Grace Lambert-Phillips
REIMAGINING THE GRAND TOUR
For the past few years I have been working on Reimagining the Grand Tour, a project that has grown slowly out of living in Tuscany and absorbing its deep and layered history. Surrounded by mass tourism, I found myself searching for the quieter voice of travel’s past — for the era when the Grand Tour was considered the final chapter of a gentleman’s education, when journeys unfolded by horse and carriage, and when curious travellers were received by authentic hosts long before hospitality became an industry reshaped by volume and speed.
As I continue to live and work here, the project has become an ongoing observation — a way of looking beneath the surface to find what still remains of that earlier spirit of travel. I am interested in traces: in the spaces, gestures and atmospheres that hint at a different relationship between visitor and host, between movement and meaning. Ultimately, the work asks what survives of the Grand Tour today, and what might we learn from the travellers of the past.
Grand Tour Souvenirs -
Notes from a Traveller
Works from Reimagining the Grand Tour were presented in November 2024 at The Florence University of the Arts, in collaboration with curating students as part of a teaching-led exhibition project. Titled Grand Tour Souvenirs – Notes from a Traveller, the presentation formed an offshoot of the wider project, bringing together a selection of images. The exhibition took place at the International Students’ Palazzi Community Centre in Florence, Tuscany.
Installed alongside the works was a typewriter posing the question, “What does travel mean to you?”, inviting participation and reflection from visitors and students. This dialogue felt particularly relevant to the foreign students visiting the city of Florence. The exhibition included a painting, The Tourist by Jack Vettriano, which depicts me as moody traveller in a Chanel suit, just for fun. Learn more here
Publication of works
Part of the work was published in FUL Magazine in July 2024, introducing my Reimagining the Grand Tour project and highlighting my collaboration with Jack Vettriano, including the publication of some of his paintings. Read the article here.