Please note the AGM will begin at 10am promptly and will be folowed by this lecture.

How this popular magazine evolved, adapted to changing tastes, and provided an outlet for a truly outstanding array of writers and artists. Best remembered today for its 40-year association with Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, the Strand was a pioneer among illustrated monthly magazines, and rapidly spawned many imitators. Major contributors included Agatha Christie (Poirot and Miss Marple both appeared here), Winston Churchill political sketches during his ‘wilderness years’, paintings after World War Two), and P G Wodehouse (Blandings, Mulliner, and a host of Jeeves tales). From the early brilliance of writers such as Grant Allen and E W Hornung, through the enchanting tales of children’s favourite E Nesbit, the robust melodramas of Sapper and his heroes Bulldog Drummond and Ronald Standish, to the weightier work of H G Wells and even Joseph Conrad, the Strand left a remarkable legacy which repays detailed investigation. Richard will bring original copies of the Strand to the lecture.

Richard Burnip is an actor whose work includes theatre, documentaries and audiobooks. Richard has a BA Hons in English Language and Literature from the University of Manchester and an acting diploma from the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. He combines acting, writing and lecturing.

Highly experienced in audio work, he has narrated numerous documentaries and over 180 audiobooks for publishers including Penguin, HarperCollins and Hodder and Stoughton.

Richard is an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society and has lectured at many venues in the UK and Europe. He guides on many specialist topics for London Walks.

Few artists are rooted in a place as Stanley Spencer and his beloved home village of Cookham. This Thames-side village was not only his birthplace, his home for most of his life, and even his nickname, but it dominated his imagination and was the inspiration and location for many of his greatest paintings. This lecture will look at Cookham's place in Spencer's art and how it was central to his unique vision of English domestic and spiritual life. 

Dr Amy Lim is an art historian and a curator, specialising in British fine and decorative arts from the 17th to 20th centuries. She is curator of The Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire, and of the Stanley Spencer Gallery Cookham. She is also an exhibition researcher at Tate, contributing to, British Baroque: Power and Illusion (2020) and the forthcoming Women Artists in Britain. Amy has degrees in History and Literature & Arts from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. She runs an online art dealership, and has published articles and essays on a variety of art related topics from gothic garden monuments to female patronage.

Image: View from Cookham Bridge 1936. Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham

On Ernest Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914, his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and eventually crushed in the pack ice. After camping for five months on the ice, Shackleton’s men rowed to the remote Elephant Island. From there, Shackleton sailed for help to South Georgia over 800 miles away.  Over three months later he returned to rescue the crew of the Endurance. 

Frank Hurley, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, was the expedition’s official photographer.  His photographs are a visual narrative of an epic journey which capture with great artistry new and amazing landscapes within which a remarkable human drama is played out.  The aim of the lecture is to capture Hurley’s achievements as a photographer of the Antarctic in the first flush of human contact when it was still essentially terra incognita.

Mark Cottle's career has been spent in education and training at home and abroad. He has lectured at Exeter College on Medieval and Tudor history, St Mark's & St John's University College, Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and medieval England. 

Long before cappuccinos and skinny lattes, all the world’s coffee traded through the tiny port of Mokha in Yemen. Popularised in Constantinople, Vienna and Amsterdam, the first English coffee house opened in the 1650’s and by 1700 there were 500 in London alone. Beginning as ‘sobering meeting places’ they were frequented by artists, authors and politicians where the debating of literary and political ideas was encouraged, as seen in early prints and lithographs. The marketing of coffee went through distinctive art nouveau and art deco periods and we see it included in works of the major French Impressionists.

Christopher Bradley is an expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. He writes extensively on Arabia and is the author of the Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Cairo; Abu Dhabi, Nile Cruising, Libya; the Red Sea; Oman and the Discovery Guide to Yemen. As a photographer he has pictures represented by several photographic libraries. As a film producer and cameraman he made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

The Glasgow Boys revolutionised painting in Scotland by bringing it into the mainstream of European art. ‘The Boys’ were young Scottish artists who looked to France for their inspiration – ‘the auld alliance’ – and many of them studied in Paris. One group met up in Grez-sur-Loing where they painted together using the ‘square brush technique’ influenced by Jules Bastien Lepage. Other members of the group came together through old friendships – Paterson and MacGregor had known each other at school, while Guthrie and Walton were old friends.

They soon established a vigorous style of oil painting using large square brushes and thick paint with bold colours.

Watercolor also played a major part with works by Walton, Lavery, Henry and Crawhall. Maybe the finest watercolourist of all was Arthur Melville.

Japanese prints were also an important influence and Henry and Hornel actually visited Japan to paint its landscape and people. The work of Whistler was also an influence on a number of the Glasgow Boys who appreciated his thin paint and delicate touch, as well as his brilliant use of pastel.

The work of the Glasgow Boys is surprisingly fresh and modern and is very popular today – as witnessed by the success of the recent exhibition at the Royal Academy.

A Hind's Daughter by James Guthrie 1883  Scottish National Library 

Julian Halsby is a lecturer in Art History, published author, practising artist & an elected member of the Royal Society of British Artists.

From the moment they bonded over bad accommodation at Oxford, William Morris and Ned Jones were firm friends. They came from very different backgrounds – Morris had never wanted for anything, but Jones’ family was poor – but their shared love of medieval literature and art bound them together. Over the more than 40 years of their friendship they weathered personal storms, tragedies, and political disagreements to create beautiful art and craft, collaborating on book design, stained glass and many other decorative projects. This talk charts the peaks and troughs of Topsy and Ned’s long and fruitful friendship. 

Kirsty Hartsiotis is an Accredited Arts Society lecturer, giving talks on both art history and folklore, her two passions. She also gives talks for local history societies, WIs, museums, Probus and more. She's also a museum curator, currently at Swindon Museums, and previously the curator of a Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection at The Wilson, Cheltenham, and draws on her knowledge of the movement and 19th and 20th century art for her talks. 

This lecture provides a colourful introduction to the secret world of our 2000-mile inland waterway network and looks at all aspects of their exceptional artistic, architectural and engineering vernacular. Features range from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards; from colourful historic narrowboats to 'Roses and Castles' artwork; from grand World Heritage Sites to quirky listed buildings. A well-known architectural historian once described our canals as a 'poor man's art gallery'. 

Roger Butler is a landscape architect and an experienced writer, photographer and lecturer. He has a particular interest in the unique history, architecture and traditions of our canal network and worked on some of the UK’s major canal restoration projects. He has also acted as a consultant to bodies such as Waterways Ireland, Natural England and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

He regularly contributes to waterway and heritage magazines and writes and provides images for a range of countryside and outdoor titles. Roger is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society and a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute. He lives near Stratford upon Avon and lectures to groups such as the National Trust, RSPB, U3A, history societies, etc. across the Midlands and further afield.

Only Matthew and Luke describe Christ’s nativity and their absence of detail led theologians and artists to amplify it. Matthew (2:1-12) tells of wise men and their gifts, Luke (2:1-20) of the infant laid in the manger and the shepherds, led by an angel, who came to worship. By the end of the Middle Ages, legend transformed the wise men from priests into kings accompanied by their retinues, the ox and the ass appeared in the stable, the shepherds bore their own humble gifts and the Virgin knelt in adoration. 

 Dr James Lindow was the first Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the V&A. He has written and lectured widely on this period in art history.

Image The Mystical Nativity, Sandro Botticelli, The National Gallery, London

Study Day

In a virtual tour of the stations of the London Underground, this lecture shows the vast range of artworks that now decorate the platform and concourse walls. Ever since the 1960's, the Underground has been installing permanent, large-scale artworks for its stations, commissioning leading and aspiring artists of the day to celebrate the character, history, and personalities of the area each serves. This huge programme has been a natural follow-on to the ground-breaking poster art campaign and graphic design achievements of the Underground in the first half of the century.

Mike Grundy, an expert in the art and architecture of Underground systems worldwide. Over the last ten years his lectures and courses on the London Underground and on the Paris and Moscow Metros have been enjoyed by over 3,000 people across the Thames Valley and beyond.

Image: The Mosaics of Eduardo Paolozzi at Tottenham Court Road Station

Miniature Masterpieces: Late Antique and Early Christian Ivory Carvings
In the Late Antique period (fourth to the sixth century AD) ivory was the principal organic material used in the Mediterranean world to create works of art.  Carved by the hand of anonymous craftsmen these ivories are some of the most beautiful art objects in the world.  Following an introduction to the history of ivory carving, the lecture will then examine some of the most celebrated ivory carvings of this period to marvel at the craftsmanship of the master carvers, explore the unique iconography and unravel the original functions of some key ivory carvings.  The lecture will also consider the impact of the recent Ivory Act as well as looking at other types of ivory such as whalebone, walrus, narwhal and mammoth.  The lecture will conclude with tips on how to identify bone from ivory and offer advice on how to donate unwanted ivory to the Antique Rescue Centre. 

Photograph Ivory diptych panel Byzantine Empress Ariadne 6th century 26.5 x 12.7cm ©Kunsthistorishes Museum,Vienna, Austria

Dr Helen Rufus-Ward is an art historian with a BA, MA and PHD from the University of Sussex.  She has published on Late Antique and Byzantine ivory carvings and 19th century collecting.  Since 2007 Helen has worked as a university lecturer.   Helen holds a Higher Education Academy teaching qualification and is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, the Society of Jewellery historians and is the Chairman of Eastbourne Arts Circle.

Elizabeth Thompson was born in 1846 and was brought up in Italy and England. She attended the Female School of Art at South Kensington. In 1874 this genteel Victorian lady sent a painting of the Crimean War to the Royal Academy where it was an outstanding success. From then on, she almost exclusively painted battle scenes, from Waterloo to Afghanistan and World War I. In 1877 Elizabeth married Major William Butler whose career culminated in a knighthood and the rank of General. She accompanied her husband to Egypt and South Africa and continued to paint until her death in 1933. 

Felicity Herring has a BA in history and economics and an MA in Fine Art Valuation. She is an experienced lecturer and a member of the Nelson Society and the 1805 Club.

She has given talks to National Trust groups, yacht clubs, British Legion, Rotary, public school sixth forms and retirement groups such as U3A and Probus.

 Image: Lady Elizabeth Butler - ‘Scotland Forever’ - 1881 - Leeds Art Gallery - Oil on Canvas

Everyone knows of the wonders of the Athenian Acropolis with the Parthenon as the jewel in its crown. No expense was spared as leading artists, sculptors and architects worked on its construction at a time when Athens was undergoing an extraordinary cultural revolution: this was the age of Socrates, Euripides, Aristophanes, Herodotus and Sophocles. The buildings on the Acropolis were constructed in a few short decades as a symbol and celebration of Athens' democracy. The building programme, prompted by the leading democratic politician, Pericles, was in fact, highly controversial - and sharply divided Athenian democratic opinion in its own day.

James Renshaw: Following a degree in Classics from Oxford University, he has  taught Classics at secondary school level since 1998, and currently teaches at Godolphin and Latymer in London; where he runs the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, which has an ethos similar to that of The Arts Society.  Since 1998, he has  published a number of textbooks related to the classical world, including 'In Search of the Greeks' and 'In Search of the Romans'. In addition to his school teaching, he has also lectured for the V&A Academy, most recently on their Classical World and its Afterlife and Classicism from the Ancients to the Renaissance courses. He is a keen traveller, and  has taken many photos of ancient sites, a number of which have been used in his books.

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Image: View of the Acropolis by the lecturer

When we walk into a gallery, why do we see so many depictions of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, but not Viking ones?   And yet the Norse gods and goddesses are ubiquitous in popular culture such as cartoons, films and video games.  James Vaux explored over 1,500 instances of Norse Mythology in the fine and decorative arts to find the answers…many surprising and some even sinister.  The talk includes Viking-age artefacts, British oils and sketches by Fuseli and Blake, paintings from the Danish Golden Age and more modern works by Hilma af Klint and Anselm Kiefer.  And with a basic grounding in Norse mythology, not only will you learn how to interpret these works, you’ll even be able to impress Viking-mad teenage relatives. Vaux will explore the answer to the missing gods in art.

A detailed reading list relating to this lecture can be found here

James Vaux is a researcher and lecturer specialising in Nordic arts, culture, design and history. He has presented extensively on diverse topics throughout his career to demanding audiences across the globe, including CEOs and government ministers. His talks now focus on understanding artistic achievements through their historic, cultural and political context.  

James aims to question the underlying narratives behind artists, designers and movements, to explore the 'why' and the 'how' instead of the conventional 'who', 'what' and 'when' . A truly gripping Arts Society talk needs a mystery to be solved, not a chronological series of items and events.

James took a law degree at Oxford with First Class Honours and qualified as a solicitor before switching career. As a managing director of the international bank Rothschild, he advised governments and corporates worldwide. He set up and ran the bank’s Nordic operations, living and working in Scandinavia and immersing himself in the countries’ arts, culture and history. James then gained an MA (Distinction) at UCL in Language, Culture and History (Scandinavian Studies). His dissertation was on Swedish design, and he specialised in landscapes, the Viking Age, politics and literature. 

He has also studied interior design and art history at the Inchbald School, Mid-Century Modern at Sotheby’s Institute and electronic music at Point Blank. He hosted a local radio show for four years. He lectures and provides study days focusing on Scandinavian Modern design, Danish design, Norse mythology, Icelandic literature, Swedish literature, the Modern Breakthrough in Nordic culture and the role of modernism in the Cold War.

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Image: Mårten Eskil Winge’s “Thor’s Fight with the Giants”, 1872, Nationalmuseum Stockholm​

Look at some of the most popular images for Art Nouveau and think Alphonse Mucha and you will be transported to an era. Charles Harris says 'Alphonse Mucha quite literally wrote the book of Art Nouveau.' Everything that is best about the style - elaborate ornamentation with themes from nature, fine draftsmanship, the idealized feminine subjects, use of symbolism and allegory - flourished through him at the highest level. The Master of the Decorative Panel and one of the Masters of the Poster in la Belle Epoque, Mucha learned much from working with Sarah Bernhardt and went on to create, jewellery, design costumes, theatre sets, furniture and much more.

Charles Harris has had a life-long career in mainstream advertising agencies around the world, most of it as a Creative Director in global agencies (J Walter Thompson, Bates, FCB, Publicis, Leo Burnett). Responsible for the quality of the creative ideas and finished production of advertising campaigns, his work for many of the world’s great brands including British Airways, Sony, Nestle, Kraft, BP, Heinz, Black & Decker, Gillette, General Motors and McDonalds, earned him national and global awards in New York, Hollywood, Singapore and Sydney. When it comes to art with a persuasive purpose, he gives his professional insight into what works, what doesn’t, and why.

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Image: By Alphonse Mucha - Art Renewal Center Museum, image 4438, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8892262

This lecture examines the work of one of the outstanding figures of twentieth-century sculpture, an artist who achieved an international reputation for her monumental works depicting the human figure, birds and other animals.  Sadly she died in her early 60s but, from the first small sculpture acquired by the Tate Gallery (when she was a student of 21) until her death, she produced an astonishing body of work.  Her bronzes varied in scale and feeling, from small, threatening birds to the life-size, tranquil Walking Madonna in Salisbury Cathedral Close.  

Frink’s work will be examined in the context of great British and European predecessors such as Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti, as well as her contemporaries, including Reg Butler, Jean Fautrier and Germaine Richier.

Frank Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A and other organisations, including on Zoom. He has lectured for Dulwich Picture Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and on cruises on behalf of Tate. He was previously a script-writer for The Living Paintings Trust (art for the visually-impaired)

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Image: Frink’s Little Bird of 1961. 

