Grand Tour in the context of "Neoclassicism"

Thomas Nugent (c. 1700 – 27 April 1772 in Gray's Inn, London) was an erudite Irish historian and travel writer. Today he is best known for his travelogue of the Grand Tour, which was at that time popular particularly among English noblemen taking educational tours through Europe. His detailed descriptions of the France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands of the time provide a rich source for historians of the situation in the second half of the 18th century.

In sociology, distinction is a social force whereby people use various strategies—consciously or not—to differentiate and distance themselves from others in society, and to assign themselves greater value in the process. In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (La Distinction, 1979), Pierre Bourdieu described how those in power define aesthetic concepts like "good taste", with the consequence that the social class of a person tends to predict and in fact determine his or her cultural interests, likes, and dislikes.

Political and socio-economic, racial and gender distinctions, based upon social class, are reinforced in daily life within society. In The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed (2004), Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter describe "distinction" as a social competition in which the styles of social fashion are in continual development, and that the men and women who do not follow the development of social trends soon become stale, and irrelevant to their social-class stratum.

Painshill (formally Painshill Park) is a restored, 18th-century English park and landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey, England. It was created between 1738 and 1773 by the owner, Charles Hamilton, from an area of heathland and woodland. Painshill is laid out as a series of scenes, crafted by combining architectural features with trees and shrubs, many of which are non-native species. Several of the surviving follies are listed in their own right, including the Gothic Tower, at the western end of the park, and the Gothic Temple, which overlooks the northern part of the lake. The Grotto, the largest in England, is decorated with crystalline mineral stones, including quartz, feldspar and Blue John.

In designing Painshill, Hamilton was influenced by 17th-century landscape artists, whose works he had encountered on Grand Tours in continental Europe. Instead of trying to replicate specific artworks, Hamilton used the techniques of landscape painting to create scenes with contrasting emotional tones – from the solemnity of the dark evergreens surrounding the Mausoleum, to the brighter trees and flowers at the Temple of Bacchus. Advocates of the Picturesque were complimentary of Hamilton's work, particularly the hillier, western half of the park, which Horace Walpole likened to a "kind of Alpine scene". International visitors to the park and garden included John Adams, the future American president, who wrote that "Paines Hill is the most striking piece of art that I have yet seen."

Stabiae (Latin: [ˈstabɪ.ae̯]) was an ancient city situated near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia and approximately 4.5 km (2.79 miles) southwest of Pompeii. Like Pompeii, and being only 16 km (9.9 mi) from Mount Vesuvius, it was largely buried by tephra ash in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in this case at a shallower depth of up to 5 m.

Stabiae is most famous for the Roman villas found near the ancient city which are regarded as some of the most stunning architectural and artistic remains from any Roman villas. They are the largest concentration of excellently preserved, enormous, elite seaside villas known in the Roman world. The villas were sited on a 50 m high headland overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Although it was discovered before Pompeii in 1749, unlike Pompeii and Herculaneum, Stabiae was reburied by 1782 and so failed to establish itself as a destination for travelers on the Grand Tour.

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel KG, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was an English magistrate, diplomat and courtier who lived during the reigns of James I and Charles I. He made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculptures, books, prints, drawings, and antique jewellery. Most of his collection of marble carvings, known as the Arundel marbles, was eventually left to the University of Oxford.

He is sometimes referred to as the 21st Earl of Arundel, ignoring the supposed second creation of 1289, or the 2nd Earl of Arundel, the latter numbering depending on whether one views the earldom obtained by his father as a new creation or not. He was also 2nd or 4th Earl of Surrey; and was later created 1st Earl of Norfolk (5th creation). He is also known as "the Collector Earl".

Joseph Smith (c. 1682 – Venice, 6 November 1770), often known as Consul Smith, was the British consul at Venice from 1744 to 1760. He was a patron of artists, most notably Canaletto, a collector and connoisseur, banker to the British community at Venice, and a major draw on the British Grand Tour. His collection of drawings was bought for George III of Great Britain and forms a nucleus of the Royal Collection of drawings in the Print Room at Windsor Castle.