Classical Culture and the Idea of Rome in Eighteenth-Century England (Paperback)

This book looks at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture and thought. Philip Ayres shows how, in the century following the Revolution of 1688, the ruling class promoted - by way of its patronage - a classical frame of mind embracing all the arts, on the foundations of 'liberty' and 'civic virtue'. The historical fact of a Roman Britain lent an added authenticity to a new 'Roman' present constructed by Lord Burlington and his circle. Ayres's study shows that the propensity to adopt the self-image of virtuous Romans was the attempt of a newly empowered oligarchy to dignify and vindicate itself by association with an idealized image of Republican Rome. This sense of affinity with the ideals of the free Roman Republic gave British classicism an authenticity impossible under the various versions of absolutism on the continent. Its discourse precluded any more thoroughgoing revolution by suggesting that Britain's liberty had been won by an 'oligarchy of virtue', which now defended, defined and emblematized the nation.

General

Imprint:	Cambridge UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	March 2009
First published:	March 2009
Authors:	Philip Ayres
Dimensions:	244 x 170 x 16mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	296
ISBN-13:	978-0-521-10579-8
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > The arts: general issues > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 16th to 18th centuries Promotions
LSN:	0-521-10579-X
Barcode:	9780521105798

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