The 22nd Seminar at Oxford, ENGLAND
ENGLISH ART, ARCHITECTURE AND GARDENS IN THE AGE OF JEFFERSON
Merton College - Oxford, England
August 9-15, 2009
Registration Open
The English garden is “the article in which [that country]
excels all the earth.” --Thomas Jefferson
Program Information | Faculty | Pricing and Registration
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Thomas Jefferson was born a British citizen, and although he spent a good portion of his life severing that connection, in many ways he remained an Englishman—with an Englishman’s tastes in music, literature, painting, and design. While he is best known as a Founding Father, he also played a prominent role in promoting an appreciation of architecture, art, and gardens in the young democracy.
Through lectures, walks through Oxford, and visits to the palaces, stately homes, gardens, and public buildings throughout England that Jefferson visited on a trip there in the spring of 1786, this program will explore his relationship with the English aesthetic, from its gardens to its paintings, sculpture, and architecture. On visits to English great houses, Jefferson studied their landscape designs and incorporated their focus on open spaces and vistas into his own landscaping at Monticello. In London, he sat for his first portrait, by American artist Mather Brown, who, along with John Trumball, influenced Jefferson’s appreciation of art and were themselves influenced by the English masters Hogarth, Reynolds, and Gainsborough. Jefferson visited the hospitals designed by the great Christopher Wren and others, and wove some of their features into his own designs for Monticello and the University of Virginia. While much is known of Jefferson’s appreciation for classical architecture, the Italians and Palladio, and its 
echoes in his own neoclassical designs, this seminar will examine the ways in which English architecture influenced him as well.
As you discover how English artistic traditions left their mark on Jefferson, you’ll develop your own richer understanding of British art and architecture, gardening and design.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
- Attend lectures by experts on 18th-century British art, architecture, and landscape design and learn how English styles influenced Thomas Jefferson’s own.
- See Woodstock, Stowe, and other English towns and villages that Jefferson visited.
- Revel in the beauty of designs by Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the father of English landscape gardens, on visits to Bleinheim Palace, a World Heritage Site, and the University Arboretum at Oxford; tour the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, where Brown was master gardener.
- Visit the renowned gardens created by designer and architect William Kent at Stowe.
- Experience the life of renowned 17th-century architect Christopher Wren when he was a student and later a professor of astronomy at Oxford, and see how his contributions to the town’s architecture influenced Jefferson’s designs.
- Admire Oxford University’s English Palladian style landmark—the domed Radcliffe Camera, designed by architect James Gibbs.
- Experience Oxford as a resident, not merely as a tourist, and explore on your own the charming City of Dreaming Spires, home for over 800 years to scholars and occasional Royalty.
- Live “in college” at Merton, one of three venerable Oxford colleges founded in the 13th century. Eat meals in its ancient dining hall and experience firsthand the tradition of English intellectual life.
- Attend evensong at Christ Church.
- Explore the villages, shops and pubs of Oxfordshire.
- And more…
ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS
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Oxford
Oxford is famous for it "Dreaming Spires," which refer to the medieval churches and colleges that dominate the bustling modern town in all their Gothic splendor. Among the many notable buildings Jefferson would have admired is the domed Radcliffe Camera, the English Palladian landmark designed by architect James Gibbs.
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Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace was a royal residence from the 1520s when King Henry VIII took over its development from Cardinal Wolsey. In 1689, Sir Christopher Wren demolished large parts of the Tudor palace and began building a new palace for King William III and Queen Mary II. The Hampton Court Palace estate includes 60 acres of formal gardens, |
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University Arboretum at Oxford
The oldest botanic garden in Great Britain. Throughout its 380-year history, the Garden has continually evolved and developed to the point that today it is recognized as a classic yet contemporary botanic garden at the heart of the University and City of Oxford.
It occupies part of a famous park, Nuneham Courtney, designed by 'Capability' Brown.
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Stowe
The renowned gardens at Stowe were created by designer and architect William Kent, the father of the "picturesque", or English landscape garden. Kent envisioned the landscape as a classical painting, carefully arranged to maximize the artistic effects of light, shape, and color. |
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Blenheim Palace (optional)
Blenheim Palace is home to 11th Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Set in 2100 acres of beautiful parkland landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown, the exquisite Baroque Palace is surrounded by sweeping lawns, formal gardens and the magnificent Lake. |
For further information on the topics and sites in our Oxford University program we recommend you visit British History Online, a digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it’s goal is to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
For those who love gardens and landscape architecture, historic architecture, furniture design, art, Thomas Jefferson as cultural creator, and the American and English landscape, building and arts traditions, this seminar is perfect. It will also appeal to teachers, Anglophiles, Oxford University enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys travel and learning opportunities that provide intellectual stimulation in a welcoming and congenial environment.
