Society of Dilettanti

[Hans]

Has this society ever figured in any current or past conspiracies?

[Scott Sommers]

If we're going to go there, why stop with the Society of Dilettanti? There have been and remain dozens of elite dining clubs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dining_club).
And why not the Jacobin Club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin)? Or the Club of '89? And others (http://napoleonstark.wordpress.com/political-parties-of-the-french-revolution/).

[Elizabeth I]

Completely off topic, but...is that really the plural of dilettante? If so, cool - I learned something today.

[Scott Sommers]

Yes, it really is.

[Hans]

If we're going to go there, why stop with the Society of Dilettanti? There have been and remain dozens of elite dining clubs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dining_club).
And why not the Jacobin Club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin)? Or the Club of '89? And others (http://napoleonstark.wordpress.com/political-parties-of-the-french-revolution/).

Because they sound mysterious!

You can't apply to become a member of the Society of Dilettanti. Membership is limited to 60, and election is by secret ballot. New members are introduced at a ceremony that hasn't changed much since Knapton's day, though now it is held in the splendid setting of a London club underneath Reynolds's two portraits.

All I can remember about my induction is a being led in a candlelit procession into this magnificent room, which was dark except for flickering firelight. I then bowed to someone in red robes, who may or may not have been seated on a throne.

For one alarming moment, an old friend dressed as a character called the Arch Master lunged at me with a drawn sword, but happily missed.

I wish I could tell you that garters are still hoisted and toasted, but actually all that happened next was that a toast drunk to my health. And, if there are still any remnants of the libertinage or bawdy conversation that was so clearly a feature of the original society, I have to admit they've passed me by.

But, at formal dinners, held four times a year, the centrepiece of the table is still the mid-18th-century carved chest called the Tomb of Bacchus and the elaborately carved ballot box of the same date used in Reynolds's day - both among the highlights of the Getty exhibition.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3559589/The-Dilettanti-exclusive-society-that-celebrates-art.html


Horace Walpole's wisecrack almost hit the nail on the head: "The nominal qualification [for membership of the society] is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk."

[Scott Sommers]

That's just high school antics for rich people. The really mysterious stuff comes from the Lunar Society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society).

At first called the Lunar Circle, "Lunar Society" became the formal name by 1775. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon

And despite it's original founding date, modern lunar societies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society#Modern_Lunar_Societies) continue to spread their spidery fingers all over the world.

Or how about the Piers Gaveston Society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Gaveston_Society) which is even more exclusive and includes such elites as Hugh Grant, as well as links to the Royal Family and the ruling elites of Britain.