A Radical Alternative Within British Romanticism

A Radical Alternative Within British Romanticism: The Foggo Brothers’ Parga (1822)

This talk focuses on one of the most remarkable – but forgotten – works of British art of any era: The Christian Inhabitants of Parga Preparing to Emigrate (1822) by the brothers George and James Foggo.

This huge painting, twenty-six feet long by sixteen high, was exhibited several times in the nineteenth century before disappearing. Recorded in a mezzotint, the picture features a multitude of figures in a scene of horror with the people of Parga in Greece disinterring their ancestors so that their remains were not left on ground falling under Ottoman rule. The incident of 1819 on which the picture was based was an international scandal, identified as an appalling indictment of British foreign policy.

Ironically, the very size, political purpose and pictorial ambition of the Foggo brothers’ picture has made it easy to be ignored by art history. This talk will explore how the discipline has by contrast – and this is almost regardless of political orientation – been preoccupied with the subjective and commodified aesthetics assumed to be the enduring legacy of the “Romanticism” of the era.

Speaker bio: Martin Myrone is Head of Research Support and Pathways at the Paul Mellon Centre. Before joining the Centre in 2020, Martin spent over twenty years in curatorial roles at Tate, London. His many exhibitions at Tate Britain have included Gothic Nightmares (2006), John Martin (2011), William Blake (2019) and Hogarth and Europe (2021). His research and publications have focused on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British art, with a special interest in artistic identity and artists’ labour, class, cultural opportunity and gender. His many published works include Bodybuilding: Reforming Masculinities in British Art 1750–1810 (2005) and Making the Modern Artist: Culture, Class and Art-Educational Opportunity in Romantic Britain (2020), both published by the Paul Mellon Centre.

Sensitive Content

This talk references texts and images that reflect historical attitudes towards Islam which some may find offensive.

Abstract and Glossary

• Parga

• Pargiot

• Foggo

• factionnaire

• Wat Tyler

• barbus

• Clique

• Ali Pasha

• Ottoman

• Ugo Foscolo

• Géricault

• Callet

• Hayez

• Delacroix

• Lethière

• Haydon

• Bätschmann

• Wicar

Image credit: James & George Foggo, Parga During the Awful Ceremony that Preceded the Banishment of its Brave Christian Inhabitants and the Entrance of Ali Pacha, c. 1819, lithograph, 41.5 x 63.7 cm. Image courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (1842,0319.14)

Information about event format and access

The event starts with a presentation and talk by Stephanie O'Rourke, lasting around 40mins, followed by Q&A and a free drinks reception. The event is hosted in our Lecture Room, which is up two flights of stairs (there is no lift). The talk will also be streamed online and recording published on our website. 

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