Eighteenth Century
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A Classical Landscape at Stourhead
Visiting the gardens at the sprawling estate of Stourhead, Wiltshire, is like walking into a Claude Lorrain painting, or some kind of fantastical neoclassical, Grand Tour dream. In fact, Henry Hoare I, who first acquired the Stourhead estate for his family in 1717 (then known as Stourton Manor) owned a Lorrain painting, Aeneas at Delos. read more
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Jane Austen in Bath
Humphry Repton, North Parade, Bath, 1784, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1986.29.460. Bath, a Georgian city that was descended upon during the eighteenth century for its fashionable surroundings, for its healing waters and its vibrant social scene, had many famous residents during its historical heyday. However, as the eighteenth century became the read more
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Visiting Prior Park Landscape Garden, Bath
Print made by unknown artist, A Perspective View of Prior Park, the Seat of Ralph Allen Esq. near Bath, undated, Yale Center for British Art; Yale University Art Gallery Collection, B1998.14.180. Welcome to Prior Park, a beautiful garden overlooking the Georgian city of Bath that is home to this stunning Palladian bridge: one of only read more
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Unique pets in the Eighteenth-Century
I recently stumbled across this beautiful portrait in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Once I got past the beautiful fabrics and luxurious pearls (they always pull me in) – there was something else that struck me… The squirrel. I wondered if it was a symbol of something, but it turns out that actually, it wasn’t. read more
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The Rules of the Ballroom
Watching Bridgerton, and ultimately reading a LOT of Regency romances recently, has had me fascinated even more by the ritual of attending balls: and of course, balls in the eighteenth and nineteenth century were governed by strict rules. Here are some of them below: Firstly, you should never attend a private ball without an invitation, read more
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Introducing debutantes at Queen Charlotte’s Ball
Thomas Gainsborough, Queen Charlotte, Met Museum. You may have noticed, if you have immersed yourself in the Regency fantasy world of Bridgerton recently, that each series begins with the presentation of society’s debutantes to Queen Charlotte. Young ladies queue up in white dresses, escorted to the Queen, where they curtsey and are examined by the read more
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Attending Almack’s in Regency London
Print made by James Caldwall, The Cotillion Dance, 1771, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1977.14.11242. If you were part of high society in late eighteenth or early nineteenth century London, a key social location of the season was Almack’s. Located on King Street behind St James’s Square, Almack’s put on balls and read more
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Visiting Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
One of my favourite things to read about in eighteenth and nineteenth century history is how, and where, people spent their free time. The eighteenth century saw a real change in the development of leisure and pleasure, especially for the elite, which meant the arrival of more cultural institutions and places to satisfy these needs. read more
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New Podcast | HistoryExtra, “Everything you wanted to know about the Grand Tour”
Giovanni Paolo Panini, Modern Rome, 1757. Met Museum. I am so excited to share that the latest BBC HistoryExtra podcast had me answering lots of different questions about, and sharing highly entertaining stories from, the Grand Tour. It’s a topic I’m fascinated by, so I am so grateful to have been a part of the read more
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The first major British artist outside of London: Joseph Wright of Derby
Self-Portrait, c.1780. Yale Center for British Art. I think we often think that, with the growth of culture and leisure in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, that the be-all and end-all is London (or, perhaps Bath). But, of course, this was not true. For starters, I want to share with you the first major British read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 