Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti (IX 12, 6-8) in Pompeii

In western society we are inheritors of a legacy from Ancient Greece and Rome that despite the passing of over 2500 years is still potent. Through their ideas the desire to capture the essence of fine living was born. Today that art of living has evolved since the development of the domus in European antiquity to a residence in America and Australia, through a diverse and special mix of peoples and their cultures.

Ancient Greek gastronomy developed out of a practice of sacrificing domestic animals to a variety of gods. Afterwards, as one would expect in a democracy, the carcasses were equally proportioned and sold at market. During the fifth century before the Christ event herbs, spices and honey were added to heighten taste.

As documented in the literature of this period, cookery was considered a very important skill, because the Greeks understood it to be one of the basic arts that sustained human life. Romans of the first century embraced Greek ideas and art forms with great passion. Roman orator Cicero [106 BC -43 BC] believed that ‘to style the presence of guests at a dinner table’ lay at the heart of Roman civilised life ‘because it implied a community of enjoyment, a convivium, or ‘living together’.

Reconstruction of the Octagonal Room - Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea

Following the decline of the Republic and ascent of the Empirical system at Rome a shared meal became a vehicle for display, ostentation, rank, hierarchy and for flattering and influencing people, in a setting they could exercise the art of conversation. Roman Emperor Nero (37-68) enjoyed fine living with great gusto. When he entered his just completed residence, the Domus Aurea (or Golden House, built in 64 AD, he is said to have proclaimed, as he gazed upon its many splendours, words to the effect, ‘now at last I can live as a human being’.

Author of a first century best seller Satyricon, Gaius Petronius (27-66 A.D.), was Nero’s advisor in all matters of luxury and extravagance (his unofficial title was arbiter elegantia). He described guests arriving at a banquet as being requested to remove their shoes at the door, have their hands washed in iced water, no mean feat prior to refrigeration, while their toenails were trimmed to the sounds of a chorus singing. Perhaps today we may consider the last just a little excessive.

We do know that Nero’s guests reclined, along with their host, on couches enjoying conversation and cuisine prepared by chefs, who achieved some fame. His vast banqueting hall revolved in harmony with the rhythms of day and night, the ceiling opening to reveal the heavens as perfume and gifts showered onto guests.

The advent of Christianity created a challenge for those at the top because by now there was a well-established tradition of fine living throughout the Roman world.

The Apostle Paul struggled to attend gatherings where rich men and their friends were served different food and drink to those of a ‘lower status’. It was a dilemma he felt he could not resolve so in the end he decided the wealthy had better eat privately.

Paul advised the Corinthians [1 Corinthians 8: 9, 10] when asked should they eat meat sacrificed to idols by suggesting they should be careful about exercising freedom of choice in case it became a ‘stumbling block to the weak’. And, that if what he ate caused his brothers to fall into sin then for his part, he would never eat meat again. Powerful words with a meditative deep inner meaning that reflect Paul’s strength of mind and purpose.

There is a huge gap of reliable documentation from the fall of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, when the demise of eating in a reclining position also came about, until about the fourteenth century in Europe. Communal living by Christian monks and nuns meant communal eating, often to strict rules of silence, with an aim of feeding the soul.

Prolonged periods of peace also meant the aristocracy gentry and merchants could establish great houses in the countryside and along with it invented the concept of ‘eating outdoors’ or, having picnics, which became something new and exciting as described by fourteenth century French nobleman Gaston Phoebus Gaston III of Foix and Gaston X of Béarn (1343-1391).

He summarized his life’s achievements: “I have delighted all my days in three things. The one is arms, the next is love, and the other is hunting.” He added, “There have been far better masters of the two former than I am.” Such humility, is definitely to be applauded.

For Kings and noblemen of the fourteenth century hunting was so much more than just a sport. It was a game of chance in which the thrill of the chase was far more important than the desire to put food on the table.

An artful aristocratic diversion, the hunt ended with man proving he held power and sway over the animal kingdom. A complex event involving strategizing for success with highly valued, well trained dogs and fighting fit falcons hunts were often held on religious days.

They started with a feast for breakfast, as well as an analysis of the droppings of the potential prey to ensure it was both fit and worthy to be hunted at all. Then the hunt was on. The glorious day ended with everyone joining together in a celebratory meal and fittingly Phoebus himself died, as he should, during a bear hunt.

Fifteenth century Florentine author and philosopher Marsilio Ficino 1433 – 1499 revealed his thoughts about a meal that it ‘embraces all the parts of man, for it restores the limbs, renews the humours, revives the mind, refreshes the senses and sustains and sharpens reason’.

Throughout the fifteenth century in Italy dining at table was strongly symbolic of a good society one in which strong social relationships were forged, ideas exchanged and mutual respect established.

In England by the sixteenth century the head of a powerful household sat at the head of his table facing a fanciful portal crowned with trumpeters who heralded the exact moment the food, led by the marshal of the hall carrying a white staff appeared.

At the grandest banquets, a household officer on horseback emerged from underneath a screen that protected guests from draughts from the doorway and rode into the hall to announce that dinner was served. What fun.

At Hatfield House, home of the famous Cecil family, the ornately carved screen was crowned with the Cecil crest and family motto Sero Sed Serio “late, but in earnest’, surely one of the best mottos of all time.

Its painted decoration and a great panoply of decorative devices had been plundered from Turkish rugs and old Medieval manuscripts imposing a visual richness.

If a house during the Tudor period in England, included a Long Gallery hung with portraits of the family, famous patrons or friends it was the mark of a settled and civilized house; an Elizabethan magnate could contemplate their character or otherwise be inspired by their virtues. Owning such a house became important to practicing the art of fine living.

By the beginning of the seventeenth century the French court changed its philosophy from an ideal based on chivalry to one of refined manners.

The most influential teacher of architects in France during this period was Germain Boffrand. He revealed ‘the character of the master of a house…can be judged by the manner in which it is arranged, decorated and furnished’.

