Robert Adam, Neoclassical architect (1728-1792)

Robert Adam attributed to George Willison
Oil on canvas c1770-1774 © NPG 29531

Profile

Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a Neoclassical architect and interior designer. He was one of the most influential Georgian architects.

South front of Kedleston Hall designed by Robert Adam

 Early life

Robert Adam was born on 3 July 1728 at Kirkcaldy in Fife, the second son of William Adam and his wife Mary Robertson. Robert’s father was the leading Scottish architect at the time and Master Mason to the Board of Ordnance in North Britain. 

Robert was educated at Edinburgh high school and Edinburgh University before becoming an architect in his father’s firm in 1746. Two of Robert’s brothers, John (1721-1792) and James (1732-1794) also became architects in the family firm.

William Adam died in 1748 leaving his architectural practice to John, who took Robert into partnership. Robert inherited Dowhill, part of the Blair Adam estate in Scotland.

Grand Tour

Having amassed a fortune working for the family firm, Robert embarked on a Grand Tour in 1754-7. His tour included visits to Paris and Naples and, most importantly, Rome. He took lessons from Charles-Louis Clérisseau, Pompeo Batoni, Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, Laurent-Benoit Dewez and Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Etruscan dressing room, Osterley Park, designed by Robert Adam

London practice

When Robert returned from Italy, he established himself as an architect in his own right in Lower Grosvenor Street in London. James made a similar trip to Italy and became a partner in Robert’s firm on his return in 1763.

Robert was fortunate to secure the early patronage of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who used his influence to procure Robert’s appointment as Architect of the King’s Works in 1761, jointly with Sir William Chambers. Robert stepped down from this position in 1769, after being elected Member of Parliament for Kinross-shire (1768-1774) and was succeeded by his brother James. 

Robert’s commissions included both town houses and country estates. He was a master at designing both the grand frontage and interiors of the country house and making the most of the restricted space in the town house.

South front, Kenwood, designed by Robert Adam

The office

The firm was originally based in Lower Grosvenor Street but later moved to part of the Adelphi development and then to Albemarle Street. The office was an important training ground for draughtsmen and architects including Joseph Bonami and George Richardson. It was also a repository for all the Adam drawings. 

The firm employed many artists and decorators including colourist Guiseppe Manocchi, figure artist Antonio Zucchi, and decorative painters Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Peter Borgnis and Biagio Rebecca. Robert collaborated with others including Thomas Chippendale and Eleanor Coade.

The Adam style

Robert broke free from the conservative style of his father and the strict proportions of Palladianism and developed a lighter Neoclassical approach. He was influenced by the Picturesque style introduced to him by Paul and Thomas Sandby and by what he had seen and learned on his Grand Tour, such as the frescoes and wall paintings at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

One of his hallmarks was unity. Robert designed the whole room, creating furnishings that reflected the interior design of a room bringing a sense of harmony.

You can read more about Adam Style here.

The Saloon, Saltram, designed by Robert Adam

Society fellowships

Robert was elected a fellow of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in 1758 and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1761. According to his obituary, he was a ‘fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies of London and Edinburgh.’2

Speculative building projects

As well as executing commissions for public and private buildings, the Adam brothers entered into several speculative construction projects. The first of these, The Adelphi, started in 1768, almost ruined them. The plan was to build 22 terraced houses with warehouse space below next to the north bank of the Thames. The firm was only saved from bankruptcy by a public lottery held in 1774. 

According to Bolton:

The magnitude of the undertaking and the enormous cost involved, arising from the gigantic foundations and vaults requisite to sustain the buildings and streets at the level of the Strand, together with the subsequent difficulty of finding tenants to pay adequate rents for the houses, vaults and wharves, caused the financial wreck of the speculative scheme.3

The Adam brothers carried out other speculative schemes at Portland Place (1776-90), Fitzroy Square (1790-94) and Charlotte Square, Edinburgh (1791).

The Adelphi, London, from  
The architecture of Robert and James Adam by AT Bolton (1922)

What was Robert Adam like?

Robert Adam was a brilliant architect, but he was very poor in managing money. He was notorious for going over budget and this was probably the main reason why he did not receive more public commissions in England.

Robert was a very charming man and inspired loyalty, respect, patronage and friendship. His obituary stated that

… the natural suavity of his manners, joined to the excellence of his moral character, had endeared him to a numerous circle of friends, who will long lament his death.

