ABSTRACT
With its countless artistic treasures, many people — particularly from Britain — were attracted to Rome in the eighteenth century, often as part of their ‘Grand Tour’ of Italy. The increased interest in Rome’s antiquity, particularly among visitors from elsewhere, not only led to the founding of the first public museums but to the gradual replacement of the Baroque by the Neoclassical style of architecture. Following the annexation of Avignon by Revolutionary France in 1791, the Papal States in Italy were crushed in 1797 by the invading armies of France. Rome and its Italian territories had been ruled by the pope for almost a thousand years in accordance with the forged Declaration of Constantine, but after surrendering to Napoleon’s forces, the papacy was obliged — under the subsequent Treaty of Tolentino — to allow Napoleon to expropriate much of the church’s property including many of Rome’s finest ancient statues.