By now the art of fine living embraced a well-planned sophisticated garden as well. At Vaux le Vicomte Louis La Vau 1612-70 [architecture] Charles Le Brun 1619-90 [interiors] and Andre Le Notre 1613-1700 [gardens] spent five years building a chateau designed by the three for the glory of one, their patron and illustrious client the Minister for Finances, Nicolas Foucquet. It is at his Chateau, Vaux le Vicomte, that the French classical style was born.

Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre created this extraordinary ‘palace of the sun’ as described by the ancient Latin poet, Ovid for his patron, Apollo, The Sun King.

Here at last was the perfect place for a man of substance and his family to dwell; large, imposing, but not huge; with painted wood panelling, colourful carpets, painted illusionary ceilings, carved and gilded furniture, fabulous ceramics, superb textiles all made for the most splendid of man-made environments.  I know that when I visited to view its splendours I could have easily moved straight in. It was not over ambitious, but comfortable, cleverly disposed and in keeping with its times.

At Vaux le Vicomte Foucquet practiced the art of fine living well, eating his meat from a service that included a new fancy fangled invention called the fork, without fearing the accusation of depravity still associated with that practice only a few years earlier.

The publisher Charles de Sercy described Vaux’s gardens in 1652 as the place where ‘Foucquet made art and nature engage in a pleasant contest’. The genius of Le Notre lay not only in his invention of a new style, but in his absolute mastery of a repertoire widely used, at least in its many parts.

It was bringing them together in a controlled harmonious form that was not only pleasing but also a perfect place in which to practice the art of seduction.

Vaux was built for the enjoyment of the countryside while not giving up the pleasures of the city…something England did not emulate at this time as they concentrated on building country houses for sport and display, rather than as a place to practice the art of conversation.

The Baroque style from Vaux le Vicomte became a potent force that influenced the whole of the western world when guided by Louis XIV, he began expanding his father’s hunting lodge nearby the village of Versailles using the combined talents of Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre.

The Kings of France lived in the chateau of Versailles, which became a centre for political life from 1682 until 1789. It is today an amazing place to visit with its some 2,300 rooms and over 60 staircases. In its day it cost the equivalent price of what we would pay now for a modern city airport. It was an object of universal admiration in its time, enhancing French prestige on the world stage.

France’s appearance and way of life changed forever during the reign of Louis XIV the Sun King. Many great towns throughout France underwent metamorphosis and the landscape altered forever as Louis XIV devoted himself energetically to all his building projects. Today little remains of his other splendid palaces at Saint-Germain and Marly?

Well cursed as an extravagance when it was under construction, and accused of having ruined the nation at the time of the revolution, the chateau at Versailles stands today as a monument to French achievement and the many milestones reached in its historical and cultural journey.

Over the years since it was finished the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles has reflected many great moments in the history of the world. At the time Colbert, Louis’ 1^st Minister and master of ceremonies used it to launch the Royal Mirror Company. Its success gave considerable momentum to the glazing industry in France and increasingly the public became aware of the decor possibilities of a mirror. They enhanced the art of living well.

Despite all of the work Louis was to complete at Versailles it was always called le Chateau, (which means Gentleman’s seat) never le Palais, remaining the home of a young man, grand without being pompous, full of light, air and cheerfulness just like a large country house.

According to the Oxford Dictionary the term enlightenment means to be free of prejudice, ignorance or superstition. Grand Tourists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe were busy discovering the ruins at Rome and an expansion of knowledge revealed that ancient artists and writers had been accustomed to free expression, with religion and honour paramount to society’s daily existence.

This revelation affected the social and moral values of many European societies who were travelling in ever increasing circles in ‘search of the truth’. They began striving for aesthetic perfection wanting to emulate a new ideal; classical perfection.

As a result small temples in a landscape became focal points for those wanting a place of ease and repose.

By the turn of the nineteenth interiors as described by Jane Austen in her novels, presented an image of a sublime world. China, glassware and silverware displayed the family coat of arms proving to those who sat at table with you that your lineage was not only important, but also could be traced to ancient (the inference was more important) times.

Simple white starched linens with drawn thread work were surmounted by elegant vases made of glass, filled with fresh flowers picked from the garden loosely, but consciously arranged and placed on great tables. These were made from the new rage timber, mahogany with their elegantly fluted legs inspired by the columns from a Greek classical temple.

Women’s dresses emulated Greek statuary although some, endeavouring to appear like the goddesses on Greek temples by wetting their dresses, succumbed to pneumonia… because by now death was preferable to not being seen as part of a fashionable scene involved in the art of fine living.

William Morris (1834-1896) self-professed leader of the modern movement said ‘If I were asked to say what is at once the most important product of Art, and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, a beautiful House’.

Building a house in the country made to appear as old and as venerable as the countryside itself, was what everyone was striving for. If you couldn’t build one you clamoured to be acquainted with those who owned a wonderful old pile. The aim was to affect an invitation to join a country house weekend where the art of pleasure was a very serious business and the art of fine living practiced with confidence and style.

‘Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality’ said English author and art critic John Ruskin 1819 – 1900. He resented social injustice and the squalor that was a direct result of the ‘greed is good’ mentality that accompanied the unbridled capitalism of the Industrial Revolution. His influence on the next generation of artists and craftsmen who led the way toward establishing Le Style Moderne was to be profound.

The agricultural depression of the late nineteenth century removed land as the chief source of wealth in England and by 1901 the money to pay for a country house had to be made in urban centres of trade or, somewhere else in the Empire, like Australia, where the English style and way of life had been transported. World War 1 marked a great divide in the age of the moderns bringing artists face to face with an alternative; either a clean sweep or hope of a reformed society, or alternatively the retention of a privileged art in the service of an elite and moneyed class.

After WWII a focus on art and design coming together again was rejuvenated. At Sydney, the unofficial capital of Australia, a quiet revolution in the art of living well has meant that its interior designers have finally come into their own. Stunning textiles instead of paintings are appearing on the very best walls. Smart eye-catching antique carpets are teaming brilliantly with wide plank nailed timber floors.

Despite the GFC, storm and tempest, floods and fire most owners remain optimistic. Good old Petronius, with his eye for detail and best in life, would have loved the whole concept of a one stop shop and having access to a fabulous design resource like Residence Australia.

