Savage Grandeur and Noblest Thoughts, discovering the Lake District 1750 – 1820

Savage Grandeur and Noblest Thoughts, discovering the Lake District 1750 - 1820

1 July to 12 June 2011 at the Wordsworth Museum

Click here to find out more about the artists, writers and tourists who 'discovered' the Lake District during the period 1750-1820.

With plenty of discussion on whether to travel abroad, the Wordsworth Trust's new exhibition is very topical! With a weak pound, high fuel costs and the threat of volcanic ash, the idea of taking holidays in England is becoming more attractive - but not more attractive than ever!

From the mid 1700s until the early 1800s, British people who would normally have travelled abroad for recreation were confined to these shores. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars made it dangerous for the British to travel in Europe and the conflicts created an upsurge in patriotic feeling.

Artists and writers began to explore areas of natural beauty in Britain and their discoveries inspired a wide range of drawings, watercolours, oil paintings and engravings as well as prose and poetry of the highest quality. This work resulted in prints of the pictures and eventually what we might now call coffee table books, containing descriptions and pictures. These inspired more enthusiasm for the British landscape and an increasing number of people made their way to The Lake District.

'Horrors like these at first alarm,
But soon with savage grandeur charm,
And raise to noblest thoughts the mind.'

- from Dr John Dalton's Descriptive Poem first published in the 1750s.

It became fashionable to travel through areas of wild and rugged scenery and visitors delighted in the thrilling experiences that the Lake District offered and its beauty and interest were ever more enthusiastically proclaimed.

The Wordsworth Trust's new exhibition explores the ways in which artists and writers discovered, portrayed and celebrated the Lake District in the years 1750-1820, a period of radical developments in both art and literature.

The exhibition includes over 100 pictures and books from the period and shows how the British were inspired to invent the 'staycation'.

Savage Grandeur is the first exhibition which draws its content entirely from the Wordsworth Trust's own collection. The exhibition will be complemented by a computer-generated guide to the scenery depicted in selected exhibits.

'I Was Enchanted with Some of the Views':
Old and New Pictures of the Lake District

This mini exhibition draws on artwork from the Trust's collections to show three very different views of the Lake District which compliments the current temporary exhibition Savage Grandeur and Noblest Thoughts: Discovering the Lake District 1750-1820.


Click here for further information.