This seminar offers unsurpassed value, rich content, and is part of an educational travel tradition with a long history of exceptional participant satisfaction.
PROGRAM LOCATION
Oxford, home to England's oldest University and smallest cathedral, is located on the north bank of the River Thames, fifty-six miles northwest of London. Frequent bus connections to Heathrow and Gatwick airports and extensive bus and train connections to London make it very easy to travel to and from Oxford. In advance of the program you will receive extensive information about getting to and enjoying Oxford.
Participants often comment on how much they enjoy feeling like residents, not tourists, during their week in Oxford.
PROGRAM LODGING
While "up at Oxford" both faculty and participants live, dine, and study "in college." Our home for the week is Merton College, where each participant will have a private single bedroom with a private bath.
Founded in 1264, it is one of three ancient Oxford colleges founded in the thirteenth century. Merton College is noted for the exceptional historical and aesthetic interest of its buildings. The Library is probably the oldest surviving working library in the United Kingdom, and the Hall, Chapel, Lodge and Mob Quadrangle also date from the College's early years.
The College's founder was Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Rochester. Walter's conception of a self-governing community of scholars, with its own statutes and endowment, residing in buildings laid out in staircases and quadrangles, created a model and precedent for Oxford and Cambridge colleges founded in the succeeding centuries.
Take an interactive photographic tour of Merton College - Virtual Merton
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Program Information | Faculty | Pricing and Registration
Program Faculty
Richard Guy Wilson, holds the Commonwealth Professor’s Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he is also Chair of the Department of Architectural History. His specialty is the architecture, design and art of the 18th to the 20th century both in America and abroad. Mr. Wilson has received a number of academic honors, among them a Guggenheim fellow, prizes for distinguished writing, and in 1986 he was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He received the outstanding professor award at the University of Virginia in 2001. He has directed the Victorian Society’s Nineteenth Century Summer School since 1979 that has been located in Boston, Philadelphia and currently Newport, RI. He has served as an advisor and commentator for a number of television programs on PBS, C-Span, History channel and A&E; he appeared on most of the sixty-seven segments of America’s Castles.
Mr. Wilson is also a prolific author. His most recent publications include books on Thomas Jefferson’s design of the University of Virginia and The Colonial Revival House (2004). He has been the curator and author for major museum exhibitions such as "The American Renaissance, 1876-1917", "The Art that is Life: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America", "The Machine Age in America, 1918-1941", and "The Making of Virginia Architecture".
His current research is about the English influence on Thomas Jefferson’s architecture and design.
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| Justine Hopkins, author and lecturer in Art History. Ms. Hopkins took her first degree in English and Drama, before turning to Art History to take a Masters degree from the Courtauld Institute, specialising in the Romantic period. After a year spent partly in Belize drawing Ancient Mayan pottery on an archaeological dig she returned to academia, gaining her Ph.D. from Birkbeck College, London on the interactions of Art, Religion and Science from the French Revolution to the Origin of Species. Since then she has worked as a freelance lecturer in Art History, at Bristol, London, Oxford and Cambridge Universities; the Tate, National and National Portrait Galleries; the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sothebys, Christies and various independent institutions. Her biography of painter and sculptor Michael Ayrton was published in 1994; she has also contributed articles to a wide variety of periodicals and dictionaries, including the New Dictionary of National Biography. She lives in Bristol, in a house built in 1637 with timbers from the ships that sailed against the Armada supporting its roof, shared with her aunt and a black cat called Martha. She divides her time between lecturing and writing. |
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Program Staff
Joan Elias Gore, Ph.D., Director of Travel Programs at the University of Virginia's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
Elizabeth Gemmill, Ph.D., Lecturer in Local History at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education and a Fellow of Kellogg College. She studied at the University of Manchester for her B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in History. She first came to Oxford to work on a research project in medieval economic history based at the Ashmolean Museum and has since then held appointments as a Lecturer at Glasgow University, as Associate Lecturer with the Open University, and as a tutor in Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education. Elizabeth’s special research interests are in the medieval English aristocracy, and in medieval economic history. Her publications include Changing Values in Medieval Scotland: a study of prices, money, and weights and measures (Cambridge University Press, 1995), co-authored with Nicholas Mayhew, Aberdeen Guild Court Records, 1437-1468 (Scottish History Society, 2005), and a number of journal articles and reviews. Elizabeth has been a tutor on a number of the Continuing Education Department’s International Programmes, and looks forward very much to this, her second term as Oxford’s Director of the Oxford/University of Virginia Programme.
Cynthia Smith, U.Va. Program Administrator.
The University of Virginia is pleased to offer this program in cooperation with the School of Continuing Education, Oxford University. |
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Program Information | Faculty | Pricing and Registration
PRICING AND REGISTRATION
PROGRAM TUITION AND FEES INCLUDE:
- Six nights lodging at Merton College, Oxford.