During the last decade those who have set the scene for an art of fine living have reinterpreted late nineteenth century European Modernism with great enthusiasm, making it appear all brand new.

Great interiors today are innovative, convenient, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, technology savvy and above all energy efficient. Sustainability, recycling and quiet elegance have become hallmarks of an interior that will both inspire and nurture its occupants, so that they can enjoy an art of living well.

Carolyn McDowall, ©The Culture Concept Circle 2011, 2012

*Quote by Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

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A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn

London during the second half of the eighteenth century was a place where extremes met. It was full of things to do and see, of people, of excitement and, it was at the heart of affairs both great and small. By 1800 the population had passed the million mark, and provincial industrial cities, although growing fast, were all under a 100,000 people. The British Navy controlled the seaways; industry was flourishing; the new manufacturing class was prospering;  In London sensibility was flourishing, politeness was valued and there was a distinct elevation of interior sentiment, feelings of the heart and a value of intimacy. The city’s environment was being reshaped, new streets, new squares with open vistas and clear classical lines that were pleasing to the eye. As well there was a great variety of both public and private gardens.

England, Europe and America in the early years of the nineteenth century was entering a period of extraordinary political change, of reform and revolution, scientific and botanical discovery, dazzling artistry, literary excellence, military milestones and political and social scandal. London was now the largest city in western Europe. Not only more populous, it offered a different quality of life. Nowhere else in Britain was so urban; no other city so exciting or so shocking! This was an era dominated by men and also an age of paradox, one in which serious government reforms were achieved, including the abolition of black slavery with Amazing Grace through the extraordinary efforts of William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833)

A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn was exhibited in a show the Royal Academy at London in 1821. It is full of concentrated energy, its intensity suggesting that while we are in the presence of a quieter hero, he is nevertheless acquainted with the reality of drama as the red lining of his cloak suggests. The subject is a man western history may not have celebrated very much, but one who contributed much to its growth, intellectually, socially and practically.

British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade William Wilberforce, who was convinced of the importance of religion, morality and education

Born in 1790 by the 1820’s, having completed his obligatory grand tour of Italy, Compton was a respected connoisseur of the arts and literature, particularly poetry. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. 1810, and was created Doctor of Law in 1835. The Member of Parliament for Northampton 1812-20 he involved himself in both politics and cultural life. He sat in the House of Commons where he held an ‘honest independence, and was often called impracticable and crotchety’ by his colleagues. He was connected with Sir James Mackintosh a criminal law reformer and also supported his parliamentary colleague William Wilberforce for the abolition of the slave trade. In his lifetime Compton campaigned vigorously for law reform because he believed in liberty and justice for all.

Our understanding of the meaning of both liberty and justice is at the very heart of the establishment of today’s modern western culture. Justice has many guises and in reality its theory is constantly challenged. It constantly changes its shape based on contemporary societies mores and concerns.

At its essence Justice embraces moral righteousness and truth. Its theories were originally based on ideas and values inherent in concepts of ethnicity, nationality and religion. It ardently believes in punishing those who breach the ethics of society.

Liberty, the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or by force is about freedom from captivity or slavery and the political, social and economic rights belonging to citizens of a state. It is one of the most potent of all western democracies ideas.

Both concepts were honed and refined during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially when Spencer Compton was an active advocate for the law in England. This was when society demanded that everyone who had committed crimes against the people and the state be brought to trial and judged for their misdeeds by a jury of their peers.

For centuries Continental monarchs had ruled absolutely, whereas in England for both good, and not so good reasons, the King’s council had always attempted to circumscribe monarchical power by parliamentary institution.

Visiting Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure wrote of his experience at the court of St James’s early in the century where he found the first of the Hanoverian sovereigns, George 1 (1714 – 1727) was only acknowledged at his morning celebration the gentleman’s ‘levée’ by the inclination of the head rather than the sort of grovelling that went on at the French King’s morning rising ceremony.

Artist William Hogarth's London

The London Saussure encountered on his visit was one of great contrasts. With a population bordering on ¾ million he also found that many an English merchant was richer than the sovereign princes of Europe.

…malice, rapine, accident conspire.
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here a fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female Atheist talks you dead.

London was at this stage of its cultural development not a place to be ambushed by thugs or diddled by lawyers.

French author Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694 – 1778) after a short spell in the Bastille for daring to challenge a French nobleman, lived in England from 1726 to 1729 where he was totally astonished by its people and their many freedoms. He found it completely amazing Englishmen were able to virtually say and publish what they liked without fear of prison or exile. He was further astounded there was no torture or arbitrary imprisonment and that noblemen and priests were not exempt from certain taxes.

Debate, a formal framework in which people, without violence, can discuss and determine their differences and disputes as part of a democratic system of government

In England he discovered it was the poor who enjoyed exemption from taxation whereas at the same time in France it was the rich.On top of all of that he discovered that different religious sects were allowed to flourish.

In France Louis IV in 1685 had revoked the Edict of Nantes, a document put in place by his predecessor Henry IV The Great (1553-1610) that granted religious toleration to Protestants living in Roman Catholic France.

Meanwhile in England the Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Protestant non-conformists their own places for worship and teachers etc. They were subject to swearing certain oaths and declarations that ensured they would not act against the crown or Parliament. Any further restrictions in place for Roman Catholics were finally removed in England in 1829.

Gaining enlightenment...

The so-called Enlightenment is one of those rare historical movements that managed to name itself. Certain thinkers and writers, primarily in London and Paris, believed they were far more enlightened than their compatriots. So armed with only self-confidence they set out to enlighten everyone else.

They believed that human reason, the power of intelligent and dispassionate thought, or of conduct influenced by such thought, should be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny in order to build a better world. Debate, to deliberate about differences and consider someone else’s point of view was honed in the parliament.

In the main they were very successful. Their principal targets were religion, embodied in France in the Roman Catholic Church, and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy in both Europe and England.

The wider expertise and experience that Voltaire gained while he was in England meant that his works and ideas became the embodiment of European ‘enlightenment’. Although he died some time before it was established, he irrevocably laid the foundations for the French revolution in the minds of his peers.

