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Wedgwood gleaned inspiration from architects and antiquities collectors who traveled on the Grand Tour or had posts abroad and brought back to England their ideas and rare finds sparking the neoclassicism movement. Antiquities were collected from the lost cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and documented in several texts Wedgwood scoured for design inspiration.  Not only were the texts with numerous illustrations and etchings used for inspiration, but also plaster casts of sculptural works from earlier centuries were used by Wedgwood to expand his manufactured offerings.

Architects 

• Robert Adam (1728-1792) was known for the classical interpretations he applied to his architectural creations. He spent four years traveling throughout Italy where he observed Roman antiquity and brought these design elements back to England. He and his brother James Adam (1730-1794) published The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam:  Vol 1, Vol 2,  Vol 3 
• Interesting note: Wedgwood was eager to hire away any former employee of the Adam's firm including John Voyez who eventually stole from Wedgwood and went to work for Wedgwood's competitor, Humphrey Palmer.

• James "Athenian" Stuart (1713-1788) pioneering neoclassicism is also known for his publication, The Antiquities of Athens (1762) recording classical Greek architecture which became a sourcebook for many sculptors. Stuart is known for reviving the tripod form emulated in the Wedgwood vase below.

Wedgwood. Tripod Vase, circa 1790-1800, stoneware (black basalt). collection of Jeffrey s. Milkins and Steven R. Parker

• The designer of the temples and gardens at Kew in London as well as eventually rising to the ranks of Royal Architect thanks to his good friend the Prince of Wales, Sir William Chambers (1723-1796) was an admirer of the Italian Masters. His well-known Treatise on Civil Architecture influenced Wedgwood's designs.

Antiquities Collectors 

• As a British envoy to Naples, Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) was fascinated with antiquities and was known for his vast collection which he sent engravings of to Wedgwood for inspiration. Most known of the products that came out of this interaction is the Portland Vase (ca. 1840-60)

• More about Sir William Hamilton in "British Diplomat Hamilton documents the 'field of fire'" from The Getty 
• By documenting his personal collection in four volumes (below), Hamilton helped establish neoclassicism in the eighteenth century by providing designs for Wedgwood's wares. 

Volume 1	Volume 2	Volume 3	Volume 4

• The Mint Museum's Wedgwood vase based on a drawing in Sir William Hamilton's collection.  

Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities from the cabinet of theHonourable William Hamilton, 1766. https://archive.org/details/collectionofetru01hami/page/n322	Wedgwood, Vase, circa 1780-95, The Mint Museum Collection

• Charles Townley (1737-1805) traveled the Grand Tour on three separate occasions developing the most significant collection of antiquities in Britain. 
• Wedgwood also consulted his copies of books with vase designs such as:
• Livre de Vases by Jacques Stella (1596-1657)

• Livre de Vases by Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762)

• Joseph-Marie Vien's (1716-1809) and his wife, Marie Therese Reboul's (1729-1805) Suite de Vases Composee dans le Gout de l'Antique. (designed by Vien, enscribed by Reboul)

• Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1749-1789) brought vases home from his travels on his Grand Tours.

• The Marquess of Lansdowne, William Petty Fitzmaurice (1737-1805) lent Wedgwood plastic reliefs based on wall paintings found in Pompeii.

• Sir Roger Newdigate (1719-1806) invited Wedgwood to take casts from a whole series of relief-molded designs.

• See Buried by Vesuvius, an exhibition at the Getty Museum that displays treasures from the Villa de Papiri at Herculaneum that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

16th Century Sculptors

• Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

• More about Michelangelo's work from De Rossi's Raccolta di statue antiche e moderne, Wedgwood and Bentley's source of illustrations.

• Guglielmo della Porta (1500-1577), a noted sculptor of the Italian Renaissance influenced the design of some Wedgwood basalt medallions.
•  (1535-1615), a Flemish sculptor who worked in Italy with Guglielmo della Porta and made reliefs of his designs. 

• Antonio Susini (1558-1624), a Florentine bronze caster and sculptor who worked in Giambologna's (1529-1608) workshop.

17th Century Sculptors & Etchers 

•  
• More aboutBernini from the National Gallery of Art. 
• More about Bernini's work from De Rossi's Raccolta di statue antiche e moderne.

The model for the Fountain of the Moor	Triton, Wedgwood, circa 1770-1776, black basalt. The Vyne,Hampshire.

• Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), renowned sculptor, draftsman, and architect and an acknowledged rival to Bernini in 17th century Rome.
• More about Algardi's marble Somnus on exhibit at the Medieval Museum of Bologna.
• More about Wedgwood's basalt Somnus from the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Wedgwood and Bentley, Somnus, circa 1774, stoneware (black basalt), Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art, The Buten Wedgwood Collection, AFI.239.2008

• Stefano della Bella (1610-1664), not a sculptor but rather a prolific Italian draftsman and etcher provided inspiration from his vase illustrations from his Raccolta di vasi diversi. For an example see Plate 6.

• Jacques Stella (1596-1657), like della Bella not a sculptor, Stella's etchings in Livre de Vases was an admired source for Wedgwood's vase shape designs.
• More about a Wedgwood ewer from the Victoria & Albert Museum.  

Digital Resources

• More about Herculaneum in Herculaneum, Past, Present and Future by Charles Waldstein (1908).

• Explore Wedgwood's basalt works in Memorials of Wedgwood by Eliza Meteyard (1874).

• See examples of Intaglios and other pieces derived from Herculaneum in Meteyard's descriptive catalogue.

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Created by Christina Petty, LIS Graduate Student