Turin and the British in the Age of the Grand Tour (British School at Rome Studies)

Karin E. Wolfe Edited by Paola Bianchi
Cambridge University Press, 9/21/2017
EAN 9781107147706, ISBN10: 1107147700

Hardcover, 506 pages, 25.3 x 18.3 x 3 cm
Language: English

The Duchy of Savoy first claimed royal status in the seventeenth century, but only in 1713 was Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy (1666–1732), crowned King of Sicily. The events of the Peace of Utrecht (1713) sanctioned the decades-long project, the Duchy had pursued through the convoluted maze of political relationships between foreign powers. Of these, the British Kingdom was one of their most assiduous advocates, because of complimentary dynastic, political, cultural and commercial interests. A notable stream of British diplomats and visitors to the Savoy capital engaged in an extraordinary and reciprocal exchange with the Turinese during this fertile period. The flow of travellers, a number of whom were British emissaries and envoys posted to the court, coincided, in part, with the itineraries of the international Grand Tour which transformed the capital into a gateway to Italy, resulting in a conflagration of cultural cosmopolitanism in early modern Europe.

List of figures
Contributors
Preface and acknowledgements Christopher J. Smith and Andrea Merlotti
Foreword Martin Postle
Introduction Paola Bianchi and Karin Wolfe
Part I. Britain in Turin
Politics and Culture at the Savoy Court
1. England and Savoy
dynastic intimacy and cultural relations under the early Stuarts Toby Osborne
2. Marriage proposals
seventeenth-century Stuart–Savoy matrimonial prospects and politics Andrea Pennini
3. The court of Turin and the English succession, 1712–20 Edward Corp
4. The British diplomatic presence in Turin
diplomatic culture and British élite identity, 1688–1789/98 Christopher Storrs
Part II. Turin
Gateway to Grand Tour Society
5. The British at the Turin Royal Academy
cosmopolitanism and religious pragmatism Paola Bianchi
6. Thomas Coke in Turin and the Turin Royal Academy Andrew Moore
7. 'Never a more favorable reception than in the present juncture'
British residents and travellers in and about Turin, 1747–8 Edoardo Piccoli
8. The British and Freemasonry in eighteenth-century Turin Andrea Merlotti
Part III. Torino Britannica
Diplomacy and Cultural Brokerage
9. John Molesworth
British envoy and cultural intermediary in Turin Karin Wolfe
10. Silver from London and Turin
diplomacy by display and George Hervey, Earl of Bristol, Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Savoy 1755–8 James Rothwell
11. The 'Savoyard'
the painter Domenico Duprà and his British sitters Jonathan Yarker
12. The culture of confession
the Sardinian Chapel in London in the eighteenth century Paola Cozzo
Part IV. Turin and Britain
Architectural Crossroads
13. Architects and kings in Grand Tour Europe Tomasso Manfredi
14. A homage from Turin
Filippo Juvarra's sketches for Lord Burlington Cristina Ruggero
15. Crossing borders
the pioneering role of the architect-engineer Giovanni Battista Borra between Piedmont and Britain Olga Zoller
Part V. Britain and Turin
Chinoiserie as an International Aesthetic
16. Chinoiserie in Piedmont
an international language of diplomacy and modernity Christopher M. S. Johns
17. 'Alla China'
the reception of international decorative models in Piedmont Cristina Mossetti
18. The British garden in Piedmont in the late eighteenth century
variations on the picturesque, the Anglo-Chinese and the landscape garden Paolo Cornaglia
Part VI. Turin in Britain
Cultural Exchange in Grand Tour Europe
19. A plurality of pluras
the Plura family of sculptors between Turin and Britain Alastair Laing
20. 'A memorable era in the instrumental music of this kingdom'
Piedmontese musicians in London in the latter half of the eighteenth century Annarita Colturato
21. The British Baretti
didactics and criticism Cristina Bracchi
22. Vittorio Alfieri and the 'English Republic'
reflections on an elective affinity Francesca Fedi
Appendices
I. British diplomats and visitors to Turin in the eighteenth century Christopher Storrs
Sabaudian diplomats to London in the eighteenth century Andrea Merlotti
II. British attendees at the Turin Royal Academy Paola Bianchi
III. Letters from the Molesworth–Galilei correspondence, 1721–5 Karin Wolfe
References
Index.