With such as Edward Lear, Charles Darwin and Joseph Hooker, all part of her literary and botanical circle how could this Victorian lady be considered other than unconventional for her time? She travelled and collected, painted and drew exotic plants in distant landscapes. She was said to travel with the 'liberty of a wild bird', yet she maintained the dress and manners of a Victorian lady. The pursuit of plants took her round the world, whilst her vibrant oil paintings of these exotic plants and distant landscapes were destined for Kew. This lecture explores Marianne North's work, her social context and the eventual creation of her gallery at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Twigs Way is a professional researcher, writer and speaker, fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds.  Her work explores themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, and the crossover between plants, gardens, art and literature. Twigs lectures for the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, and is a guest lecturer for the MA in Art and Visual Culture , ICE, University Cambridge. Recent publications include the portrayal of specific flowers in art and culture and her book on the Chrysanthemum in Art and Culture was published October 2020 by Reaktion Press. Since then she has been researching the cultural and visual importance  of the colour yellow. These themes are explored in her popular talk on the Divine Sunflower in Art and Culture and a Special Interest Day on Sunlight, Sunflower and Cultivating Colour.  Twigs' original research  was on the history of women in the garden and she retains an active interest in this topic focussing on female botanic artists and gardeners including Marianne North and Mary Delany, as well as inspiring her talk on Female Botanical Artists . Twigs is currently working on the life of Frances, Viscountess Wolseley, the founder of Gylnde School of Gardening for Ladies in 1902.  Twigs originally trained as an archaeologist and brings a wealth of knowledge from the various disciplines of history, art, literature and horticulture together. In addition to her 1hr lectures she can deliver day schools focussing on women in botanical art.

Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A and other organisations, including on Zoom. Lectured for Dulwich Picture Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and on cruises on behalf of Tate. Previously script-writer for The Living Paintings Trust (art for the visually-impaired)

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Image: By Marianne North - Scanned from: Phillips, A., A. Lamb & C.C. Lee 2008. Pitcher Plants of Borneo. Second Edition. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3353798

The day is divided into three sessions with a sumptuous lunch after lecture two. Tea and coffee and soft drinks are provided. The day has a maximum of 50 guests so that we may socialise in the breaks and get to know fellow members and maybe even speak with the lecturer.

1.   Royal Baroque

From its origins in the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Baroque style was closely associated with power and spectacle. At the Restoration court, Charles II drew on continental precedent to fill his palaces with luxurious paintings and furnishings. In our first lecture, we will look at the artists and craftsmen who helped the Stuart monarchs to re-establish a magnificent monarchy, following the austerity and uncertainty of the Civil Wars and Interregnum.

2.   The Baroque Country House

 While the court set artistic fashion, many nobles were also keen to establish their own status as patrons of the arts, and many of Britain’s best-loved country houses were built or refurbished in the ‘Baroque’ period. In this lecture, we will visit of the most iconic houses of the age, including Chatsworth, Petworth and Blenheim. We will meet the people who created them, and take in some of the highlights of their sumptuous interiors, gardens and art collections.

3.   Queens, Consorts & Courtiers: Female Art Patrons

What was the role of women in British Baroque art? In an era when married women’s property automatically belonged to their husbands, could women still be patrons? Female patronage has often been hidden within the historical record, but new research has shown that the patronage of these women has been considerably underestimated. From Queen Catherine of Braganza’s patronage of Catholic artists, to the Duchess of Marlborough’s politically-charged London mansion, we will look at some of the most important works of art and architecture commissioned by women, and consider how they used art to carve out their position in society.

Dr Amy Lim is an art historian and curator, specialising in British fine and decorative arts from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. She is curator of the Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire, and of the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham. She is also an exhibition researcher at Tate, contributing to British Baroque: Power and Illusion (2020) and  'Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920' to be held at Tate Britain, 16 May-30 October 2024. Amy has degrees in History and Literature & Arts from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. She runs an online art dealership, and has published articles and essays on a variety of art-related topics from gothic garden monuments to female patronage.

"Yes that's it!" said the Hatter with a sigh, "It's always teatime." (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.) Tea - our go to drink and medicine for all. The legacy of tea has strands that are woven deep within our culture. This lecture will explore the highlights of this fascinating history that spans the globe and impacts silver and ceramics and legends to houses.

Dr. Emma Watts is an Art Historian with specialist interest in late nineteenth and early twentieth century British Art and Visual Culture. Her career began in the fine art auction world and she has since had a successful academic career in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. Dr. Watts is passionate about access to the fine arts and its education. She has developed National, tertiary and adult education curricula and been active in policy, planning, education and advisory boards for Heritage, Arts and Museums and curatorial and collection management in Australia and the UK. She is currently enjoying the diversity of consultancy, through lecturing with the Open University, writing, and advising on fine art valuation, probate and sale.

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Image: Photo credit Englepip

Was Napoleon killed by his green wallpaper? Who ever would have thought? We had a lecture in February last year on his mansion at Malmaison. It was certainly lavish and ornate. But death by wallpaper? All will be revealed in this lecture and Lynn has provided a recommended reading list for your perusal as well!

This story begins in 1775, with a German chemist and his experiments with arsenic. The resulting powerful green reached its height of popularity when worn by "Queen of Fashion", Empress Eugénie. It was printed on wallpaper by Morris & Co. and was a favourite of plein-air artists, such as Monet, Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh, keen to capture the freshness of nature. But a century later, it was rebranded as rat-poison.

In 1856 a chemistry student took home a school project to make synthetic quinine. He failed his home-work, but accidentally invented a vibrant purple dye. Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie wore dresses in the season’s must-have shade. Punch dubbed the craze: “the mauve measles”!

Scheele’s Green and Perkins’ Mauveine were forerunners of hundreds of synthetic dyes and pigments. You will hear fascinating stories – of serendipitous discoveries, industrial enterprise, and some very sinister secrets.

Optional reading

Ball, Philip, Bright Earth, The Invention of Colour, Vintage Books, London 2008

Bomford, David and Roy, Ashok, A Closer Look at Colour, National Gallery Co. Ltd. 2009

Delamare, François and Guineau, Bernard, Colour, Making and Using Dyes and Pigments, Thames and Hudson 1999

Finlay, Victoria, The Brilliant History of Colour in Art, Getty Publications 2014

Gage, John, Colour in Art, Thames and Hudson world of art, London 2006

St Clair, Kassia, The Secret Lives of Colour, John Murray Publishers 2016

Lynne Gibson BEd Hons, MA is a freelance lecturer in the History of Art as well as in practical Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. She has held posts at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol, where she introduced 'Understanding Art' to the Lifelong Learning programme. She gives talks, lectures, courses and guided tours for a wide range of organisations including ARCA colleges, Art Galleries and Museums, The Art Fund, The National Trust and The Arts Society.

She has worked as a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching. Her work has been exhibited widely and used in a range of publications.

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Image: Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle), 1889, oil on canvas, 92.7 x 73.7, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Christmas, yes, and a merry one. Perhaps you are expecting shepherds abiding in their fields - but you won't find that classic image here, more likely you will find Pooh and Tigger. This lecture is a celebration of E H Shepard; he loved Christmas. The lecture describes, in his own words, much of the magic and joy of successive festive seasons, from those of his own childhood to others throughout his long life. We see a range of artistic styles from full colour images to  pen-and-ink drawings on personal cards, with cartoons, drawings and watercolours, some featuring the iconic images from 'Wind in the Willows' (the snow in the Wild Wood..) and 'Winnie the Pooh'  (Pooh and Piglet from 'The House at Pooh Corner'). Many of the images have not been published for over fifty years!

James Campbell has an MA in the History of Art, and a particular interest in the work of the artist, illustrator and cartoonist E H Shepard (1879-1976). He has been lecturing for over twenty years, and has lectured across the UK and overseas to community groups, Literary Festivals, Art societies, military museums, and to private clubs and societies. His books Shepard’s War and The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh were published in 2015 and 2017 respectively. He is currently working on a joint biography of A A Milne and E H Shepard commissioned for the centenary of the Winnie-the-Pooh books.

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Image: © copyright The Shepard Trust - not to be reproduced​

Study Day

Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Tebaldi, Domingo - names that sing out across the last century! But was it all quiet behind the scenes in the Green Room? Maybe for these stars it was -  but maybe not. Certainly there has been rivalry between operatic stars over the centuries. We shall find out between whom in this lecture,  which looks  at Opera's greatest rivalries, spats and tiffs, ranging from the throw away remark to full in-public fighting. They certainly made for spicy history. Which individual or voice category might be the worst example? Are they an intrinsic part of opera? Whose fault are they? We shall hear and see examples of great singers from the past to the present.

Tim Mirfin is an opera singer. He has performed in all major European countries, Russia, US, Australia and the Middle East. He has given concerts in some of classical music’s most iconic venues, such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Bolshoi, the Wigmore, Festival and Albert Halls. He also teaches singing, gives masterclasses, lectures on opera and the voice and runs a local community choir.  He studied postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music and National Opera Studio, previously reading law at Cambridge. He is passionate both about opera as an art form and also about the sheer act of singing. He is keen to share peaks behind the curtain on both apparently mysterious activities.

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Image: Macbeth at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in St. Olaf's Castle, Savonlinna, Finland, in 2007 Displayed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0CC BY-SA 3.0

We have probably all visited Cornwall and marvelled at the rocky bays, surfers and fishing boats, so it will be a pleasure to 'see' the county through the eyes of Dr Helen Doe and her selection of paintings and artefacts.

Described as 'the most maritime of counties' Cornwall's centuries of fishing connections are more than just tin and fish. The lecture is an exploration of this through objects.

Helen Doe  is a Fellow of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter, where she gained her PhD. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the ss Great Britain. She has published extensively on 19th century sail, women in the maritime world, Brunel and his ships and in a departure from her usual maritime themes, she  has written two bestselling biographies of WW2 fighter aces. She has just written the official 200 year history of the RNLI, an important and absorbing commission. Her lecturing experience is wide and she is a speaker onboard all three Cunard ships. She has appeared on radio and television, and is a regular maritime expert for programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? She is based in Hampshire.

Image: The Three Masked Schooner by Joseph Edward Southall 

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The opening lecture of the 2024-25 season may provide further insight to the works of Bacon and Freud from our May 2024 lecture. Perhaps it should have been a precursor.

Walter Sickert (1860-1942) holds a special position in British Art as the link between two different ages. The student of both Whistler and Degas, Sickert went on to influence (at one remove)  many of the great figures of twentieth century painting from Bacon and Freud to Auerbach and Hockney. He was also a towering figure in his own right. His life was one of extraordinary richness: as a teenager, he acted with Henry Irving and helped Ellen Terry choose her costumes. He taught Aubrey Beardsley and Sir Winston Churchill how to paint (though not at the same time). He delighted Max Beerbohm with his wit and inspired Virginia Woolf with his paintings.

Matthew Sturgis

Matthew Sturgis is the author of acclaimed biographies of three of the great cultural figures of the late nineteenth century: Oscar Wilde, Walter Sickert and Aubrey Beardsley. (His biography of Oscar Wilde was shortlisted for the 2019 Wolfson History Prize.) He has also written a history of the English Decadence of the 1890s. A.N. Wilson - writing in the Times Literary Supplement - described him as ’the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had.’ His historical and cultural interests also led him to write a book - When In Rome - chronicling the history of how Rome has been visited, and the artworks tourists have admire there, over the millennia - from Classical and Medieval times, via the Renaissance and the Grand Tour, to our own era.​

Image: Ennui (1914) from Tate Britain. Photograph is in the  Public Domain

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As the world emerged from WWII and Christian Dior introduced his revolutionary ‘New Look’ in 1947, fashion illustration became pivotal to the success of a fashion industry that had struggled to survive the war years in Europe. Drawn by the masters of fashion illustration, their art dominated the front covers and pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar with their gloriously chic interpretations of the latest looks from the haute couture houses of Paris and London. Traditionally considered to be commercial art, this genre of art is now understood to be part of a lost school of Fine Art. Through this fascinating talk, discover the most influential names in post war fashion illustration, their differing approaches to documenting fashion for the stylish reader and why these remarkable fashion artists were the trendsetters of their time.

CONNIE GRAY, with a background in fashion and broadcasting, Connie Gray is a specialist in the history of 20th century fashion illustration and its powerful legacy with both the most influential fashion publications internationally and the great couture houses of Paris, London and New York. She is regularly invited to lecture both in the UK and the US and sits on advisory boards at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London and Special Collections at FIT, New York. As a curator and archivist, she works closely with institutions and foundations on acquisitions, conservation and exhibition projects. She has been invited to curate specialist exhibitions including most recently Legends Only at Claridge’s Hotel, London in 2022 and 100 Years of Fashion Illustration at The Society of Illustrators, New York. Other specialist exhibitions have included Cunard’s Transatlantic Fashion Cruise on their flagship ship Queen Mary 2 to celebrate London and New York fashion weeks. As the lead curator for the art gallery Gray M.C.A, she curates the acclaimed exhibition Drawing on Style each year that celebrates the masters of fashion illustration alongside running comprehensive lecture programmes that accompany the exhibitions in London and New York. During the Covid19 pandemic period she wrote and presented a series of on-line masterclasses, talks and short films on the subject of fashion illustration that regularly attracted audiences of over 800 people during each live event.

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The Nazis looted over 20% of Western Art during World War II, confiscating art from Jewish families and emptying museums throughout Europe. This lecture will provide an overview of Nazi looting by setting the scene in Nazi Germany, discussing Hitler’s obsession with art and how the Monuments Men recovered art after the war. Several landmark cases will be discussed in detail, including Gustav Klimt’s celebrated Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer and the stash of over 1200 artworks found in possession of the son of a notorious Nazi dealer, Cornelius Gurlitt.

Shauna Isaac, has been active in World War II art restitution for several years and has worked with families and government organisations to recover Nazi looted art. She set up the Central Registry on Looted Cultural Property and served as a member of the Working Group for the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague. Shauna studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art in the UK and Smith College in the USA. She is a regular lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Her publications include articles for The Art Newspaper, The Times Literary Supplement and Art Quarterly. She is a contributor to the book Insiders/Outsiders: Refuges from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British Visual Culture

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Two giants of British figure painting Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, this lecture is a celebration of the chaotic and the carnal, evoking the spirit of 1960s Soho nightlife. Fleshy models, furious drinking habits, fractious tempers and fabulous fame combine in the story of these artists, whose life-long competition had lasting impact on each other and the art world. If you like paint, passion and personality, this talk is for you. It features artworks exhibited at Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits, Royal Academy of Arts, 27th October 2019 - 26th January 2020.

Alice White, is an oil painter, Lecturer, and Tutor at Central St Martins College of Art and Design. She has Guest Lectured at Kings College London, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Her feature ‘How to Look at Painting’ was published in The Art Society Magazine (2020).  Her essay 'A Painter's Perspective' is published in the book ‘Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe’ (Alfred Cohen Art Foundation/ Ben Uri Gallery (2020).
Alice completed a year’s residency as ‘Artist for Animals’ at ZSL London Zoo. She regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries in London. Her ‘Portrait Painting Workshops’ received the Arts Society Patricia Fay Fund (2022/23). Her awards include ‘Outstanding Artwork in Oils’ from the Royal Society of Marine Artists, and the ‘Time Space Money’ Bursary from a-n The Artist Information Company/Arts Council England (2020).

 *Painting - Tribute by Michel Platnic to Francis Bacon

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This lecture looks at the process of producing a large and significant piece of public art, given by the artist herself.

Mary Branson, is best known for her large scale conceptual light sculptures and installations, particularly the iconic ‘New Dawn’ 2016 sculpture in the Houses of Parliament, which celebrates the centenary of the Suffrage movement and is the first permanent piece of contemporary abstract art in the Palace of Westminster.

She has created light and sound works for the London 2012 Olympics, Royal Holloway University and most recently ‘Harvest’ a huge site specific installation at Box Hill Surrey in collaboration with Surrey Hills and the National Trust, highlighting the plight of farmers facing climate change. 

At the beginning of 2019 Mary transformed Salisbury Cathedral into an ethereal construction site. 

She is an award-winning print maker, a choreographer for a number of performance and dance events, and a mentor and public speaker, having lately returned from a lecture tour to New York and Washington.  

Using familiar objects and materials, and experimenting with scale, light, colour and multiplicity, Branson wants to form new environments that are stimulating, playful, and questioning of the existing polemics concerning art and the space it inhabits. 

Branson enjoys the challenge of using landscape and architecture as a backdrop to site-determined pieces. She often works with teams of volunteers to help her realise her ambitious uses of scale and finds the shared ownership of the community as an important part of her artistic process. 

She has held a number of artistic residencies, including for Parliament, the British Council, Crisis and HM Prison service, where she led an art group for women life prisoners. 

As many of her installations are temporary, Mary’s projects can encompass elements of performance, photography, film and sound as forms of documentation. She also produces smaller scale works in glass and ceramics. 

