Lasting Impressions of the Grand Tour: Giuseppe Vasi's Rome
March 5, 2011 - June 12, 2011
Although still a “must-see” destination in today’s age of global tourism, Rome loomed much larger in the 18th century as the ultimate goal for upper-class visitors, usually male, from Northern Europe and especially Britain, where the term “the Grand Tour” first appeared in print in the late 17th century to describe the most desirable way of completing one’s intellectual education—on the Continent. With the lure of the classical past becoming increasingly powerful, during the 18th century Rome’s fame as the cradle of Western civilization brought at first a steady stream and then a flood of visitors from the north, who made their way southward by boat and carriage, with entourages of servants, tutors, and artists, and finally entering the Eternal City through the gateway to the Piazza del Popolo. In addition to the wonders of ancient Rome, there was modern Rome to explore as well, for during this period the capital of the papal states underwent a dazzling urban and artistic renewal, with new public and private monuments such as the Spanish Steps (1723-25), Trevi Fountain (1732-62), and Villa Albani (1756-59) being erected, and an outpouring of art in all media to embellish the city’s palaces, churches, and gardens. With its political power diminishing, the papacy succeeded in refashioning Rome as the cultural and artistic capital of Europe, a position it maintained until Napoleon’s suppression of the papal states in 1799.
Of the numerous contemporary artists in Rome who catered to the demand for lasting impressions of the Grand Tour, the printmaker Giuseppe Vasi (1710-82) was by far one of the most prolific and affordable. Unlike his more celebrated student Giovanni Battista Piranesi , whose visionary prints celebrated the ruins of ancient Rome, Vasi privileged the modern city, rendering with topographical exactitude churches, palaces, and public squares (with an occasional obelisk)—not isolating them but showing each of them in their urban setting. Vasi’s etchings, either individually framed, or displayed in bound volumes, functioned as mementos—high-end postcards, as it were--recalling the splendors visited and acting as an incentive for others to embark on their own Grand Tour.
Born in Corleone, Sicily, Vasi’s career covers a 46 year period, almost all of it spent in Rome working as a print maker and specializing in vedute (views) of the city, its monuments and spectacles, many of which were inspired by earlier examples by such artists as Israel Silvestre, Giovanni Battista Falda, and Gaspar Van Wittel. His output can be divided into his views of ephemeral structures such as those erected for the Chinea festivals, and secondly his larger output of views of the city of Rome, and especially his masterpieces, the 10 volumes of the Magnificenze di Roma (1747-1761), containing over 200 images, and his large horizontal panorama of the city as viewed from the Janiculum Hill, the Prospetto dell’alma città di Roma (1765); the latter was intended to be flanked by his four vertical “prospetti” of the four Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome, thereby creating a uniform ensemble suitable for adorning the wall of a prelate’s apartment in Rome or the study of a Grand Tourist abroad. In a shrewd effort at cross marketing, Vasi also published several editions of his pocket-sized guidebook Itinerario istruttivo… in 1763 and 1765, specifically linking his eight-day walking itineraries with the plates and monuments portrayed and indexed in the Magnificenze and Prospetto. While providing historical information on the monuments, he also referenced useful information concerning excellent bakeries and inns.
While Giuseppe Vasi’s works represent over half of the total number of objects in the Princeton venue, there is a strong contextual component, further enhanced by over 10 additional loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Firestone and Marquand Libraries at Princeton University, and by several works from the Museum’s own collections. Vasi’s prints—of critical importance to historical studies in urbanism and architecture—serve as the springboard for a broad investigation into the representation of Rome and its impact on collecting practices and indeed of taste itself in the age of the Grand Tour. After an introduction to Vasi’s work as a whole and in the context of late 17th century and 18th century Roman cartography (including, most notably, Giovanni Battista Nolli’s monumental Pianta Grande di Roma, of 1748) the exhibition will situate a selection of Vasi’s Magnificenze (both plates and bound volumes) within the tradition of the Roman “veduta” by juxtaposing them with examples in different media by contemporaries including Canaletto, Panini, and Piranesi. Finally, the exhibition will conclude by presenting these popular images as “souvenirs” of the Grand Tour, complementing the prints with other collectibles—including a box of plaster casts, and a reproduction of an ancient Roman bust of Caracalla—and portraits and portrayals of identifiable Grand Tourists and Roman inhabitants by such artists as Nathanial Dance, Pompeo Batoni, and Giuseppe Ghezzi—thereby highlighting aspects of social history and international patronage and of the significance of the Grand Tour as an important aesthetic and cultural phenomenon.
Giuseppe Vasi’s Magnificenze and Giovanni Battista Nolli’s Pianta Grande di Roma may also be explored online on the University of Oregon’s websites:
Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome
Interactive Nolli Map Website
Lasting Impressions of the Grand Tour: Giuseppe Vasi’s Rome was organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene. The exhibition in Princeton was made possible by Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970; the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; the Apparatus Fund; the Judith and Anthony B. Evnin, Class of 1962, Exhibition Fund; and the Partners of the Princeton University Art Museum. Additional support has been made possible by the Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition in Eugene was made possible with major funding from the University of Oregon Office of the Provost and additional support from Jim and Adriana Giustina, Sylvia Giustina, and Natalie Giustina Newlove in memory of Lee Giustina; Nancy and David Petrone; Tim and Lisa Clevenger; the Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation Changing Exhibitions Endowment Fund; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts; the William C. Mitchell Estate; the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts; the Italian Cultural Institute; the Oregon Humanities Center; and JSMA members.
