The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were a group of young artists who came together in 1848 to shake up an art world. They considered it stultified and untruthful, because artists were encouraged to copy only the Old Masters, especially the art of Raphael. So the Pre-Raphaelites looked for inspiration from artists that came before Raphael (hence Pre-Raphaelite) and looked for more truthful and honest subject-matter. Not only were they art world rebels, but they also produced works of art that enjoy great popularity today. This lecture will help to explain their popularity and influence on the art world.

Sarah Ciacci has an MA in History of Art, Late 19th century French Painting and 20th Century Art, from University College London. She has been a Blue Badge Guide for London since 2008, specialising in art, museums and galleries.  She has trained Blue Badge Guides in the National Gallery and is an art lecturer for trainee guides in Tate Britain, Tate Modern and for a period the National Portrait Gallery. From 2008-2023 she was Adjunct Faculty at Richmond University teaching the History of British Art, the History of Museums in London and the History of London. She is a gallery educator and runs regular courses and independent lectures on a variety of art historical periods.    

Holman Hunt: The Shadow of Death, 1873-1874

The Stirling Prize has celebrated the very best in contemporay buildings since 1996. Some winners such, as Norman Foster's Gherkin, of 2004, have become enormously successful and appriciated by the wider public. Others have proved harder to love.  This lecture looks at some of the hits and misses, and several buildings the arguably should have won,but didn't.

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021. His principle academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography, exhibiting most recently at the Royal Academy Summer show in 2025.  He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. Brian is a former member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography.

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.

The Harvesters by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – Rogers Fund, 1919 – www.metmuseum.org)

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster. He has appeared on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and contributes to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. He lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe and talks for the Hay and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum and the V&A. His first book is  A Home for All Seasons. 

It is now around 200 years since the purchase of the so-called 'Elgin Marbles' from Lord Elgin, by the British Parliament. This lecture, beautifully illustrated with specifically taken slides and video, will explore the aesthetics, the back-story, and the heated debates surrounding these fascinating and controversial works of ancient Greek art: what do we mean by 'the Elgin Marbles'? How and why were they originally created? Why are they so highly regarded? What happened to them between their creation and Elgin's time? How did he acquire them? Why are they now in the British Museum? And why are there such passionately held views both for and against their repatriation to Greece?

Dr Steve Kershaw (BA (Hons); PhD) has had a special interest in the world of the Ancient Greeks and Romans ever since being introduced to Homer’s Iliad by an inspirational teacher at his primary school.  Having achieved a degree in Classics from Bristol University, Steve stayed on to write his PhD. Since graduation Steve has taught Classics in a number of establishments, and now operates principally for Oxford University, Department for Continuing Education. He is an author and teacher but he has also spent a great deal of time in the world of Classical Civilisation, both intellectually and physically.His many media appearances include acting as an expert contributor to the History Channel’s Barbarians Rising series, appearing in a Channel 5 TV documentary fronted by Dan Snow about destroyed ancient cities, and guesting on BBC Radio 4's You're Dead to Me.  Steve is an acclaimed author writting for adults and children. His most recent publication, Three Epic Battles That Saved Democracy: Marathon Thermopylae and Salamis (2022), has  garnered many plaudits in the international press. Steve is also an internationally renowned jazz double bass player, who has performed at jazz festivals faround the world. An Honors Graduate of the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, he has appeared in films and on TV, and has an extensive catalogue of recordings to his name, as well as a couple of books on playing the bass. 

The last two decades of the nineteenth century reverberated with the row amongst gardeners and architects. At a stroke, the problem was solved by the partnership between Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens. A house by Lutyens with a garden by Jekyll became an Edwardian ideal. Together they designed gardens with a strong architectural background, softened by luxuriant planting in the natural style advocated by Robinson.

James Bolton graduated from Inchbold School of Design and became Head Gardener at Old Rectory Farnborough. He was Faculty Director of Design History at Inchbold. James has been an  Arts Society lecturer for a number of years and organises garden study days and tours in the UK and Europe. James  published a book on garden ornaments, Garden Mania, in 2000.

This lecture explores the idea of marriage as the cornerstone of Florentine society - set to shore up dynastic and economic unions.  We look at the exquisite furniture associated with the marriage ceremony.  Wedding chests or Cassoni - painted, gilded and carved chests for the purpose of containing the bride's dowry.  These magnificent chests, like the bride would have been paraded through the city streets for all to see but could  only guess at the luxurious contents contained within!!

Anna Warrilow graduated with a BA in History of Art & Italian and an MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design. She worked for 6 years as a curator at The Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in smaller collections such as The Henry Moore Family Trust. She teaches undergraduates at  Richmond The American International University and lectures regularly for arts, history and academic societies In 2013 Anna graduated as a Blue Badge Guide and set up her own guiding company in 2018. Since then she has been conducting bespoke guided tours for visitors to London.

