Visions of Hellas: Greece in the Mind’s Eye, c.1700–c.1850

From Renaissance artists onwards, the idea as well as the reality of Greece has inspired painters and sculptors to produce works of art. In the eighteenth century, some of the images created were accurate representations of what artists actually saw. Others, even if based on reality, were biased towards particular aspects. Some were more fanciful representations of both ancient and contemporary Greece. But all are interesting to us today, as they illustrate the growing public awareness of Greece, past and present.

Patricia Andrew

Born in Scotland, Patricia has a first degree in English Literature from the University of Nottingham and a PhD in History of Art from the University of Edinburgh. Her subsequent career has been principally in museums and galleries, after which she taught art history to Edinburgh undergraduates and to other organisations.

Her research centres on the British in Italy c.1700–1850 (much of it on Grand Tour themes), and British art of the first half of the twentieth century. Her book A Chasm in Time: Scottish War Art and Artists in the Twentieth Century won the Saltire Society’s award for the best history book in Scotland 2015. She now works mainly as a lecturer and researcher, focussing on eighteenth-century and twentieth-century art, and garden history.

Patricia gives regular public lectures at the National Galleries of Scotland, and has provided the Friends of the National Galleries with series of lectures and study days. As an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS) she travels all over the UK. She is also a lecturer on cruises, principally in the Mediterranean.

This public lecture forms part of the programme of events that complement the University of Edinburgh's exhibition 'Edina/Athena: The Greek Revolution and the Athens of the North, 1821–2021', generously funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation. For more details regarding the exhibition, please visit https://www.ed.ac.uk/history-classics-archaeology/classics/about/leventis/leventis-2021/exhib.

Open to all, tickets free. As entry is strictly limited to 50 spaces registering on Eventbrite is essential.

Image credit: Athens from the Southwest, About 1818–22, Watercolour and brown ink on paper, Hugh William Williams (1773–1829); Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI