the first century. He lived, like his nobles, in a private villa with only slaves and freed men for company.

When night came the Emperor dined with senators and others whose company he relished, as at table was one of the few places he felt he could relax. Reclining on a couch he partook of braised or roasted bloodless meat served sugared while drinking a wine with a flavour something like marsala, diluted with water. Early in the dinner they ate without drinking. Later they drank without eating. ‘Make it stronger’, the suffering erotic poet ordered his cup bearer, and the trickiest part of the evening and longest, was set aside for serious drinking.

More than a feast, the banquet was also a festival with each man expected to hold his own. Guests expressed their views on general topics and noble subjects or give summaries of their lives and between dishes music, dancing and singing with professional musicians took place.

In the first century in Campania vines produced abundantly and the volcanic soil of the Bay of Naples brought forth some of the best wines of the Roman Empire. Spain and Gaul were its only main rivals, the wines of the south considered generally better than those of Central Italy, which were not greeted in Rome with great enthusiasm.

Vineyard in Campania

Vineyard in Tusca

Those produced in Tuscany were less favourable, a direct contrast to today where it is now considered one of the best wine producing regions.

Perhaps it was a matter of ‘taste’ or the education of the palette that can only occur after consistent exposure to many different varietals.

It was about the middle of the second century that wine growing in Italy became really important.

The Romans were the first people to mature wine on anything approaching a modern scale.

Latin writers speak of wines with years of age.  Most however would have been categorised as vin ordinaire and drunk within the year after vintaging.

A Roman legionary left a message stating ‘that while he lived he drank with a good heart and recommended his friends follow his example’.

Romans Harvesting Grapes from a Mural at Pompeii

The Romans compiled manuals of instruction dealing with the growing of vines and making of wine and they also provided a picture of Roman viticulture more complete than any other ancient peoples.

The low vineyard was where the vine was un-staked and its branches sprawled over the ground. This meant ripening grapes were left to lie on the earth or raised off the surface by means of short props. It was simple and economical but sharing the grapes with foxes necessitated change.

The high vineyard developed and vines grown up tall trees and looped from tree to tree like garlands. Elms and poplars, or willows were twined and hung with vines, a usual sight for poets.

Storing Wine in Ceramic Amphora

Jesus the Christ, Mosaics at Ravenna

‘Ash stakes of the forked uprights
Upon whose strength
your vines can mount and be trained to clamber
Up the high storied elm trees’

Following the conversion in the third century of Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity,  the vine became an important metaphor for that of Jesus the Christ himself.

He was the central root stock onto which all Christians, in their life of faith and spiritual growth, were grafted. It was used decoratively in wall painting and Byzantine mosaics,  to reinforce the message of St John’s Gospel -  ‘I am the true vine.

Trade in wine at this time was highly individualistic,  operated by merchants who acted singly, or in a small family partnership. Each ‘firm’ had its own ship to freight wine, along with other desirable goods, all over the Mediterranean and Aegean areas.

Often a family villa had a wine shop attached to it. Called a Taberna, it also sold food and you could buy your wine at the door, just like you can at boutique wineries today all over Australia.

There were some entrepreneurial merchants who expanded to have two or three ships , although they were generally an exception to the rule. There appears to have been no dominating network of middlemen, the enterprise of the individual remained the active factor; wine had become essential to the diet for everyone and, in the better and more productive districts reasonably good wine was, well like now both plentiful and cheap.

Ancient Grape Vines in Campania

Historians, archaeologists and scholars are still endeavouring to grasp the enormity of change in Europe between the fourth and sixth centuries.

Migration, expanding settlements and nomadic warring tribes, whose culture was considered barbaric overran what was left of the Roman Empire in Europe, Gaul and Britain.

Every part of the former Roman world was vulnerable and the target of  predators. During these so-called ‘dark ages’ in Britain the Scotti, or Irish were the peoples who came from the west, the Picts came from the north, in the area we now know as Scotland. From the east you had the peoples of the north German coastlands known as Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

Over on the European continent, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Huns, Goths, Visigoths and Vandals, among others, all came, saw and conquered. An interesting aspect of all of this change was that as a general rule many of the different tribes converted to some form of Christianity, either Arian or Catholic.

The modern imagination has long been captivated by the very European idea of a merry medieval monk, well fed, content and gossiping or carousing at the refectory table.

So much did he drink that his skin became impregnated with wine, his body immune from corruption

Never did a day or night go by,

But it found him wine soaked and wavering

Welsh churchman Giraldus Cambrensis noted acidly, when he dined with monks at Canterbury, that the refectory table carried ‘wine, mead, mulberry juice and other strong drink in abundance’.

The spread of monastic culture and establishment of community religious houses certainly assisted wine evolution and at the same time added to the legends about the clergy and wine drinking. Consider the fate of the Abbot Piro of Caldey Island who, while stumbling about the monastery one night the worse for drink fell down a well and died.

He had clearly not followed St. Benedict’s rule which in Chapter 40 said: ‘We do, indeed, read that wine is no drink for monks; but since nowadays monks cannot be persuaded of this, let us at least agree upon this, to drink temperately and not to satiety; for wine maketh even the wise to fall away. But when the circumstances of the place are such that the aforesaid measure cannot be had, but much less or even one at all, then let the monks who dwell there bless God and not murmur.

It would be easy to assume the spread of vineyards went hand in hand with the building of Christian churches; if there was a church there was a mass and wine was a necessary element. Perhaps it would be fairer for us today to assume that a combination of monasticism and private enterprise together ensured that viticulture’s traditions were well preserved during difficult times.

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Aquitaine entertaining the King of Portugal

Nineteenth century historian James Campbell in his thesis on the Elements in the background to the Life of St. Cuthbert and his early Cult suggests late seventh and eighth century monasteries had many of the aspects of a special kind of nobleman’s club.

This was an earthly reality of early medieval monasticism.

While the lives of monks involved personal sacrifice and rigorous religious discipline, the environment of monasteries was not necessarily as spartan as one might suppose.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, a scholar carrying out research on monastery sites today suggests the standard of living was far higher than that of most people in the Byzantine Empire.

Mixing wine with water in the chalice during the Eucharist, or great thanksgiving of the Christian faith is pre-supposed. The Book of Common Prayer in 1549 directed continuance of its usage, although it seemingly went out of favour again by 1552 to be revived during the nineteenth century by Anglo Catholics following the lead of the Oxford Movement (1833 – 1845). Its main aim was to restore the principles of High Church to the Church in England, which emphasized its historical continuity as a branch of the Catholic faith.

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry - October

The Oxford Movement upheld ‘high’ conceptions of the rights of the monarchy, episcopacy and nature of the sacraments. It has been a matter of ongoing dispute between different factions of the Church, and still is today around the world, where some branches of the Christian faith substitute grape juice for wine.

The development of viticulture was less widespread in the area we now know as France, even though there were vineyards at Bordeaux from the first century they were never really famous under the Roman Empire. Vines were introduced into that gateway to the South, Provence by the ancient Greeks and were extensively cultivated by the Romans and the Avignon Papacy during the period from 1309 to 1378 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon.

Provence is a vital cultural and commercial link between northern and southern Europe. It was a key area of the Mediterranean world in ancient times because of its position at the foot of the great thoroughfare of the Rhone valley.

It was also overrun by the Normans, Goths, Visigoths, Moors and other barbarian tribes. However they were not hostile to viticulture.  What we do know is that most of the vineyard areas of Europe were maintained, and even expanded under their influence.

By the late sixth century the forests of Burgundy were being cleared, vineyards fenced and planted with grape varieties such as Gevrey, Vosne, Beaune and Aloxe and it was those vines that would provide a foundation for modern vintners. Private enterprise was a huge contributing factor in the popularising of wine during the Middle Ages. Perhaps it would be fairer for us today to assume that a combination of monasticism and private enterprise together ensured that viticulture’s traditions were well preserved during difficult times.

Dining in Style with the Duc du Berry

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry - September

Jean, Duc de Berry was a son, brother and uncle of the Kings of France. He was also an outstanding patron of the arts and loved beautiful books.

In his sumptuously illustrated Book of Hours, one of the most popular style of devotional books of the later Middle Ages, the illuminated images record representations of the months.

September is the month of the grape harvest where in the Angevin vineyard below the Chateau de Saumur aproned women and young men pick the purple coloured clusters of grapes.

The standard of food at the court of Henry II (1154-1189) of France was renowned for its poor quality. In fact it was described as atrocious, the tables piled high with putrid food and the wine not reported to not much better. Peter of Blois described the wine as being so full of dregs the noblemen were compelled to close their eyes and filter it through their teeth. A pretty horrible prospect. He concluded that the only way courtiers kept healthy was through vigorous exercise in the fresh air so that many more of them did not die of food poisoning. 

Eating in Community in Tudor Times

During the Tudor period in England Henry VII (1485-1509) was most anxious to be an hospitable and impressive host.

The regulations recorded in his household book ensured that the butler and keeper of the spicery were warned in advance if anyone was going to stay for the voidee, which was the final hospitality offered before the house was ‘emptied’ of its guests.

The drink offered was named Hippocras for the so called ‘Father of medicine. Fourth century BCE Greek physician Hippocrates believed spices were medicinal and aided digestion. He mixed cinnamon, ginger, galingale, cloves, cardamom, pepper and aniseed together with sometimes sugar and dried fruit and this concoction was added to wine, which was left in a warm place overnight and then filtered before serving.

During the latter stage of the Middle Ages the development of a vineyard, whose vines were tied to upright stakes and kept to a height of about 4’ made its appearance.  The spread of knowledge and advice was slow and it is not until the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries in Europe that we have clearer documented evidence of technical improvement in viticulture.

Dragon-Stem Goblet - Façon de Venise, Venice, 17th century

This came about with a growing stream of commerce, fed in no small measure by the energy and enterprise of the Genoese, Tuscans and Venetians. The latter were for centuries the masters of glass manufacture, producing their celebrated glass on the Island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon. From the 12th century onward Venetian glass had grown in prestige and many countries copied the shape and form of their glasses because, as a selling line, the so called á la facon de Venise (Venetian fashon) was much in demand.

One representative of Italian commerce Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato in Tuscany, wrote in his great ledger ‘In the name of God and of profit”. This was at a time when the now steady traffic of wine up and down the Atlantic coasts of Europe expanded dramatically. With the increase in trade came a gradual increase in luxury and from the fifteenth to the seventeen centuries in Europe as the spiritual and physical frontiers of the known world expanded so did luxuriant living become an established way of life

Clothes were made of sumptuous textiles,  wigs were in high demand and banqueting was important aspect of status.. The battle to keep wine drinkable and prevent it going sour, or turning into vinegar was continual. Cloudy, discoloured evil smelling wines became a common disappointment of life.

In England the court of James 1 became notorious for its drunkenness and unattractive characteristics. The English palate loved Mediterranean wines shipped through what we now know as the Straits of Gibraltar

What is the use of Muscadell, Malmesie and brown Bastard
These kinds of wines are only for married folkes, because they
strengthen the back…

In 1556 at Oxford in England ‘poor scholars preferred wines were Gascony, Sack and Malmsey’. Muscadell, which was made basically from Muscat grapes was another sweet wine with an excellent bouquet. Gascon white wines were the mainstay of English cellars.  Rhenish red wines were made near Bonn and were becoming increasingly popular.

Caravaggio (Italian 1571-1610). Bacchus, 1595 Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Rhineland vineyards established in the middle of the fourth century had developed the properties of wines grown in colder climates. For centuries they maintained a high reputation making it possible for them to continue to sell at prices, which made the vineyards viable.

Malmsey originally came from Crete and was a rich sweet wine. Sack was a rich, sweet and white, gold or tawny and rarely, if ever, red wine. It was sometimes dry, more often sweet and, on occasions harsh and strong. It appeared about the beginning of the sixteenth century from Iberia and the Canary Islands.

We would today think it was very similar to a sherry, which emerged from Jerez in Spain, one of the prettiest wine making towns of Europe.

Sherry, while sometimes sweet through blending, if left to itself, will ferment into a dry white wine. It became one of the great mainstay wines of the English and Irish tables for centuries and it became customary to drink it with soup, a tradition that has retained its popularity, at least in England, to the present day.

Well, saints may babble at the fount
And peers at the pump make free, but
Whisky, beer and most especially wine,
Is certainly good enough for me…

In Italy during the sixteenth century controversial painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio depicted an erotic fleshy boy on the threshold of sensuality, dressed as the Roman God Bacchus. There are touches of corruption – the apple is spoiled, hence the wormhole. The pomegranate is bursting with over-ripeness and, there is a hint of Vanitas; the boy triumphant in a youth that will quickly vanish, much like the bubbles in a carafe disappear. The glass cup of pleasure holds a rich red wine and the glass itself an example of a very rare Venetian glass Facon de Venise.

In England following the execution of Charles 1 Puritan disapproval of the indulgence in drink led to heavy fines on the tavern keeper, as well as offender. Cromwell’s commissioners were more than likely looked upon as ‘wowsers’ by the populace at large and would have contributed to their disillusionment of him and his régime, one in which an undercurrent of sex, sedition, and sacrilege was the reality in the public sphere.

Charles II

Fizzy Drink from France

After being governed by the Lord Protector for five years there was a great sigh of relief when Charles 11 was finally restored to the English throne in 1660. Charles had spent much of his time at exile at the French court, where he enjoyed the fashion, food and fine French wines, which he brought back into fashion in the commercially driven London market.

He wore his petticoat breeches very prettily indeed leading a revival for luxury living supported by people who had suffered long and hard under puritanical restraint.

One wine from the Champagne region, disparaged by French wine drinkers for its faulty bubbles, was enthusiastically received at the English court. The development of stronger, thicker bottles by British glass makers encouraged wine makers in Champagne to produce this fizzy fashionable French wine for the lucrative British market. In the process over the next two centuries the French would become famous for benchmarking the standard for a particular style of wine. Up until this period there had been no real tradition of great and fine wines for 1200 years; men had to drink what they could get. From now on an interest in refined table manners and gourmet food began. Nasty habits like belching at table and rudeness to foreigners was abolished and the stage was set for massive change.

A refinement and advancement in distillation processes in a technique known as ‘fortification’ would have an important effect on the making and maturing of wine. By 1680 in the cellar of the Earl of Bedford at Woburn Abbey a liquor distilled from wine called Brandy was achieving aristocratic status.

Detail The Hunt Lunch by Jean Francois de la Troy

Brandy is shortened from a Dutch word brandewijn meaning “burnt wine”. During the last two decades of the century the brandy was being divided into quality; 1686 best brandy; 1693 inferior brandy. The English became noted at this time for being well mannered, sober and remarkably friendly and there was much kissing when meeting and parting.

Society of Diletannti for men who had completed their Grand Tour.

The eighteenth century Age of Reason was a tumultuous time  which was also preoccupied with self examination.

In salons multiple mirrors reflected with merciless clarity a world, which amused or intrigued.

There were continual changes afoot and in order to move with the times and avoid revolution the need to acquire flexibility was dawning on many a noble English grand tourist mind as it soaked up the local European scene.

Reflecting light became an obsession via glass, which could now be made in larger pieces than ever before,  on the table, walls and hanging from the ceiling.

An admiration for a new wonder lead glass went hand in hand with an improvement in wine processes and a distinct desire to appreciate wine for its own sake.

C18 English Drinking Glasses of Lead with Cobalt Blue Twist Stems

This became an important aspect of every C18 and C19 English and European gentleman’s broad ranging education, which also required him to understand and gain knowledge about such things as historical events, intellectual ideas, architecture, music, gardens, interiors, paintings, sculpture, silver and objet d’art.

In England connoisseurship became an increasingly important concern. Men’s clubs, devoted to pursuing a passion for priceless possesions and toasting exalted beauties and life sprang up. English wine drinking glasses of lead became such great objects of beauty, and delight, that today they are highly sought after by collectors the world over.

Decanters were custom made along with other wine implements such as, labels and funnels, coolers, corkscrews and coasters became necessary equipment and and a subject for much inventive refinement.

The elite drank clarets from Burgundy as well as fortified port, which was considered a perfect beginning and end to a meal, well at least according to Dr. John Campbell who boasted he had drunk 13 bottles of the stuff at one sitting. Temperance was not a notable virtue of the English Georgian gentleman, no matter what their social status.

English Cordial Glass Selection 1745-1765

Far and away the emergence of the cylindrical bottle made possible by the proper maturing of wine became the greatest success story of all and by 1790 in Bordeaux two million bottles a year were being made.

The way dinner was served in noble houses changed gradually throughout the eighteenth century as it moved from the middle to the end of the day.

The serious business of eating lasted for at least two hours with a servant for every guest. However dining practices distressed foreign visitors who were compelled to extend their stomachs to please the host.

Manners were not admired …it was vulgar to eat your soup with your nose in the plate and exceeding rude to scratch certain parts of your body, to spit, or blow your nose on your sleeve or lean your elbows on the table.

Picking your teeth before the dishes were remove, not to mention washing your gums in the wine glass rinser…goodness none of these were acceptable at all. The English throughout the eighteenth century and in the first thirty years of the nineteenth century provided their guests and the French with great entertainment.

Louis XV and his Friends enjoying Champagne by Jean Francois de la Troy

The French regarded them before, and after the revolution as greedy, drunken, melancholic and un-stylish, a subject which was made clear in the publication of L’Apres-Diné des Anglais in 1814.  Emperor Napoleon also disparagingly called them a ‘nation of shopkeeper’s.

Foreigners were shocked by the fact chamber pots were provided in the dining room sideboard, although there was seemingly no embarrassment on the part of the English in this performance.

After dinner the ladies retired to tea and scandal in the drawing room, while the men discussed politics, love affairs and drank themselves quite literally under the table, appropriately decorated with grapes.

Manners would improve eventually and from the mid nineteenth century English Country House life would become the most envied lifestyle in the world.

Everyone would clamour for an invitation to the country for the weekend so they could enjoy superb vintage wines many of which were being laid down for years to come in purpose built cellars.  Perhaps renowned English Romantic poet, satirist and traveler George Gordon, Lord Byron should have the last word in this dissertation.

‘Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;

The best of life is but intoxication

Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk

The hopes of all men, and of every nation.

• Making of a Compleat Gentleman
• Vanity Fair – But, where is Mr Darcy?

Related posts:

1. Evolution of Art, Design and Style – Antiquity to Avatar
2. Making a Compleat Gentleman
3. Sydney’s Hidden Jewel – 150 Year Celebration of The Nicholson Museum

Sydney University Quadrangle Gothic Revival Style

In 2010,  The Nicholson Museum, Sydney’s, and perhaps Australia’s best kept secret, will celebrate its 150th year with a special exhibition that will run for nearly twelve months. It is entitled Charles Nicholson: Man and Museum (see details below)

My understanding is that the Nicholson Museum is the second largest teaching collection of ancient artifacts in the world, certainly the biggest such collection in Australia.

It is a stunning array from many ancient civilisations and humbling in that there are so many objects we will recognise and connect with, despite them having been created thousands of years ago.

Entrance Nicholson Museum, Sydney University

Sir Charles Nicholson was one of the founders of the University of Sydney.  He was a visionary dedicated to bringing the cultural wealth of England and Europe Australia so that for centuries to come descendants of the people who migrated here from that part of the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would understand about their ancestors and the traditions associated with their collective cultural heritage.

In 1856 Nicholson travelled to Egypt and Europe where he purchased many artifacts, which were readily available for purchase at the time. In 1860 these objects were moved from Nicholson’s house to three rooms in the Sydney University Quadrangle and the Nicholson Museum was founded.

The collection of the Nicholson Museum has been expanded over the years through fund-raising,  bequests, acquisitions and excavations, resulting in collections of artifacts from Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Egypt, the Near and Middle East.

Located in rooms that form part of Sydney University’s original Gothic Revival Style Quadrangle it was my privilege for many years to work with a committee of dedicated people raising funds to assist the expansion of its collections and to aid the expansion of scholarly international research.

