An offbeat exhibition at the Getty Villa refutes the notion that good times and scholarship don’t mix.
At first glance, the Society of Dilettanti, a British men’s club founded in 1734, seems an unlikely subject for an exhibition at the Getty Villa. After all, English novelist Horace Walpole derisively said of the group: ‘The nominal qualification [for membership in the society] is having been to Italy, and the real one, being drunk.’ Yet this merry band of aristocratic tastemakers, whose common bond was the transformative experience of having made the Grand Tour of Italy, changed the study of classical antiquity from a private pleasure to a public benefit. They sponsored archaeological expeditions, formed collections, and published influential books on ancient architecture and sculpture. All the while, club members gained a serious reputation for partying. They regularly wined and dined in London taverns, toasting their ‘study sessions’ with favorite mottos such as ‘Seria Ludo’ (serious matters in a playful spirit) and ‘Res est Severa Voluptas’ (pleasure is a serious business). Even their name, taken from the Latin word ‘dilettare,’ meaning to delight, implies a devotion to amusements beyond the study of antiquity. For the first time, the tight-knit association, which still thrives today, parted with many of its prized objects. They appear in ‘Grecian Taste and Roman Spirit: The Society of Dilettanti,’ an exhibition on view at the Getty Villa through October 27. Showcasing the Society’s initial century, the exhibition captures the group’s many dimensions, ranging from the irreverent and risqu’ to serious connoisseurship. Nearly 100 objects’oil portraits, drawings, sculptures, artifacts and rare books’drawn both from the Society and the Getty Research Institute, make up the show. There’s even a dimly lit gallery with a collection of erotic curiosities that underscores the club’s naughty side. Taking inspiration from such groups as the libertine Hell Fire Clubs, the Freemasons, and the Arcadian Academy in Rome, the Dilettanti carried out traditional rituals in rooms hung with witty portraits by George Knapton and Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first of a long list of distinguished artists associated with the Society (David Hockney is a current member). The president draped himself in a scarlet toga and sat in a Roman-styled armchair whose legs were carved to resemble those of a satyr. Other officers included an ‘arch master’ who wore a silk robe with an embroidered sash. He was attended by a candle-bearing ‘imp’ who sported a red cape and a tail. A mahogany chest called the ‘Tomb of Bacchus’ and an elaborately carved ballot box’highlights of the Getty exhibition’were used to conduct business and to collect fines as ‘face money’ for failure to present a portrait. ‘Convivial social intercourse was the Society of Dilettanti’s raison d”tre, but cultivating the public taste for classical antiquity was its primary mission. Ultimately, they set a fresh course for the field of classical archaeology,’ says Bruce Redford, co-curator of the exhibition. Redford, a professor of art history at Boston University, is author of the companion publication to the exhibition ‘Dilettanti: The Antic and the Antique in Eighteenth-Century England.’ ‘The theme of the exhibition’how the rediscovery and study of ancient Greece came about through an influential association of gentlemen meeting in a social way’ is surprising, even to scholars in the field,’ says Claire Lyons, co-curator of the exhibition and curator of antiquities at the Getty Museum. ‘It was really a watershed moment. Prior to the expeditions that they sponsored, few Europeans had any idea what ancient Greece was like.’ The expeditions the Society underwrote to explore the Mediterranean culminated in lavish books that set new standards for archaeological research. One of the most influential was ‘The Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated’ (1762-94), a three-volume folio that inspired Greek Revival architects and designers for the next century. It contained the meticulous work of painter James Stuart and architect Nicholas Revett, who spent three years measuring, excavating and drawing the classical monuments of Athens. Drawings by John Samuel Agar, regarded as among the finest ever made of sculpture, are another high point in the exhibition. Agar’s exquisite illustrations impose the same exactitude and precision as the Society’s approach to classical architecture. ‘These drawings are at the heart of the exhibition,’ Lyons says. ‘They fostered the idea of mounting the exhibition.’ Originally commissioned by the Society, the drawings are part of the Getty Research Institute’s holdings. ‘We soon realized that many antiquities, sculptures and paintings in the museum’s collection could be linked to the 18th-century Dilettanti,’ Lyons explains. ‘This offered us a fruitful opportunity to display these collections together, and to explore a widely influential but little known network of artists, architects, and their aristocratic patrons.’ With 60 members, today’s Society of Dilettanti still counts among its ranks distinguished collectors and members of the art world. The Society meets five times a year at Brooks’ Club in London for dinners that are celebrated with traditional rituals and toasts dating back to the 18th century. ’The Society wasn’t sure how this museum on the far West Coast would handle this subject,’ says Lyons, who has welcomed several visiting members of the group. ‘They’re pleased to see themselves as part of a longer history.’ The Getty Villa is located at 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Pacific Palisades. Tickets can be obtained online at www.gett.edu or by phone, (310) 440-7300.
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