18th-century Gothic, in and out of the archives: the inaugural Dunscombe Colt Fellowship

Bodleian MS Top. Gen. c. 24 f. 40
A page from John Aubrey’s Chronologia Architectonica, Bodleian MS Top. Gen. c. 24, f. 40

Peter Lindfield, the Dunscombe Colt Visiting Fellow at the Bodleian Libraries, writes

Peter Lindfield
“I am using this one-month fellowship at the Bodleian Libraries to explore how historical knowledge and design practices in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries connected architecture, furniture, antiquarian and medievalism. I’ve been making use of the Bodleian’s Special Collections including John Aubrey’s MSS for Chronologia Architectonica, Richard Gough’s topographical collections, and the Beckford papers — particularly letters by Franchi, Beltz and Britton to Beckford on architectural, antiquarianism and heraldic matters. I am also tracking down an inventory of Lee Priory by the antiquary Samuel Pegge, working on Bardwell’s portrait of the Earl and Countess of Pomfret, c.1750 (at the Ashmolean), and, finally, examining eighteenth- and early-nineteenth century Gothic Revival furniture found throughout Oxford’s colleges.

Grasping the opportunities offered by this fellowship, I co-organised a highly successful and international one-day symposium on the eighteenth-century Gothick Revival (7 August). Over thirty delegates attended, and were drawn from Britain, Ireland, France, USA and Canada. It is our intention to publish the conference proceedings in due course.
Details of the symposium can be found at:
http://18thcenturygothick.wordpress.com

The Dunscombe Colt Fellowship supports a visiting researcher with an interest in the architecture or material culture of the long eighteenth century. The Fellowship is supported by the Georgian Group and the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

For information about fellowships, visit the webpages of the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of the Book.

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