Crafting an Enlightened World

Patronage & Pioneers

2017 Fairfax House Georgian Studies Symposium

Crafting an Enlightened World: Patronage and Pioneers will be Fairfax House’s Fifth Symposium in Georgian Studies. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Made in York: Inventing & Enlightening the Georgian City, it aims to delve deeper into the theme of ‘Crafting an Enlightened World’ during the long eighteenth century (c.1680-c.1830), examining its roots and legacy. The Symposium will focus on the driving forces behind creating an enlightened world, and in turn how the Enlightenment fed and helped forge the environment in which pioneering craftsmanship in Britain during this period took flight.

PROGRAMME:

The Symposium will take place over two days

Day One will explore the contexts which emerged and fostered ‘enlightened’ creativity in the period.

Day Two will primarily focus on ‘enlightened craftsmanship’, in all its many varied forms and expressions and examine the processes of invention, creation and crafting which gave physical expression to the phenomenon of the ‘enlightenment’. In the light of Fairfax House’s recent acquisition of Grinling Gibbons’ first-known, made-in-York artwork, the King David panel, a key part of Day Two will be devoted to his work and the intersection of Gibbons, pioneering craftsmanship and the Enlightenment.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

‘Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte and the Shaping of the Modern World’

DR. JOANNA MARSCHNER, SENIOR CURATOR, KENSINGTON PALACE

‘The Enlightened Craftsman? Mutable and mobile hierarchies of making.’

DR. DANIELLE THOM, CURATOR OF MAKING, MUSEUM OF LONDON

For more detailed information click here or to book download our Booking Form and return to fairfaxhousesymposium@gmail.com 

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