He wrote in his Travel Notes about England that it was ‘the freest country in the world’. He made no exception and called it free because the sovereign, whose person is controlled and limited was unable to inflict any harm on anyone.

George III was the third of the Hanoverian Kings and the first to speak English. He had a sense of duty to his country, moral family life, was sincere in his Christian faith, held a diverse range on interests, and was about charitable giving. His life was marred by mental illness.

During the reign of George III (1738-1820) in England the reign of the monarch was altered dramatically. In the second half of the seventeenth century the Whig junto, a self-appointed committee with political aims whose members constantly surrounded and supported the King. They had gradually assumed positions of power distributing the resources of the crown in the form of places, pensions and perquisites and further circumscribing the power of the monarch.

Ultimately the monarchy became about being skillful in managing delicate political and social situations, the embodiment of national morality and a role model for the people.

By the second half of the eighteenth century the King at London was being treated as a human being. Once that had happened something quite unique began to take place, high culture, an integral aspect of the court began to move out of its narrow confines to become an attribute of its people.

During the lifetime of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2^nd Marquess of Northampton’s England’s so-called Westminster system of government honed through debate and experience became by the end of the nineteenth century, the envy and admiration of both European and American people, philosophers and thinkers. It was about dispensing justice and preserving liberty under the law.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

* Heraclitus, Greek philosopher (540 BC – 480 BC)

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Benjamin Franklin's Terraced House, Craven Street at London

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an orator, diplomat, statesman, inventor and scientist of international reputation in the eighteenth century. We could say that based on the many insightful and visionary quotations attributed to him, accessible on many world wide web sites today, that he certainly had the gift of the gab and an extraordinary wisdom grounded in truth. Born at Boston Franklin first visited England in 1724-6 and 1757-62 before settling at London as a colonial agent. He resided at 32 Craven Street a terraced townhouse. He was a practical man as well as a theorist and write. All the contemporary images of Franklin convey to the viewer a suggestion of solidity and shrewd good common sense. They capture the very essence of a man who was a savvy successful diplomatic negotiator mediating the unrest between Britain and America. He also had a hearty social life forging great relationships and friendships with many of the leading lights of his day.

Benjamin Franklin, visionary

He was, among other things, the inventor of a great many fascinating objects including the Franklin stove and the glass armonica – an amazing musical instrument for which interestingly composers like Mozart, Bach and Beethoven produced works. Then there was his bifocal spectacles and the lightning rod proving how wide ranging were his ideas and the extraordinary breadth and depth of his imagination. The house he lived in at London is now called the Benjamin Franklin House. Built around 1730 it is a museum, educational facility and scholarship centre in the style of the time, which had its foundations in the classical architecture of the ancient world. While staying at London Franklin was also a self appointed interpreter of American life to the British people, one that became increasingly unsympathetic in the crucial years before the outbreak of war between them. Attached to his adopted home by conviction and the friendships that he had made while he was there Franklin moderated and modified his advice and counsel to others while being prophetic in his warnings. ‘Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let every new year find you a better man’.

London based Scottish architect Robert Adam (1728 - 1792) holding the folio of his influential works in architecture, a copy of which he presented to King George III

A bevvy of beautiful British boys on their Grand Tour admiring the architectural sights

Principal author of the American Declaration of Independence and its 3rd President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), when preparing a eulogy to be read in memory of Benjamin Franklin at the American Philosophical Society 1791 noted he considered Franklin a “great and dear friend, whom time will be making greater while it is sponging us from its records”.

In 1764 at London Scottish born London based architect Robert Adam’s ‘The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian of Spalatro’ was published, containing many of his drawings made in that place. They would advance his vision to establish a great architectural practice operating in both London and Edinburgh. He proudly presented a copy of his opus to the new King George III.

Robert Adam set up practice in 1758 at London after returning from his Grand Tour of Europe. This was just before the first George to speak the King’s English (not German like his father and grandfather) came to the throne in 1760.

This date brought together so many factors that heralded the dawn of an enlightened age. Adam was at the forefront of change and became the acknowledged leader in England of the neoclassical style in architecture.

The whole neoclassical identification with the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome had as much to do with eighteenth century perceptions of early democracy as it did with the antique rules governing styles in architecture and design.The movement grew gradually, spreading through France and the rest of Europe as well as on to Russia and America over a period of about 100 years.

The English were not the only architects and painters working at Rome, although they did represent a very large proportion of the contingent of foreigners based there.

Pantheon at Rome and its Grand Tourists

Among them were young rich English men who spent a great many years in each other’s company building up relationships as they toured around. When they finally went home, having sowed their wild oats, broadened their experiences of the European world and garnered some realities of life, they were important in spreading new classical ideas across the western world. Thomas Jefferson would follow in their footsteps.

While Franklin, a seasoned veteran of international diplomacy science and letters was at London across the Atlantic, the young America was proceeding architecturally, as with everything else at that time in a very different direction from the ‘Old World’. The first thing on settler’s minds was the construction of domestic architecture and it is much easier when you are concentrating on survival first to deal with what you know.

Consequently some original houses at Georgetown, Washington DC are still preserved like the Stone House built in 1765. Despite having been built with an immediate focus on convenience and comfort, the local materials of which it is built add a flavour of their own. For us today it is instructive about how the same elements and characteristics of a style of architecture established in one place could be interpreted in completely different ways in others.

Colonial architecture - Stone House 1765, the oldest house still standing in Georgetown, Washington DC

‘A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body’ observed Franklin.

The study of architecture, in our understanding of it as a professional discipline, did not exist in the colonies of England when Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) went to college ironically in the year George III came to the throne, 1760.

Born in 1743 at Albemarle County, Virginia, Thomas inherited some 5,000 acres of land from his father and from his mother, high social standing. He was described as having very forthright eyes that steadily held the gaze of those talking with him. While reflective they were not portals you could pass through to discover the inner man. He kept a barrier around himself. He was exceedingly good natured, frank and friendly once his confidence and trust had been gained. However he kept himself always at a distance, no doubt through hard experiences.

William and Mary College Virginia attributed to London architect Sir Christopher Wren

When he was ten years old he had lived through an extended building project at his family home Shadwell.