Mary lives and works in Surrey. She received a first-class honours degree in Fine Art from the Surrey Institute in 2002, followed by an MA in Art and Space at Kingston University in 2004. 

Mary is currently working on a series of large-scale pieces for various locations around the UK.

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The glittering twelfth century illuminated manuscript Bible in Winchester Cathedral is at least an arguable candidate for the greatest work of art made in Britain. Its scale and quality of gilded decoration are astonishing. It is, however, still a very mysterious book, abandoned unfinished probably in the early 1170s. The lecture presents a new and unpublished explanation of who commissioned the manuscript and why, and it provides for the first time a datable chronology for the various artists brought to Winchester from across Europe, and it recounts how some of the illuminations are missing and might still be rediscovered. 

Christopher de Hamel, “Immerse yourself in the medieval world of Christopher de Hamel” (Sir David Attenborough’s advice on life, quoted in The Evening Standard on his 90th birthday). Christopher de Hamel, FSA, is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He has doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge. He was a director of Sotheby’s for 25 years, responsible for illuminated manuscripts, and then librarian of the Parker Library in Cambridge for 17 years. His very many books on medieval manuscripts include the best-selling Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, which won the Wolfson History Prize. He is widely known as a lecturer across six continents.

This is a Study Day CLOSED.

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In Greek legend Pandora was created with the express purpose of causing trouble to men which, by opening her box, she achieved. This lecture will look at the original sources for the story and show how My Fair Lady, The Winter's Tale and Educating Rita are among the works that developed the theme.

Mary Sharp, is an experienced broadcaster and teacher with particular expertise in literature and drama. She worked for many years for BBC Radio 4 producing some of its most popular programmes including Start the Week and Woman’s Hour before joining the senior management team as a Commissioning Editor. Mary has subsequently worked as a teacher and Director of Sixth Form at a leading girls’ grammar school. She now runs her own company 'Opening Up Literature' which offers literature courses for adults including studies of Shakespeare and Creative Writing. Her most popular course is 'Telling Tales’ Which explores how writers and artists have reinvented classical stories. She is also a professional bridge teacher and lecturer.  

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This lecture considers the influence of the art from the Low Countries on Italian Renaissance art.  Generally considered a one-sided cultural exchange from the South to the North, this talk demonstrates the significance of Flemish art for its innovations in the medium of oil, landscape painting and portraiture. Focusing on the example of Florence, the impact of Netherlandish art is considered from the perspective of the Medici and leading patrons together with painters including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Leonardo.  The extent to which Flemish art was valued, economically and aesthetically, is underlined by its frequent appearance in household inventories and the stylistic changes adopted by Florentine artists to satisfy the increasing demand.

James Lindow gained the first ever Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is the author of the book, ‘The Renaissance Palace in Florence: Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth Century Italy’. 

He has been a research consultant for the BBC and Associate Lecturer at the University of the Arts, London. He has won three research awards and scholarships – in the UK, Italy and the US. 

As well as presenting at international conferences and lecturing extensively in the UK, Europe and the US, he is a speaker for several leading arts societies, including The Art Fund and The Arts Society.

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To begin our seasonal celebrations, musician and broadcaster Sandy Burnett is on hand to share his selection of much-loved Christmas tunes. Expect an hour of the finest festive music from across the globe – his selections include sparking moments from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, a heartwarming ballad from Mel Tormé, something from Soweto, a heavenly chorus from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Leipzig, an illustration of the English carol tradition at its finest - and something more cynical from Eartha Kitt.

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, for ACE Cultural Tours he devises and leads cultural holidays at home in the UK and all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season. During lockdown he established an online Listening Club which meets weekly to listen to and discuss great works of classical music.
Sandy, is a wide-ranging musician who works as bassist, broadcaster and music commentator: his online classical music Listening Club continues in January: www.sandyburnett.com/listeningclub

Bassist, broadcaster and music commentator, Sandy Burnett’s online classical music Listening Club continues in January: www.sandyburnett.com/listeningclub

Bassist and broadcaster Sandy Burnett’s online classical music Listening Club resumes in January: www.sandyburnett.com/listeningclub

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There's more to the world of street art than Banksy, Hidden Canvases is a beginner's guide to the biggest art movement since pop art.  From train writing in New York to interactive technology that brings murals to life, the concept of un-commissioned public art is a very different beast to that which it once was.  Hidden Canvases explores the key stages in street art's growth examining the different elements and styles that comprise the scene with no rules.  From the international superstars to the local underground heroes you're guaranteed to leave knowing your Invader from you Aryz and who knows you might even start looking at the world a little differently.

Doug Gillen is heavily involved in documenting the street art scene in London and abroad through his project Fifth Wall TV, and can offer a genuine insight into this world. Having previously lectured for London Art and More, when not filming, he is also an East End tour guide for Alternative London, specialising in culture and art.

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Many art historians and critics have compared the work of Stubbs to that of Leonardo da Vinci, one even christening him the ‘Leonardo of Liverpool’ to reflect his humble origins as the son of a Liverpool leatherworker. The comparison can seem hubristic until one considers the scientific method and investigation that lay behind the production by Stubbs of his world-famous Anatomy of the Horse published in 1766 – a work which revolutionised the understanding and depiction of equine subjects.

This lecture looks at the life and work of this country’s greatest animal painter, putting Stubbs in the context of British sporting artists of the eighteenth century more generally. It focusses on his depiction of equestrian subjects such as the National Gallery’s famous Whistlejacket but also looks at the broader themes he addressed.

Christopher Garibaldi is an Independent Researcher. 2010–2019 Director of Palace House, Newmarket (National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art: www.palacehousenewmarket.co.uk). 2008–2010 Co-Director of the Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections. 1998–2003 Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum: co-curator of Flower Power – The Meaning of Flowers in Art and Eat, Drink and Be Merry, the British at Table 1600 to 2000. 1994–1997 Catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residences.

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The past decade has seen the meteoric rise of this extraordinarily versatile British designer with his acclaimed Olympic cauldron, the iconic new London bus, and designs for a spectacular new headquarters building for Google. Over the past twenty years the Heatherwick Studio has used an intriguing combination of curiosity and experimentation to produce a vast range of solutions to design challenges around the world. 

This lecture looks at the problems presented, and the wonderfully creative ways in which Heatherwick and his team have responded.

Ian Swankie, a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery, and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is a qualified freelance London guide and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars.

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Bandstands are a distinctive feature of public parks and seaside promenades all over Britain. But what do we actually know about them? Why did they appear in our earliest parks? When were they erected, and who made them? 

This lecture explores and provides answers to these questions, showing how the bandstand evolved from the buildings and ‘orchestras’ of the early Pleasure Gardens of the eighteenth century, and how they appeared in nearly every public park and seaside promenade of the time, and how its design was influenced by the great landscape designers, and importantly how a very small number of Scottish foundries cornered the market across the world, from Bradford to Brazil and Aberdeen to Australia. From parks, seaside resorts and civic spaces, bandstands have appeared and disappeared - but are once again re-appearing, being restored and enjoying a new lease of life. This lecture will appeal to those interested in architecture, design and social history. 

Paul Rabbitts, graduated at Sheffield with a BA Honours in Geography followed by a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh. He is a qualified landscape architect and celebrated park manager and has worked for several local authorities across the UK, currently Head of Parks, Heritage and Culture at Watford. He is a passionate advocate for public parks and in particular, the Victorian and Edwardian bandstand and is a prolific author on the subject.

His first of now 25 books was published in 2011 on the iconic bandstand and was followed rapidly by books on the Royal Parks, Great British Parks and ‘Parkitecture’, Grinling Gibbons and Sir Christopher Wren. The first full biography of Decimus Burton, gentleman architect, was published in December.  Paul is a UK leading expert on bandstands, he has been asked to assist in localised restoration projects nationwide and has been a regular and popular speaker on bandstands and public parks for many years.

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‘Where’er my footsteps turned her voice was like a hidden bird that sang'. 

From The Recluse, by William Wordsworth

Often thought of merely as sister to a more famous sibling, Dorothy Wordsworth deserves to be remembered in her own right.  

Although she never actively sought publication, she was a talented writer, who responded with sensitivity and precision to the world around her; her observations of the natural world and the people in it were appreciated by not only her brother William, but also their great friend and fellow Romantic, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

This lecture will explore not only Dorothy’s life but will focus on her key contribution to English Romantic literature; the journal she wrote whilst living at Dove Cottage in Grasmere.  It is a fascinating record of the place and its people, and of daily life in the early 19th century.  It also shows how much Dorothy influenced and inspired Wordsworth’s poetry and gives a unique insight into the makings of great literature. 

Annalie Talent, has spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including those at the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere (where she lived opposite Dove Cottage), Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire, and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. 

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An introduction to the beliefs and philosophy of Hinduism, the oldest religion in the world. Our understanding of Hinduism comes not only from the sacred ancient texts but also from the impressive sculptures and carvings of Hindu temples created over a period of more than 1,500 years.  The first part of the evening’s programme looks at the ancient myths through the portrayals of a myriad of gods and goddesses and explains why these beautiful sculptures are central to Hindu worship, reflection and celebration.

Georgina Bexon, is an art historian, lecturer, writer & art advisor specialising in the modern & contemporary art of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.

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In 1936 Dame Laura Knight became the first woman to be elected as a full member of the Royal Academy in London, 168 years after its establishment.  In her extraordinary career she painted landscapes, portraits, and seascapes, as well as scenes from the circus, the ballet, and the theatre.  She was the only woman to be given War Commissions in both the First and Second World Wars and the only British artist to cover the Nuremberg Trials of 1946.  This lecture provides an overview of her fascinating career and some of the remarkable achievements of her long life. 

Rosalind Whyte 

BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. Experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. Lectures at Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises. Leads art appreciation holidays.

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Marriage in Renaissance Italy was anything but a love match.  Indeed, these were dynastic unions intended to strengthen family ties.  Often commissioned by the groom and carried aloft through the city streets, this lecture looks at the rich decoration of furniture intended as part of the marriage dowry.  These exquisite chests or cassone were often illustrated with improving or historical images for the benefit of the newly married couple.

Anna Warrillow

Anna graduated as a Blue Badge Guide early in 2013 and won an award for the best new guide at Westminster Abbey. Since she has been conducting bespoke private tours for visitors to London. 

Her background and passion are Art & History, she studied for a BA in History of Art & Italian at the University of Sussex and an MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design at the Royal College of Art. 

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How was Napoleon such an excellent self-promoter? What was it that drove him? What on the other hand drove his wife? This year 2021 it will be 200 years since Napoleon’s death; yet after all this time what is it that makes them one of the most followed couples in history.

These questions can be answered giving a true insight into their character by exploring the collections at the Chateau de Malmaison. The Estate, which was bought by the couple as their private country retreat, away from the Pomp and Ceremony of the Official residences was made into a National Museum in 1905 amassing a huge collection of their possessions. Paintings, personal objects, complete room layouts, and some magnificent pieces of porcelain are just some of the things on display.

 Carole Petipher

Carole is an experienced guide lecturer in and around Paris and was often to be found on a converted barge on the Rivers Seine and Oise.  She uses art in all its guises to explore the characters who shaped nineteenth century France.  For this lecture she has researched individual items housed at Chateau de Malmaison and uses them to delve behind the scenes to discover hidden truths about Napoleon and Josephine

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More correctly called ‘foliate heads’, there was a proliferation of Green Man images around the middle of the C14th. The lecture discusses how the image may have evolved from pagan and Classical times and what its purpose may have been. Although they may originally have been connected to ancient fertility rites, the majority show either distorted or very mature faces which seems to contradict the notion that they were associated with May Day frolicking’s. It may be that we can learn more about its meaning if we take into account the historical events of the time and their effect on the nation’s imagination.

Imogen Corrigan

After nearly 20 years in the British army, went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham. Works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land. Has written Stone on Stone: 

The Men Who Built the Cathedrals, 

published 2019. A Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators.

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Mexico has a vast range of vibrant and colourful festivals. While some commemorate national events, the majority are religious in inspiration. These draw on the Christian legacy of colonial rule. After the Spanish Conquest of 1521, priests used theatrical representation as a method of instruction. Lavish and extremely costly, Mexican festivals are often preceded by extensive preparations. These include seasonal markets; the preparation of elaborate foodstuffs; the creation of floral archways and pathways of dyed sawdust; music; fireworks, and the construction of a Castillo (literally ‘castle’). Importantly, many fiestas still feature dances with richly embellished costumes and masks.

Today the Christmas story is acted out in towns and villages. In some regions adults and children take the roles of shepherds and shepherdesses, hermits, and devils. Many families display nativity scenes in their homes. The British Museum has a large collection of nativity scenes in different media: one nativity scene is even modelled in marzipan. 

Other celebrations include Carnival and Saints' Days. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico and an important symbol of national identity; she has her day on 12 December. Chloë Sayer's book 'Fiesta' was commissioned and published by the British Museum in 2009 to coincide with a major exhibition about the Aztec ruler Moctezuma.

Chloë Sayer

Chloë is a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. Her many books include MEXICAN TEXTILES (British Museum Press, 1990), THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF MEXICO (Thames & Hudson, 1990), FOCUS ON AZTECS AND INCAS (Watts Books, 1995), THE INCAS (Wayland, 1998), 

The Spanish Golden Age

Jacqueline Cockburn

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From the early sixties, when he left the Royal College of Art more famous than his teachers, Hockney's paintings have shown a charm and humour that sets them apart from others of his generation. A naturally gifted draftsman, his love of ingenious visual devices has led him to experiment with a whole range of techniques, from stage design to coloured paper making. From the early abstract expressionist images, through his famous Californian scenes of swimming pools to the photomontages of the mid-eighties, this lecture follows the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered.

Douglas Skeggs

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. He was the director of ‘The New Academy of Art Studies’ for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at ‘The Study Centre’, ‘Christie’s’ course ‘The History of Art Studies’ and other London courses. He helped set up the Abercrombie & Kent “Private Label tours” and is presently cultural adviser to Ultimate travel. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on ‘Whistler’ and the exhibition video on ‘William Morris. He is also a painter and author.

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Agatha Christie is undoubtedly the world’s greatest crime writer; her books sell over four million copies worldwide every year and there is a continual demand for new adaptations to be made of her work. She led a sheltered and privileged life in her native Torquay which was not dissimilar to the characters she invented. She was brought up in the comfort of upper middle-class society and she too had mystery in her life. To find out more about this remarkable author who created Poirot and Miss Marple book this biographical talk. It will surprise and enlighten you about how she developed her talent for writing having never attended a proper school

Jane Tapley

Currently Special Events Organiser, Theatre Royal Bath. Interviews visiting actors, writers, directors. Lectures regularly to theatre going societies, NT and history and fine arts groups. West Country Tourist Board Registered Blue Badge Guide and Lecturer. Author and researcher of theatre programme notes on Hamlet, Sheridan's The Rivals and Jane Austen's Emma. Theatrical landlady! Home Economist. Consultant to various TV productions of Jane Austen adaptations on food in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hosts and cooks period meals in her Regency house in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and other literary groups.

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In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp. The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus.

Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

Gavin Plumley

A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks include the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is published in June 2022. 

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In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis 1 meet to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and celebrate the betrothal of Henry’s daughter Mary to the Dauphin. The two handsome ‘Renaissance Princes’ are in their 20’s with similar reputations in military prowess, sport and patrons of the arts. Both have imperial ambitions and are eager to display themselves as the magnificent nobleman and warrior kings. Each brings an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of various events and entertainments staged to display the skill and splendour of each King and country. 

The logistics of transporting, accommodating, ordering, feeding and watering, protecting and entertaining the English contingent for this spectacular event is staggering and the supply chain, often through the City of London Guilds, is equally fascinating. 

3,217 horses shipped across the ‘Narrow Sea’ to Calais; a vast quantity of wood sourced from Flanders and floated along the coast; a huge temporary palace is built on stone foundations with brick and timber-framed walls reaching to 40 feet. Royal palaces were virtually emptied of their silver, gold, tapestries and furniture to decorate the temporary palace, other principal tents and a chapel (with an organ); gold and silver cloth, velvet and sables, jewels and pearls were imported to ‘dress and impress’. How was it all achieved? 2020 is the 500th Anniversary of this extraordinary event.