- All program meals and refreshment breaks.
- A special guided tour of Merton College
- Site visits to Hampton Palace and Gardens, Chiswick House and Gardens, Stowe, and to all Oxford site visits
- Program sessions led by Richard Guy Wilson of U.Va. and Justine Hopkins and Elizabeth Gemmill of Oxford University.
- An Oxford guidebook and specially prepared instructional materials. The program concludes with an optional visit to Blenheim Palace and the village of Woodstock.
Airfare to the program and ground transportation to and from Oxford are not included in the program fee.
PER PERSON PROGRAM TUITION AND FEES: (Reserve your spot with a $500 deposit)
- $3,550 per person in a private room and bath.
PER PERSON TUITION AND FEES WITH BLENHEIM OPTION:
- $3,610 per person in a private room and bath.
Printable Registration Form
• If you register prior to March 27, 2009, please return the registration form with a $500 per person deposit (or the full fee if you choose). The balance of your program fee is due by March 27, 2009.
• If you register after March 27, 2009, please return the registration form with full program fee.
We encourage early registration as space is limited. If space is available after July 20, a late registration fee of $175 will apply, unless you register from a wait list.
Register by fax, 434-982-5297, or by telephone, 800-346-3882 or 434-243-2277, using VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover; or by sending us your downloadable form by mail with a check (payable to U.Va.) or credit card information to:
Oxford Seminar
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400764
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4764
WITHDRAWAL & OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
BEFORE MARCH 27, 2009, if you withdraw in writing within 14 days of registration you will receive a full refund. If you withdraw in writing before March 27, 2009, BUT NOT WITHIN 14 DAYS OF YOUR REGISTRATION, you will receive a full refund, minus the $500 deposit. In the event withdrawal is necessary after March 27, 2009, there will be no refund but you may substitute another person to attend the program in your place.
There will be no refund for unused portions of the program, including but not limited to, missed meals, lodging nights, and sightseeing.
We highly recommend you purchase travel cancellation insurance that covers both your airfare and our program fees. Some insurers are also offering protection against job loss or income disruption. Confirm what your policy covers.
Useful travel insurance information can be found at www.TripInsuranceStore.com or 888-407-3854. You may also wish to check with your local travel agency for recommended sources.
Peace Frogs Travel/Outfitters, a registered travel vendor with the state of Virginia and a full-service travel agency, has worked with our participants in the past to guide them through booking appropriate travel insurance to fit their needs, including insuring expenses for the Travel&Learn program itself. They can also book airfare and arrange car rental, rail tickets/passes, hotel bookings and other excursions. If you wish to work with them, contact them at:
Peace Frogs Travel/Outfitters, 434.977.1415, 1145 Emmet Street, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
Information about other travel resources including airport safety and security, currency, health care, packing, passports, personal safety, telephoning, and other useful information can be found on our travel resources page.
You are required to hold a valid passport to participate in this program. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you should check with your Embassy to determine if you have any special visa requirements to enter our destination countries. Some nations require that you hold a passport that is good for at least six months after your program ends.
Each participant must be covered by a health insurance policy while on this program. If you are unsure of what your health insurance policy covers when you travel from home, please confirm your coverage with your insurer. The University of Virginia Travel & Learn program purchases MEDEX WORLDWIDE TRAVEL ASSISTANCE coverage for all program participants. Please note, this is not trip cancellation insurance and it is not health insurance coverage. MEDEX benefits include an essential 24-hour, multilingual travel emergency service, providing help during emergency service, providing help during emergency medical or security situations, replacement prescriptions, emergency travel arrangements, and emergency evacuations. Your MEDEX card will be issued you upon arrival at your travel destination.
Important information for Teachers: Many licensed teachers in the state of Virginia use their participation in Travel & Learn programs to earn professional development points applicable to meeting the requirements for the renewal of their teaching license. (http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Compliance/TeacherED/remanual.pdf). Out-of-state teachers may also be able to use their program participation for similar license renewal or professional development requirements and should check with their schools or state policy for requirements. Upon request, we will provide teachers with documentation describing their participation in this program.
For students: Travel & Learn seminars are noncredit adult learning programs. Some students use their participation in our Travel & Learn seminars as a foundation for a research paper in a course or independent study program they have arranged at their home university. Upon request, we will provide documentation describing your participation in this program for you to present to your home school faculty.
For University of Virginia faculty and staff: Travel & Learn seminars are noncredit adult learning courses. You may apply to Human Resources to use your educational benefit to pay for the tuition portion of our Program Tuition and Fees. Please contact us at 434-243-2277 or travelandlearn@virginia.edu for further information.
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