NARRATOR: Welcome to the Dining Room from Lansdowne House, reassembled here from its original location in London where it was conceived as a “country house in a town.” In designing this room, architect Robert Adam had an agenda: to create a beautiful room, yes, but also to inspire respect for the high ideals of classical civilizations in Greece and Rome. On the left side of the room are four neo-classical ionic columns. And lining the walls are sculptures inspired by ancient mythical figures. Two are the work of Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (popular among British aristocrats): one, the goddess of love and victory, Venus, and the other of a reclining Naiad, a water spirit.

A born micromanager, Adam hand-selected craftsmen for the project. There were plasterers for the ceilings, carvers for the doors, and sculptors for the marble mantlepiece. He also worked closely with the firm of famed cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale to produce chairs, two of which you see here. But why was it so important for the owner’s dining room to reflect images from the history of democracy? Because this was the dining room of the Earl of Shelburne, a prime minister, with strong views on the topic.

SHELBURNE: I have exerted every effort to preserve America to this country. It is better that a part should suffer, rather than the whole empire perish.

NARRATOR: Shelburne was a vocal advocate for American Independence, the one to help negotiate an end to the very war that created the United States of America. This room, constructed steps away from Parliament, was a hive of consequential debate by exalted and controversial thinkers, including the novelist Charles Dickens, poet Thomas Moore, and the radical political philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

If Shelburne wanted to honor liberal and democratic values in this space, the catalyst might lie in the Earl’s foreign adventures: what was known as “The Grand Tour.” For Britain’s elite, studying the art and architecture of southern Europe was considered a social responsibility, a life-changing education. Visiting Rome in particular: there were newly-excavated artifacts from the Roman empire on view that offered a deeper understanding of the classical world and it’s democratic philosophy. Travelers returned home with inspiration—and sometimes, actual artifacts!—whether for government, or for how to design and decorate their dining room.