Wedgwood - The Grand Tour


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Brief video (5 minutes) on The Grand Tour

Starting in the late sixteenth century, well-to-do young men (and some young women) would take several months, a year or even more to travel through Europe including stops in Paris and extensive travel throughout Italy to visit and learn from Greco-Roman statues, ancient ruins, architecture and paintings.  At the time, few museums existed for this type of cultural immersion.  It was believed that the only way to become truly educated was to experience what became known as the "Grand Tour." It became a social and educational rite of passage.  Participants in the Grand Tour included architects and collectors who influenced Wedgwood along with those whose taste for the antique became his customers.

 

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Created by Christina Petty, LIS Graduate Student