We all belonged to the Institute for Classical Archaeology guided over by much respected Alexander Cambitoglou AO, now Emeritus Professor of Classical Archaeology and Emeritus Curator of the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, and, Director of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens.

Walkies...

Today the Nicholson children and adults who visit are left in wonder at the richness of the ancient objects and enjoy being transported to different worlds without having to pack a bag or catch a plane.

If you haven’t been make a date to go soon. The good thing is because of Nicholson’s initiatives it is FREE.

When you go look out for my favourite artifact in the museum. It is a small blue faience tile, which depicts a man in Ancient Egypt (19th or 20th Dynasty New Kingdom 1570 – 1070 years before Christ) taking his dog for a walk on a lead. It gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘walkies’.

Exhibition: Charles Nicholson Man and Museum – 4^th January to 17^th December 2010

Time: 10:00 – 16:30 Monday – Friday |Not open Saturday | 12:00 – 16:00 Sunday

Location: Nicholson Museum Quadrangle A14    Cost: FREE

Enquiries: Michael Turner (02) 9351 2812 michael.turner@sydney.edu.au

Carolyn McDowall February 2010

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A-Yixing-Teapot-And-A-Chinese-Porcelain-Tete-A-Tete-On-A-Partly-Draped-Ledge

Over the centuries thousands of dilettante, investors, learned connoisseurs and curio hunter’s have all had one thing in common.

A persistent, and well documented impulse, desire, or instinct that compels them to pursue their consistent passion for collecting.

Taste is a word we often hear used to describe a collector’s criterion and, from an aesthetic point of view, people’s taste’s vary widely, ranging from loving what some may regard as less important objects, to those who collect items that costs millions of dollars.

Collecting is not a question of cost, but an individual quest, one that showcases the triumphs of mankind. The efforts of collectors, whatever their objective, have helped document the evolution of our society so that each generation has an opportunity to learn from what has gone before in order to progress the future.

If you would like to become a collector, potential purchaser or, a dealer in antiques we offer FREE, An Introduction to Collecting Antiques sharing some of the considerations dealers, connoisseurs and experienced collectors make when purchasing. Take the journey…join us and the world will never look quite the same again…

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1. Introduction to Collecting Antiques – FREE online video presentation
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THE EVOLUTION ART, DESIGN & STYLE

ARTISTIC TASTE – ANTIQUITY – AVATAR

It was Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) who first noted that temples, sculpture, and paintings reflected the individual tastes of their creators and patrons, an idea that opened the way for their being considered ‘works of art’ at all, rather than just ritual or political images.  Aristotle also observed ‘the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance’.

The contribution of design history, the decorative arts and music as an important and powerful expression of creativity and culture is both explored and analyzed in our all new ON-LINE VIDEO COURSE starting April 21, 2010

The Evolution of Art, Design & Style – Antiquity to Avatar provides an anatomy of artistic taste from antiquity to the contemporary age by surveying images of architecture, gardens, interiors, costume, painting, sculpture, furniture, furnishings, ceramics, textiles and objet d’art and discussing them in the context of historical events, intellectual and spiritual ideas, as well as social change.

This course was a life transforming process…the quality and variety of the subject matter and the lecturers were all world-class’ said Dixie Ann Middleton ‘The program refocussed and … instilled confidence, that was forever growing as we successfully progressed….it enriches your life in so many ways and I endorse the program to all who have an enquiring mind and an interest in human endeavour’…Dixie Middleton and Associates, Lawyers, Morningside, Brisbane Qld 2005

Historically this one-year part time course benchmarked a standard of excellence in the classroom from 1992 until 2005 in both Sydney and Brisbane, Australia receiving many accolades. Historian and heritage expert Cr. Phillip Black, Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney 2010 said, when he completed the course, ‘now I don’t just look, I see’…

Design and the decorative arts represent the very essence of our culture, its attitudes and philosophies, its fashions and passions.

Adapted for on-line presentation, backed by superb music, the course is presented over four terms.

We recommend that sessions are viewed in order  (chronological) because each session has overlapping information as the course of study is perceived as an entity.

Term 1 – Civilised | 2 – Classic | 3 Cultured | 4 Creative

• Each term contains 8 – 10 sessions of approximately 40 minutes – 1 hour, dependant on subject matter.
• Each session will be divided into two parts for your convenience.
• Each part will be from 20 – 30 minutes in length
• Each session is backed by superb music
• There will be a bibliography and music list provided at the end of the course.

Course Outline

CIVILISED – 1

Session 1 – Cradle of Civilization
The survey begins with an overview of the emergence of ancient societies and their progress discussing the development of architecture, gardens and costume. We highlight the ancient Egyptians who were pioneers in the art of adornment, especially the creation of jewellery.

Session 2 – The Arcadian Ideal
Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322) said ‘the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance’. He noted temples, sculpture, and paintings reflected the individual tastes of their creators and patrons, an idea that opened the way for their being considered ‘works of art’ rather than just religious ritual or political images.