It continued:

The friendships he formed were with men who have since eminently distinguished themselves by their literary productions; amongst whom were Mr David Hume, Dr Robertson, Dr Adam Smith, Dr Adam Ferguson and Mr John Home. At a more advanced time of life he had the good fortune to enjoy the friendship and society of Archibald Duke of Argyle, the late Mr Charles Townshend, the Earl of Mansfield, and several other of the most illustrious men of the age.4

I am inclined to think that Robert was something of a workaholic. According to his obituary:

To the last period of his life, Mr Adam displayed an increasing vigour of genius and refinement of taste; for, in the space of one year preceding his death, he designed 8 great public works, beside 25 private buildings, so various in their style, and so beautiful in their composition, that they have been allowed, by the best judges, sufficient of themselves to establish his fame unrivalled as an artist.5

Wedgwood cameo of Robert Adam
from The architecture of Robert and 
James Adam by AT Bolton (1922)

Final years

Robert suffered from a recurring stomach complaint, with severe attacks in 1787 and 1789. He suffered from another bout in 1792 which proved fatal. He died on 3 March 1792 at his home, 13 Albemarle Street, London. Robert never married, and in his will, he left his estate to two of his sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret Adam, both spinsters.

Robert was given a private funeral and interred in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey. His illustrious pallbearers were Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch; George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry; James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale; David Murray, Viscount Stormont, later 2nd Earl of Mansfield; Lord Frederick Campbell; and William Pulteney, later Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet.

Published works

Robert wrote a travel book, The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro (1764) based on his studies during his Grand Tour.

As an advertisement for their work, the Adam brothers published The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam over the period 1773 to 1778. This was republished in 1779. A further volume was published posthumously in 1822.

In the 1770s, Robert bought an estate in Essex and became interested in agriculture. He published Practical Essays on Agriculture in 1789.

Drawings

The Adam brothers left behind a huge collection of almost 9,000 drawings spanning 36 years, from when Robert set up his London practice in 1758 until James’s death in 1794. They included designs for over 350 different clients. Some loose drawings were sold by auction in 1818 and 1821, but the rest, comprising 54 folios of drawings, were offered to the British Museum by Robert’s niece, Susanna Clerk, in 1822. The British Museum declined. Sir John Soane bought the entire collection for £200 in 1833 for his newly established museum.

Design for entrance gate at Syon House
from The Works in architecture of Robert and James Adam 1773

Legacy

Robert’s obituary stated:

Mr Adam produced a total change in the architecture of this country; and his fertile genius in elegant ornament was not confined to the decoration of buildings, but has been diffused into almost every branch of manufacture. His talents extended beyond the line of his own profession; he displayed in his numerous drawings in landscape a luxuriance of composition, and an effect of light and shadow, which have scarcely ever been equalled.6

Many examples of Robert and James Adam’s architecture and interior design work still exist, though some have been substantially altered.

As his obituary said:

The many elegant buildings, public and private, erected in various parts of the kingdom by Mr Adam, will remain lasting monuments of his taste and genius.7

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Notes
1. This picture is © National Portrait Gallery, London, and is displayed under a Creative Commons licence.

2. Obituary of Robert Adam, The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle Volume 62 (1792)
3. Bolton, Arthur T, The architecture of Robert and James Adam (1758-1794) (1922)
4. Obituary op cit
5. Ibid
6. Ibid
7. Ibid

Sources used include:

Adam, Robert and Adam, The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (1773)

Bolton, Arthur T, The architecture of Robert and James Adam (1758-1794) (1922)

Swarbrick, John, Robert Adam and his brothers (1915)

Tait, AA, Adam, Robert (1728-1792), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn Oct 2009, accessed 27 Aug 2014)

The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle Volume 62 (1792)

John Soane’s Museum website

All photographs © Regencyhistory.net

A la Ronde – a Regency History guide

A la Ronde, Devon

Where is it?

A la Ronde is a 16-sided house near Exmouth, Devon, owned by the National Trust.

A la Ronde and the view down to the sea, near Exmouth, Devon

The Parminters of A la Ronde

The story of A la Ronde starts in 1784 when a group of single ladies went on the Grand Tour. The party consisted of Jane Parminter (1750-1811), her sister Elizabeth (1756-91) (1), her cousin’s orphaned daughter Mary Parminter (1767-1849) and another single lady, Miss Colville. The tour was financed by Jane’s wealth and lasted for about four years, though possibly longer for some of the party. Elizabeth became ill and returned to England in 1788; Jane and Mary may not have returned until 1791 when Elizabeth died. 

