Roman Palaces, Interior Culture and Grand Tour Europe in the Eighteenth Century: the case of Palazzo Frascara
Individual Master Dissertation 2026-27
Supervisors: Prof. dr. Anne-Françoise Morel (History and Theory of Architecture) · Prof. dr. Monika Rychtarikova (Architectural Acoustics)
Research Unit: PADP – Perspectives on Architecture from the Distant Past
Domain: History and Theory of Architecture / Acoustics
Number of students: 2 or 3
Campus: Ghent
Language: EN
Lead image: Drawing of the façade of the Palazzo Frascara in Rome around the 18th century. Non-inventoried archive, Archivio del Vicariato di Roma.
Subject
In eighteenth-century Rome, noble palaces were far more than aristocratic residences: they were living environments, animated by artists, architects, antiquarians and travellers who converged on the Eternal City from across Europe in search of inspiration. Through their spatial organisation, decorative programmes, furnishings and the rituals of sociability enacted within them, these buildings actively participated in the construction of a shared European architectural culture.
A particular case in point is Palazzo Frascara, located in Piazza della Pilotta in Rome. In the eighteenth century, Countess Francesca Gherardi Cheroffini’s salon and music room were among the most vibrant gathering places of Grand Tour Rome welcoming figures such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Giacomo Casanova and Robert Adam. Despite its historical prominence, and as a consequence of the important architectural alterations, the building received little attention form architectural historians so far.
The aim of this master-dissertation research is to reconstruct the palazzo’s spatial and material life in the eighteenth century, as well as to understand how it functioned as a place of cross-cultural exchange in the Grand Tour. Using unpublished archival descriptions, plans, comparative literature … students will examine the 1. distribution and functional organisation of the apartment’s rooms, the representational spaces and their spatial sequences, 2. the role of furnishings and material culture in the construction of spatial experience, and 3. the palazzo’s reception history in visitor’s testimonies.
The case-study analysis foresees the possibility to focus on the music room as a documented environment open to archaeo-acoustic study. In collaboration with Prof. dr. Monika Rychtarikova. More than a visualisation exercise, this constitutes a means of restoring intelligibility and life to a space that once hosted some of the most significant conversations of Enlightenment Rome. To understand the sfere in history better, digital reconstruction will also contain audible sounds coming from simulations of historical Soundscapes.
Method, Skills and Output
The thesis combines historical research and architectural analysis, integrating:
- archival research and palaeographic study of unpublished primary sources (with methodological guidance and support);
- analysis of plans, distributive sequences and spaces of representation;
- study of furnishings, objects and material culture;
- comparison with epistolary sources, travel diaries and Grand Tour literature;
- comparative reading of Roman and European palaces and interiors;
- graphic and digital reconstruction of historical spaces;
- determination of acoustic properties of historical materials (with a help of an assistant);
- room acoustic modelling in Odeon prediction software (with a help of an assistant);
- laboratory listening tests (with a help of an assistant)
The research will result in a scientifically argued written thesis accompanied by illustrations, plans, drawings, reconstructions and other visualisations as well as so called auralisation of historical soundscapes .
Possible Topics
- Palazzo Frascara and the Cheroffini salon as a space of Grand Tour sociability
- Typologies of representational apartments in eighteenth-century Roman palaces
- Inventories and material culture as tools for reconstructing historical interiors
- Rome and the circulation of architectural models in Grand Tour Europe
- Roman interiors and British architecture: patronage, travel and the legacy of Robert Adam
- Digital and acoustic reconstruction of historic environments: the music room of Palazzo Frascara
Prerequisites and Interests
This thesis requires a strong interest in the history of early modern architecture, historic interiors and eighteenth-century European architectural culture. Students should demonstrate interest in and willingness to engage with archival research and the reading of handwritten sources (AI assisted paleography), spatial analysis and architectural representation, material culture and the history of taste, the relationships between architecture, mobility and cultural transfer, and digital tools for reconstruction and acoustic simulation. An understanding of Italian (AI assisted) will be required. Students should have an interest in historical Soundscape and possess a basic knowledge on architectural acoustics on the level of the OPO Comfort (2nd semester). Given the fact that the dissertation will also be guided by an international PhD student, the dissertation will be written in English. A short stay in Rome might be required.
Guidance
Prof. Anne-Françoise Morel (Early Modern Architecture, Architectural Culture)
Prof. Monika Rychtarikova (Acoustics)
Drs. Emanuele Sacco (Early Modern Architecture, History, Italian Grand Tour Studies)
Selective Bibliography
Bowron, E.P. & Rishel, J.J. (eds.) (2000), Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Brilli, A. (2006), Il viaggio in Italia: storia di una grande tradizione culturale, Bologna: Il Mulino.
Harris, E. (2001), The Genius of Robert Adam: His Interiors, New Haven–London: Yale University Press.
Lilti, A. (2005), Le monde des salons: sociabilité et mondanité à Paris au XVIIIe siècle, Paris: Fayard.
Rychtarikova, M. et al. (2014), “Auralisation of Historical Rooms”, in: Proceedings of the International Congress on Acoustics, Montreal.
Waddy, P. (1990), Seventeenth-Century Roman Palaces: Use and the Art of the Plan, New York: MIT Press / Architectural History Foundation.
Wilton, A. & Bignamini, I. (eds.) (1996), Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth Century, London: Tate Gallery.
Winckelmann, J.J. (1764), Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums, Dresden [Eng. trans.: The History of Ancient Art, Boston, 1849].