3- NEW The Classical in Britain, 1688–1815: Ideas, Art, and Architecture
Online
Course 3 – Summer School Online
Monday 8 – Friday 12 June 2026
Dr Adriano Aymonino
£395
Course Description:
This course explores the reception and reinterpretation of classical antiquity in Britain in a period marked by profound political change, intense European intellectual exchange, and imperial expansion. Framed by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the post-Napoleonic settlement of 1815, the course examines how classical art, architecture, and visual culture became central to expressions of taste, political authority, and national identity within the context of the British Enlightenment.
We will trace the transmission of classical ideas through travel, education, and collecting, with particular attention to the Grand Tour and to Italy and the Mediterranean as enduring sources of artistic authority. We will consider the impact of Palladianism and Neoclassicism on British architecture and interior decoration, focusing on architects and tastemakers such as Lord Burlington, William Kent, Colen Campbell, James “Athenian” Stuart, Sir William Chambers, and the Adam brothers, and on sculptors including Joseph Wilton, Thomas Banks, and John Flaxman.
Practices of drawing from the antique, the study of classical models within academies, and the emergence of art theory grounded in classical principles will be examined alongside the role of designers and draughtsmen and the display of classical sculpture in urban and country-house settings.
The course also addresses the practical and intellectual dimensions of classical reception, including the excavation, acquisition, and transportation of sculpture to Britain, the proliferation of copies across a range of media, and the circulation of prints, drawings, and antiquarian publications. We will explore the development of a distinct British antiquarian tradition, together with the intellectual networks of the European “Republic of Letters,” as a key mechanism through which classical knowledge was produced and disseminated.
Please note that in 2025 new VAT rules for online courses came into effect in the EU. This means that we are now required to charge EU participants their local VAT rate. VAT-inclusive prices for EU students will be displayed at check-out.
If you have any questions please email us at short.courses@courtauld.ac.uk
Lecturer's Biography
Dr Adriano Aymonino is Programme Director of the MA Art Market, Provenance and the History of Collecting at the University of Buckingham. His research focuses on the reception of the classical tradition, the history of collecting, and theories and pedagogy of art in the early modern period. His publications include Drawn from the Antique (Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2015); Enlightened Eclecticism (Yale University Press, 2021 – winner of the 2022 Berger Prize for British Art History) and a revised and updated edition of Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny’s Taste and the Antique (Brepols, 3 vols, 2024). Forthcoming is Paper Marbles: Pier Leone Ghezzi’s “Studio di Molte Pietre”, 1726 (Burlington Magazine Press, 2026) and a critical edition of Robert and James Adam’s Grand Tour correspondence (Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2027). Adriano is a member of the advisory councils of the Museo del Bargello in Florence and the Attingham Trust, and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.