Central Virginia Arts will sponsor a lecture by Virginia Museum of Fine Arts art historian Elizabeth Cruickshanks on Sunday, May 1, 3 p.m. at the Atkinson Museum at Hampden Sydney. This is one of the statewide lectures provided by VMFA in Richmond.

The lecture topic is, “The Grand Tour: Spring Break for the 18th-Century Man.” For most young men, the Grand Tour, a hallmark coming-of-age trip through France and Italy, was a folly, but for others it was a completely different experience. With the ever-popular Neoclassical movement continuing to take hold in Europe, artists like Benjamin West saw the Grand Tour as an opportunity for inspiration.

CVA invites the community to take a grand tour through the art and culture of this era and see the classical past came alive again in 18th-century Britain and France. The lecture is free and open to the public.