My talk emerges from the research for my book, The Society of Dilettanti: Archaeology and Identity in the British Enlightenment (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Yale University Press, 2010). It is based on the premise that even though the Society of Dilettanti's immediate goals of founding an academy and a museum were never realized, the group's activities fundamentally transformed what I refer to in The Society of Dilettanti as the eighteenth-century "culture of dilettantism." This culture of dilettantism helped set the stage for the creation of such institutions as the Royal Academy. And, when the members of the Society of Dilettanti -- men such as Sir William Hamilton, Charles Townley, and Richard Payne Knight -- considered the role that their aesthetic interests would play in the wider world, they decided to offer their important collections to the British Museum.
The I dilettanti
There were other political impetuses as well. During the 1740s, Frederick, the Prince of Wales, was forming what A.N. Newman once called a "shadow court."[xii] Central to this court was artistic patronage. We should not be surprised that prominent within Frederick's circle were members of the Dilettanti. Arguably the most important position, Master of Horse, went to the Earl of Middlesex. They had the ear of the Prince and no doubt Frederick knew that the Dilettanti was considering helping to found an Academy of Arts in London. In fact, soon after John Gwynn published his proposal for an academy, George Vertue was discussing royal sponsorship with the Prince.[xiii] The plan must have been gaining traction, for Francis Hayman began sketching a painting showing the artists petitioning the Prince in 1750-1 (Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter). With the Prince's death in 1751 however, the artists' and dilettanti's hopes for a royal academy were dashed.
For more information on the Society of Dilettanti and the eighteenth-century culture of dilettantism, see Jason M. Kelly, The Society Dilettanti: Archaeology and Identity in the British Enlightenment (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Yale University Press, 2010). Available from Yale's UK and US websites.
Icardi, Herrera, Draxler, Kurzawa, Gueye e Kehrer: un destino simile, due possibilità per il 2022/2023. C'è chi deciderà di giocare tra i dilettanti fino alla naturale scadenza del contratto e chi invece sta in fretta e furia cercando di trovare una nuova squadra.
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