Art | Exhibitions | Travel by the Book: Eighteenth-Century Illustrated Travel Writing
8 - 13 June 2006
Photograph Room
Travel by the Book:
Eighteenth-Century Illustrated Travel Writing
Whether to the furthest reaches of the British Isles, classical Italy or beyond, or even on metaphysical voyages through space as they understood it, travel held a fascination for artists in the eighteenth century, as this exhibition of travel books from the Barber Fine Art Library and the University’s Special Collections illustrates. From forays in search of the Sublime and the Picturesque to the ultimate ‘gap year’ of the era — the Grand Tour — it reveals how, in their propensity to follow established tour routes and their desire to record ‘essential’ landmarks on paper, travellers of 250 years ago were surprisingly similar to those of the 21st century.
This exhibition accompanies Eighteenth-Century Directions, a postgraduate conference on 10 June organised by the History of Art Department. For further information, contact Caroline Walker.