Session 3 – Precincts of Power and Glory
The advancement of classical disciplines under Roman rule, highlighting the reign of first century Emperor Augustus. We discuss the treatise of architect Marcus Pollio Vitruvius and what it reveals about Roman design and construction. Caught in a time warp, Herculaneum and Pompeii have today revealed a great deal of fact about living and lifestyle in Ancient Rome.

Session 4 – Art of Sacred Space
We discuss what defines a sacred space in any culture, creed or religion. The European medieval mind concerned itself with the soul, harmony and music as major aspects of the kósmos, the order of all things and nature. We examine a wealth of powerful and imposing buildings including Cistercian, Romanesque and Gothic churches and cathedrals highlighting the work of the Abbot Suger at the Royal Chapel of St. Denis at Paris in the twelfth century

Session 5 – Paradise, At the Meeting of Heaven and Earth
Constantinople was sited on the Bosporus, its waters dividing Asia from Europe. There the heritage of the classical world was preserved and developed in the Byzantine style. The craftsmen and architects of Islam had no peer in the European mediaeval world. The Moorish gardens of Spain including the Alhambra would have considerable influence on the development of western art forms and cloister gardens.

Session 6 – Art of Mosaics
Originating in Ancient Greece to ornament floors of domestic buildings, mosaics became a technical tour-de-force when practiced by Roman artisans. At the Church of San Vitale in the City of Ravenna the finest examples from the Byzantine Empire have survived and are conserved. They reflect its beliefs and concerns prior to its decline.

Session 7 – Le Moyen Age – Chateaux of the Loire
By the thirteenth century in France medieval engineers were producing a wealth of imposing buildings as glittering symbols of power, both ecclesiastical and temporal. In Chateaux up and down the Loire a rich inheritance of ballads and madrigals about courtly love and poetic notions of goodness celebrated ideals of love, marriage, virtue and femininity.

Session 8 – The Threads of our Society
Needlework is a powerful transmitter of wealth and status, as well as a measure for the development of a society from its primitive or early beginnings. By the second half of the fourteenth century weaving was an important aspect of both Europe’s politics and economies. We discuss medieval woven textiles, including the six unique hangings collectively known as the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.

CLASSIC – 2

The Advent of Humanism
The rediscovery of ancient texts in the 15^th and 16^th centuries changed perceptions and a new group of architects and artisans ushered in a new era in design. Central to that development was the emergence of the artisan as a creator, or artist who became sought after and respected for his erudition and imagination. Women worked to hard to cultivate their minds and follow the Nine Laws of Beauty.

The French Renaissance
Considered by many the last medieval king and first Renaissance prince of France François 1 dazzled Europe with the sophistication of his court. Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519], former festaivolo at the court of Milan was his ‘Master of the Entertainments’.  Following Henry II’s untimely death devastating religious wars ensued until Henry IV [1553-1610], the Great, restored France to peace, strong monarchy and stable government.

In the Name of Progress
We highlight the reign of the Tudors and Elizabeth 1 who circumscribed the power of the men in her circle in clever ways. This age admired the grotesque among the beautiful. We examine the works of architect Inigo Jones whose career was interrupted by the demise of Charles 1 [1600 - 1649] who lost his head with the arrival of Cromwell, the Commonwealth and the newly found preference for functionalism.

Venice and the Villas of the Veneto
Architect Andrea Palladio (1508 – 1580) transformed the built landscape of the western world, and his buildings won him acclaim in his lifetime as well as enduring fame in the four centuries after his death in 1589.  His work became the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony and the city of Vicenza is virtually homage to the man who built some of his best Palazzo as well as villas in the surrounding countryside.

Precious Cargoes from Cathay
The history of Chinese ceramics began eight thousand years ago with the crafting of hand-moulded earthenware vessels. We survey the evolution of Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic to the Ming Period and discuss the western passion for blue and white and the diversity and skill associated with producing such wares.

Dutch Simplicity, Sobriety and Sensuality
The northern and southern Netherlands [today's Holland and Belgium] was united under Spanish rule until 1579 when a sense of national pride influenced the nature of art. Collectively the works of such as Rembrandt, Rubens and their contemporaries reflect a seventeenth century community of solid, commonplace people, prepared to support a society in which corporate effort for the public good was rewarded by a booming economy.

The Dream Team and the Sun King
In seventeenth century France Superintendent of the King’s Finances Nicolas Foucquet, conceived and completed the quintessential French Baroque Chateau Vaux le Vicomte. Louis XIV set about renovating his father’s hunting lodge at Versailles, using the talents of Foucquet’s ‘dream team’ to create a building project that ultimately influenced the evolution of all the arts in the western world.

At the Court of the Chinese Emperors
It was during the Yuan dynasty [c1260-1368] the first stirring of what would eventually become known as the China Trade in the C19, began. Giuseppe Castiglione passed his life at the Court of the Emperors K’ang’hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung where he introduced the traditions and techniques of European painting and his works earned him what was an unprecedented honour – first painter at the Court of the Emperor Ka’ing-hsi.

Ascendancy of the Great English Country Houses
Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660. The Great Plague and Great Fire changed the face of London and architect Sir Christopher Wren was given the task of re-designing London. Due to Charles’s influence England came under the influence of the styles predominant at the French and Dutch courts. William and Mary of Orange claimed the throne of England bringing with them Dutch designer Daniel Marot whose work was profound.

