Exhibition on Oscar Wilde and classical antiquity

The Combined Library of the Institute of Classical Studies and the Hellenic and Roman Societies (Senate House, South Block, 3rd floor, London WC1E 7HU) is holding a display on Oscar Wilde between Friday 29th May and Friday 13th September 2024. The exhibition, showcasing items of the collection, explores the relationship between Wilde and Classical antiquity through books that he might have used and read as well as some of his works.   

Items include John Pentland Mahaffy’s Rambles and Studies in Greece, a book to which Wilde argued he had contributed, and Charles Newton’s Essays on Art and Archaeology, one of many scholars that influenced Wilde. The influence that Classical antiquity had on his work is shown through The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wilde’s review of the galleries of the British Museum, the article “Sermons in Stone”. On display is also an edition of Samuel Henry Butcher and Andrew Lang’s The Odyssey of Homer, a book that Wilde wanted his son Cyril to read as it would help him “keep the wonder and joy of boyhood”. The display also includes guides to some of the museums of Rome and Naples that Wilde visited and a Minute Book from the Hellenic Society related to Wilde’s journey to Greece as well as his brief involvement with the Society.