The Invention of the Grand Tour

Life lessons from the first explorers on the road to elsewhere

I HITCHED A RIDE TO LONDON in the fall of 1978, where I purchased a one-way ticket to Dunkirk, to begin my own invasion of Europe. After a night train carried me to the harbor, I assumed my position on the bow of a Channel ferry, pretend-captain of my fate. The clouds reflected the light and promise of the Continent, seventy miles away. 

I felt, at the time, that I personally was inventing the Grand Tour. But I was late by three hundred and sixty-six years. Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, kicked off GT mania in 1613, with his cicerone Inigo Jones, the classicist architect.

Lesson #1: Be careful when picking your portrait artist

While I was collecting odd words and torn theater tickets, Howard, guided by Jones, was picking up paintings by da Vinci, the Holbein brothers (Ambrosius and Hans), Albrech Dürer, and Raphael. He also hired laborers to dismantle Roman ruins and move them into his castle. And Howard commissioned this portrait, by Holbein the Younger, showing off his nose, wh…