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If you think of St Pancras International or New York Grand Central you imagine long romantic journeys. You know they are special places promising excitement and adventure. But there are dozens of other glorious stations in the UK and abroad. We will take a journey around some of the most evocative and splendid stations in the world. We will look not only at the magnificence of the architecture and the brilliant engineering but will discover numerous artworks within the stations and examine many depictions of stations in art – like Claude Monet’s Gare St Lazare or William Powell Frith’s Paddington. It may sound a bit anoraky, but it’s definitely not. It’s lavish, colourful and fun.

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The extraordinary story of the rebuilding of the Cathedral as a symbol of peace and reconciliation and its inspiring commitment to the modern. Experience the work of many of the world - class artists associated with its treasures including Epstein, Frink, Piper and Sutherland.

MS ALEXANDRA EPPS

Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. Pallant House Gallery Lecturer. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015). Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing.

Devastation, 1941: An East End Street Graham Sutherland 1941

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James Gillray may well be the greatest political cartoonist who ever lived.  He did not invent the art of caricature, but in his hands, it became a highly sophisticated and inventive aspect of the visual culture of his day.  The breathtaking audacity and sheer rudeness of his work still have the power to make people laugh out loud, and has ensured that his images retain freshness and vivacity which present-day satirists still revere.  Through his work, we can get a glimpse of the riotous society in which he lived, and see how the larger-than-life public figures and political personalities of the times were viewed by this master of disrespect.

Linda Smith is a well-qualified art historian with a broad range of knowledge, and a special interest in British art, and the art of the twentieth century.

 She gives illustrated talks, presentations and study days on a variety of art-historical topics, and has taken on various types of assignment at a wide range of venues, including public galleries, secondary schools, universities, and private arts societies in the UK and overseas.  She is an accredited Arts Society lecturer, and an experienced gallery guide, especially at Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, where she works as a Guide and Lecturer.

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Raphael died in Rome on Good Friday, 1520, aged only 37. The Pope, his most prestigious patron, was devastated and earth tremors were felt around the city. He was buried in the Pantheon – Rome’s most important classical building – a fitting tribute to an artist who rivalled the greatness of the Ancients. (He was also charming, handsome and polite – which couldn’t be said for all Renaissance polymaths.) This lecture looks at his short, but an astonishing career as painter, architect, administrator and superb draughtsman and considers his lasting influence on subsequent artists. 

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For the series Downton Abbey, Andrew was commissioned to produce many jewels for the main characters, and this inspired him to create a talk based on Downton and the changing styles of the time portrayed.

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case. In his talk, Andrew guides you through the extraordinary periods and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great fashion houses collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce works of art of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this, he discusses the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and how they were worn with the sumptuous gowns.

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Was Joseph Wright of Derby Britain’s answer to Caravaggio? He was a painter of light: candlelight, moonlight and fire. But he also painted another kind of light, the light of knowledge. 

His magical, near-photographic works give us an insight into a unique period of time: the British enlightenment. Wright of Derby painted a society on the brink of change, when a shift was taking place between religious ways of thinking, to a more ‘scientific’ approach. His work raises poignant questions about ethics, morality and man’s power over life and death.

Once again, you are invited to join Stuart Harvey for another virtual visit, on this occasion to the Borghese Gallery, Rome. 

The Borghese Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of art in the world. In the early 1600's Cardinal Scipio Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, amassed an incredible number of ancient sculptures and renaissance art, including works by Titian, Botticelli, and Raphael. He added to these works by commissioning statues from Bernini, buying up works by Caravaggio and other contemporary artists of the day. The collection also boasts later artworks acquired by the Borghese family, all gathered together in a magnificent building designed for Cardinal Scipio to house his collection.

Stuart Harvey is a private freelance Tourist Guide of Rome and the Vatican, fully qualified by the Provincia di Roma.  He was a London Blue Badge Guide before moving to Rome 20 years ago.

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Using illustrations from illuminated manuscripts, readings from literature and contemporary accounts, and the haunting songs and lively dance tunes of medieval England, Sarah brings alive the spirit of a Medieval Christmas, a time of joy and celebration for some, but hardship and suffering for others. With extracts from literature and manorial household accounts, she pieces together a life in a medieval manor house at Yuletide. In addition to her reproduction medieval harps, she adds the plucked psaltery, hurdy-gurdy, hammered dulcimer, and gemshorn to the musical mix, performing carols, music and readings for an atmospheric and musical seasonal celebration.

Sarah Deere Jones

Sarah is a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music and in 2015 was elected an Associate. She performs, writes and lectures about the harp regularly in America, Australia, Europe and the UK.

How did the British view themselves and their subjects in the era of imperialism? How did imperial subjects view the British? This Study Day considers these questions by exploring a range of images, buildings, objects and art forms from across the British Empire. Beginning with a broad view of the empire and imperial art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we will go on to focus more closely on imperial India. We will consider the arts and architecture of the vibrant capital city of Calcutta, the ‘second city’ of the British Empire throughout the nineteenth century. We will then take a detailed look at the life and art of one of India’s cultural giants, Rabindranath Tagore.

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Charles John Huffam Dickens brought into the world a staggering array of wonderful characters with orphans, starving children, misers, murderers and abusive school teachers among them. 

People such as Mr Micawber, Fagin and Abel Magwitch remain in one’s literary psyche long after the books are put down. 

Largely self-educated, Dickens possessed the genius to become the greatest writer of his age with fifteen major novels and countless short stories and articles. 

In this lecture, Bertie Pearce looks at the life and places of Dickens through his characters. The talk is interspersed with readings of his works. A truly Dickensian experience.

MR BERTIE PEARCE

Has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. A member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. Past experience includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges. In addition, has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one-man show entitled All Aboard. Has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre. Website  www.bertiepearce.com

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As unlike in background and temperament as their paintings were in style, these two creative geniuses transformed the art of landscape. This lecture/study day sets them head-to-head and examines their differences, their similarities, their battles and their shared triumphs. But who will ultimately be crowned star painter? As well as giving an overview of Turner and Constable, the subject provides an enjoyable overview of the British art world during the nineteenth century. 

MS NICOLA MOORBY

An independent art historian specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She studied at the University of York and Birkbeck College, London. Formerly a curator at Tate Britain she has curated a number of exhibitions and has published widely on J.M.W. Turner, including contributions to the forthcoming online catalogue of the Turner Bequest. She is also co-editor and author of How to Paint Like Turner (Tate Publishing, 2010). In addition, she has published on Walter Richard Sickert and is co-author of Tate's catalogue of works by the Camden Town Group.

This new and vibrant tour tells the story of the East End and its incredible transformation.

Stonehenge is the most celebrated and sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the British Isles. This lecture explains why Stonehenge must be regarded as architectural in its layout and construction, embodying  techniques that for centuries convinced antiquarians that it could not have been built by ‘primitive’ ancient Britons but must be a product of ‘sophisticated’ Romans.

We then explore how, over the last two centuries, this iconic structure has inspired painters, potters and poets. Blake, Turner, Constable and Moore are amongst those who have all been drawn to this magnificent ruin, resulting in a diverse catalogue of images and impressions. Finally, we will look at Stonehenge as a global icon and how it’s instantly recognisable stones now grace tea towels in Wiltshire, phone cards in Japan and stamps from Bhutan.

In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. 

This talk looks at how to apply these principles in designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting. However, it goes further than this and looks at how contemporary work of the likes of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

MR TIMOTHY WALKER

Since 1986 I have given 1,500 public lectures. This was originally part of my work as director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1988 to 2014. Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Since 2014 I have been a college lecturer and tutor at Somerville College Oxford. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms. My lectures investigate this relationship. https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/people/timothy-walker/

Discover the wealth of modern and contemporary public art in the unique square mile of the City of London, creations ranging from the handcrafted to the high tech. The artists; their techniques, lives and influences, plus the history of the fascinating streets where their work can be found.

MS ALEXANDRA EPPS

Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. Pallant House Gallery Lecturer. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015). Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing. https://www.artcity.co.uk/about.php

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Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31st 2016 at the age of 65.  
Architectural historians of the future will surely recognise her as one of the important architects of the early 21st century.  She was born in Iraq and her reputation was global but she made Britain her home.  

This lecture tells the story of her career from the visionary projects of the 1980s, though the years of frustration when her designs were considered unbuildable, to the prolific crop of successful projects built all over the world in the last decade of her life.

PROFESSOR COLIN DAVIES

Prof of Architectural Theory. Former editor Architects Journal and contrib to mags worldwide. Books: Thinking About Architecture, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century,The Prefab Home, High Tech Architecture, A New History of Modern Architecture (published by Laurence King) and monographs on work of Foster, Hopkins, Grimshaw. www.crowstep.co.uk

Artemisia Gentileschi was a baroque Italian painter of the seventeenth century and one of the most accomplished following the death of Caravaggio. She was a rarity in that she was one of only a few women painters. Born in 1593, her father was the artist Orazio Gentileschi. Chantal showed us paintings by each of them side by side. In some cases, they painted similar subjects but used different techniques. Artemisia’s subjects were mostly savage. One of her most famous paintings is Judith slaying Holofernes – a gruesome beheading. This is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and it forms part of the group of subjects art critics have called the ‘Power of Women’ which show women triumphing over men. She used rich colours to paint sumptuous robes which were very striking. Artemisia painted voluptuous women and used herself as the model for many of her paintings. Susanna and the Elders and Judith and her Maidservant are well-known paintings of the same period.

She moved between Rome, Florence, Naples and London. Her work reflects the different tastes of these cities. She was the first woman to become a member of The Academia d’Arte del Designo in Florence and had an international clientele. it is thought she died in the Plague that swept Naples in 1656.

At the turn of the last century Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic laboratories in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oscar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffman, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

This lecture looks at these and other figures in the context of the society in which they worked and asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900.

Lecturer Gavin Plumley

A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks include the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York, as well as for history of art societies and The Art Fund. To read an Arts Society article featuring Gavin click here

Study Day

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The question of fake decorative art has been in vogue for hundreds of years, however, increasingly sophisticated methods are being used by criminals to generate vast profits. This lecture reveals actual case studies, demonstrating the lengths forgers will go to, in passing off works as legitimate. Skilled forgers capable of imitating well-known artists have provided the ability to dupe many at the highest level within the art market.

Experts have estimated that a high percentage of all works within the art market are fake. These scams ultimately inflict considerable damage to collectors and the trade.

Malcolm Kenwood is a former specialist police detective, investigating art and antique crime. Upon his retirement, he directed lectures to educate Law Enforcement officers to combat art crime, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Unit at New Scotland Yard in London. Also, he was the Recoveries Director for the Art Loss Registewho operates an international commercial database of stolen cultural property. He has lectured to police conferences, customs officers, auction house staff, museum employees, Interpol, the FBI and specialist interest groups.

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Kahlo’s paintings offer a stunning visual record of the life of one of the 20th century’s most gifted and original artists. Born in Mexico City in 1907, just three years before the Revolution, her works reflect a deep pride in the rich cultural heritage of her homeland, from its vibrant colours and decorative costumes to its indigenous mythological and religious traditions. But it is the self-portraits which remain her most striking and memorable body of work: not simply a record of her physical likeness, but also a vehicle for exploring the dramatic and often poignant events of her life as well as her family, her emotions, her body and her political sympathies.

Our lecture traces Frida’s life and works exploring themes of nationalism, proto-feminism, auto-biography and surrealism in these powerful and often moving images.

Biography

Lecturer at the National Gallery and Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th-century Italian painting, Spanish art and architecture, and the relationship between dance and art. Has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice 

The Nutcracker has delighted audiences at Christmas for many decades yet it was deemed a failure at its first performances.  We take a close look at how this well-loved ballet now takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky along with story-telling, design and dance all come together to make the most magical escape for young and old alike. Includes several performance video clips.

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Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption were the Borgias so bad? This sumptuously illustrated lecture reveals the real story of the family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the wily, charismatic, womaniser, Pope Alexander,  (above), his sociopathic son, Cesare, cardinal, general and the model for  “The Prince” by Machiavelli, himself a character in their story, and his adored daughter, Lucrezia who moves from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city of Ferrara. Sometimes the truth is more intoxicating than the myth. 

Sarah Dunant is a historian, broadcaster and novelist who has written, among other works on the Italian renaissance, a two-part novel on the Borgia family, 'Blood and Beauty': published in 2013. 'In the Name of the Family': published in March 2017

(Pinturicchio: Portrait of Alexander VI) 

One of the most extraordinary Spanish artists from Valencia; Joaquín Sorolla has become better known more recently. He lived from 1863 to 1923 and created a world full of light and colour which delights the senses. Sometimes a social painter he was more concerned with capturing light falling on bodies and sea-scapes and his wonderful technique will be considered in this colourful lecture. His final 'Visions of Spain', now in New York will also be shown.

British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960s. Young, talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Lewis Morley, Tony Ray­Jones and Jane Bown.

Brian Stater

His chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history and he combines all three in his lecturing career. He has taught at University College London, since 1997 and became an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society in 2003. He is a member of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography and an exhibition of his own photographs has been staged at UCL. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the skills of some great photographers of the past, he has begun to work with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

As his work makes abundantly clear, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) remained deeply loyal to his humble Russian-Jewish origins. Yet he also wished his art to have a universal appeal – which, judging by its popularity, it undoubtedly achieved. This lecture will trace his long, chequered and colourful career, giving particular emphasis to the creative tensions produced by the very different cultural and artistic environments in which he found himself: starting with his hometown of Vitebsk (up to 1906), then St.Petersburg (1906-10), Paris (1910-14), Revolutionary Russia (1914-22), Berlin (1922-3), Paris (again, 1923-40), America during World War Two, and back to France in 1948.

How did one tiny chapel in Padua, Italy change the entire course of Art History?
The frescoes covering the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel are now celebrated as the pearl of the Early Renaissance. Commissioned by the wealthy Enrico Scrovegni to atone for his sins of money-lending, Giotto’s chapel is a masterpiece of storytelling and human emotion. 

Devils, grief, love and vice adorn the opulent walls, as well as one of the earliest representations of a kiss in art. This talk will explore the frescoes and discover why they are considered a milestone in the development of Western Art.

The Medici were in many ways an unattractive family. Ruthless in pursuit of profit for their Florentine bank, which had branches in every city of the known world, they were greedy for success, merciless to those who opposed their ambition and vicious in their own internal squabbles. And yet without them, we wouldn’t have Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”, the Fra Angelico frescoes in San Marco, Donatello’s “David” or the majestic Michelangelo sculptures in the Medici chapel. The Platonic Academy wouldn’t have been founded and the doors for the Baptistry would never have been cast.

This Study Day, composed of three talks, looks into the turbulent history of this extraordinary family.

 1: Bankrolling the Renaissance

Under the guidance of Cosimo Medici, the family became the unofficial rulers of Florence and leading patrons of the arts. This inevitably aroused fierce jealousies, which boiled over in the attempted assassination of Cosimo’s grandson Lorenzo.

2: Popes and Patrons

 With Florence gripped by the apocalyptic preaching of Savonarola, the Medici were exiled from Florence. But they re-emerged triumphantly as Popes in Rome. Here their decadent and eccentric rule led to the Sack of Rome and ultimately opened the door to Luther’s Reformation of the Church.

3: From Riches to Royalty

Although the Medici were a spent force in Italy, an ingenious marriage had put Catherine de Medici on the throne of France, to be followed, shortly afterwards, by Marie de Medici. This last talk looks at the impact these two formidable queens had on the shape of French history. 

Cinematic images are modern art forms. In the ‘golden age’ of cinema – before the development of CGI technology – film-makers had to construct sets to represent landscapes, townscapes, and interiors. Sometimes they used paintings and photographs, sometimes they built scale models, sometimes they constructed full-size replicas. In each case, they created an art installation they then captured in celluloid images.

Drawing on new insights from the archaeology of cinema, this lecture will use the films of renowned British director David Lean to explore the art of cinema. How do the ‘artists’ – in this case, formed of large collaborative teams (directors, screenwriters, production designers, costume designers, camera crews, fixers, etc) – choose locations, construct sets, dress actors, and, more generally, ‘imagine’ the world they seek to represent? How much is authentic, and how much preconception and prejudice? What are the influences on the way the cinema depicts the world?

