The Grand Tour and British Masculinity - Term Paper Example

THE GRAND TOUR AND BRITISH MASCULINITY The Grand Tour and British Masculinity The historical study of masculinity is one of the interesting topics that begun in the 18th century where many wealthy British men could travel to various continents to explore and get further education. The majority of them were studying architecture, music and art that the tour helped them gain a lot in their areas of specialization. The eighteenth century was termed as a real of unparalleled economic growth, cultural ferment, as well as imperial expansion of the European nations. However, it was surrounded by many fears because of the wars, and many people lived in fear of the uncertainty of the Catholicism invasion. Nevertheless, most of the young men could go to the various nations to increase their knowledge and, as a result, it led to many benefits to the countries. The peak of the grand tour appeared when they were sending young men abroad, the French fashions and the aspect of gender of connoisseurship influenced most of them and the view of masculinity associated them. Most of the men had developed the aspect of genders and sexuality, and their manliness had been reflected in their conduct, advising and education, and this was associated with men from the upper and middle class (Hilton & Shefrin 2009, p. 12). The grand tour was one of the memorable moments in Europe, where many transformations were made. The grand tour was done by the wealthy young men and the royal families of Europe more so England, then the Americans, who could go to various nations and stay for years. Most of these men were writers, artists, architects, and thinkers who influenced the current European country. They came up with many ideas of trade, architecture and culture, which motivated more men to be sent abroad for exploration. The places they toured include France, Italy and Rome among others, where each nation had its benefit that they brought home. They were attracted by the landscapes, cities, and a warm climate (Verstraete 2010, p. 34). They were able to travel to various archeological sites, and they influenced the places they went with western civilization. Rome attracted them with the classical heritage that ran through the museums and towns with attractive cosmopolitan centers. At first, they traveled to add knowledge to their education. However, with time, they realized that apart from adding knowledge to education, they also had other benefits that they brought back home such as the new culture, architecture and ideas (Savage 2008, p. 12). The grand tour influenced the social, cultural, economic, architectural, artistic and political revolution. The architects were able to find the new ways of painting, sculpture, art, and drawings. The tour led to the transformation of the architects of new houses, where they copied the formation of cities, the cityscape, and landscape that were treasured in the Roman Empire. The tours also learned many languages and made the definition of various syllables. They also came with an authoritative architecture of the new language in the schools. The artists came up with new designs, drawings and paintings to the sketches (Sweet 2012, p. 12). The tour brought in a new culture that influenced the people of Britain. Most of the tourists came home with new revolutions of their industries, and scientific discoveries. The slaves’ trade ideas were also created where the slaves were taken from the third world nations to come and work in the European farms and industries. Most of the legacies were shown in the exhibitions of Victoria, as well as Albert Museums that attracted a large number of tours from outside. The artists painted their artists portrays that attracted many people and that brought up many exhibitions. For instance, Pompeo Batoni was able to paint various portraits of aristocrats that were associated with classical staffs that many tourists brought from the outside nations. There were ancient structures that are used in the museums. The tourists were able to invite more artists in their homes (Sweet 2012, p. 10). The other artist was Richard Wilson, who was able to make Italian drawings, sculptures and paintings of various pictures that attracted crowds of people. Technology was also advanced because of the grand tour where the transcripts could be written in full text, and enabled many people to use advanced technology through various ways (Spencer 2010, p. 12). The advanced technology introduced more scans, prints and colored pictures and the readers had a choice to choose between the two black and white or colored. They also learned new referencing styles that were easy to search and read. The documents could be downloaded as a PDF, single image or a chapter. There was the introduction of digitized manuscripts, as well as printing of books in the websites (Verstraete 2010, p. 18). The 18th century England was a time of domesticity where most men embraced modernity. The home was made a place of new literacy and imaginations that changed the social and cultural practices. At that time, the house was made more than just a place to stay and was a place of emotional, physical and moral being of people. Masculinity went together with the domestic stages of developing a home, and men are also engaged in their homes more than the time before the 18th century. They helped in the creation of an economy that could bring peace and comfort at home (Haggerty 2011, p. 23). There were classical tastes that shaped most travelers of the age; they came with gothic buildings, Greco-Roman antiquity, and the classical Baroque that was praised and admired. They also shaped their ideal through the neoclassical models of the Greco-Roman worlds. This was through excavations of various tour sites like Pompeii, and Tivoli where they bought antiquities that they used in decorating their homes (French & Rothery 2012, p. 12). The grand tour was the time when the Britons were taken out to travel in various continents for knowledge and pleasure. According to research and various reviews, the themes that appear most are that, those with a new architecture, music, and the artists. The impact of the grand tour led to the topics such as gender, luxury, social classes and masculinity. That was the time that men had turned away from the normal Christian way of living in the norms that a man is permanently flawed and corrupted because of the first sin. Instead, they started seeing live in a perspective that there is room for improving the past (Haggerty 2011, p. 34). The impact of the tour influenced art architecture and music. The other thing that was characterized by these men was the manliness in the form of the way they conducted themselves with politeness and the men-type of fashion. This raised many criticisms as to whether their tour was to get educated or to come in with their new culture. However, it was later realized that French helped to bring in the positive aspect of manly behavior, the issue of politeness was the primary factor of being a man (Penner 2011, p. 12). Politeness was a way of having good manners and was the core of sociability, which resulted from the social and cultural development of the England society. This created the urban culture, which was a gap between the culture of people in the 18th century and that of the tours. Men’s fashion was seen through politeness, and they were required to make their manners good and soft, they had to refine their talk when making conversations. However, this quality was best practiced when men were with women, and they could practice that to women (French & Rothery 2012, 08). The discussion of men and women was enhanced through politeness so that they could appear free and modern or civilized. Nevertheless, it was hard for women to shape their men to behave in such a suggested manner. However, men were permitted to talk freely to women so that the women could make them develop their conversation, and tune it to be polite, which is then applied to all people in the society. However, many argue that making men polite through developing their talk does not change them to be manly or men. Most men were supposed to emulate the French culture and be modesty like the French people (Daly 2013, p. 12). The issue of masculinity raised tension and attracted more debates among most men as it undermines their social practices. Their intention was to acquire the character that could make them have good manners and proper language, which the aristocratic youths could learn from the French nations (Bohls & Duncan, 2009, p. 37). The topic became more controversial as many people, though men behaved that way since they spend most of their time with French women who influenced their talk and mode of conduct. They tried to find an identity in favor of women. Therefore, for them not to be a fob, they had to be polite that made sociability natural. However, it needed vigilance as well as discipline in the body and the tongue to practice politeness (Buttigieg 2011, p. 12). In the second half of the century, the issue of gentles and culture led to more criticism, most men opposed broad travels, as well as the essence of being polite because it was not naturally acquired. The tours brought the new ideas from abroad and then later on, the issue of touring was abolished because of the French people trying to change the weight of being a man and reduce mans power. By the end of the eighteenth century, most men had started to be themselves and forget the aspect of acquired character of politeness. Therefore, which was set back to women, though they could be polite before women, but they have to maintain the masculine nature (Coltman, 2009, p. 09) Bibliography Buttigieg, E. (2011). Nobility, Faith and Masculinity the Hospitaller Knights Of Malta, C.1580-C.1700. London, Continuum International Pub. Group. Http://Public.Eblib.Com/Choice/Publicfullrecord.Aspx?P=692806. Coltman, V. (2009). Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting In Britain since 1760. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Daly, G. (2013). The British Soldier in the Peninsular War Encounters with Spain and Portugal, 1808-1814. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. 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