This early construction activity was both exciting and educational. Later on he when he became disparaging about early colonial architecture he often referred back to the ugly, uncomfortable and happily more perishable buildings such as Shadwell were.

There was a touch of irony about these observations. One day he and his mother were out visiting neighbours and Shadwell burned to the ground.  Jefferson lost all the possessions he prized the most and was sorely grieved.

By the time he was 17 years of age Jefferson it seems had an uncommon capacity for applying himself and taught himself the rudiments of architecture. Using only meagre resources he read law at William and Mary, the only college in the Virginia colony. Architecture was not part of the curriculum. Tradition has it that the building he was studying in was designed by famed English architect Sir Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul’s Cathedral at London.

The Sir Christopher Wren building at William and Mary College is the oldest academic building still in continuous use in the United States. It was constructed between 1695 and 1699. However it has been destroyed by fire three times in its lifetime in 1705, 1859 and 1862 so many of its records were lost. Each time it was destroyed it was resurrected again rising from the ashes as it had stood before. It has, for more than three centuries been, for all those who work and study within its walls, at the very heart and soul of college life.

Thomas Jefferson, Renaissance Man

As a young man Thomas Jefferson wanted to pursue fresh ideas. He was inspired by a new rational outlook and climate of political and philosophical thought as well as creative ideas. He had the foundations of a classical education, was able to read Latin and Greek and he did so with great pleasure throughout all of his life. He absorbed all the literary knowledge that he could about Ancient Rome – of her monuments and precincts of power and glory. Reading the classics and expanding his own knowledge of mathematics aided his law studies. But they did something else as well. They stimulated the beginnings of a life long search seeking an accessible architectural language that he could embrace wholeheartedly.

Grand Tourist and his Tutor

During that journey he discovered for himself the physics, metaphysics, mathematics, rhetoric, logic and ethics, which he researched and read during his time at William and Mary College. They were indeed formative and became indispensable tools to the geometry based neoclassical style of architecture that later he finally embraced, because it was the style he had decided he preferred.

Jefferson was also to say in older age of his time at College ‘it was my great good fortune and what probably fixed the destinies of my life…that Dr. William Small of Scotland, was the Professor of Mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication correct and gentlemanly manners and an enlarged and liberal mind’. He, most happily for me, became soon attached to me and made me his daily companion when not engaged in the school; and from his conversation I got my first view of the expansion of science and the system of things in which we are placed.’

Once assured you were a colleague or had the potential of becoming an acquaintance and friend, Jefferson had the power to charm and disarm the most hardened soul. Even to those opposed to him politically and personally.

Four of the so-called classical Orders of Architecture inherited from the ancient Greeks and Roman civilizations

During the eighteenth century as amateur archaeologists fanned out from England, France and Germany to the far reaches of Attica and the Roman Empire to measure and record in drawings the fabled ruins of the past, the books they produced took cultivated men and women by storm. Never before in the history of man had the architectural and sculptural grandeur of antiquity been so admired by so many without having been seen as a personal experience. It was made readily available, for those who could afford a subscription, for weekend or after dinner perusal, and in handsome large folio form.

The neoclassical movement of the eighteenth century that espoused the forms of ancient Greece and Roman buildings, left a great legacy about the designers who found inspiration in the clarity, simplicity and spaciousness of its forms. It embraced many disciplines and it was seen from St. Petersburg to Edinburgh, from Virginia to Versailles.

For Thomas Jefferson, as indeed for many others, these volumes were not just handsome, beautifully bound and well written, but guides they could use to invent a wholly new style of architecture of freedom for the modern American man, one which proved his roots were established in antiquity. The architecture at Rome was the nucleus for all his own plans and so the works of sixteenth century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio assumed a great deal of importance. He had interpreted the architecture of first century Roman architect Marcus Pollio Vitruvius and reinterpreted for a wealthy Veneto clientele.

Old Courthouse at Williamsburg, VA complete with Roman arched small paned windows, dentilled overhanging portico and bell tower

Few houses with grand architectural pretensions were built in the state of Virginia prior to 1700. Although there weren’t any architects in the modern sense of the word in colonial Virginia, the more substantial plantation homes were constructed by a master bricklayer or carpenter. Designs were copied from selected pattern books and modified or customized to suit the expectations and specifications of the owner.

The master carpenter or bricklayer would hire and supervise other carpenters, sawyers, joiners, bricklayers, masons plasterers and painters and slaves who became highly skilled artists and artisans. He was the forerunner of what we now know as the builder, overseeing the project.

Expanding his knowledge was an important aspect of the structuring and ordering of Jefferson’s personal universe. It was about reason, order and symmetry. He believed in this new age of reason and in the end, the way he classified the books in his own library is based on a structure of knowledge.  ‘I cannot live without books’ he once wrote, because they were an important part of his own inner growth contributing to his wellbeing and his intellectual life. It was a bitter blow that his first library containing books left to him by his father was burned to the ground so that he was forced to start again. He developed a self discipline and regime that most of his friends and acquaintances found quite alarming, wherein he read or studied some 15 hours a day. For him it was about being able to focus in order to get the job done.

Westover Plantation Virginia c1750, a Georgian style house where William Byrd II was born and died as seen from the river

William Byrd II, founder of Richmond Virginia

During his bouts of intensive reading Jefferson’s only exercise was a mile long run at twilight when the cool night air would clear his thoughts anew. During his life he fostered a close acquaintance with major novelists, dramatists, poets, philosophers and literary critics to help motivate his own creativity. Being considered a gentleman he could hold his own in conversation in all the great drawing rooms in America as well as in the European salons of the day simply because he had a serious interest in the life of the mind and others found that stimulating and his presence was always welcome.

When he was a student at William and Mary College Jefferson would have known the Westover Plantation belonging to tobacco planter, colonial official and diarist William Byrd II (1674-1744). His library was a men’s only domain, which contained a number of books on architecture. The house also had secret passages, was about symmetry and a balance of proportions and it was set in magnificent gardens. Byrd was an elegant socialite, a man of learning. He was famed far and wide for his many amours and for treating his own wife shabbily. It was he who founded the town of Richmond and he was born and died at Westover his family home. With all its Georgian England strict formality Westover Plantation was the English style classical architecture that Thomas Jefferson was desperately trying to avoid.