CULTURED – 3

The Art of Pleasure is a Serious Business
In France during the reign of Louis XV [1710-1774], the ‘Well Beloved’, and the influence of his mistress, the delightful Mme. de Pompadour, a love for informality was reflected in fine art, interiors, porcelain, silver and sculpture. The style known as Rococo writhed its way into popularity. This was an age that cultivated taste’.

Palladian’s vs. the Goths
A passion for architecture and landscape spawned a proliferation of handsome villas and harmonious landscapes throughout England, some of which came complete with delightfully aesthetic ruins. Inspired by a renewed literary interest in the Middle Ages, the Gothick style emerged.  It was a flirtatious new fashion for all things medieval led by eccentric trendsetter the witty, erudite parliamentarian Horace Walpole, with the help of his friends.

Neoclassical Style in England
Scottish architect Robert Adam transformed the English prevailing Palladian fashion in architecture with a series of ‘romantic elegant variations on diverse classical originals’. Robert’s collaboration with cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, significant artists and renowned trades people meant that a very high standard of both design and workmanship was achieved in architecture and interiors.

Neoclassical Style in France
In France Louis XV’s architect Jacques Ange-Gabriel embraced the new classicism with his rendering of the extremely elegant Petit Trianon at Versailles. In its facade he espoused a return to rigour and austerity of style. We also examine the designs of architects Jacques Germain Soufflot and Claude Nicholas Ledoux, neo classical furniture and furnishings, highlighting that of Georges Jacob and Jean Henri Reisner

Objects of Beauty and Desire
The invention of European soft and hard paste porcelain at Meissen in Germany led to experimentation at St. Cloud, Chantilly and Vincennes in France and at Chelsea in England where porcelain reached a height of excellence. In Paris porcelain became the most desired of all objects and in England Staffordshire potter, Josiah Wedgwood produced amazing pottery, including the Frog Service for Catherine the Great of Russia.

Great Ages of English Furniture
As the eighteenth century progressed economic expansion and widening trade relations affected the materials chosen for making fine furniture. The use of Mahogany enlarged the repertoire of designs and it became the most appreciated timber with exotic timbers such as Zebrawood, Calamander and Rosewood much favoured by contemporary cabinetmakers.

Regency England
From the alleys and garrets of Grub Street to behind the scenes at Drury Lane and Covent Garden to life upstairs and down we examine London and England’s place on the world stage at the turn of the nineteenth century. It presents an enigma – an elegant society that was in reality drunken and dissolute while appearing successful, excessive and civilized.

Romantics and Revolutionaries
In the first thirty years of the nineteenth century many European countries attained political maturity and this led to a romantic movement in painting, literature and music. Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as a hero of the French revolution and his letters reveal the complexity of his nature. He took many of the world’s foremost scholars to Egypt where they re-discovered this most influential of cultures on the decorative arts.

Beidermeier
Short lived from 1815 – 1830 this style came about following Napoleon’s rout and the re-drawing of the map in Europe. It represented a sense of hope as the expanding middle classes searched for simplicity, perfection and function combined with form, beauty and harmony. Every corner of their main living area was devoted to the pursuit of a happy and leisurely pastime reflecting the personal taste and functional needs of an industrious family

CREATIVE – 4

America – The New Rome
America, Lady Liberty, Land of the Free and Brave. Is this the new Rome? We examine the architecture of freedom; highlighting that powerful advocates of liberty Thomas Jefferson, who, as a ’silent member of Congress’, drafted the document that delivered America, its independence. We discuss his passions, pursuits, trip to Paris and the building of his Palladian inspired dream house Monticello.

In the Name of Progress
During the reign of Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901) Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and from 1876 Empress of India, a rise in wealth and status was possible through expanding trade. Great leaps forward in science and technology enabled former merchants, tradesmen and people from virtually all walks of life to amass vast fortunes overnight and build great houses to match.

The Cottage Orneé
The Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased English achievements to the world with a bewildering array of style choices. However it was the simple cottage orneé by the sea, or in the country, that stole all hearts becoming an enduring image for that of a peaceful English rural idyll and was transposed to the English-speaking world.

The Master and the Disciples
The predominant Gothic revival style led by Augustus Welby Pugin was the choice for those seeking to associate themselves with intellectual or artistic learning and academic correctness. Pugin became a master of the style, which sprang out of England and ingratiated itself on its colonies via many of his disciples.

The China Trade
Let us now…travel into Cathay, so you may learn something of its grandeur and… treasures said Marco Polo at the turn of the fourteenth century, inspiring the notion that China was a land, unlike any other; an idea that found fertile ground in the western mind. By the nineteenth century so-called China Trade was in earnest with England, Holland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, France, Australia and America all well involved.

Meditating on Modernism
In the late nineteenth century Europe and England was a melting pot of ideas about art and morals, beauty and truth, man and nature, aesthetics and socialism. A whole new coterie of protagonists believed beauty should be expressed through science, trade and industry using exciting new materials and the very latest technology.

