Samuel Johnson defined “spectacle” in 1755 as “a show; a gazing stock; anything exhibited to the view as eminently remarkable.” This exhibition will explore the range of spectacular shows that were offered to the fee-paying public in Georgian London, from exhibitions of paintings, to scientific demonstrations, to the display of wondrous animals. These shows were such an integral part of the visual culture that Horace Walpole complained in 1770, “The rage to see these exhibitions is so great, that sometimes one cannot pass through the streets where they are … it is incredible what sums are raised by mere exhibitions of anything … to enter at which you pay a shilling or half a crown.”

The exhibition will primarily focus on images drawn from the extensive collections at the Lewis Walpole Library that announce, depict and satirize what people paid to gaze at. It will consider how derogatory ideas about spectacle were expressed in caricatures and political discourse. Admission charges made shows less accessible for some, but spectacle blurred the line between high and low culture, fine art and performance. Who ultimately judged what was “eminently remarkable” in an unashamedly commercial context? At the heart of this equation were the spectators, united by the impulse of curiosity but far from homogenous, and at times, making a spectacle of themselves.

Curators include: Alison FitzGerald, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Maynooth University