Mt Airy, Richmond Virginia a National Historic Landmark in the neo-Palladian style

The one he would have been more in tune with was Mt Airy, a mid-Georgian plantation house, which is now also a National Historic Landmark. In America between 1758-1762 Mt Airy was the first private house built exhibiting influences of a neo-Palladian style.  Rebuilt after a fire in 1844 today it has a central impressive block of stone while the rest is of brick trimmed with stone. There are flanking wings, as in agricultural villas built in the country in the Veneto at Italy by Andrea Palladio, such as the Villa Barbero at Maser. Scholars who have studied the house report on the National Register of Historic Places site that they believe it is possible the exterior may originally have been stuccoed, although no trace was found.

In 1767 Jefferson was admitted as a Barrister ‘to the bar’ where he practiced law with great success. His advanced knowledge of ancient cultures and preferred tastes would cause him to ‘run before the times in which he lived’ according to his kinsman Edmund Randolph. He was a visionary in every respect.

Madame Geoffrin's influential Salon where great minds met c1755

When Thomas Jefferson arrived at Paris in August 1784 Benjamin Franklin had already been there for over seven years. In 1776 he had gone to secure French support for the American colonies in their fight for independence from Britain. Jefferson was immediately drawn into the inspirational and stimulating atmosphere of the French salons. This is where established ladies of means hosted events in their homes for all the best scientists, literary giants, philosophers and well-connected members of French political circles to meet. He hoped introductions, initiated by Benjamin Franklin, would open doors for him. At the salon of Madame Helvétius, a close and particular friend of Benjamin Franklin’s that Jefferson finally met “the circle of literati” he wished to know and he established many lasting relationships.

Having inherited a considerable landed estate from his father Thomas Jefferson began building his own Palladian style dream home, Monticello when he was twenty-six years old. Everything that he planned during his lifetime, including his house, would be heroic in scale. Am amateur architect Jefferson was self-taught in drawing. There are no recorded mentors and we know that his first drafting efforts were gleaned from his father who had been a surveyor and mapmaker. When his father bequeathed Thomas his modest library and mathematical instruments he had also included his surveying equipment. This was a big plus in being able to establish the guidelines and boundaries on which Monticello would be born.

Monticello in the Spring, Jefferson's dream home in the Palladian style. It was inspired by Chiswick House the country pleasure pavilion of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington at London's designed for him by William Kent based on the architecture of 16th century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio, who was in turn inspired by the works of 1st century Roman architect Marcus Pollio Vitruvius

Thomas Jefferson was early America’s outstanding example of a Renaissance man, his thirst for knowledge was only exceeded by his desire for more. He voiced the aspirations of a new America when establishing its constitution in writing because it was a skill at which he excelled. As a public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades. He said ‘Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital’.

Throughout their acquaintance Thomas Jefferson maintained his lasting respect and admiration for Benjamin Franklin. He concluded his own notes for Franklin’s eulogy with a confession:

“On being presented to any one as the Minister of America, the commonplace question, used in such cases, was, ‘C’est vous, Monsieur, qui remplace le Docteur Franklin?’ ‘It is you, Sir, who replace Doctor Franklin?’

I generally answered, ‘No one can replace him, Sir; I am only his successor.’”

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

Quotes by Benjamin Franklin | Quotes by Jefferson from the Monticello website

You may also care to read Thomas Jefferson at Monticello – to see and be seen

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For the past decade the western world has had to work through ten stages of grief following the loss of life and liberty of the victims of the tragedy enacted in New York on September 11th, 2001 by those who pursued a terrorist agenda. They include initial shock, feelings of hostility, an emotional release followed by depression, isolation, panic, guilt and an inability to return to normal life. This state was followed by emotional healing, and readjustment to new realities.

There are many who will remember where they were when affected by the news that the twin tower buildings of the World Trade centre in New York City in the U.S.A. had been completely demolished. Watching the event on television as it happened sent many people spiralling into a distressed, catatonic state. While they might have recovered to some extent they have never been able to forget. The horrific images of that day are fused within their memories as it is with all good people.  The twin towers housed a ‘League of Nations’, which is why they ended up as targets for international terrorism. The perpetrators wanted to strike an individual blow at the centre of the western psyche and its emotional well-being.

They did however underestimate western societies ability to ‘bounce back’, shored up by a faith that their progress toward a world in which all cultures can share its many bountiful blessings without fear and hatred or each other is the right one. At the central core of these beliefs is a respect for tradition and a reverence for historical values; that right and good triumphs over wrong and evil. This concept well documented throughout the ages features continually in contemporary culture.

Transforming the grief of the past decade from being a negative force into a positive one for good is an all important way forward in the future. President Obama on his White House website talks about the many innovators, who have been involved in changing the way America now approaches its many challenges in the local, national and world wide arena as well as at war. One of the basic tenets of western democracy is that its citizens should at all times be able to challenge its rulers and their authority. Instead of being in awe of leaders we need to actively hold them accountable if we believe their behaviour is not up to an acceptable norm. They are role models for us all.

Elsewhere in the world the days of dictatorial troubled rule are seemingly over. Society collectively, as well as people individually must not be controlled by fear. While a little fear protects our ability to survive and surmount our own challenges and inadequacies, the truth should always be empowering, not constricting.

Censorship works against western ideas, ideologies, faith system and beliefs. Keeping our leader in the political or social sphere honest is what is required of all good men and women, who despite being peaceful people will go to war if and when required. We all need to stand up and be counted. The power of one is still a valuable and vital aspect of our system of justice.

Watching events happen simultaneously around the world due to technology (despite being censored in many countries) it seems is affecting those who have so long lived under the rule of dictators. Their people are discovering democracy and its message. They are questioning why they are living in such straightened circumstances dodging bullets and bombs, while a great majority of other people are able to enjoy the fruits of their honest labours.

