Performing Travel: Lady Holland's Grand Tour Souvenirs and the House of All Europe

Emma Gleadhill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

This article examines Lady Elizabeth Holland’s (1771-1845) deliberate use of the material cache of having travelled in Italy and Spain to re-establish her social standing following a scandalous divorce and so challenges the archetype of the male Grand Tourist collector. After marrying her second husband, Henry Richard Fox (the third Baron Holland), Lady Holland became the formidable hostess of London’s most famous political salon, Holland House. Lady Holland’s display of artworks and antiquities in the dining room of Holland House, in distinguished company, allowed her to integrate herself into Britain’s Classical heritage whilst maintaining the genteel female role of the hostess and social facilitator. Her acquisition of natural specimens whilst travelling also opened up scholarly connections, which allowed her to pursue her own scientific interests. Lady Holland’s travel journals, personal correspondence and catalogues of Holland House’s contents provide unusually rich and detailed records of her collecting. This article adds to the growing scholarship on women’s travel writing and also contributes the emerging area of research which looks at the gendering of material culture.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-20
Number of pages20
Journalemaj (electronic Melbourne art journal)
Issue numberSpecial Issue 9.1
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017
Externally publishedYes

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