TWO ITALIAN 'GRAND TOUR' SIENA MARBLE CARVED MODELS OF THE RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX AND THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN, 19TH CENTURY with typical Roman temple architectural detailing. 43.4cm high and 44.4cm high The creation of architectural models has been a longstanding tradition. Originating in the Near East around the fifth century B.C., this tradition resurfaced in Europe approximately a millennium later. Replicas tailored for tourists, essentially serving as souvenirs, emerged in the late seventeenth century. Following the excavation of numerous Christian sites in Jerusalem, Franciscan friars began crafting models of the city’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre in olivewood, ebony, ivory, and mother-of-pearl. They were extremely sought after by affluent pilgrims seeking mementos of their visits to the Holy Land. At very nearly the same time, in 1670, Richard Lassels published his The Voyage of Italy, the first tourists’ guide to that destination, and the first to describe the journey as a “Grand Tour”. By the middle of the eighteenth century, among the variety of works available to Grand Tourists in Italy – including marble and bronze antiquities, Renaissance sculpture, paintings, and furnishings – were a variety of architectural models fashioned from cork. The cork replicas were of Italy’s, ancient, ruined, Classical monuments. Architect Auguste Rosa, who lived in Rome from 1738-1784, is given credit for inventing the souvenir cork architectural model. However, it was another Roman architect, Antonio Chichi (1743 – 1816), who understood the medium’s commercial potential. His 1786 catalogue lists 36 different models for sale – the Colosseum, Pantheon, a variety of temples, triumphal arches, theaters, and tombs. Giallo antico marble models of ruins by Benedetto Boschetti (1820-1879), similar to the lot on offer, were exhibited in the ‘View of the Roman Court’ at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. These models exemplify the high-quality souvenirs sought after by tourists during their “Grand Tour” of Italy.