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Sex, lies and copperplate – the tradition of the grand tour, and how it brought European knowledge, culture and style to Britain

Words by Roísín HANLON

The Grand Tour could be described as a sort of gap year for the Renaissance. At its most popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was common for aristocratic families to send their children – generally their sons – travelling around Europe for months or even years. The trip was ostensibly about seeing the classics in situ – ruins, sculpture, paintings, murals. As well as the architectural greats – Florence for the Duomo and Palazzo Pitti, Rome for the Coliseum and the Vatican. But as well as the educational aim there was a hope that the trip would be an opportunity for the young men to mature and come of age. 

Typically a young man – in his late teens or twenties – would be sent travelling with all expenses paid by his parents, and an older companion. In theory this companion or ‘bearleader’ would make travel arrangements, act as a travel guide and teacher and generally look after their charge. Realistically, these guides were employed by the family, and so relied upon their young charge for food and keep, meaning they generally had little to no control. These young men were, for the most part aristocrats with a full wallet – they could do whatever they wanted and had a seemingly free-pass to do so.  

The hope was that travellers would interact with other Europeans, broadening their cultural horizons. Though often commonly held stereotypes were heightened, one guide advised ‘The French courteous, Spanish lovely, Italians amorous, Germans clownish.’ Grand tourists had a reputation for debauchery. There were more opportunities to drink, to gamble, and to meet new people than home. Many writers noted that women on the continent were more bold, more direct and much more liberated, than women in Britain at the time. A blind eye was certainly turned at home to some of the ‘wilder’ activities of young men on these trips, and it was generally seen as a good thing that it was happening on the continent – and so far away from the rest of high society.

‘The trip was ostensibly about seeing the classics in situ – ruins, sculpture, paintings, murals. As well as the architectural greats – Florence for the Duomo and Palazzo Pitti, Rome for the Coliseum and the Vatican.’ 

For some, the experience was truly one of cultural exchange. Jonathan Richardson was one such traveller who wrote a book detailing every painting, sculpture and drawing that he thought worth seeing along the Grand Tour, with notes and opinions on each one. He is obviously a traveller who was moved greatly by the works he saw – confessing to spending 10 hours in one sculpture gallery alone, completely engrossed by ‘such a fleshy softness’ carved in the marble. Although unimpressed by Correggio’s Madonna he wrote ‘But the beauty! The morbidezza! The thought and expression! Good God!’

There was little information in Britain to learn about the classic arts and culture. So when young people returned from their travels with painting, sketches, and engravings of the things they had seen it would be something rarely seen in England before. 

Some of those who undertook the tour then took the ideas that inspired them and created works here in the UK. Inigo Jones travelled extensively in Europe and designed many buildings which are now British landmarks, including Queen’s House at Greenwich and Covent Garden. Sculpture, painting, fashion and literature were all swayed by the influence of the returning Grand Tourers. In terms of architecture, the style that developed was Neo-classicism, and this is maybe one of our most prolific styles. 

It is easy to overlook how influential this rite of passage was on British culture. The rediscovery of classical architecture was largely due to the Grand Tour, some of the western world’s most famous landmarks are designed on classical principles, they are as far reaching as the United States Capitol Building. In the 19th century, trains and the start of travel agencies such as Thomas Cook meant that the grand tour routes became more widely accessible, and so lost some of its elitism. As time went by, the idea of traveling to the continent for an educational trip became more common. And this month our editors carried on this grand tradition – boldly traveling to Florence, to bring back all the Italians have to teach us poor plebs stuck back home. RH