A Room with a View: Coming of Age as a Traveller

Our first visit this week was to the Soane Museum. This house belonged to the neo-classical, nineteenth century architect, Sir John Soane. Here we discovered the ideas of the Grand Tour: Beauty, Democracy, and History. Privileged young men often went on Grand Tours to network with other men, and to study their own vocation. Soane brought back many artistic and architectural artifacts that he collected on his journey. In A Room with a View, Lucy learns that travel is about more than bringing back souvenirs. Travel is about experiences and culture and about how one's view of the world can be altered.

This is Soane's alabaster sarcophagus––a renowned piece of Egyptian history. Soane had many artifacts from his travels, primarily from: Greece, Rome, Egypt and China. Lucy Honeychurch buys postcards as her "artifacts," but isn't allowed to keep them. Instead of collecting things abroad, Lucy collects ideas.

This is a painting we discovered in the National Gallery by Pollaiuolo titled, Apollo and Daphne. Greek and Roman myths were popular subjects for Florentine decor. The painting depicts Apollo, the sun god, pursuing Daphne, the nymph. Daphne goes to the great length of turning into a tree to preserve her virtue. This was a pointed message to the women of the day.

This is another painting we discussed at the National Gallery––The Combat of Love and Chastity by Gherado di Giovanni del Fora. This painting illustrates Petrarch's poem, The Triumph of Chastity. In the painting, Love's arrow shatters against Chastity's shield. Chastity, portrayed as a woman in white, holds a chain with which she will bind Love. This painting reinforces the idea that a woman's virtue is valued above love. Lucy Honeychurch is shielded by the confines of her society and has to choose to remove the barrier that has been placed in front of her.

This painting from Tate Britain is by J. M. W. Turner. It is titled, The Bay of Baiae, with Apollo and Sibyl. Turner's views of travel and the world seem to fit nicely with Lucy Honeychurch's. The two concentrate on the culture around them instead of simply visiting the area as a tourist. Turner places the viewer in the middle of every scene, trying to evoke emotion. He's more interested in the way a place smells and feels, and the way people interact with the landscape.