Description
Book SynopsisIn Europe within Reach Gerrit Verhoeven traces some sweeping evolutions in the early modern travel behaviour of Dutch and Flemish elites (1585-1750), as the classical Grand Tour was slowly but surely overshadowed by other types of travelling. Leisure trips to Paris, London or Berlin, a cours pittoresque along the Rhine, domestic trips in the Low Countries and a series of other destinations gained ground, while new sorts of travellers cropped up: female and middle-class travellers, domestic servants, children, youngsters and the elderly. Verhoeven does not only trace these evolutions, but also explains why Netherlandish travellers gradually turned into art connoisseurs; why they were spellbound by sites of memory and by rugged landscapes; or why all sorts of fashionable gadgets and thingies were bought on the way.
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION Overture ‘Le mot qui manque’ Sources Method Theory Boundaries I. ELITE TRAVELLERS Group Portrait Bourgeois ‘dignitas’ Professions Fortune Lifestyle Aristocratic Swaggering Conclusion II. OBJECTIVES Diplomacy Education Business Leisure Conclusion III. SERVANTS Worlds Apart Status and Street Credibility Disobedience and Loyalty Culture and Recreation Conclusion IV. OTHER TRAVELLERS In the Margin of the Group Portrait The Upper-Middle Class Young and Old Female Travellers Conclusion HALFWAY V. CULTURE The Perception of Art on Tour Connoisseurs and Art Lovers ‘Museums’ and Art Collections Personal Taste Conclusion VI. HISTORY The Legacy of Clio Oblivion and Recollection Lieux de Mémoire Heroes of Yesteryear Conclusion VII. LANDSCAPES Experiencing Nature en Route Familiar Ground The Rustic Landscape Classical Gardens Rugged Nature Conclusion VIII. CONSUMPTION On three slices of salmon, a canary and a church pew Conspicuous Consumption Consumer Revolution Creative Consumption Cosmopolitanism Social Significance Leisure Consumption Conclusion IX. POLITICS Propaganda and Travel Behaviour The Image of Louis XIV Fossilized Fame Incense, Tapestries and Invalids Versailles Poverty and Decay Conclusion CONCLUSION Meerman’s Genealogy Evolving Travel Behaviour Agents of Change Significance Tourism?
