Brian Sewell's Grand Tour [DVD]

I wish there had been more series with Mr Sewell. It is a joy to listen to his obvious deep knowledge of art but also his passion for what does, and doesn’t interest or delight him. His use of the English language is such an inspiration and one that I will never emulate, and his love of fine crafts a joy.I also enjoyed The Naked Pilgrim (which is probably my favourite out of the two).

Over ten episodes (on two DVDs), our Brian follows in the footsteps of the eighteenth-century English milords as they travelled the length and breadth of Italy as part of their education into manhood. Although the Grand Tour as a concept was by and large ended by the French Revolutionary Wars at the end of the eighteenth century, Brian tells us along the way how he himself had done his Grand Tour fifty years previously when he was "an impoverished student" in his early twenties. Now he does it in more style and with certainly more money, using his gold-coloured classic Mercedes instead of horse and carriage.As he descends the Italian side of the Alps via the snowy Mont Cenis pass, Brian tells us in the way that only he know how that the milords, "from here ... were no longer their own masters. They were conducted over the mountains by peasants speaking some ungodly language ..., peasants so big, so ugly, so obviously the result of incest - goitred, swollen-eyed, buck-toothed, hang-jawed, hideous beyond belief." Times have thankfully changed, as he heads for their and his first port-of-call: Turin - and then onto Milan, where surprisingly there is no Last Supper by Leonardo to be gloried or damned by our Brian. (After `The Naked Pilgrim' series, he seems to have regained his healthy religious scepticism.)Brian's route takes him down the Po valley through Cremona and Parma to Bologna; then across the Apennines to Florence; then on to Rome via San Geminiano, Sienna, and Orvieto. He travels as far south as Naples (where he is seasick in the bay) and Pompeii and Paestum, before heading north again to Raphael's Urbino via Todi. Rimini, Ferrara and Mantua engage his attention (but, alas, not Ravenna) before Vicenza (for Palladio, Possagno (for Canova), and Padua for the Brenta Canal. Carnival at Venice rounds off the experience, "a hideous nonsense", "a freak show", "tack and trash".Along the way we have many personal (and often moving) reminiscences, as well as lessons on Vasari, Titian, Michelangelo (for whom Brian sheds a sincere tear or two), Bernini, Tiepolo (both father and son), and Canaletto, to name but a few. He shows us churches, cathedrals, art galleries, palaces, gardens, opera houses, theatres, and coffee shops. And we taste Parma ham, Bolognese sausages, view rabbits' bottoms, and taste Chianti and olive oil (learning the difference between virgin and extra-virgin varieties). Never one to be shy to hide his opinions, he describes the façade of Santa Croce church in Florence as "late wedding-cake or early water-closet", and refers to Chianti as a combination of red ink and urine.Brian often reminds us about the endeavours of the average milord, who were not necessarily undertaking the trip purely for artistic and cultural ends: it was not just architecture, music, painting or sculpture that occupied their minds, but, "Sex, alcohol, gambling ... and the seductions of Roman Catholicism". But it is clear that Brian's main area of interest is sex, whether it is the bedroom entertainment of the last Medici grand dukes of Tuscany or the fashionista boys of Milan parading their manhood: "the Italian male has for centuries been in love with himself ... [He] is not necessarily homosexual - it might help a bit - but he is very much in love with being male."The series is clearly part-staged, part-spontaneous: he started the tour in spring and yet ends it on Ash Wednesday. He has a jolly good time throughout most of the trip, enjoying the balloon ride over Florence, having his portrait painted in Rome (where the artist draws "deeply from the well of deceit"), but is disappointed by the dormancy of Vesuvius. Elsewhere, he tries to imitate the sound of a peacock, but sounds more like a strangled cat, and climbs the 502 steps of the tower in Cremona - at the age of seventy-three!I was surprised that his Italian barely reached beyond the schoolboy level (unlike Andrew Graham Dixon). He keeps a journal along the way, but alas it does not seem to have been published. The ending is a little of an anti-climax for the viewer, but for Brian it was an emotional moment, as he realises this may be his last Grand Tour. But, no, Brian, despite the angina, Can we not have another trip? After your trek to Santiago di Compostela in Spain, and this Grand Tour of Italy, I suggest London to Vienna via the Rhine and Danube valleys. You can do it in style by train and relax along the way. If only ...There are alas, no extras: no bloopers, no deleted scenes. And there are no subtitles.

Hot on the heels of his nude rush into the Spanish sea at the end of The Naked Pilgrim and unashamedly elitist as ever, here is Brian Sewell's second televison series.He, in the last programme of his Grand Tour, refuses to participate in the frivolities of a recreated 'masked ball'. This is no aristocratic romp but a party open to the masses, the only requirement needed to go through the doors being the right number of Euros. He longs for the real thing - he imagines aristocrats flirting, perhaps guffaws of drunken laughter, the fondling of breasts, the rubbing of knees under the table. But none of this is to be found - just fakes, people dressing up in costumes and not knowing how to behave.Then we find him in a Venetian cafe, tearfully recounting his thoughts about the present, his past and their past, as he elegantly sips on his 'Italian style' hot chocolate. In another scene he is at the dinner table in a restaurant, so bored with Italian food that he finds it hard to find something on the menu that he fanices, that isn't 'that round thing' (pizza). He orders the salad of pork fat, and expresses concerns about what it might do to his already strained arteries. He sips the red wine and then pulls a funny face of vague disgust. He is indeed an interesting character, and is of course, in Italy, right on his home turf. A lifetime spent studying the great Italian Masters lends a very considerable intellectual weight to the series. He describes things calmly and with great expertise - Correggio (unjustly neglected today), Michelangelo, Raphael and the rest of the gang. Sewell is someone we don't find on television 'anymore' - he is both too intellectual, too stuck-up and yet too lubricious, too much fun for our safe, santitized modern world. And yet, here he is.

He’s an acquired taste , but he is a genius and very funny

I have to say that my wife and have I watched this DVD twice now, once before planning our Italian trip and once again after we arrived home. It was so enjoyable the second time, simply because we visited many of the sites, architecture and sculptures that he describes in the DVD. Whilst not everything Brian utters is remarkable, most of it is personal and reflects his deep knowledge of art and what makes a masterpiece. He also not ashamed of allowing his emotions to add expression to his narrative.For example, whilst his emotive description of Michelangelo's tomb in Florence washed over me the first time I watched the DVD, it was only after having visited the tomb, and through the re-watching the DVD, was I able to sympathize and appreciate the sheer unworthiness of this monument to the memory of the great artist.I strongly recommend this DVD - Sewell is a great story teller and you won't find in the Lonely Planet or any other guide many of the stories and background material that he presents in this DVD. This DVD is a good investment, that you can easily watch more than once.Fantastic.