ART 100: Olson, J. (Spring 2024) - The Grand Tour: Start here

This guide provides links to the most useful databases and resources for your Grand Tour research projects in ART 100. Use the tabs above to navigate this guide.

Image Source: "Picturesque View of the Capitol in Rome" by Hubert Robert via ArtSTOR

The following are some of the research requirements for your Grand Tour research project in Professor Olson's Art 100 course. Review your complete assignment description or talk to your instructor for more details.

Research Project Theme

This quarter for your research projects you are writing about vedutes, which are souvenirs purchased by travelers that depict views of the cities they explored during the Grand Tour of Europe.

Here is a definition adapted from the National Gallery, London:

"Vedute"

This is the Italian name (plural of 'veduta') for a topographical view, especially one with architectural elements. Pictures of this sort fall into two categories: imaginary views, and precisely rendered views of a known site, such as the works of Canaletto. While Canaletto executed such vedute in Venice, Panini was the master of the genre in Rome.

Source requirements

You will need at least five secondary sources and two primary sources for your papers. You must use two quotes from primary sources that are related to your view. 

What are primary sources?

Diaries, letters, novels, and poems written by tourists at the time your veduta was created.

You will most likely NOT find a primary source that directly discusses you work of art or your exact view. But you will find primary sources referring to things that are in your painting or referring to the general vicinity of your view. You should start narrow and broaden out (to perhaps just the city), as needed. See the Books & Films tab above for direct links to primary sources selected by Professor Olson, as well as links to several searchable collections.

What are secondary sources?

Secondary sources are works that are written later on and analyze, interpret, or describe original creative works or historical events.

For your projects, you are primarily going to use print books and ebooks and journal articles, along with some specific websites that Professor Olson has collected for you. You can also use a museum website or an educational website about your painter. Be careful, though. No commercial websites, and definitely no Wikipedia. Use only websites that end in .org or .edu. 

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