RICHMOND, VA.- On Friday April 8 and Saturday 9, 2005, the University of Richmond will present “Rococo Festival: Looking at the Eighteenth Century,” — a two-day event consisting of lectures, faculty symposium, exhibitions and performances, taking place at the University Museums and the George M. Modlin Center for the Arts. This interdisciplinary festival will examine the complex history and culture of the eighteenth-century in Europe, and details can be viewed at the University Museums’ website at http://oncampus.richmond.edu/cultural/museums/rococofestival/.

Renowned viola da gamba player Jordi Savall and lutanists Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs will perform and give lectures. Mitchell Merling, the Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the European Painting Department, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will discuss eighteenth-century art in Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s permanent collection. The festival will also include a presentation of papers from University of Richmond faculty who have conducted research in a variety of disciplines related to the festival’s theme.

On view during the festival are three exhibitions featuring art and artifacts from the age. Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Royal House of Stuart, 1688-1788: Works of Art from the Drambuie Collection, at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, recounts the tale of the Scottish hero that nearly captured the British throne. Rococo to Revolution: European Prints of the Eighteenth Century surveys European prints drawn from the permanent collection of the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center. On view at the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, Cheers! Eighteenth-Century Drinking Glasses from the Permanent Collection presents intricately crafted British and Dutch drinking vessels that are rich in both the history and beauty.