The Ionian Expedition 250 Years On: Dilettanti & the Birth of Archaeology

Event Details

Date:

Sunday, 01 February 2015

Time:

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Room:

E302

UQ Location:

Forgan Smith Building (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.uq.edu.au/hapi

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Prof Alastair Blanshard, who holds the Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics & Ancient History at UQ, will give a lecture on the important 18th-century Ionian expedition to Greece, sponsored by the Society of Dilettanti. Led by the young, talented antiquarian Richard Chandler and drawing on the architectural and artistic expertise of Nicholas Revett and William Pars, the expedition acted as a catalyst for reviving British interest in the artistic legacy of Greek culture. Chandler's published account of the expedition preserves a fascinating account of the difficulties and challenges as well as the rewards of travelling in Ottoman Greece and Asia Minor. The talk includes images of a number of important water colours by Pars shown for the first time in Australia.