![]() ![]() The essential place to visit, however, was Italy. London was a frequent starting point for Grand Tourists, and Paris a compulsory destination many traveled to the Netherlands, some to Switzerland and Germany, and a very few adventurers to Spain, Greece, or Turkey. ![]() Most Grand Tourists, however, stayed for briefer periods and set out with less scholarly intentions, accompanied by a teacher or guardian, and expected to return home with souvenirs of their travels as well as an understanding of art and architecture formed by exposure to great masterpieces. The German traveler Johann Joachim Winckelmann pioneered the field of art history with his comprehensive study of Greek and Roman sculpture he was portrayed by his friend Anton Raphael Mengs at the beginning of his long residence in Rome ( 48.141). The Grand Tourist was typically a young man with a thorough grounding in Greek and Latin literature as well as some leisure time, some means, and some interest in art. Travel was arduous and costly throughout the period, possible only for a privileged class-the same that produced gentleman scientists, authors, antiquaries, and patrons of the arts. Thus was born the idea of the Grand Tour, a practice that introduced Englishmen, Germans, Scandinavians, and also Americans to the art and culture of France and Italy for the next 300 years. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, it became fashionable for young aristocrats to visit Paris, Venice, Florence, and above all Rome, as the culmination of their classical education. ![]()
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