Wednesday 27 February 2013

Benefits and Criticism of Tourism in the 18th Century and it's Modern Day Implications


‘I suppose a little tour of Italy, will be the next excursion; it furnishes rather an additional fund for elegant amusements in private life than anything useful’

                                      - Lord Findlater to James Oswald re latters son, 1768

The idea of tourism was heavily criticised during the eighteenth century mainly on the grounds of cost, culture, dangers of Catholicism and venereal disease. Very little criticism is aimed at tourism itself, rather more in a xenophobic manner, in that people were afraid of foreign influences such as French food and Italian Opera would have on the country and tourism was seen as something of a failure to defend the integrity of British life and society.

Those who defended tourism rarely stressed the pleasures of foreign travel as such matters would have been deemed trivial. In some cases, to be able to travel, a bit of deception was often used; motives for travelling were often seeking cures for ill health, socialising, knowledge and education.

During the first half of the eighteenth century, the ‘Classical Grand Tour’ was the most dominate (young men travelling with tutors for several years to continue their education). But the latter half of the century saw a change in who was travelling abroad, whilst many still travelled in this manner, it started to include tourists not on their first trip, women, older tourists, families and people who sought shorter journeys (weekend trips). This new group did not strive for education, rather travelling for the sake of it, for enjoyment and amusement.

The Casual Tourist was born.

Because of this new found freedom and going on holiday meant not looking for education, landscapes and their wilder features in it began to be appreciated and admired.



Notes from: 'The British Abroad: The Grand Tour In The Eighteenth Century', Jeremy Black
Quote from the book, sourced from: Memorials of... James Oswald (Edinburgh, 1825), p.206

The Grand Tour In The 18th Century


‘There are indeed some that go abroad merely to eat and sleep: and think if they have been at the places it is enough for: of this number are generally those that travel young with governors: who sometimes come home as knowing as they went out’
                                                                                        -  George Carpenter, 1717

The Grand Tour was a time of cultural enlightenment for young wealthy men who went travelling in the early eighteenth century. The Grand Tour mainly involved trips to the likes of the classical cities such as Paris and the main Italian cities such as Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples. Primarily the trips to Italy were to bring back Renaissance art and Italian paintings which at the time, were highly valued in Britain and were regarded as the best of their kind.

The British tourists at this time would often employ painters for a variety of reasons which are:

·        Portraits in elevating poses often in classical surroundings

·        Paintings of places they had seen

·        Reproductions of paintings that they liked

The image below is an example of a portrait in classical surroundings, this is similar to what we would call today ‘Holiday Snaps’, but they often lack the power and almost arrogant nature of these images.
'Colonel William Gordon of Fyvie' (1736-1816), Pompeo Batoni, 1766
Compared to a modern day holiday photo, there is no drama and no sense of arrogance, the paintings seek to evoke a passion inside us, as though they have been on a great and wonderful journey. Whereas modern photos, are more of a document sense, reminding us that we went there and that's about it.
 
Cyprus 2006
 





Notes from: 'The British Abroad: The Grand Tour In The Eighteenth Century', Jeremy Black
Qoute from the same book, sourced from (Bod. Mss. Douce, 67pp. 153-4)

Image 1 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/colonel-william-gordon-17361816-196521
Image 2 from personal collection

Sunday 24 February 2013

Walking in the Landscapes


‘Isn’t it really quite extraordinary to see that, since man took his first step, no-one has asked himself why he walks, how he walks, if he has ever walked, if he could walk better, what he achieves in walking... questions that are tied to all the philosophical, psychological, and political  systems which pre-occupy the world                                                                            - Honore De Balzac

Before the 18th century, travel was difficult and the conditions of the roads were appalling and they were often plagued by highway men. As the 18th century moved on, the state of the roads improved and the practice of walking became more acceptable.

William Wordsworth and many of his Romantic contemporaries utilised this new found freedom to begin walking for pleasure (people had walked before, often further and in worse conditions). Poets before them had begun to admire the landscapes and the wilder features in it such as the mountains, cliffs, storms and the sea, but Wordsworth and the Romantics who followed are said to have made walking in the landscapes into something new and different, the practice of walking for the sake of it and for the pleasures of being in the landscapes.