One of the Parminters' packing cases in the Music Room, A la Ronde

The building of A la Ronde

By the time they returned to England, Mary had inherited a considerable fortune. She and Jane decided to build a house to live in together rather than be forced into marriages that they did not desire. The result was A la Ronde, said to have been inspired by the octagonal basilica of San Vitale at Ravenna in Italy that they had seen during their Grand Tour.

The Octagon, A la Ronde, as reflected in the the glass globe
hanging down in the centre of it. You can see all
the doorways off it (as well as us!)

The design of A la Ronde

Inside the house, there is a central octagon and all the other rooms come off this, as well as linking into each other by means of tiny lobbies, some of which still exist today. The rooms facing east were the ladies’ two bedrooms and they moved round the house during the day, following the natural light.

One of the diamond windows of A la Ronde from the inside

One of the lobbies between the downstairs
rooms of A la Ronde.
This one houses a library.

The two cousins were very industrious and spent many hours crafting works of art. They decorated tables, made feather pictures and, at the top of the house, they created an incredible Shell Gallery - a mosaic room, with the walls adorned with shells and other treasures.

Cabinet of curiosities in the Library of A la Ronde

A table inlaid by one of the Parminter
cousins in the Drawing Room, A la Ronde

The legacy of A la Ronde

On her death, Mary Parminter left A la Ronde to six unmarried female relations in a specified sequence. If they married, they forfeited their right to inherit. In 1880, Stella Reichel, the third lady to inherit, was due to get married. Only one of the other named ladies still met the conditions of the bequest and she sold the reversion to Stella enabling her to sell A la Ronde to her brother, the Reverend Oswald Reichel, before her marriage. He became A la Ronde’s only male owner.

Miniature of Mary Parminter
in the Dining Room, A la Ronde

During this time, the house saw the most change. Externally, extra windows were added, the thatch on the roof was replaced by tiles and a raised walkway was added round the outside of the roof, whilst inside, the Reverend installed central heating, knocked down walls and added stairs. Several times the house was saved from redevelopment and in 1991 it was purchased by the National Trust.

What can you see today?

• The outside of the house is much like it was in the Reverend Reichel’s day. The diamond-shaped windows with shutters were originally the only windows and every single one of them is on an angle to bring in the most light. 

One of the original diamond windows
of A la Ronde

• The Study and the Music Room were originally Jane and Mary’s bedrooms. There is a wonderful George III tea caddy in the first of these rooms.

George III tea caddy in the Study, A la Ronde

• In the Library, there is a model of the house which shows what it was like before the Reverend Reichel’s alterations and a miniature 18th century bookcase holding a collection of tiny schoolbooks.

Model of A la Ronde before the Reverend Reichel's alterations
In the Library, A la Ronde

• From the upper level, you can glance up the staircase to the Shell Gallery. It is too fragile for visitors to be allowed up, but there are interactive screens later in the tour that allow you to virtually walk around the room.

View up the stairs into the Shell Gallery, A la Ronde

View of the Shell Gallery, A la Ronde, from the interactive screen

View of the Shell Gallery, A la Ronde, from the interactive screen

• The Octagon is the central room of the house and is full height, right up into the Shell Gallery. There are mirrors here that allow you to see the ceiling and the shells on the walls peeping over the balcony.

View up into the dome above the Octagon, A la Ronde

• The Drawing Room was created by the Reverend Reichel out of two of the original rooms and its intervening lobby. There are lots of treasures in here – the feather frieze around the top of the room, worktables decorated by the two Parminter cousins and my personal favourite—the most wonderful silhouette ink drawing by François Torond of the Parminter family in 1783. 

Feather border in the Drawing Room, A la Ronde

Inlaid worktable by one of the Parminter cousins
In the Drawing Room, A la Ronde

A silhouette ink drawing of the Parminter family in 1783
by François Torond - above the mantelpiece
in the Drawing Room, A la Ronde

• The Dining Room also holds many gems – a late 18th century Wedgwood cream ware dining service and a sideboard with pull-out holders for red and white wine for which the room was specially designed. 

The table laid with Wedgwood cream ware
in the Dining Room of A la Ronde

A broken piece of Wedgwood cream ware
in the Pantry of A la Ronde

The sideboard in the Dining Room, A la Ronde

A Chinese Quianlong figure c1780
in the Dining Room, A la Ronde

Last visited: August 2015

Note

(1) The National Trust guidebook states Elizabeth’s death as 1795 but The Story of A La Ronde and Its People says that Jane was in London for the administration of her sister’s will in 1791 and the probate record supports this date.