March 5, 2011 - June 12, 2011
Although still a “must-see” destination in today’s age of global tourism, Rome loomed much larger in the 18th century as the ultimate goal for upper-class visitors, usually male, from Northern Europe and especially Britain, where the term “the Grand Tour” first appeared in print in the late 17th century to describe the most desirable way of completing one’s intellectual education—on the Continent. With the lure of the classical past becoming increasingly powerful, during the 18th century Rome’s fame as the cradle of Western civilization brought at first a steady stream and then a flood of visitors from the north, who made their way southward by boat and carriage, with entourages of servants, tutors, and artists, and finally entering the Eternal City through the gateway to the Piazza del Popolo. In addition to the wonders of ancient Rome, there was modern Rome to explore as well, for during this period the capital of the papal states underwent a dazzling urban and artistic renewal, with new public and private monuments such as the Spanish Steps (1723-25), Trevi Fountain (1732-62), and Villa Albani (1756-59) being erected, and an outpouring of art in all media to embellish the city’s palaces, churches, and gardens. With its political power diminishing, the papacy succeeded in refashioning Rome as the cultural and artistic capital of Europe, a position it maintained until Napoleon’s suppression of the papal states in 1799.
Of the numerous contemporary artists in Rome who catered to the demand for lasting impressions of the Grand Tour, the printmaker Giuseppe Vasi (1710-82) was by far one of the most prolific and affordable. Unlike his more celebrated student Giovanni Battista Piranesi , whose visionary prints celebrated the ruins of ancient Rome, Vasi privileged the modern city, rendering with topographical exactitude churches, palaces, and public squares (with an occasional obelisk)—not isolating them but showing each of them in their urban setting. Vasi’s etchings, either individually framed, or displayed in bound volumes, functioned as mementos—high-end postcards, as it were--recalling the splendors visited and acting as an incentive for others to embark on their own Grand Tour.
Born in Corleone, Sicily, Vasi’s career covers a 46 year period, almost all of it spent in Rome working as a print maker and specializing in vedute (views) of the city, its monuments and spectacles, many of which were inspired by earlier examples by such artists as Israel Silvestre, Giovanni Battista Falda, and Gaspar Van Wittel. His output can be divided into his views of ephemeral structures such as those erected for the Chinea festivals, and secondly his larger output of views of the city of Rome, and especially his masterpieces, the 10 volumes of the Magnificenze di Roma (1747-1761), containing over 200 images, and his large horizontal panorama of the city as viewed from the Janiculum Hill, the Prospetto dell’alma città di Roma (1765); the latter was intended to be flanked by his four vertical “prospetti” of the four Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome, thereby creating a uniform ensemble suitable for adorning the wall of a prelate’s apartment in Rome or the study of a Grand Tourist abroad. In a shrewd effort at cross marketing, Vasi also published several editions of his pocket-sized guidebook Itinerario istruttivo… in 1763 and 1765, specifically linking his eight-day walking itineraries with the plates and monuments portrayed and indexed in the Magnificenze and Prospetto. While providing historical information on the monuments, he also referenced useful information concerning excellent bakeries and inns.
While Giuseppe Vasi’s works represent over half of the total number of objects in the Princeton venue, there is a strong contextual component, further enhanced by over 10 additional loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Firestone and Marquand Libraries at Princeton University, and by several works from the Museum’s own collections. Vasi’s prints—of critical importance to historical studies in urbanism and architecture—serve as the springboard for a broad investigation into the representation of Rome and its impact on collecting practices and indeed of taste itself in the age of the Grand Tour. After an introduction to Vasi’s work as a whole and in the context of late 17th century and 18th century Roman cartography (including, most notably, Giovanni Battista Nolli’s monumental Pianta Grande di Roma, of 1748) the exhibition will situate a selection of Vasi’s Magnificenze (both plates and bound volumes) within the tradition of the Roman “veduta” by juxtaposing them with examples in different media by contemporaries including Canaletto, Panini, and Piranesi. Finally, the exhibition will conclude by presenting these popular images as “souvenirs” of the Grand Tour, complementing the prints with other collectibles—including a box of plaster casts, and a reproduction of an ancient Roman bust of Caracalla—and portraits and portrayals of identifiable Grand Tourists and Roman inhabitants by such artists as Nathanial Dance, Pompeo Batoni, and Giuseppe Ghezzi—thereby highlighting aspects of social history and international patronage and of the significance of the Grand Tour as an important aesthetic and cultural phenomenon.
Giuseppe Vasi’s Magnificenze and Giovanni Battista Nolli’s Pianta Grande di Roma may also be explored online on the University of Oregon’s websites:
Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome
Interactive Nolli Map Website
Lasting Impressions of the Grand Tour: Giuseppe Vasi’s Rome was organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene. The exhibition in Princeton was made possible by Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970; the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; the Apparatus Fund; the Judith and Anthony B. Evnin, Class of 1962, Exhibition Fund; and the Partners of the Princeton University Art Museum. Additional support has been made possible by the Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition in Eugene was made possible with major funding from the University of Oregon Office of the Provost and additional support from Jim and Adriana Giustina, Sylvia Giustina, and Natalie Giustina Newlove in memory of Lee Giustina; Nancy and David Petrone; Tim and Lisa Clevenger; the Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation Changing Exhibitions Endowment Fund; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts; the William C. Mitchell Estate; the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts; the Italian Cultural Institute; the Oregon Humanities Center; and JSMA members.