Citizens of long suppressed political ideologies and military regimes are realizing that despite its flaws and often frustrating inconsistencies, the style of democracy we enjoy in the western world is without doubt far better than any other system of government yet devised in human history.

While many may still believe money means power because our western economic system values its citizens efforts, it is the access to knowledge of the past that has proved to be by far the more successful. Those powers seeking to suppress the flow of free information on the internet definitely understand this fact.

Without fear or favour society has a unique opportunity in the 21st century to overthrow those who seek to limit expansion of knowledge so they can control events and instill fear. However it does require action as well as faith in the courage of one’s convictions to take that action, which for a lot of people we know is difficult.

Following the dreadful atrocity in 2001 many people flocked back to churches searching for answers. However within a short time their spiritual lives were back at pre-attack levels, showing their exploration of faith did not last long. Faith and a belief that there is something more than life in the here and now isn’t something that can be put on quickly like an invisible cloak of protection. It has to be built slowly and have a true belief of purpose or it will not work no matter how hard anyone tries.

Few events have brought forth such an overwhelming idea of place and time as the events of 9/11. In the face of such horror for New Yorker’s traits such as perseverance, hope and resolve have become an integral characteristic of its people. Among the many books produced are heart-breaking reminiscences by those who survived the attack and then endured a decade of denial, doubt and rebuilding. They still all ask the imponderable question: Why?

The official New York City observance of the tenth anniversary of September 11 will take place at the World Trade Center site on the morning of Sunday, September 11th, 2011. Four moments of silence will be observed to commemorate the times when each plane hit and each tower fell, starting at 8:46 a.m. At sunset, the “Tribute in Light” will return to the skies above New York City for the night. In 2011 New York is a vibrant colourful metropolis, whose population draws its vitality, vision and strength from those who have gone before. All over the city are great landmarks of its history, revealing the ingenuity, innovation and creativity of its founding fathers and those who have come after. They make an indelible impression on those who visit. This includes the French gift of the Statue of Liberty an eternal symbol of hope that we can, by the sharing of knowledge enlighten and illuminate the future, finally bringing about peace in our world.

Remembering 9/11, lest we forget what liberty, freedom and democracy really means.

‘…Our enemies have made the mistake that America’s enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness. And now, they see defeat” *

Carolyn McDowall, August 31 2011

* Quote by President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

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On Beauty - Is Cupid helping to lift the blindfold? - The Huntington Botanical Gardens

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas and imagination influenced the development of political, sociological and educational thought as well as French and American internal politics during the eighteenth and nineteenth century,

During the 18th century in Europe aesthetics was established as a field of study by philosophers. There was a distinct emphasis on beauty, transcendence, correct taste and the sublime.

While beautiful works were seen as thought provoking they were also clearly distinguished from those that were considered sublime.

Sublime images dazzled all by their brilliance.

They were spectacular scenes from nature like vast mountainscapes, the dazzling never ending sea, or light piercing the gently moving leaves of trees in a deep forest. They were also about enlightenment.

Our delightful sculpture is of a cute chubby cheeked curly haired Cupid who is exuding the confidence that comes from the certainty of never ending youth and a centuries old accumulation of knowledge. Here he seems to be offering ‘Beauty” a helping hand.

The question has to be asked. Is Cupid blindfolding ‘Beauty’ or is he lifting the blindfold so that she can help him explain the attitudes and philosophies, fashions and passions that helped shape Civilised society from the beginnings of art

On Sublime - Wanderer above the Sea of Fog - Artist Caspar David Freidrich -Kunsthalle Hamburg. Detail of a well known Romantic masterpiece described by writer John Lewis Gaddis in The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past, as leaving a contradictory impression, "suggesting mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it. We cannot see his face, so it's impossible to know whether the prospect facing the young man is exhilarating, terrifying, or both. Rock Star Professor Brian Cox used this analogy recently to open his new landmark television series Wonders of the Universe

Lift the blindfold, join us and and gain an appreciation for beautiful and thought provoking works.

Raise your visual awareness and expand your knowledge while you

• Seek the new while exploring the foundations of the past

• Strive for a personal experience while enjoying the pleasures of popular culture

• Value the handcrafted alongside the certainties of mass-produced

• Explore style while examining function and substance

• Admire tradition while inspiring and stimulating imagination

• Be innovative and open minded embracing creativity and cultural difference

Civilised – At the Beginnings of Art

Carolyn McDowall April 2011

*’Cupid and Beauty’ are at The Huntington , which consists of a Library, Art Centre and Botanical Gardens sited nearby to Pasadena, California.

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Professor Brian Cox OBE standing confidently and calmly on his snow drenched mountaintop

Just like Lord Byron was a nineteenth century Rock Star Poet of his generation Professor Brian Cox OBE (1968- ) is a Rock Star Physicist of ours, and a master of the ancient Greek aesthetic concept of the sublime, as opposed to the picturesque*.

He’s like a breath of fresh air in the world of science. He is passionate about his subject, but doesn’t preach. He is very knowledgeable, but not arrogant with it. He is the perfect presenter for today, an amazing advocate for science and a worthy successor to Sir David Attenborough, who made flora and fauna his own.

At the beginning of his television series, Wonders of the Universe, Cox sets himself up for the opening shot so that we can gain anew a sensibility for the wild, awe-inspiring and stupendous aspects of nature. It was a clever thing to do.

Brian Cox, barely visible in the vastness of the mountain range

He appears, much like the figure of the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, painted in 1818 by German Romantic movement painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1846).

He leaves a contradictory impression standing there  in contemplative mode on a very small space atop a snow drenched mountain. In the original painting Friedrich did not allow us to see the young man’s face he depicted, so it is impossible to know what his emotions were.

Was he terrified or exhilarated? Probably both at once.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog - Caspar David Friedrich 1818 - An image of enlightenment

Due to the wonders of man made flight we are able to circle around Cox, who appears to stand comfortably and confidently in the silence and appear integral to the Wonders of the Universe he is about to reveal.

He doesn’t reveal too much by his expression. And, as the camera draws back we see him standing silently sveltely silhouetted against the vastness of the mountain range he has chosen to reflect the original well known image of the ‘enlightenment**’.