Sources used include:
Meller, Hugh, A La Ronde, National Trust guidebook (1993, this edition 2004)
National Trust, The Story of A La Ronde and Its People (2011, revised 2013)

All photos © Andrew Knowles - more of Andrew's photos of A la Ronde on Flickr.

Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet (1758-1838)

Sir Richard Colt Hoare - a painting at Stourhead (2014)

Profile

Sir Richard Colt Hoare (9 December 1758 – 19 May 1838) was an antiquarian and historian and the owner of the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire.

 

You can read more about Stourhead here.

Family background

Richard Colt Hoare was born in Barnes, Surrey, on 9 December 1758, the eldest son of Sir Richard Hoare, 1st Baronet, who had married his first cousin, Anne Hoare, the younger daughter of Henry Hoare of Stourhead, senior partner of Hoare’s Bank. Richard’s mother died when he was six months old and his father remarried. He had six children by his second wife, Frances Acland, and Richard grew up with his half-siblings in Surrey.

Hoare's Bank

Richard pursued his classical studies with a tutor whilst training for a role in the family business, Hoare’s Bank. His grandfather, known as ‘Henry the Magnificent’, gave him a house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and an allowance of £2,000 a year when he came of age.

Marriage

On 18 August 1783, Richard married Hester Lyttelton, daughter of William Lyttelton of Hagley, 1st Baron Lyttelton. They had one son, Henry, on 17 September 1784, but tragically, Hester died the following year, on 22 August 1785.

Grand Tour

Shortly after the death of his wife, Richard inherited Stourhead from his grandfather, Henry Hoare, on the condition that he left the bank. Henry made this stipulation to ensure the survival of the Stourhead estate in the event that the bank should fail in the future.

 

Stourhead

Deprived of both wife and career, Richard went on a Grand Tour, and for the next six years, he travelled extensively abroad, keeping detailed diaries. These were later published in Recollections abroad: journals of tours on the continent, 1785-1791 (1815-18). He subsequently toured throughout Britain and Ireland, recording his travels with the same meticulous detail.

Antiquarian

 

Richard was very interested in the history and archaeology of Wiltshire and amassed a huge collection of books and drawings. He was the author of The Ancient History of South Wiltshire (1812, 1819) and wrote the majority of The History of Modern Wiltshire (1822-44).

He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and admitted to the Society of Dilettanti in 1792. In 1825, he gave his collection of Italian topographical and historical works to the British Museum.

Sportsman

 

Richard was a keen sportsman and bought a fishing lodge in Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, in 1796. He also had a house in St James’s Square, London.

Stourhead

The Temple of Apollo in the gardens at Stourhead (2014)

Richard developed the gardens at Stourhead, planting trees and collecting exotic plants, leading to his election as a member of the Linnean Society in 1812.

Finding that the house at Stourhead did not have enough room for his collections, in 1800 he added two wings, one for the Library to house his books and the other the Picture Gallery to display his paintings.1

Richard Colt Hoare in his Library at Stourhead (Photo 2014)

Patron of the arts

Chippendale chairs in the Picture Room, Stourhead (2014)

Between 1798 and 1820, Richard employed Thomas Chippendale the Younger to make furnishings for Stourhead to the value of around £3,500. Chippendale’s work included furniture for Richard’s two new rooms, some pieces in the Egyptian style and others in an advanced Grecian taste.

Sarcophagus planter by Chippendale in the Picture Room, Stourhead (2014)

Richard commissioned works from the water-colourist Francis Nicholson, the portrait artist Samuel Woodforde and JMW Turner.

An unsatisfactory son

The relationship between Richard and his son Henry was very strained. Henry was devoted to a life of pleasure and his father was left to settle his debts. Henry died in 1836 leaving one daughter, Ann.

Illness and death

Richard suffered from gout and rheumatism and became increasingly deaf. He lived mainly at Stourhead with occasional visits to Bath. He died on 19 May 1838 at Stourhead and was buried at St Peter’s, Stourton. There is a marble statue to his memory in Salisbury Cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral (2014)

Rachel Knowles writes faith-based Regency romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Note
(1) These were the only rooms to escape the fire which devastated the house at Stourhead in 1902.