 

 

Notes from: ‘Wanderlust: A History of Walking’, Rebecca Solnit

(Quote from: Honore de Balzac, quoted in note 15 in Andrew J. Bennett, ‘Devious Feet: Wordsworth and the Scandal of Narrative Form’, ELH, Spring 1992 – found in ‘Wanderlust: A History of Walking)

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Landscapes - Not just for escaping


Landscapes are not just for escaping, they can also be seen as a form of identity as well as inspiring and educating.

Landscapes are living, breathing areas which can reflect our own personalities or emotions. For example, the clouds are the landscapes thoughts, the body is the terrain itself and the rivers which often course through them are their lifeblood.

If we take the first one, Clouds are like human thoughts; it is easy to see why this is:

 
Study of Clouds (1821)
 
Study of Cumulus Clouds (1822)

John Constable’s work echoes that of the poet William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘Daffodils’. In particular the well known line; ‘I wandered as lonely as a cloud...’ The idea being that clouds are like the human mind, as our thoughts as well pass across, pause, reveal themselves and vanish. They can also show 'emotions', the first image of clouds are angry, hurried and frenzy. Whereas with the second image, the clouds are calmer and almost peaceful.

Landscapes are not just living, breathing areas; they are also beautiful, powerful, spiritual and full of mystery. In Wordsworth's poem ‘Ascent of Snowdon’, he talks about how the mountain is a holy place and by climbing it, you gaze down on the landscape as God might see it:

The perfect image of a mighty mind,

Of one that feeds upon infinity,

That is exalted by an under-prescence,

The sense of God, or whatsoe’er is dim,

Or vast in it’s own being....

David Cox’s image, ‘Mountain Heights, Cader Idris, c.1830’ is a perfect example of how poetry and paintings can be put together to create a romantic view of the landscape. The parting clouds over the mountains give the sense of mystery as they are not fully revealed as well as power as the sharp rocks protrude through them.
 
 

 

Notes, Quote and Images from: William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism; Jonathan Wordsworth, Michael C.Jaye, and Robert Woof

Saturday 16 February 2013

Landscapes as Escapism


For this thesis, I will be talking about how landscapes are used as a form of escapism from the Industrial Revolution through to the Digital Revolution.

On any living day, we seek to escape in any way that we can. Ranging from the smallest hobbies, to more elaborate and often expensive holidays. But why? Well, we seek to flee from our often monotonous and mundane routines and rituals. In some instances, an escape into a landscape is often in search of a deeper meaning, often life itself as well as looking for one’s true identity (‘Soul-Searching’, often Gap Years are used to travel, a chance to explore new horizons). Put simply, viewing a different landscape is the polar opposite of our everyday lives.

 

Notes from - Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life (Stanley Cohen and Laurie Taylor)

Thursday 7 February 2013

Land & Landscapes bordering on the Romantic

The difference between the terms ‘Land’ and ‘Landscapes’ is quite distinctive. ‘Land’ as a whole is a natural phenomenon whereas ‘Landscapes’, and what they are, is something which society and our culture have created. If you think of it as the ‘Land’ is what you are seeing physically, whereas the ‘Landscape’ refers to a much wider view of the land and has come to be how we interpret the land in an image.

During the seventeenth century in the Netherlands, there was something of an economic boom (this time is often referred to as the ‘Golden’ century). It was during this time that many great painters, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals et al, began painting images of the land around them which would later become coined with the term ‘Landscape Paintings’ and in later years ‘Landscape Photography’.

 
 
The Three Trees, 1643 (Rembrandt Van Rijn)
 


Due to the various techniques used, as well as devices within the image such as the fisherman on the left hand side of the image, this somewhat romantic and nostalgic view of the landscape was one of the driving forces behind what would be known as the ‘Romanticism’ movement in Great Britain during the 1800’s.