Hopper was a painter of loneliness and melancholy; from solitary figures in offices, motel rooms and diners, to deserted towns. He portrayed a changing America and the isolation of the individual in the modern city. His works are visually stunning; characterised by striking colours, cinematic and cropped compositions which heighten tension. Flooded with light, his paintings expose detached figures and create a mood of eerie uneasiness. This talk considers some of his most arresting works, including ‘The Nighthawks’, ‘Gas’ and ‘Automat’.

Sandy Burnett’s close relationship with Bach’s music stretches back for decades; between 1997 and 2010 he directed a complete cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas in West London. In this illustrated talk he explores how Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig. Starting with an overview of Bach’s life and achievement, Sandy moves on to an examination of this magnificent work which draws on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale, and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses. In short, it harnesses the power of music and deploys it in the service of God.

First lecture: China and the East

Second lecture: Central Asia

Third lecture: The Levant and Near East

The Silk Road is the greatest trade route the world has ever known. As well as carrying precious goods, it was also the highway for expanding religions and new art forms.

The Silk Road extended over 8,000 km from China through Central Asia to the Mediterranean.  With the Greek invasion of Alexander the Great, early Persian routes spread East towards India, until stability finally allowed the Chinese to trade silk, jade and ceramics in exchange for horses, pearls and gold.  Silk was just one of the many products traded for 1,400 years, but the route also acted as a highway for beliefs, ideas, inventions and art.  Buddhism spread throughout Western China and there are wonderful paintings from the Magao caves at Dunhuang and the ‘Caves of the Thousand Buddhas at Bezeklik in the Flaming Mountains.  

Central Asia was the main link with the West where many trading cities became wealthy and important centres for the arts.  Samarkand and Bukhara are the beginnings of the great Islamic buildings that continue through Persia and Syria.  The Roman Empire was the destination of silk and all other commodities which eventually arrived at the Mediterranean coast.  

Along the way of this great journey, we will see traditional murals, ceramics, statues,carpets, architecture, mosaics, tile-work, rock-carvings and of course, silk itself.

Widely known for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire, Grayson Perry is now a core part of the art establishment. A Turner Prize winner, Royal Academician, a popular broadcaster and colourful character. He’s possibly one of the world’s best known contemporary artists. His works of ceramics, textiles, tapestries and prints are highly sought after. Often controversial, he tackles difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty way and holds a mirror up to society. This talk will examine Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks.

In 1877 Whistler sued the great Victorian critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket. Whistler famously conducted his own case against the art advocated by Ruskin. The jury’s result marks an important landmark in the history of art.

Portraits provide a fascinating insight into the changing styles of dress over the centuries. This lecture follows the different fashions as revealed in paintings, looking at dress and accessories, and some of the more ridiculous styles of fashion from the 16th century to the 19th century. It focuses particularly on fashion in England but looks also at some contrasting Continental fashions.  In times when Sumptuary Laws prescribed what you could wear, according to your status in society, fashion was much less of a personal choice and more a reflection of social standing.  The colour of your clothing or a plunging neckline could mark you out as belonging to a particular class.  Whilst the ordinary working folk might have longed for a wardrobe full of reds, purples and golds (or, indeed, for a wardrobe at all!), their ‘superiors’ may well have envied them their ability to move freely in their clothes, without the restrictions of ruffs, stuffed sleeves, enormous petticoats, or headdresses the size of small animals …. sometimes also containing small animals! Have fun exploring the wildest extremes of fashion through the ages.

 Mr Punch – the most famous puppet character of all time. His comic irreverence gave “Punch” magazine its title. His anarchic vitality has inspired opera, ballet and punk rock and his enduring popularity has seen his likeness on goods ranging from Victorian silverware to computer video games. Appearing in England in 1662, Punch is descended from the Italian Clown Pulcinella of the 15th Century Commedia dell’Arte tradition. Even today This Lord of Misrule uses his slapstick to dispense with oppressive authority, be it politicians, political Correctness or the devil, while proclaiming his notorious refrain; “That’s the way to do it!” 

The hand has been an underestimated but nevertheless central component of visual art. Leonardo stated that the hand could be as expressive as the face and acknowledged that the structure and function of the hand was the organ through which an artist expresses himself. His remarkably accurate drawings of the six layers of the anatomy of the hand are a testament to his pursuit of detail. He used this knowledge in the narrative of the Last Supper. In Leonardo’s version of the 'Vitruvian Man', the hand is used as the unit of measurement to demonstrate the concept of divine proportion.  This talk reviews the way in which Leonardo investigated the form and function of the hand. His paintings and narrative art are reviewed to demonstrate how he used this knowledge to depict the hand as a form of expression.

A detailed account of perhaps Forbes’s most famous painting, shown at the Royal Academy in 1885 and one of the first major canvases of what was to become known as the Newlyn School. Forbes’s working practice will be described and the generally accepted notion of the painting’s apparent realism will be challenged. This lecture is based on a dissertation which was short-listed for the Association of Art Historians’ Student Prize. 

Image: Stanhope Forbes, A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach, 1885, Plymouth City Art Gallery 

An introduction to the earliest art known in the world, primarily the artworks from western Europe and dating to c. 40,000 to 12,000 years ago - it takes the form of portable art objects, and engravings, drawings and paintings on cave walls and in the open air. The story of the art’s discovery and authentication will be followed by a presentation of the main techniques employed (including experimental reconstructions), the pigments, the lighting methods, and some of the many reasons why this art corpus comprises some of the greatest imagery ever produced. A brief survey of the main theories about its meaning and purpose will also be given. 

Today we explore the diversity and beauty of mosaics, from their origins in the pebble mosaics of the 8th century BC Greece to their adoption in the 5th century AD by Christianity.  We focus on the Roman period when mosaics made of tesserae, cubes of stone and glass, portrayed an almost infinite variety of subjects.  Showing scenes from daily life on estates, fishing and hunting, to gladiators, chariot races, gods and heroes, and even food. From masterpieces of mosaic in Rome, Pompeii and Sicily to the more modest but still beautiful floors of Britain such as Cirencester and Fishbourne, mosaics are ‘mirrors of stone’ which offer us a reflection of life in the ancient world.

Detail of a mosaic from Pompeii, showing ibises and ducks on the river Nile   100 BC

Frank Lloyd Wright is recognised as one of the most important architects of all time. He was a genius who believed he was destined to redesign the world.  Over the course of his long career he designed over 800 buildings, including revolutionary structures such as The Guggenheim Museum, Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax Building and Taliesin. Wright’s architectural achievements were often over shadowed by his turbulent private life. In his 92 years he fathered 7 children, married three times and suffered great personal tragedy.  This illustrated talk provides an overview of his work, personal life and most iconic buildings.

Image:

(Kaufmann house, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect)

Looking back on his work towards the end of his life, Peder Severin Krøyer recalled his work at Skagen, the Danish artists' colony at the northernmost tip of Denmark and expressed his particular love for that time "when the sun is going down, when the moon is rising over the sea, hanging there, crystal clear, and the water, smooth as glass, reflects its light...." Krøyer was referring to the 'blue hour' of northern Scandinavian summer nights, when sea and sky appear to merge into a single luminous whole. This lecture explores Krøyer's life and work in Skagen and evaluates the paintings that made him into one of Europe's most celebrated artists by the end of the 19th century.

Image: Krøyer Summer Evening on Skagen’s Beach 1893 100x150cm Skagens Museum. (Image from Google Art Project.)

The history of Jerusalem, which is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, goes back some 3,000 years. Despite thousands of years of conflict, invasion and occupation, with just short periods of peace, the city has survived to this day.

This tumultuous history has been captured in sculpture, mosaics, icons and paintings by artists from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspective. With the aid of some of these images this talk gives an overview of Jerusalem’s fascinating past.

Ethiopia is a mysterious and beautiful country steeped in history and legend. Its wonderful people, indomitable of spirit despite their many hardships, live a life that is truly biblical and timeless.  Around them are breath-taking landscapes – rugged mountain ranges, beautiful valleys and extraordinary deserts alive with active volcanoes – inhabited by demons and spirits of local legend. Their ancient history too is populated with evocative names – the Queen of Sheba once ruled over large stretches of the north of the country. The Axumite kingdom that succeeded hers introduced Christianity in the 4th century AD and has left a living legacy in the myriad of colourfully frescoed rock-hewn churches nestling in secret corners of the highlands.

Louise Schofield has been working in Ethiopia since 2006, living for much of the year in a small tent in a village in the north-eastern province of Tigray. This lecture looks at the art, archaeology, legends and landscapes of Ethiopia and recounts some of the adventures Louise has met along the way during her time in the country.

Michael Harris was one of the innovators of the international studio glass movement and transformed 20th century glass and its creation. His pioneering work at Mdina Glass on Malta and, later, at Isle of Wight Studio Glass is examined, including influences, production techniques, major ranges and the heritage he left behind.

‘Ted’ Seago’s refined landscapes personified a respect for the traditions of British landscape painting as well as the impressionism. In Britain, he was part of a remarkable post-impressionist flowering that included the likes of Sickert, Munnings and Augustus John. What made Seago quintessentially English was the great subtlety of his colour control and peaceful landscape compositions. This refinement won him admiration from four generations of royalty and an international fan-base that would cause his exhibitions to sell out on the first day. But you won’t find his paintings in the Tate Britain, nor did his work ever find favour with the art establishment. This lecture compares his work with those masters he most admired, as well as the contemporary trends he chose to ignore. It tells of his lasting appeal, asking whether he should now be considered a great master of British art.

The lecturer’s father, artist Rodney F Russell, was a friend and lifetime admirer. In considering the classic technique of Seago, the lecturer is remembering a tradition passed down from his father and Seago alike. 

Image reproduced with the permission of the Portland Gallery.

The oddest ‘star’ in opera is the Sun. Its appearance in ‘The Magic Flute’ triggers the finale when everybody dances off bathed in happy, rational daylight. But other operas are more wary about the heat. It’s the baking sun that precipitates the disastrous passions in ‘Carmen’ and ‘Aida’, and what about that moment in the year when the sun is at its strongest? Midsummer itself.

I’ll be looking at operas like ‘The Fairy Queen’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Faust’, ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ and especially ‘Lohengrin’ – all set at this odd time of the year, when quiet English woods and respectable German towns find themselves on the edge of fairyland.

Image from: moscowoperatickets.com From the opera Lohengrin

To coincide with the anniversary of the start of Captain James Cook’s final and fatal voyage in 1776, the lecture explores the impact of his three extraordinary voyages of discovery on European thought, art and science. Cook is widely renowned as an explorer, pioneering navigator and preventer of scurvy and his voyages provided unprecedented information about the Pacific Ocean, and about those who lived on its islands and shores. This was to have a profound influence on The Enlightenment.

The lecture is lavishly illustrated with the exquisite drawings and watercolours of Sydney Parkinson, the glorious paintings of William Hodges and George Stubbs, the botanising of Sir Joseph Banks and the remarkable cartography of James Cook himself. 

Experience the story of gold and its significance and symbolism within the history of art - as the colour of the sun; the colour of divinity; the colour of status and the colour of love. From creations, ancient and contemporary, sacred and profane - all that glitters is certainly gold…

Image by Carsten Frenzl from Obernburg, Derutschland 

The Venetian Scuola were semi-religious confraternities or guilds bound together by profession, nationality or devotion and the Scuola dedicated to St Roch was one of the wealthiest and most prestigious, enabling its members to fund the construction and decoration of a splendid new headquarters. The vast canvases which cover the walls and ceiling of this elegant Renaissance building represent one of the most ambitious artistic projects of the 16th century and one of the greatest achievements of their creator, Jacopo Tintoretto, a project encompassing around 60 paintings to which he dedicated well over 20 years of his life. 

We examine how Tintoretto was able to secure this celebrated commission, and explore the genesis and development of the series. The lecture assesses how these moving and dramatic paintings reflect the teachings and activities of their patrons, and considers their impact and influence on subsequent generations of artists including Rubens, Velázquez and El Greco, who famously praised Tintoretto’s Crucifixion as being the greatest painting in the world.

2018 will mark the 500th anniversary of Tintoretto’s birth which will be marked by a number of celebratory events worldwide.

Picture:  Jacopo Tintoretto, Crucifixion 1565

Illustrator and teacher, yet Edward Bawden remains an elusive figure. Today he is remembered for his spectacular linocuts and humorous illustrations, yet he was once feted as an innovative modern painter. During the 1930s he barely left his home in Great Bardfield, Essex, but in 1940 embarked on a remarkable career as a war artist, travelling solo around the Middle East. When his paintings became less popular post-war he began making prints on an epic scale, and today he is seen as a key 20th century figure by artists like Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton.

As curator of the forthcoming Bawden exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery (summer 2018), I can draw on in-depth research, archive material and more. 

The picture shows Brighton Pier by Edward Bawden

Brought up as a house pet by a Director of the Dutch East India Company in India, from a young age, Clara was shipped to Holland in 1741 and spent nearly 20 years touring Europe as one of the wonders of the age.  She visited all the major Courts of Europe including to King Louis XV of France, dying in London in 1758. She was recorded in paintings, prints, porcelain, bronze, clocks and even hair styles.  This talk explores the charming story of this magnificent beast, only the fifth rhino to be seen in Europe, through contemporary records and works of art

The picture of Clara is by Jean-Baptiste Oudry and is in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin.  

Mr Roger Mitchell MA Oxon

George Nathaniel Curzon and his Country Houses

Curzon was Viceroy of India but, greatly to his surprise and disappointment, he was never Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin got the job instead. He inherited Kedleston, a little changed Georgian masterpiece with some of Robert Adam’s finest work, had close connections with both Hatfield and Blenheim, restored Tattershall and Bodiam, and rented Hackwood and Montacute. This is a roll call of some of England’s greatest country houses and we can even add Government House, Calcutta and Viceregal Lodge, Simla to our story. The people are as fascinating as the houses – Curzon himself, his American wife, Mary Leiter, Lord Randolph Churchill, the Marquis of Salisbury and even Elinor Glynn. 

Dr Rosamund Bartlett BA (Hons) DPhil

Father Frost and Old New Year: Christmas Traditions in Russia

Where better to spend yuletide in pre-revolutionary times, than in snowy Russia? Imagine yourself on Christmas Day wrapped in furs, sitting in your troika, bells ringing, on your way to church to celebrate the end of the 40 day fast, which ends as soon as the first evening star appears in the sky. This lecture explores the rich tradition of religious and folk customs associated with the Christmas period in Russia, and shows how they are reflected in the Russian arts, with musical illustrations. It also discusses the secular Christmas celebrations introduced to Russia by Peter the Great, how they were transformed by Stalin during Soviet times, and what Christmas means to Russians today. 

The Projecta Casket, 4th century, silver with gilding, British Museum

Dr Helen Rufus-Ward BA MA (DPhil)

Buried Treasures: spectacular hoards of Late Roman Silver

The Late Roman era was a period of crisis riven by civil wars and barbarian invasions (Rome was sacked in 410 by Alaric the Goth). As a consequence of the break-down of society, valuables were often buried for safe-keeping – the owners of which often failed to return to claim them. This lecture will examine a fabulous selection of silver vessels from these enigmatic and mysterious silver treasure troves (still being discovered and unearthed today). Marvel at the beauty and rarity of these magnificent objects within the context of their classical heritage and the lives of the people who once owned them. 

Mr Adam Busiakiewicz BA MA

The Queen of Instruments: The Lute within Old Master Paintings

The lute holds a special place in the history of art: painters of the Italian Renaissance depicted golden-haired angels plucking its delicate strings, evoking celestial harmony; in the sixteenth century, during the rise of humanism, the lute was a becoming pastime of educated courtiers, as depicted by the likes of Holbein and Titian; throughout the seventeenth century, the instrument continued to play a key role in emphasising the intimate, debauched and transient pleasures of interior scenes by Jan Steen and portraits by Frans Hals. This lecture looks at the lute, and other musical instruments, as devices to express various aspects of the human character throughout the ages.

(As part of this lecture, there is an option for live music performance; faithfully reproduced solo lute music and/or accompanying the voice and other instruments.)

