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 December 21, 2001 - March 24, 2002 Getty Research Institute Exhibition Gallery This exhibition explores Naples as a tourist destination during the period that Sir William Hamilton was the British ambassador to Naples, 1764 to 1800. A passionate collector of art and antiquities, Hamilton was equally drawn to natural wonders and archaeological discoveries. He played a distinctive role as a knowledgeable guide and genteel host to visitors on the Grand Tour. For 18th-century travelers, Naples was a mythic place dominated by the powerful presence of Mount Vesuvius. The volcano and ruins made Naples a different exotic locale. |
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 January 8 - August 11, 2002 North Pavilion Featuring new acquisitions by the Getty Museum and Research Institute, Rome on the Grand Tour presents the cultural center, know as the Eternal City, as a preeminent destination for the British aristocrat. Gathering together paintings, pastels, drawings, sculpture, artists' sketchbooks, antiquities, books, and souvenir prints, this exhibition captures the diversity of the Grand Tour experience and portrays the preparation, engagement, and memory intrinsic to the journey. |
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 February 5 - May 12, 2002 East Pavilion Throughout the 1700s travelers flocked to the Italian provinces in search of inspiration, enlightenment, discovery and adventure. Aristocratic visitors and connoisseurs encouraged the production of landscapes and cityscapes, visual records and souvenirs of the sites encountered on their travels. Ancestors of the modern-day postcard, vedute, or expansive views, were vehicles for the artist's creative and illusionistic vision of nature and architecture. The visitor is guided through the vast and varied territories of Italy, from a Venetian backstreet by Giovanni Antonio Canal, and a theatrical performance by Francesco Guardi, to an imaginary antique port by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. |
