Exhibitions: The Aesthetics of Travel: the Beautiful, the Picturesque, and the Sublime

Aesthetic Experience

Aesthetic theory was a popular subject of eighteenth-century philosophy and shaped ideas into the early Nineteenth Century. Essentially, it attempted to categorise objects according to their effects upon the human mind and soul. Journeying through a changing landscape exposes the traveller to a variety of objects and scenes which, in turn, induce different aesthetic experiences (the beautiful, picturesque and the sublime). These changing perceptions of the environment are also precipitated by the psychology of the traveller as anxiety modifies the traveller's emotional responses. This is illustrated by Mary Shelley's description of Victor Frankenstein returning home.

At Lausanne, the landscape is beautiful; tranquil waters and general quiescence reflect the serenity of Victor's thoughts:

“I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm; and the snowy mountains, “the palaces of nature,” were not changed. By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva.”


A little further down the road to Geneva, artistic contrasts become more noticeable, rendering the view picturesque:

“The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I approached my native town. I discovered more distinctly the black sides of Jura, and the bright summit of Mont Blanc.”


Griffin head, Wallington Hall (Northumberland). Special Collections holds the papers of the Trevelyan family who owned the property 1777-1942. The family's social circle and political activities ensure that the collections are important and of particular interest to researchers of political, social and local history in particular.
(Click to see a larger version)
Griffin head, Wallington Hall
(Northumberland)
Presently, the journey takes on qualities of the sublime as Victor's apprehension, exacerbated by Edmund Burke's physical agents of darkness, vastness and obscurity, cause the picturesque setting to achieve its potential for the sublime horror characteristic of gothic literature:

“Yet, as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me. Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings."
(Shelley, 1839)