Sources used include:

Hutchings, Victoria, Hoare, Henry (1705-1785) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn May 2009; accessed 15 May 2014)

Hutchings, Victoria, Hoare, Sir Richard Colt (1758-1838) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn May 2009; accessed 15 May 2014)

Lomax, James, Chippendale, Thomas (bap 1718, d1779) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn May 2009, accessed 22 May 2014)

Blog update (May 2014)

Whilst researching a post on some paintings at Stourhead for my newsletter, I discovered that the painting which I had previously labelled as Hester Lyttelton, Sir Richard Colt Hoare's wife, was in fact of NOT of her at all! 

 

Someone had previously suggested that the painting was not of Hester, but as it was inscribed as such, I thought I was on safe ground. But no! According to the detailed description of this painting in the National Trust Collections, it was probably of Mrs John O'Neill (someone that I had never heard of before!)

Probably Mrs John O'Neill -
a painting at Stourhead (2014)

 

 

 

All photographs © Andrew Knowles - RegencyHistory.net

The Society of Dilettanti

Group of members of the Dilettanti Society by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1779)
The central figure with the vase is Sir William Hamilton
from History of the Society of Dilettanti by L Cust (1914)

The foundation of the Dilettanti Society

The Society of Dilettanti was founded in the early 1730s by a group of men who had visited Italy on the Grand Tour and wanted to continue to share and build on their experiences.

The preface to Ionian Antiquities stated that:

In the year 1734 some gentlemen who had travelled in Italy, desirous of encouraging at home a taste for those objects which had contributed to their entertainment abroad, formed themselves into a society under the name of the Dilettanti.1,2

The name Dilettanti comes from the Latin 'dilettare', to take delight in, and the Society adopted a policy of 'seria ludo' – looking at serious subjects in a light-hearted manner.

Membership

In 1736, there were 46 members, mostly “young men of rank and fashion”3. New members had to be personally known to an existing member and elected in a secret ballot.

The ballot box
from History of the Society of Dilettanti by L Cust (1914)

In 1743, Horace Walpole criticised the Society of Dilettanti, saying that it was

...a club, for which the nominal qualification is having been in Italy, and the real one being drunk; the two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy.4

The influence of later members such as Sir William Hamilton, Charles Townley and Richard Payne Knight shifted the focus of the Society toward archaeological investigations. By the end of the 18th century, the Society was the top British establishment for the study of classical antiquities.

Meetings

The Society’s first documented meeting was at the Bedford Head Tavern, Covent Garden, on 6 March 1736. Subsequent meetings were held in various taverns, but by 1757, the Society usually met for dinner on alternate Sundays at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall.5

From 1800 to 1810, they met at Mr Parslow’s tavern in St James’ Street. The Society bought a site in Cavendish Square in 1747 to erect their own building, but plans were later abandoned and the land sold again, at a profit.

Two boxes were commissioned by the Society – an elaborate balloting box for the secret ballots and a box in the shape of the Tomb of Bacchus to hold the Society’s records.

The Tomb of Bacchus
from History of the Society of Dilettanti by L Cust (1914)

There was an element of mystery surrounding the proceedings of the Dilettanti Society. It was rumoured that the Society’s rituals were infused with sexual and religious overtones. The officers of the Society were required to dress for their roles. According to the minutes, the President was supposed to wear a crimson toga and the Secretary, to dress like Machiavelli. Some of the members had secret cabinets filled with erotic curiosities.

Portraits and face-money

The Society appointed George Knapton as painter and passed a resolution that every member should have his portrait painted and presented to the Society. A further resolution introduced an annual fine of one guinea on any member who had failed to present his portrait. This was designated 'face-money' and raised considerable sums of money for the Society.

Knapton resigned in 1763 and was replaced by James Stuart, but Stuart failed to paint any portraits and Sir Joshua Reynolds took over in 1769. Reynolds painted two large pictures of members of the Dilettanti Society. These reflected both the serious nature of the Society and the light-hearted camaraderie between its members.

Group of members of the Dilettanti Society by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1779)
from History of the Society of Dilettanti by L Cust (1914)

Subsequently, Sir Thomas Lawrence and then Sir Martin Archer Shee were appointed to this role.

The Royal Academy

In the 1750s, the Society was involved in discussions about the creation of a Royal Academy of art, but it wanted too much influence and the negotiations broke down. However, the Society provided financial support for the Royal Academy in 1775 by starting to provide scholarships for Academy students to study in Italy and Greece.

Sponsorship

The Society raised money through membership subscriptions and face-money and used it to influence taste and sponsor the study of Greek and Roman art.

In the 1740s, the Society sponsored the Earl of Middlesex’s series of Italian operas in London.