Mr Julian Halsby MA RBA FRSA

The Extraordinary Life of Misia Sert: muse to Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard and Vuillard; patron of the Ballet Russes; concert pianist and fashion icon 

Born into a Polish family, Misia was a virtuoso pianist taught by Gabriel Fauré, before marrying Thadee Natanson owner of the magazine ‘La Revue Blanche’. She was painted many times by Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard (who was deeply in love with her), and Renoir who wanted to paint her, nude. She knew Debussy and Ravel, who dedicated several pieces to her. She later remarried a wealthy businessman and was able to finance Diaghilev’s extraordinary Russian Ballets, becoming an integral part of the circle around Picasso, Stravinsky, Cocteau and Nijinsky. Her final marriage was to the Spanish muralist José Sert, with whom she travelled extensively, becoming Coco Chanel’s closest friend and confidante. Misia was at the very heart of modern art and music in Paris. Misia Sert was the subject of a major exhibition in the Musée d’Orsay in 2012.

Image: Of Misia Sert in a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de - J. Frey, Henri de Toulouse-Lautec, BB art 1999. Obr 28.

A medium of communication, propaganda or education?

Surprisingly today’s playing cards date back to 1377. Decks from 1475 still survive. The English deck is of French origin and the Company of Makers of Playing Cards was founded in 1628 to protect English makers from French importations. Cards were used as a medium of communication, propaganda or education: the 1678 Titus Oates plot is illustrated on a 52 card deck published at the time and known as The Horrid Popish Plot. Francis Barlow illustrated the cards depicting Marlborough's Victories in 1707. Modern cards follow in these old traditions with some wonderful collectors’ decks of today. 

Mr Yasha Beresiner LL.B.

Qualified as a lawyer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has lived in England since 1963. Has lectured extensively to antiques collector's clubs, the Rotary Club, Women's Institute, Masonic Societies and Red & Blue Badge Guide audiences. He is a qualified City of London guide and a past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards. As well as various magazine articles, other publications include The City of London Masonic Guide (2006), A Collector's Guide to Paper Money, and British County Maps. 

Representation of the body in sculpture and in painting across the ages

The nude is still seen in our modern age, and indeed has been seen for quite some time as the pinnacle of creative artistic perfection, but throughout the course of art history the notion of the perfect body and consequently gender has been constantly reshaped and redefined. This lecture will look at the continuing fascination with representation of the body in sculpture and in painting across the ages, with sculpture from the 4th century BC, painting from the Renaissance, and through to the modern age with paintings from the Impressionists. This span of time will encompass iconic works within this lecture by Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Bernini, Degas, Renoir and Velázquez, to name but a few. Moreover, this lecture will look at the reasons that lay behind the commissioning of such images. What were their purposes, who were the patrons behind these images, and what, if any, hidden riddles; signs and symbols are hidden within these seemingly enigmatic and flawless images of perfection. As this lecture charts the ever changing attitude towards the nude as a subject we will look at the treatment of nudes by collectors and museums in the 19th century, as we set the scene and chart the many and varied approaches to this subject that has become synonymous with the very idea of art itself; indeed, finally asking ourselves, ‘if this is art’, how did it become so and why?

Short reading list: Clark, Kenneth, The Nude: A Study of Ideal Art, (John Murray, 1956) Eire, Carlos .M. N, War against the Idols: the Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin (Cambridge University Press, 1986) Sutherland Harris, Ann, 17th Century Art & Architecture, (Laurence King, 2008)

Mr Leslie Primo BA MA

Holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. Was Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading in 2005 and 2007, and gives lectures and guided tours, plus special talks, at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Also lectures at the City Literary Institute, and has presented a series of talks at the National Maritime Museum and the Courtauld Institute.

The watercolour of the Landsdowne Club 2013 is the copyright of Julian Bray 

Neo-classical architecture blending with the highly fashionable Art Deco style

The current art collection at the Lansdowne Club highlights the fascinating architectural, social and political history of Lansdowne House, now home to this private members' Club. Through 18th century prints, oils, photography, modern silkscreens, lithographs and mixed media works, the image and history of this Grade II building comes to life. Located in Mayfair, central London, the internal fabric of this important building beautifully fuses 18th century neo-classical architecture with the highly fashionable Art Deco style and serves as an eye-catching home for the current modern British art collection. The talk will examine the original floor plan as designed by the celebrated Scottish architect, Robert Adam and the changes thereafter by renowned architects George Dance the Younger, Sir Robert Smirke and TH Wyatt. This fully illustrated presentation will also highlight key works in the modern British art collection by artists such as Nigel Bengstrom, Jennifer Dickson RA, Michelle McKinney and Richard Heep, demonstrating how current commissions and acquisitions can complement the heritage of this historic building. As former home to a past British Prime Minister, Lord Shelburne (1st Marquis of Lansdowne) and to Harry Gordon Selfridge, the department store magnate, Members will also be regaled with stories of intrigue and passion as reflected in the art collection.

Mrs Pamela Campbell-Johnston MA (Hons)              St Andrew's University. Over 20 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of the Adult Education Department's programme of events. Also conducted numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. Specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art. Over 12 years' experience at the Royal Academy. Work experience also undertaken at Bonhams, Art Loss Register, National Trust. Now a freelance art consultant and lecturer. Recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club.

Fusing Eastern imagery with Paris Modernism

Old Saigon, elegant Hanoi, mystical Ha Long Bay ... these places captivated French artists of the 19th century colonial regime in Vietnam where they taught painting at the School of Fine Arts. Their sensual portraits and exotic landscapes evoked an idyllic world of gracious people with rich artistic traditions harking back to ancient civilisations. Imbuing their students with Western ideas, artists such as Alix Aymé, who revived lustrous lacquer work and silk painting, and Victor Tardieu, a pupil of Matisse, formed a generation of Vietnamese painters whose creative expression fused Eastern imagery with Paris Modernism. This lecture shows the historic background of Indochina, of ancient Hindu temples, Buddhist pagodas and Chinese style palaces, that was transformed by the addition of French architecture and culture. A new aesthetic emerged, depicted by French artists as paradisiacal and romantic, reflecting an era and a way of life that would vanish with war.

Ms Denise Heywood BA (Hons) FRGS

Author, lecturer, photographer and journalist. Worked in Cambodia and lived in France and America. Her books include one on the Buddhist temples of Laos, Ancient Luang Prabang, and her latest one is Cambodian Dance Celebration of the Gods, with a foreword by Princess Buppha Devi, daughter of King Sihanouk. Lectures for the Art Fund, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on their post graduate Asian Art Course and for Madingley Hall (University of Cambridge); also for organisations such as the British Museum, the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Asia House, the National Trust, the Royal Geographical Society and universities, museums, colleges, schools, art institutions, literary societies and travel organisations across the world. She writes for many art, literary and travel publications and has appeared on BBC radio. She has led cultural tours to S.E.Asia and France for the Royal Academy, the Art Fund, Asia House and many more and lectures on cruise ships. A member of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the UK, Asia House and the Royal Geographical Society.

The most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire

Between 1885 and 1916, Carl Fabergé made fifty jewelled eggs – Easter presents from Russia’s last two emperors to their wives. Since the brutal murder of the last tsar and his family in a Siberian basement, these eggs have become the most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire: both supreme examples of the jeweller’s art and the vulgar playthings of a decadent court. After going missing in the Revolution, most of the eggs         re-emerged in the store-rooms of the Kremlin, where they were immediately identified as a source of much-needed foreign exchange. Their subsequent history holds up a mirror to the twentieth century and encompasses Bolsheviks and entrepreneurs, tycoons and heiresses,  con-men and queens. Eggs have been sold and smuggled, stolen and forged. Now, as they return to Russia, their history – like that of Russia itself - seems to have come full circle. Then there are the eight eggs which remain missing. What prospect is there that they will ever emerge, and if they do, will anyone believe that they are genuine? Toby Faber wrote Fabergé’s Eggs: One Man’s Masterpieces and the End of an Empire, described by P.D. James as a ‘fascinating story which combines unique decorative art, contemporary culture, history and the murder of the Romanovs with the excitement of a crime novel’. The lecture is illustrated with pictures of the eggs today and their owners, and with archival material showing some of the missing eggs.

Mr Toby Faber MA MBA

Toby Faber has written two works of narrative history, Stradivarius and Fabergé's Eggs, published by Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US, and given lectures associated with these two subjects at venues including The Victoria and Albert Museum, Bath Theatre, The Library of Congress and the Huntington Library, as well as a number of literary festivals. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music, a trustee of Yale University Press (UK) and a director of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society.

Photograph The Valley Garden Copyright © 2016 Giardini La Mortella. All Rights Reserved. Via Francesco Calise, 39 - 80075 Forio d'Ischia (NA)

La Mortella is a garden of sounds – poetic, mysterious, bewitching, serene and joyous

Sir William and Lady Walton’s Italian Garden Paradise;    La Mortella means “the place of myrtles”, and rocks and myrtles were everywhere on the property acquired by Sir William Walton, the British composer, and his young Argentinian bride Susana, when he decided to settle on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples. The task of taming the Mediterranean landscape was huge, and the Waltons decided to invite Russell Page, the renowned landscape architect, author of The Education of a Gardener, to come to their rescue.

This lecture tells the story of how the wild place was transformed into an amazing garden and a wonderful work of art. There will be colourful anecdotes accompanying the beautiful images and music too, imbued with the light of the Mediterranean, played at the conclusion.

Lady Walton wrote that La Mortella is a garden of sounds – poetic, mysterious, bewitching, serene and joyous. All the more true, as the place is the active centre of the Fondazione - William Walton, a trust set up to help young musicians to blossom. It offers a wide range of events and a season of concerts some of which are in the open air.

Dr Laura de Beden DipLA CMLI

Doctor in Humanities (Bocconi University, Milan). Postgraduate Diploma in Landscape Architecture (University of Central England). Chartered landscape and garden architect, international lecturer and writer on landscape issues. Course leader in Garden Design at Kingston University, lecturer for the National Trust, the English Gardening School, the Chelsea Physic Garden. Study tours abroad.

 ‘Pre-visualisation’ – the creative act of the artist/photographer

Landscape photography is a way of life and is an essential method of expression for Waite. In discussing his work, Waite refers to ‘pre-visualisation’ first used by the great American landscape photographer Ansel Adams, from which he draws much inspiration amongst others. “It is the creative act of the artist – photographer who, in visualising a poetic or revealing image within the scene in front of him, anticipates what the final print must convey to express what he sees and feels”. Waite refers to Ansel Adams and other artists and photographers who have inspired him and shaped his work.

Mr Charlie Waite

Charlie Waite is one of the world's leading landscape photographers, and has lectured for 25 years throughout the UK, Europe and the US. He has held numerous one-man exhibitions in London, exhibited twice in Tokyo, and was awarded the prestigious honorary Fellowship of the British Institute of Professional Photographers, as well as a Direct Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. Amongst many publications, the most recent includes Landscape; the Story of 50 Photographs (2005), and Arc & Line (2011). Charlie Waite was invited by the Royal Academy to exhibit in 2015's summer exhibition.

A moment of world -changing importance

In the quietness of an enclosed garden filled with symbolic plants, or glimpsed inside a sturdy house, a young woman reads quietly, blissfully unaware that her life is about to change. Not just her life, but that of the western world and beyond. Approaching her, almost unwilling to interrupt her thoughts, an angel is poised to break the news, to make the great announcement. Whatever your personal beliefs, it’s hard to deny the impact Christianity would have on the world so the Annunciation by Gabriel to Mary, telling her that she was to bear a son was one of the most popular images of the Middle Ages, more popular indeed than the Nativity itself. This lecture reveals the key players in the story, dissects the symbolism of Mary and the Annunciation and examines the world-changing importance of that particular moment. It is richly illustrated with gorgeous images from the fourth to the sixteenth century. 

Mrs Imogen Corrigan BA (Hons)

After 20 years in the army Imogen Corrigan turned to a life-long interest in Medieval art and the people who created it. She graduated with a 1st class honours degree in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval History and is currently studying for a Ph.D. at Birmingham University, the subject of her research being The Development and Function of the Foliate Head in English Mediaeval Churches. She has lectured for NADFAS, the Kent Federation of History and the National Trust.

Prague one of the greatest treasure houses of Europe 

Looking at the rich fabric of Prague’s past, its legends and history, as well as the artists, composers, statesmen and rogues that have illuminated this fairy tale. Prague is one of the greatest treasure houses of Europe. It is the Gothic jewel of the kingdom of Bohemia and capital of the modern Czech Republic and has been lauded by poets as "the dream of delirious architects" whose "magic needs no wand."

Mr Douglas Skeggs MA (Cantab)

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. He has given over 4000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of 'The New Academy of Art Studies' for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at 'The Study Centre', Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hangar in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe. He helped set up the Abercrombie & Kent "Private Label tours" and is presently cultural adviser to Ultimate Travel. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on 'Whistler' and the exhibition video on 'William Morris.' Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, 'River of Light', has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

From figurative landscape painter to modernist master 

This lecture explores Kandinsky’s journey from figurative landscape painter to modernist master, as one of the first artists to develop a radically abstract language. It examines how, from his early landscapes inspired by the Bavarian countryside and folk imagery from Russian fairy tales and legends, Kandinsky’s style evolved after he moved to Germany and co-founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group. The lecture looks at how Kandinsky came to see painting as an alternative pathway to spiritual reality, increasingly stripping away descriptive detail by reducing recognisable elements. At the same time, he began to include large areas of vibrant colour to stimulate emotions associated with classical music, pursuing his interest in synaesthesia. 

Ms Rosalind Whyte BA MA MA (distinction)

BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. Experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. Lectures at Tate, Dulwich Picture Gallery, to independent art societies and on cruises. Leads art appreciation holidays

The Day Parliament Burned Down

As depicted by Turner, William Heath and others

In the early evening of 16 October 1834, to the horror of bystanders, a huge ball of fire exploded through the roof of the Houses of Parliament, creating a blaze so enormous that it could be seen by the King and Queen at Windsor and from stagecoaches on top of the South Downs. In front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses, the great conflagration destroyed Parliament's glorious old buildings and their contents. No one who witnessed the disaster would ever forget it.  Based on the acclaimed book of the same name, this talk takes the audience through the gripping hour-by-hour story of the fire through contemporary depictions of the disaster by Turner, William Heath and others.

Dr Caroline Shenton DPhil (Oxon) FSA FRHistS

Caroline is an archivist, historian and author. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster and a senior archivist at The National Archives at Kew. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society and has appeared on national TV and radio and reviews books for The Spectator. Her first popular history book, The Day Parliament Burned Down, won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013.

Gone in a Flash? A history of firework displays from the Renaissance to the age of electricity.

The fireworks that mark great events such as the opening of the Olympics, or even the start of a New Year make an enormous impact. Despite their brevity, the displays live on through film and photography. For centuries, the very fact that the fireworks themselves were seen only for seconds and yet cost large amounts of money provoked a strong desire to record them and a large archive of visual evidence remains. When rulers such as Louis XIV or the Russian Emperors began to see the propaganda value of circulating images designed to impress and amaze, fireworks graduated from popular entertainment to become a sophisticated instrument of statecraft. This lecture takes an exhilarating look at one art form that is never likely to gather dust in a museum.

Timothy Wilcox is an independent scholar and curator, and worked in the Victoria and Albert Museum, at galleries in Liverpool and Hove, and as Acting Assistant Keeper in charge of the historic British collections in the Department of Prints and Drawings of the British Museum. He was also Associate Lecturer at the Universities of Brighton and Surrey and Course Leader at the Cambridge International Summer School. Timothy has curated numerous exhibitions on British and French art, including Constable and Salisbury for the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (2011) and, most recently, Cotman in Normandy at Dulwich Picture Gallery (2012).  

King George IV. The Greatest Royal Collector of Art

George IV was the single greatest Royal collector of art and instigator of architectural projects. He was passionately fond of lavish decoration and display. As Prince of Wales, he refurbished Carlton House in London; and built Brighton Pavilion. As King, he converted Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace; and made huge changes to Windsor Castle. He furnished his palaces magnificently with French furniture, clocks, porcelain and sculpture. He was an avid collector of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and van Dyck. He also patronised contemporary artists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Stubbs; and sculptors Canova and Chantrey. He assembled the greatest collection of Sèvres porcelain in the world and a huge amount of historic and contemporary silver and gold objects.

General Information

George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness.

George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle. He was instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery and King's College London.

His charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of England", but his poor relationship with both his father and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, and his dissolute way of life, earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy. He even forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and introduced the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her.

For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister, with little help from George. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites.[1] Taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending at a time when Britons were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide national leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpool's government presided over Britain's ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed. After Liverpool's retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only child, Princess Charlotte of Wales, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, William.

Oliver Everett

He was educated at Cambridge University and did post graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA; and at the London School of Economics. Following service in the Foreign Office, including postings in India and Spain, he was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, 1978-80; and then Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, from 1981-83. He was Librarian in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1984-2002. He is now Librarian Emeritus following his retirement in 2002. He wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle, taught a course on its history and advised on a television programme about it. He wrote articles on the Royal Library and helped with two books on aspects of the Royal Collection. He is advising on a possible history series for television. He lectures widely in Britain and abroad and also on cruise ships.

Oliver Everett has suggested the following books on George IV:-

George IV: the rebel who would be King by Christopher Hibbert (St Martins, 2007)

George IV: The Great Entertainment by Steven Parissien (John Murray, 2001)

George IV by E A Smith (Yale University Press, 1999 and 2001)

Henry Moore – England’s Greatest Sculptor

Henry Moore’s (1898-1986) life and career spanned most of the twentieth century and his work is celebrated internationally. This lecture will explain the reasons for Moore’s “infamous holes” and set his sculpture into the context of his time. The British Museum and Picasso provided his early inspiration before Moore arrived – in both, his drawings and his sculpture – at his own distinctive style with his key-theme of the human figure.

Eveline Eaton

Freelance lecturer in Fine Arts and tour-guide to Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Côte d'Azur, Normandy and New York. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden Trust. 

Suggested reading  John Russell’s “Henry Moore”, 1973, Pelican and the Exhibition Catalogue Royal Academy 1988.

Ancient Egyptian Treasure in the Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford houses one of the finest collections of Egyptian antiquities in the UK. In this talk we will explore a wealth of ancient material, examining highlights of the collection from the Predynastic Period (4th millennium BC) through to the Roman Period (2nd century AD). Outstanding pieces in terms of art, history and culture will include the Narmer and Scorpion Mace-heads, the ‘Amarna Princesses’ wall-painting, and the Nubian shrine of Taharqa.

Lucia Gahlin

Egyptologist who works in museums and on excavations in Egypt, but mostly lectures. Honorary Research Associate at University College London. Teaches Egyptology for the Universities of Exeter and Bristol. Works in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London. Leads tours to Egypt. Deputy Director of Bloomsbury Summer School. Chairs the Friends of the Petrie Museum. Publications include Egypt: gods, myths, religion (2001). Happy to bring both laptop and digital projector if required.

Reading List:

Ancient Egyptian Treasures in the Ashmolean Museum

 Arnold, D. (1996) The Royal Women of Amarna. Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.

 Ashmolean Museum (2011) Ancient Egypt and Nubia at the Ashmolean Museum. Gallery Guide. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.

Robins, G.  (1997) The Art of Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press.

 Whitehouse, H. (2009) Ancient Egypt and Nubia in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.

 Wilkinson, T. (2011) The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. Bloomsbury Paperbacks.

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1937) a Post Impressionist, was the daughter of a French unmarried laundress. She pursued a career as an acrobat until a fall from her trapeze ended this venture.  She modelled for artists, particularly Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. Degas befriended her and bought her work.  She is best known for her candid female nudes - an unusual subject for the time. Her oils, still lifes and landscapes have strong compositions and vibrant colours. Her many portraits include composer Erik Satie, with whom she had an affair.  The painter Maurice Utrello was her son.

Leonora Carrington OBE (1917-2011) Surrealist, was the daughter of a wealthy textile manufacturer.  Her mother was Irish.  Expelled from British schools, she was educated in Florence.  At 19 she eloped with Max Ernst, joining the Paris Surrealists.  She escaped the Nazis and an asylum.  She later settled in Mexico. Her magical realist and surreal paintings are rich in folk lore & myths or drawn from her personal life. She was the last of the Surrealists.

Pamela Halford

Freelance lecturer who has lectured variously to the English Speaking Union, National Trust, Art & Historical societies, Festivals, The National Gallery and Bath University's Department of Continuing Education. Past President and Chairman of Bristol DFAS. Previously lecturer and researcher/scriptwriter/director (BBC).

Embroidered with Woodbine & Eglantine: Elizabethan Textile Furnishings

Textiles provided the interiors of Elizabethan aristocratic houses with colour, glamour, texture and symbolism. Now only a fraction survives of the huge collections of textiles that once graced and invigorated Elizabethan mansions and palaces. This talk looks at the designs, techniques and uses of these textiles, as well as subject matter and the Elizabethans’ fondness for decoding hidden messages and devices. The talk is fully illustrated with a range of images including tapestries, bed hangings, cushion covers, wall hangings and table carpets, as well as references from contemporary inventories and paintings.

Dr. Gillian White

Specialises in the visual arts of late medieval and sixteenth-century England. She formerly worked for the National Trust as Curator/Collections Manager at Hardwick Hall, about which she then wrote her PhD at Warwick University. She now teaches part-time at Leicester University, predominantly in The Centre for the Study of the Country House, and is involved with the Continuing Education Department at Oxford University, as well as freelance lecturing.

Reading List:

Santina M. Levey, The Embroideries at Hardwick Hall (2007)

Santina M. Levey, An Elizabethan Inheritance: The Hardwick Hall Textiles (1998)

Michael Bath, Emblems for a Queen: The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots (2008)

Lanto Synge, Art of Embroidery: History of Style and Technique (2001)

Vivaldi in Venice 

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed. Listen to a Vivaldi concerto and hey presto you are transported directly to the heart of 18th century Venice. The reasons for this are many – Vivaldi’s passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music; the unusual way in which Venice solved its problems with the poor and the homeless; Vivaldi’s health problems and his eccentricities as a man and a priest. Against the luxurious backdrop of 18th century Venice, and with live musical performances, this lecture explores the amazing world of Vivaldi’s music - music that is as intrinsically Venetian as the canvasses of Canaletto.

Peter Medhurst

Peter Medhurst was born of German and English parents, and did his musical training at the Royal College of Music where he studied singing with Redvers Llewellyn and Edgar Evans, organ with Richard Popplewell, composition with Justin Connolly and music history with Else Mayer-Lismann, Christopher Grier and Joseph Horowitz.  In 1978, a scholarship from the Austrian government gave him the opportunity to have coaching with the accompanist Erik Werba at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.  On his return to England he took harpsichord lessons with Ruth Dyson, who became his accompanist and fellow keyboard duettist in a professional partnership that lasted until her death nearly 20 years later.

Over the years Peter Medhurst has lectured for the universities of Kent and Surrey, directed a wide range of choirs, vocal ensembles and instrumental groups, and adjudicated and given masterclasses for the British Federation of Music Festivals.

Turkey to Trifle – Festive foods and customs of the Georgians and Victorians 

(Lecture synopsis)

A gourmet’s journey through the origins of festive fare and the traditions that we have adopted and adapted from Georgian and Victorian times. From the turkey stagecoach to the habit of drinking port with Stilton cheese and the placing of the napkin over the left shoulder – all is explained in this fascinating portrayal of our Christmas customs.

General Information

Georgian eating habits still influence our modern diet. They suffered many health problems that are familiar to us today, such as obesity and heart disease, although gout is no longer a serious problem. The diet was high in meat and dairy products and Britain still consumes more dairy products than most other European countries. Sugar was becoming readily available leading to the development of very sweet foods replacing the spicy foods of previous times. The rise in diabetes probably has its roots in the Georgian sweet tooth.

Jane will take us through the eating pattern of a typical Georgian day for a wealthy person, which consisted of only two meals, often culminating in a dinner party that would start around 4pm and finish around midnight. These would often coincide with a full moon to provide some light for the journey home. With no electricity the daily routine was governed by daylight more than it is today. People would rise early, but not necessarily dress until later although they would still receive guests in their bedrooms, whilst they sat in bed. They did not eat breakfast until 9 to 10 am, or even as late as 11am.

Breakfast was a social meal that people would go out to eat, whilst dinner was the more private meal of the day taken at home. Breakfast was a heavy meal of meat and ale, and it has to be remembered that water was often not clean enough to drink and that beer was safer. With Queen Anne, breakfast habits started to change as she promoted a lighter meal of tea and toast. Despite being healthier not everyone was happy with these changes.

Creating the right impression was very important to the fashionable Georgians, the dining room as a separate room came into existence. Linen was very expensive and tablecloths were a status symbol – being able to offer large napkins that could be tied at the neck showed you could "make ends meet" and normally the tablecloth was used to wipe ones mouth on instead. Despite using the tablecloth as a napkin, other efforts were made to protect the precious linen – wine and glasses were not placed on the table, later doilies were used to protect the cloth. Guests were expected to supply their own cutlery and often brought their own portaloo, which would be used in the dining room, hopefully behind a screen. Originally ladies and gentlemen sat at opposite ends of the table, but later "promiscuous seating" became fashionable, alternating ladies and gentlemen.

Heavy red wine, port and sherry were the most popular drinks – claret was described as "too thin". Ladies often drank cordial. Drinks were served on request, by the glass, to be drunk at once before the glass taken away, therefore not putting the glass on the table for fear of staining the tablecloth.

There was often a fish course, but meals consisted largely of meat, with very few vegetables and those that were served had been boiled for hours over the fire. Dessert was often taken in a different room (deserting the table) or the by now filthy tablecloth was removed to show off the wooden table. Dessert consisted of jellies, syllabubs and custard, possibly all together as trifle. Pineapples were often hired for the evening as a centrepiece, but raw fruit was not eaten as it was deemed bad for you.

After dessert the ladies withdrew to play games, read, gamble and drink tea, whilst the men consumed more port and smoked. Finally the carpets were rolled up for dancing, before guests left in their sedan "chair home" leading to the phrase "cherrio" Our Christmas traditions are based more on Victorian times. When friends and family came to stay they would arrive on Christmas Eve and stay until 12th night. They often bought hampers with them to contribute to the catering.

Jane quotes one Christmas menu: Christmas pie for breakfast, consisting of a variety of fowl baked in hot crust pastry; dinner of boiled cod with oyster sauce, beef sirloin, pea soup and orange pudding to start, followed by wild ducks, roasted lamb, mince pies and cake. Later rabbits were served for supper.

Turkeys had been eaten since Tudor times. Samuel Pepys records eating cold turkey over the Christmas season that Mrs Pepys had reared. The Victorians found turkeys a useful way of feeding large families, although the black turkey they ate is far too gamey and strong for our tastes today and is no longer available.

Christmas cards were a Victorian invention, made possible with the development of mass production. Confectioner Tom Smith invented the Christmas cracker, with a crackle based on the Yule log, wrapped with a sugared almond. The Yule log was brought indoors on Christmas Eve to be kept alight until 12th night, when everyone finally left.

Bringing evergreens such as holly, ivy and mistletoe indoors dates back to Roman times. There were few other flowers available at this time of year. The Georgians did have Christmas trees, but Prince Albert popularised them as they appeared on early royal Christmas cards.

Jane Tapley:

Currently Special Events Organiser, Theatre Royal Bath. Interviews visiting actors, writers, directors. Lectures regularly to theatre going societies, NT and history and fine arts groups. West Country Tourist Board Registered Blue Badge Guide/Lecturer. Author and researcher of theatre programme notes on Hamlet, Sheridan's The Rivals and Jane Austen's Emma. Theatrical landlady! Home Economist. Consultant to various TV productions of Jane Austen adaptations on food in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hosts and cooks period meals in her Regency house in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and other literary groups.

“Paint Brushes at Dawn”: Great Art World Feuds, Disputes and Rows.

The late Christopher Hitchens, who knew a thing or two about feuds, once wrote that a really first rate bust up requires one of at least two things: a clash of strong personalities, and a conflict of principles.

The history of art is peppered with first rate bust ups: between the great early Renaissance artists, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, between Constable and Turner in the early 1830s, between Salvador Dali and the Surrealist leader, Andre Breton in the 1930s, between the influential American critic, Clement Greenberg, and the English artist, John Latham in the 1960s (Latham once famously chewed up and spat out a copy of Greenberg’s ‘Art and Culture’), and most recently between Hockney and Hirst over the acceptability of allowing other people to make your art for you. There are many more. They are highly entertaining but they also tell us a great deal about key issues in art history.

Barry Venning:

An historian of British art with a particular interest in the work of JMW Turner, on whom he has published widely, includes the volume on Turner in Phaidon's Art & Ideas series, and several catalogue essays for exhibitions in the UK, Germany, Italy and Poland. He was the BBC's script consultant on Turner's Fighting Temeraire and has recently taken part (2013) in a BBC documentary called 'The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution'. He has also published a study of John Constable's paintings. His interests and his teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. He is currently Associate Lecturer with the Open University and lecturing on a freelance basis for NADFAS, Christie's Education and other organisations.

The Founders and Treasures of the Wallace Collection 

(Lecture synopsis)

The Wallace Collection, a national museum containing an outstanding array of paintings, furniture, porcelain, arms and armour, and other works of art, was brought together by five generations of one family between about 1780 and 1880. All the Founders were remarkable – and sometimes rather strange - men in their own right, but the greatest collectors were the 4th Marquess of Hertford and his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace, who lived most of their lives in Paris. It is their French upbringing which largely explains the strong, but by no means overwhelming, French emphasis to much of the Collection. This lecture tells the fascinating story of the Wallace Collection’s formation, and also presents many of its finest treasures.

(General Information)

The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.

It was established in 1897 from the private collection mainly created by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who left it and the house to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890), whose widow bequeathed the entire collection to the nation. The museum opened to the public in 1900 in Hertford House, Manchester Square, and remains there, housed in its entirety, to this day. A condition of the bequest was that no object ever leave the collection, even for loan exhibitions.

The museum's collection numbers nearly 5,500 objects and is best known for its quality and breadth of eighteenth-century French paintings, Sèvres porcelain and French furniture.

The Wallace Collection also displays many other treasures, such as two paintings by Titian, five Rembrandts, nine Rubenses, four Van Dycks, eight Canalettos, nineteen Bouchers, masterpieces by de Hooch, nine Teniers, Frans Hals, nine Murillos, two Velázquez and paintings by Domenichino, Cima, Daddi, Reni, Rosa, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, Antoine Watteau, Nicholas Lancret, Jan Steen, Aelbert Cuyp and nine Guardis. The museum also holds a fine collection of arms and armour, featuring both European and Oriental objects, as well as displays of gold boxes, miniatures, sculpture and medieval and Renaissance works of art such as maiolica, glass, bronzes and Limoges enamels.

Stephen Duffy :

Read history and the History of Art at New College, Oxford. After working in marketing, he joined the Wallace Collection, where he is now Senior Curator with particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the collection to visiting groups and many lectures on its art. His latest publication is a book on the Wallace Collection’s miniatures.

Reading List

The Wallace Collection Guidebook, London (The Wallace Collection), 2015

 Tobias Capwell, Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection, London (The Wallace Collection), 2012

 Stephen Duffy et al., The Wallace Collection, London (Scala Books), 2014

 Stephen Duffy and Jo Hedley, The Wallace Collection’s Pictures. A Complete Catalogue, London (The Wallace Collection), 2nd edition, 2011

 Stephen Duffy and Christoph Vogtherr, Miniatures in the Wallace Collection, London (The Wallace Collection), 2010

 Suzanne Higgott, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Glass and Limoges Painted Enamels, London (The Wallace Collection), 2011

 Peter Hughes, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Furniture, London (The Wallace Collection), 1996

 Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London (The Wallace Collection), 1988

 Charles Truman, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Gold Boxes, London (The Wallace Collection), 2013

THE ART OF WATERLOO  

To commemorate the bicentenary in 2015 this special lecture offers an artistic and cultural appreciation of one of the most famous battles of all time.

Waterloo was a defining moment in European history and the lecture shows how artists have interpreted the event and so influenced our understanding of what actually happened on the 18th June 1815, and not always correctly.