America – Land of the Free
The Stock Market crash of 1929 was the great divide between the inheritance of European and onset of American design. A democracy based on man’s individualism meant renewing his relationship with nature, eloquently expressed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for a client ‘who loved the beautiful site…and…liked to listen to the waterfall’. He cantilevered their house over cascading water, echoing the style of the rock ledges that supported it.

Culture in the Colonies
When in 1788, New South Wales was founded the Gothick style was established in England demanding an emotional, rather than intellectual response in the viewer. Adapting to the new climate was a challenge for all and there were many influences on the development of Australian dwellings, including ‘the golden decade’, when the aspirations of great pastoral landholders and merchants were realized in great Greek classical revival mansions.

Federating the Future
By the turn of the twentieth century in Australia new styles of architecture and interiors reflected a desire to, not only keep abreast of the times in Europe, but also the equally influential America, who heralded the promise of better things to come. We will examine how Australia’s historical, social, economic and geographic conditions impacted on design and style up to and including both world wars.

The World – A Crucible for Change
In the last 50 years architects have designed and built some of the most interesting buildings in the world.  We discuss significant buildings around the world designed and developed since World War 11 and contemplate the future of art, design and style on a global basis as creativity and culture come together as creators with new technology to imagine a whole new world environment.

JOIN US AND THE WORLD WILL NEVER LOOK QUITE THE SAME AGAIN

On this acclaimed course participants have an opportunity to hone existing skills in stimulating sessions lavishly illustrated by images. The skills acquired are supported by a broad appreciation of the history of art, design and music and an understanding of terminology. Participants may regard their studies as an enriching pastime or, use them toward more serious ends.

© The Culture Concept 2010 – The Culture Concept reserves the right to postpone, cancel or change any part of the published program.

Images: The Culture Concept, Glass Table – With Thanks Eva Czernis-Ryl, Courtesy Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Horsemen of the Parthenon and Horse by Castiglione, Courtesy Private Collection.

Enquiries: info@thecultureconcept.com
Phone: +613 9820 4012

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Selection of Antiques, Martyn Cook Antiques, Woollahra, Sydney, Australia

Collecting aesthetically pleasing items is quite normal and fulfills a deep emotional need within us all. You can become “hooked” on the search for that special piece, forgotten, unappreciated and unloved.

If you would like to become a collector, potential purchaser or, a dealer in antiques we offer FREE, An Introduction to Collecting Antiques sharing some of the tips and considerations dealers, connoisseurs and experienced collectors make when they are considering a purchase.

Take the journey…join us and the world will never look quite the same again…

Carolyn McDowall, Creative Co-ordinator, The Culture Concept Circle

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Kingfisher Feathers Hair Ornament

Dr Sheena Burnell appeared on the ABC program ‘Collectors’ in 2007 with her collection of bound feet shoes and related objects.

Sheena is an anaesthetist currently living in Shanghai and she began collecting Chinese objets d’art and Japanese ukiyoe (wood block prints) in the 1980s.

Her shift in focus to collecting Chinese dress accessories dates from her first visits to Hong Kong in the early ‘90s.

This led to an expanding interest in women’s and children’s dress accessories in general and more recently kingfisher hair ornaments.

Her article, Chinese Kingfisher Ornaments has proved very popular with protagonists of The Culture Concept Circle so we have featured it on the home page this week for those who may have missed it last year.

Carolyn McDowall Co-ordinator, The Culture Concept/Circle February 3, 2010

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I Pad

Macintosh 1984

Apple is relying on ease of use,  crisp, clean wide angle and accessible viewing display to carve out a whole new market for its new wiz bang wonder iPad. Its e reader capabilities are tipped to be the key to its success over the next decade.

It was my eldest son  who first started teaching me to use a computer. It was his first, a Macintosh produced by Apple Inc that hit the market as a revolutionary product in 1984 becoming the first commercially successful personal computer. He still has it, a reminder of the rapid progress of technology. It was great learning way back then because you could increase your proficiency as computers very gradually transformed.

Now 25 years on Apple Inc is still making history with its an all new easily transportable, revolutionary Ipad. Users can check emails, watch videos, play games, surf the web, organise photos, prepare documents and present them. Professionals can upload PDF’s of presentations and keep them with them at all times. It is certainly good news for publishers because one of its great features is that the iPad allows its user to buy and download digital books.

British actor and technology buff Stephen Fry, who attended the launch event as a guest of Apple, spoke effusively about the iPad after the main event. “It’s just beautiful,” he said. “You want to fondle it and lick it and play with it. And I’m going to run away with it now.” It is easy to understand his enthusiasm. I am sure it will be at the top of many must have lists…including mine.

Carolyn McDowall, January 28, 2010

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Julie Andrews

On her 69th birthday much loved actress/vocalist Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons).

One of the musical numbers she performed was based on ‘My Favourite Things’ the perennial favourite from the movie ‘Sound Of Music’. Here are the lyrics she used. It’s much more fun if you sing them.

Couldn’t resist posting it. Must be a lot of people out there who can relate to it…good on you Julie…you have retained a sense of humour, which is essential once you pass 60.

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