He allows us to wonder what it is that he represents. Is it the artifice of human civilization set against the divine creation of nature? Or, is he seeking to suggest the insignificance of himself within it? He is just like one grain of sand in the completely full hour glass of time. Time, which he explains is always moving one way, and one way only…ever forward.

The aesthetic concept of the ‘sublime‘ gained currency in Europe following a French translation by Nicolas Boileau-Despreéaux (1636-1711) in 1674 of an original Greek treatise entitled ‘On the Sublime‘. It has been attributed to a Greek author known as Longinus, who is thought to have lived either in the 1st or 3rd century (exact date unknown).

A teacher of aesthetics and literary criticism, Longinus put together a compendium of works by some fifty authors. It spans a thousand years in a panoply of Greek culture. In it the writers describe the immensity of the natural world, the stars, the mountains, the ocean as being ‘sublime’.

Brian Cox, talking on the popular British Graham Norton Show about his new BBC television series based on his new book Wonders of the Universe said recently, “It’s the story of the universe from the Big Bang, how the chemical elements got here, its progress and what its future might be,” before revealing, “This is really miserable, but we think the universe is going to end in a heat death when all the stars have gone and black holes have melted away.” One could say it was a ‘stellar line up’ on the Graham Norton Show.

As well as Brian Cox there was American Actor Sigourney Weaver from ‘Avatar’ and ‘Alien’ as well as Danish born British comedian Sandi Toksvig. Weaver revealed that there were most likely two more movies of Avatar to follow and how happy she is to be part of James Camerons’ team.

Toksvig had an amazing Apollo star studded story to tell.

“I was 11 years old and in mission control in Houston holding the hand of Neil Armstrong’s secretary…when he stepped out onto the moon”. She explained “I was there with my father, who was covering the event for Danish TV”.

Timing they say is everything.

Brian responded “I was born in 1968 at the tail end of Apollo, science fiction merged in and I couldn’t tell the difference. Star Wars came along and then Alien, which made a huge impact on me. It was one of the first films I saw on the big screen and it’s my favourite science fiction film to this day.”

Sigourney’s face shone.

Granted an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2010, with a winning smile, charming manner and named one of the sexiest men in the world by People Magazine, Professor Brian Cox, has a lot going for him. In the ’80s Cox was a keyboard player with the English rock band Dare and played on their Out of the Silence album, before earning a first class honours degree in Physics and becoming a particle physicist.

Currently he works at ATLAS, which is a particle physics experiment located at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European organization for nucleur research. He also teaches at Manchester University in the UK and, as part of his media career, explains particle physics to all of us with great enthusiasm and complete clarity.

In Wonders of the Universe Brian Cox asks who are we? Where do we come from? And, his answers, which are very different to that of religion and mythology, are provided by science. They are both beautiful and more profound than we could have ever imagined. He also proves his unique ability to convey complex concepts in a simple format that many people can understand. In the first episode he explains the theory associated with the law of entropy, one of two fundamental laws of physics, using only a pile of sand and a sand castle. It is all such brilliant stuff.

Ramesses II, the Gods Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, Amun

To ensure that we understand the nature of time, in relation to the universe, he takes us on a journey to view thirteen sighting towers in Ancash State, Peru. The 2,500-year-old solar calendar at Chankillo, uncovered only as recently as 2007, was built by a civilization of which very little is known.

The towers were designed by the ancients to highlight the rising sun between their divisions. As the sun moves left to right along the row of the tops of the towers, starting at the summer solstice and ending with the winter solstice, it provides a calendar. At Peru, this rare archaeological treasure was discovered by Iván Ghezzi and Clive Ruggle, who admitted being ‘gobsmacked’ by its survival.

The mathematics involved is similar to that of ensuring the sun shone through the door to the temple at Abu Simbel in Egypt, along the Hypostle Hall and illuminate the seated figure of Pharaoh Ramesses II and three of the Egyptian Gods. This happened each year on the day of the Pharaoh’s birthday and day of his ascension to the throne of Egypt.

Cox also helps us to understand that the most epic cycles of life can’t begin to compare to the vast expanse of cosmic time. For instance, while the Earth orbits the Sun, the Solar System orbits the Milky Way. This last amazing orbit takes a staggering 250 million years to complete. If ever we wanted to know just how insignificant we really are on the stamp of time, well this is it, a moment for experiencing true humility.

An image of Brian Cox standing in front of the prow of the remains of a wrecked ship from early last century, which is caught fast in the sands of time by the Atlantic seaside on the coast of Namibia, is also compelling. In this completely ‘god forsaken’ place he explains the strength of the current coming onto the shore won’t allow anyone dashed onto it in a ship to get back out to sea. In every other direction are the shifting sands of the Namib desert. So this spot on earth is the most perfect example of the most desolate place of death, which for everyone in the Universe we find out later, will be earth’s final frontier.

Brian Cox’s first TV series, Wonders of Space, spawned a whole new generation of sci fi and space enthusiasts and the Wonders of the Universe is sure to do the same. Cox said in an interview recently “If people ask you what you do for a job, and you say, ‘I explore the Universe as it was a billionth of a second after the Big Bang,’ – he said “that’s sexy!”

Seems appropriate for one of the sexiest scientific men alive to say, one who quite literally spends most of his time completely out of this world.

Watch the Trailer for Wonders of the Universe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkc_JKg3pU

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

*picturesque

During the eighteenth century at London new ideas were challenged and debated amongst members of the Kit Cat Club, whose select coterie of dilettanti assembled regularly to dine, exchange views and propose suitable “toasts” to exalted beauties and life. The members were influenced by many and varied essays on the subject as well as their Grand Tours of Europe on which they had seen paintings representing idealized landscapes blended in a pictorial effect. Intellectual and poetic notions played their part in the broadening of sensibility so that buildings came to be appreciated not merely as architecture, but for the pleasurable or fearful thoughts and feelings they inspired. This vision, known as the ‘cult of the picturesque’, was debated well into the next century.

** enlightenment

the era in western philosophy when intellectual, scientific and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century. It was also known as the Age of Reason, reason being advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority.

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