Peter Warwick:

An author, historian and major event organiser, and a recognised authority on Admiral Lord Nelson. Specialises in naval and polar history. Chairs the 1805 Club, which conserves the monuments of the Georgian sailing navy; the New Waterloo Dispatch/Waterloo 200, the official body arranging the bicentenary commemorations for Waterloo in 2015; and Thames Alive which in 2012 arranged the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the Thames Olympic Torch Relay. Was vice-chairman of the Official Nelson Commemorations Committee and played a key role in the planning of the Trafalgar 200 and Sea Britain 2005. Lectures at the Defence Academy, National Maritime Museum, National Museum for the Royal Navy, Royal Institution and at schools

How time has been told down the ages

The history of the sundial outstrips that of the clock by at least two thousand years. The lecture examines how time has been told down the ages from the perspective of both the Sundial and its competitors. It compares what philosophers and poets thought about time. It looks at various aspects of the sundial as ...

i) a teller of time

ii) a marker for religious observance

iii) a memento mori

iv) a vehicle for exquisite craftsmanship

v) a sign of elegance, sophistication and civic pride.

Recommended reading

• Mark Lennox-Boyd: ‘Sundials – History, Art, People, Science’, Frances Lincoln 2006 Ed
• Mike Cowam: ‘Sundials of the British Isles’, Cambridge 2005
• Denis Savoie: ‘Sundials: Design, Construction and Use’, Springer/Praxis 2009
• Frank W. Cousins: ‘Sundials: The Art and Science of Gnomonics’, Pica Press 1970
• René R.J. Rohr: ‘Sundials: History, Theory and Practice’, Dover Books 1996
• Hester Higton: ‘An Illustrated History of Portable Dials’, Philip Wilson Publishing 2001
• Robert Hannah: ‘Time in Antiquity’, Routledge 2009

The best example of the integration between nature and architecture

Everybody has seen images of Machu Picchu and it is now one of the most desired tourist destinations in the world. Machu Picchu was officially discovered in 1911, however very little is known about its origin, planning, integration to the environment, meaning, etc. This lecture gives you an insight on how and why the Incas built it there, their knowledge on building techniques and planning, which have made of Machu Picchu the best example of integration between nature and architecture, while preserving profound concepts of astronomy and Inca beliefs.

Artwork that depicts this significant moment in American History

The American Civil War fought between the Union and Confederate states between 1861 and 1865 claimed the lives of over 620,000 soldiers. In response to the antebellum period, the war and Reconstruction, artists such as Winslow Homer and Frederic Edwin Church and photographers like George N. Barnard and Matthew Brady produced an extraordinary body of work. This lecture will address the breadth of artwork that depicts this significant moment in American history.

Re-aquaint ourselves with what was common knowledge during the Renaissance

How does the modern viewer recognise and interpret the hidden stories told through signs, symbols iconography in paintings when visiting art galleries. Were paintings merely illustrations of the text, and if so which texts, or did they carry some deeper meaning? How did artists such as Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Titian and Tintoretto approach these subjects? Why were these subjects so popular? In order to unravel the hidden iconographical content of paintings that may reveal how audiences might have seen these works produced during the Italian Renaissance rather than how we now see them, the modern viewer needs to reacquaint themselves with what was common knowledge during the Renaissance - the knowledge of religious and mythological signs and symbols. Most often these stories originated from antique literary sources, which had survived through the middle ages and were the preserve of the wealthy and cultured élite. This lecture aims to reveal the hidden language of stories in these paintings and equip the modern viewer with an antique language and a new way to look at paintings through signs, symbols iconography.

Recommended reading

• Ovid: ‘Metamorphoses’
• Bullfinch, Thomas: ‘Myth and Legend’
• Graves, Robert: ‘Greek Myths’
• Volumes 1 & 2 Halls: ‘Dictionary of Signs and Symbols’

His work and the impact he had on his contemporaries

A.W.N. Pugin’s life was short (1812 – 52), but his ideas transformed the Gothic Revival. This lecture will look at Gothic design and attitudes to the Middle Ages before Pugin came along, and then assess his work and the impact he had on his contemporaries and the next generation. His influence was quicker and more far-reaching than he could have imagined – and how delighted he would be today that many people find it hard to distinguish between a ‘real’ mediaeval parish church and a Victorian one built according to his ideas.

Recommended Reading

• Phoebe Stanton: ‘Pugin’ 1971
• Rosemary Hill: ‘God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain’, 2007

In the early years of the 18th century English lead glass was prized for its strength, its satin-smooth surface and its dazzling brilliance. The brilliance of this glass was enhanced when decorated with simple shallow wheel cut facets, polished to reflect and refract light like a diamond. It was both a luxury and very expensive. By 1800 decorative techniques had become so sophisticated, English cut glass was sought after worldwide. The apogee of taste and style was in the Regency period, 1800-1830. We will look at the rise of this craft from its humble beginnings in the early 1700s in the mirror grinders’ workshops round St Martin’s Lane in London to the glittering services of the Regency. One of the finest ever made, of over 400 pieces, was ordered by the Prince of Wales from Perrin and Geddes of Warrington 1806-10. It is still in use at Windsor Castle. Specialist books on cut glass are rare, old and out of print. However the subject is treated in a general fashion in the following books. English Glass by R. J. Charleston. Published by George Allen & Unwin 1984. ISBN 0-04-7480033. Excellent history. 2nd hand only. Glass. Ed by Reino Liefkes. V&A Publications 2000. ISBN 1851771980 **Miller’s Antique Checklist: Glass. By Mark West. Published 2002 ISBN 185732 2711. Inexpensive. Good introduction. ***The Decanter: An illustrated History of Glass from 1650. By Andy McConnell. Pub Antique Collectors’ Club 2004. ISBN 1 85149 428 6. Expensive but exhaustive treatment of subject. **A good introductory guide for those wishing to begin a glass collection, with plenty of hints of where to go, how to start etc. *** Essential reading for serious collectors.

Some of the greatest art-works in medieval and early Renaissance times were created for hospitals. In some, wayfarers, foundlings, the old and the very sick were surrounded by paintings of remarkable beauty. This lecture explores the origins of hospitals across Europe and highlights the art created for them. Recommended Reading Bagshaw, S; Archaeological recording of the monastic infirmary at Gloucester Cathedral: Bristol and Gloucester Archaeological Society 2001. Brakspear, H; Waverley Abbey: The Surrey Archaeological Society, Guildford 1905. Clay, Rotha Mary; The Medieval Hospitals of England: Cass and Co 1966. Fitzroy, Charles; Renaissance Florence on Five Florins a day: Thames and Hudson 2010. Gavitt, Philip; Charity and Children in Renaissance Florence: University of Michigan Press 1990. Henderson, John; Piety and charity in late medieval Florence: OUP 1994. Hourihane, C; The Processional Cross in Late Medieval England: Society of Antiquaries of London 2005. Mortimer, Ian; The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England: Vintage 2009. Najemy, John; A History of Florence, 1200-1575: Blackwell 2008. Orme, Nicholas and Webster, Margaret: The English Hospital: Yale University Press 1995. Park, K; Doctors and Medicine in late Medieval Florence: Princeton 1985. Rawcliffe, Carol; Medicine for the Soul: Sutton Publishing 1999. Rubin, P.L.; Images and Identity in Fifteenth Century Florence: Yale University Press 2007. Strathern, Paul; The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance: Jonathan Cape.2003. Trachtenberg, M; Dominion of the Eye: Cambridge University Press 1997. Strocchia, S.T; Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence: Johns Hopkins University Press 2009. Taylor, Brian; Abbot’s Hospital, Guildford: St Thomas Trust, Guildford 1999. Tetel, Marcel (Ed) et al; Life and Death in Fifteenth Century Florence: Duke University Press 1989. Ware, Gwen; The White Monks of Waverley: Farnham and District Museum Society 1976. De Vos, Dirk; Hans Memling, The Complete Works: Thames and Hudson, 1994. Ziegler, Philip; The Black Death: Penguin Second Edition 1998.

Samuel Foote was an eighteenth century dramatist, actor and theatre manager. He was the most notorious and best-loved man in Georgian London. Samuel was known for his comedic acting, writing and for turning the loss of a leg, in a riding accident, to comedic opportunity. The first celebrity impressionist and has some claim to be the founding father of the British sense of humour.

Why did Sienese artists paint so many Madonnas? In 1260, Siena proclaimed itself ‘City of the Virgin’ after victory over Florence at the Battle of Montaperti was attributed to the miraculous protection of the Mother of God. Painting the Virgin became a central preoccupation of Sienese painters over the next eighty years. This lecture examines the wonderful and wide range of Siena’s Marian imagery: from the Virgin and Child panels of the thirteenth century, influenced by Byzantine icons, to Duccio’s queenly enthroned Virgin of the Maestà altarpiece in Siena Cathedral; from Simone Martini’s towering Madonna of Mercy, sheltering her tiny devotees under her cloak, to the fresh-faced young mothers of Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, tenderly caring for the Christ Child. You will discover the variety of roles that the Virgin and her images played in the everyday lives of the citizens of the Sienese city-republ The only book on this specific subject is: Recommended Reading Diana Norman, Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late Medieval City State (Yale University Press, 1999). Beautifully illustrated hardback, about £37 (also widely available second hand for considerably less). A good general introduction to Sienese painting is: Timothy Hyman, Sienese Painting: The Art of a City-Republic 1278-1477 (Thames and Hudson, World of Art, 2003). Paperback, about £6. ic.

One of the most delightful, spontaneous and naturally gifted of all English painters and draughtsmen. Thomas Gainsborough was arguably our greatest portraitist and landscape painter. He moved from depicting small figures, set on their East Anglian estates, to flickering, evanescent, life-size representations of the cream of London society; apparently saying of gentlemen, ‘they have but one part worth looking at, and that is their purse’. He left particularly vivid images of the royal family, his own household and his friends among composers and musicians. Gainsborough used brushes 6 feet long, his arch rival, Reynolds, recording that his work, ‘by a kind of magick, at a certain distance, assumes form.’ Recommended reading Edited by Michael Rosenthal & Martin Myrone: ‘Gainsborough’, Tate Publishing 2002 Malcolm Cormack ‘The Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough’ Cambridge University Press, paperback edition 1994 John Hayes ‘The Portrait in British Art’, National Portrait Gallery, 1991 John Hayes ‘The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough’ Sotheby Publications, 1982 William Vaughan: ‘Gainsborough’, Thames & Hudson, World of Art series, 2002

The lecture explores the special knowledge, skills and judgement needed by experts such as those on the Antiques Road Show. It also includes such issues as the controversy concerning which Rembrandt paintings were painted by him; what is authentic in the work of Andy Warhol; modern art practices, which add layers of complication and a critical look at the critics.

http://www.rupertwilloughby.co.uk

This lecture will serve as a fine introduction to the art of making gardens. Like any form of art, garden design has its original language and vocabulary which need to be understood to gain fuller enjoyment and awareness. Inspirational images will illustrate the aspects involved, both material and spiritual, from the crucial importance of space to the awakening of the senses and the powerful role of memory. These aspects all contribute to the make up of a successful garden that will answer man's unstoppable search for beauty, serenity and meaning. References to the other arts will widen and deepen the understanding of this original approach to the making of gardens, and study cases of gardens designed by the author will provide further inspiration. http://www.lauradebeden.co.uk

In 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture' Ruskin argues that we should treat old buildings 'with an anxious care' but never remove the 'golden stain of time' through over-zealous restoration. New buildings should be made of modern materials, however, and express the age in which they are designed. Michael Wheeler, co-editor of 'The Lamp of Memory: Ruskin, Tradition and Architecture', illustrates the impact of these ideas on the restoration debate and on nineteenth century architecture in England and America.

During World War I, British Government sponsorship of artists from the established figures of Singer Sargent to the younger avant-garde artists, Paul Nash, Christopher Nevinson, Stanley Spencer and Percy Wyndham Lewis was unprecedented. Their work would transform the subject of the art of war and modern British artistic developments altogether. The 1914-18 war would have a similar transforming effect upon the art of their German opponents, such as Otto Dix, Georg Grosz and Max Beckmann. This lecture will explore the moving and unforgettable images of these artists and others of the 'war to end all wars'.

No other 18th century British artist evokes the spirit of his age quite as vividly as Hogarth. Portraits, conversation pieces, genre scenes, "modern moral subjects" all capture contemporary life as he saw it. By borrowing widely from 17th century Dutch painting, Italian baroque and French rococo, he created a uniquely British style. A style in which he sympathised with the poor, admired the virtuous and industrious and lampooned the rich and foolish. A style in which colour and sensuous brushstrokes created beautiful images. By devising his own subject matter he freed the artist from the dictates of the patron, pretentiousness, and foreign domination. By championing the Copyright Act of 1735 he protected the rights of artists and raised the status of print. A remarkable man: discover more about him and his achievements.

In the two centuries since they were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin the meaning and significance of the 'Elgin marbles' has changed dramatically. From architectural decoration to disputed cultural objects this lecture looks at the response to them over their time in Britain, from the original controversy over their purchase to the current debate surrounding the restitution of the marbles to the new Acropolis Museum in Athens.

El Greco was without doubt one of the most unusual and visionary painters of his age, perhaps best known for his astonishing exaggerations of form, distortions of proportion and bold yet brooding colours. The lecture traces the extraordinary stylistic development of this painter, concentrating in particular on the latter half of his life which was spent in his adopted city of Toledo. We examine many paintings which are still in their original locations such as 'The Burial of Count Orgaz' and 'The Disrobing of Christ', explaining how their mystical and avant-garde appearances belies a wide variety of sometimes surprising influences, and to what extent these works can be seen as reflections of the cultural, religious and socio-economic climate of the city in the early 17th century. www.arthistoryinfocus.com

The magnificent blue and red glass that dominated the windows of the great Gothic Cathedrals of the 13th century reflect the aesthetic pinnacle of the art of stained glass. During the later Gothic period the designs become more complex and painted decoration on the glass becomes more prominent. The Renaissance created large pictures in glass and by the 17th century it had faded into memory. It was the Gothic Revival of the 19th century that once again focused on stained glass, with Morris and company producing some wonderful examples for both the Church and domestic buildings. The colour of Victorian Church Glass is usually of a very high standard and it is the use of the lead line defining the 'picture' or figures that usually decides its aesthetic quality. Second World War artists were inspired to fill the huge windows of the great Gothic Cathedrals that had been destroyed in the War.

The Grand Tour was a phenomenon of the 18th century. This lecture charts the challenges and opportunities for the young British aristocrat abroad. The focus is also on the popularity of Venice as a tourist destination. As well as the magical combination of water, gondolas and picturesque buildings, Venice offered entertainment on a grand scale particularly during the carnival season. One of its many attractions was the paintings of native born artist, Canaletto. His views of Venice's canals, full of sparkling sunlight, were so popular with the British that far more of his work is now in this country than in his own city. What made Canaletto's paintings so very attractive to our forebears? Answers to this question will also be explored.

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The strategy is a flexible approach to interpreting any piece of art work, giving you the confidence to become an active, rather than a passive, viewer. It is a tool for life: simple and effective. We will put it into practice by looking at a range of works from across the history of Western Art. Your questions and observations will be welcome and encouraged. This lecture is a must for anyone interested in visiting galleries, exhibitions and art museums. It will, quite simply, help you to 'see' more! Learn to trust your own eyes, and enjoy Art to the full.

Dr Susan Kay-Williams BA (Hons) MA PhD FRSA Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework and Design

Gloria Broadbent was born in Cusco, Peru. She graduated from the University of Cusco with a BA and a Degree in Architecture in 1988, and studied for an MA in the Theory and History of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) in Lima in 1990. She has taken complementary courses and attended seminars on Photogrammetry, Urban Planning for the City of Cusco, Heritage Conservation and Strategies for the Urban Rehabilitation of the City of Cusco (PNUD-UNESCO). In 1990, after completing her MA studies, Ms. Broadbent arrived in the United Kingdom to pursue her PhD. A year later, as part of her introduction to architectural practice in the UK, she joined The Conservation Practice on the restoration of Uppark, a Georgian National Trust property heavily damaged by fire in 1989.

Valerie Woodgate is a Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London Galleries, for the National Trust and other organisations. Lecturer for Tate on P&O Cruises. Member of the teaching team at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Script-writer for the Living Paintings Trust, which brings art to the blind and partially-sighted. Lecturer to NADFAS (the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies) throughout Britain, and to related organisations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.