In the 1750s, the Society sponsored James Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s Athenian expedition. This resulted in the influential publication, Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated which was published in three volumes between 1762 and 1794.

View of Athens from The Antiquities of Athens (Vol I)
by J Stuart & N Revett (1762)

In 1764, the Society backed a trip to Ionia – the first archaeological trip to Asia Minor sponsored by any British Institution. The men sponsored were Richard Chandler, a classical scholar and inscription expert; Nicholas Revett, the architect from the Athenian expedition; and William Pars, a topographical artist. They carried out the first excavations of the temple of Zeus at Nemea. The findings of the trip were documented in Antiquities of Ionia (1797).

A second expedition to Ionia was sponsored in 1812, with the team headed by topographical artist, William Gell. Their research was recorded in Unedited Antiquities of Attica (1817).

The Society in disrepute

In 1787, the Dilettanti published An Account of the Worship of Priapus. It included a letter from Sir William Hamilton to Sir Joseph Banks describing his finds concerning the Neapolitan cult of the worship of Priapus. More controversially, it included an essay by Knight which made outrageous suppositions about ancient sexual conduct in religious ceremonies. It was ill-received and damaged Knight’s reputation.

Specimens of Ancient Sculpture

In 1808, the Society published the first volume of Specimens of Ancient Sculpture Aegyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman: selected from different collections in Great Britain. John Samuel Agar was responsible for the highly detailed drawings of the classical statutory which were then engraved for this volume. The collections were all held by members of the Dilettanti, but those of Knight and Townley were the most prominent.

The Elgin Marbles

Some of the Parthenon marbles in the British Museum (2014)

Knight was vehemently opposed to the purchase of the Parthenon marbles brought back by Lord Elgin. For more than ten years, he attempted to discredit them as Roman copies of Phidias’ originals. Other members thought differently. The British Museum bought the marbles in 1816 and the Dilettanti Society donated the two pieces of Parthenon frieze that they had brought back from the first Ionian expedition. The episode further damaged Knight’s reputation.

Prominent members

In its early days, prominent members of the Dilettanti Society included:
• Charles Sackville, Earl of Middlesex, later 2nd Duke of Dorset
• Sir Francis Dashwood, later Lord le Despencer
• Simon Harcourt, Viscount and later Earl Harcourt
• Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne
• William Ponsonby, later Viscount Duncannon and Earl of Bessborough
• Richard Grenville, Earl Temple
• Sewallis Shirley, Comptroller of Queen Charlotte’s household
• Sir James Gray, British Resident at Venice and British Envoy to Naples and later Spain
• Simon Luttrell, later Earl of Carhampton
• Sir George Gray
• George Knapton

Other notable members included:
• Sir Joshua Reynolds (1766)
• Charles James Fox (1769)
• George Selwyn (1770)
• William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (1770)
• Sir Joseph Banks (1774)
• Charles Francis Greville (1774)
• Sir William Hamilton (1777)
• David Garrick (1777)
• Richard Payne Knight (1781)
• Sir George Beaumont (1784)
• Charles Townley (1786)
• Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Baronet (1792)
• Sir Thomas Lawrence (1792)
• Benjamin West (1792)

• Thomas Hope (1800)

Notes

(1) The exact date of the formation of the Society of Dilettanti is unknown. This passage states that it was formed in 1734, but the first recorded meeting was not until 1736. Society annals indicate that the first meetings of the Society may have been held as early as December 1732 in Italy.

(2) From the introduction to Ionian Antiquities, published by the Dilettanti Society (1769).
(3) From History of the Society of Dilettanti by L Cust (1914).

(4) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann 14 April 1743 in Letters of Horace Walpole (1840).

(5) From Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds by CR Leslie and T Taylor (1865). Jason Kelly in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography refers to the Society meeting five times a year in the Star and Garter from 1757, but this may have been referring to business meetings as opposed to regular dining.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Sources used include:
Cust, Lionel, MA and Colvin, Sir Sidney, MA, History of the Society of Dilettanti (1914)
Kelly, Jason, Society of Dilettanti (act. 1732-2003), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, May 2006; online edn Sept 2012, accessed 12 Jan 2013)
Leslie, Charles Robert, RA, and Taylor, Tom, MA, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1865)
Stuart, James and Revett, Nicholas, The Antiquities of Athens, measured and delineated Vol I (1762)
Walpole, Horace, The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, in six volumes (1840)

John Paul Getty Museum website – Dilettanti exhibition (2008)

Photographs © Regencyhistory.net