Viva Roma !

For centuries, the Trip to Rome represented an excep- tional encounter with an entire civilisation, its history and its influence. A stay in the Eternal City was therefore an essential part of an artist’s intellectual and moral develop- ment. Rome is a unique city that proved very moving for the artists – and there were many – who chose to go there. A vitally important destination in terms of culture, discovery and creativity, Rome proved highly seductive to its visitors, and continues to seduce them today. With their long journey behind them, the foreign artists finally discover the city they have been dreaming about for so long. It is in Rome that they forge their ‘taste and method’, drawing inspiration from Antiquity and the Italian artists whose works they copy. They develop friend- ship networks while living and working side-by-side with their fellow artists; they frequent the same inns and often share the same training, while regularly painting the same sites and the same models. It is this shared, common culture that Viva Roma! seeks to explore.