'Storming the Campo Vaccino': British Architects and the Antique Buildings of Rome after Waterloo

Abstract

The later eighteenth century was a period when, as a result of increasingly eclectic and picturesque taste in the use of the classical language of architecture, young British architects were effectively compelled to spend some years studying in Italy if they wished to reach the forefront of their profession. The importance of this first-hand experience of Italy is attested by the physical and financial hardships many architectural students were prepared to endure in order to gain it, as well as by the fact that the pattern of travel continued unabated in the face of political hostilities in which Britain was periodically engaged within Europe. During the Seven Years War of 1756–63, for example, when the British found themselves at enmity with the French, the Austrians and, after 1762, with the Spanish, no fewer than eight British architects nevertheless travelled on the continent and did so relatively unimpeded. In fact there was at least one British architectural student present in Italy in every year between 1740 and 1797. This consistent pattern of travel was brought to an enforced end, however, when the Italian peninsula itself became the setting for overt military action after Napoleon had invaded Piedmont in April 1796. While five British architectural students managed to reach Italy during the brief peace which followed the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, one finding it possible to travel ‘through the heart of France without the least molestation’, the deterioration of Anglo-French relations after Trafalgar in 1805 left the peninsula largely inaccessible to the British until the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

A Home in Rome: Villa Mills and the Palatine Hill

“…41 Altogether, one would struggle to find references to 'Villa Smith', with some exceptions being the documentation relating to the opening of the new gate in via dei Cerchi, the introduction to I. Ruspoli's (1846) album of lithographs on the Palatine Hill, and a plan showing the topography of the Orti Farnesiani, owned by the Crown of Bourbon-Two Sicilieswith the inscription 'Villa Smitt [sic]' on the left, demarcating the property of the lieutenant-colonel (see Fig. 3; Fig.…”

“…Yet its scope goes beyond architectural and biographical discourses and matters of ownership, to reflect upon the relationships between architecture and political and cultural intent, between Italy and Britain, and between modernity and antiquity. A rich literature has considered the connections of Italy and Britain in the modern era, including investigations of the impact of Rome and its architecture on Britain's architects and architectural culture (Salmon, 1995, 2000). The spatial implications of British presence in the Eternal City, and the modes through which this presence was asserted in the urban fabric, remain much less explored.…”

“…By covering the period from the 1810s to the 1850s, it provides an insight into Anglo-Italian relations vis-à-vis the return of Pius VII to Rome (1814), the parenthesis of the Roman Republic (1849), the challenges of revolution and the Italian Risorgimento, and Britain's growing imperial anxieties. 8 7 Ruspoli, 1846;Whiteside, 1848: 228;Rufini, 1857: 41;Cancogni, 1909: 148. 8 On modern Roman history, see Hearder, 1975;Bartoccini, 1985;Insolera, 2018.…”

“…Ruspoli, 1846; Whiteside, 1848: 228; Rufini, 1857: 41; Cancogni, 1909: 148. 8 On modern Roman history, seeHearder, 1975; Bartoccini, 1985;Insolera, 2018.A HOME IN ROME…”