Image; The Conquest of Trebizond

Apart from the pear tree in which sat the partridge there are no plants in the folk song 'The 12 days of Christmas', yet at Christmas we are surrounded by plants. This talk will put the record straight and rewrites the zoocentric song replacing partridges with pointsettias and maids with mistletoe.

A Botany graduate from University College Oxford, Timothy was director at the Oxford Botanic Garden when it won 4 gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show and when the Botanic Garden was awarded a Queens Anniversary Prize for providing imaginative educational programmes for adults, students and children. A Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London Timothy is currently a tutor in Plant Biology at Somerville College Oxford.

I write only for fame ...  Jane Austen

When Jane Austen declared that she wrote 'only for fame', she was, of course, being ironic: she published anonymously; there is no record on her gravestone that she was a writer; and her books fell out of print shortly after her death.

But now, Jane Austen is one of our best loved authors, with legions of adoring fans throughout the world. Her novels have inspired countless stage and screen adaptations, and even provided solace to soldiers in the trenches. She is the face of the £10 banknote, and she adorns tea towels and fridge magnets everywhere. Jane Austen is now very famous indeed.

But how did it all happen? This lecture will chart Jane Austen's rise to fame; it will explore the makings of a literary celebrity and examine Austen's legacy, 250 years after her birth.

Following a career in teaching, Annalie Talent has worked at a variety of literary houses and museums across the UK, including Wordsworth's Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Wordsworth House in Cockermouth and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

For several years, Annalie ran the learning programme at Jane Austen's House in Chawton, where her work won two Sandford awards for excellence in Heritage Education, and where she collaborated with the British Library and Bodleian Library in promoting Austen's work to young people. Most recently, Annalie has worked at Chawton House, the Elizabethan manor that was once home to Jane Austen's brother and which now houses a library of early women's writings.

Born in 1921 in Sussex, Joan Eardley showed artistic talent from a young age, and after post-war studies at the Glasgow School of Art, made Scotland her home until her untimely death in 1963 aged just 42. Joan's work is known from her twin passions - the country and town. Country where she braved the elements to paint the wild forces of nature on the North Sea coast of Aberdeenshire, and town where she was drawn to the equally wild elements of the Glasgow slums and painted her instantly recognisable portraits of children. She left a legacy of completely individual artworks; a raw experience of nature combined with a painfully moving expressiveness. This is her story.

Amanda Herries read Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge. She was curator at the Museum of London 1978-1988, specialising in the decorative arts 1718 to present day, exhibitions, lectures, booklets and broadcasts. In 1988 she moved to Japan with her family where she spent her time lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences. In 1995, she returned to the UK where she spends her time fund raising for art companies, writing, lecturing and guiding tours to Japan. Her most recent publications have been on Japanese plant and garden influences in the West. 

We live in a world of downsizing and decluttering. Gone are the days of high demand, eager buyers furnishing their homes with antiques and dealers sending container loads of furniture around the world. Different times generate different markets and today 'no one wants brown furniture' is a mantra regularly repeated. This talk will examine the changes in the market and explain why 'no one wants to buy your wardrobe'.

Matthew has worked with the fine and decorative arts all his working life. Currently a senior valuer at Lawrences in Crewkerne Matthew has also been a lecturer  in higher education at Southampton Solent University and has a PhD in the Arts and Craft Movement. 

The modest city of Ravenna in north east Italy hides an illustious past filled with glittering treasures. In 402 the Roman Emperor, A.D.Honorius, moved the capitol of the Western Roman empire to Ravenna and furnished the city with churches clad in glistening mosaics and coloured marbles. Ravenna continued to flourish after the demise of the Western Roman Empire under King Theodoric, who enriched it with further spledid mosaic-filled monuments. Ravenna was the western capitol of the Byzantine empire instigating another period of lavish patronage. J.R.R Tolkein and Oscar Wilde were inspired by Ravenna's stunning monuments: their beauty and complex layers of meaning continue to captivate today.

Dr Sally Dormer has been the course tutor for the Late Medival and Early Renaissance Year course at The V&A since its inception in 1993. She has a PhD in Medieval Manuscript Illumination from the Courtauld Institute University of London and a MA in Medival History of Art.

Country houses are often full of historic portraits, but for today's visitors it is not always clear who the sitters are, why they are there, or why they mattered. Visitors in the 17th and 18th centuries, however, would have immediately known how to "read" the portraits and understand their visual clues. Focusing on 17th and 18th century portraits, this lecture will look closely at clothes, poses and accessories, and learn how to decode them. Through this, we can understand how they were used to communicate status, networks and identities.

Dr Amy Lim is an art historian and 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 Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920 currently at Tate Britain until 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.

How many times have you heard someone say "I don't like bagpipes"? But my question is which bagpipes? Of course they usually mean the Scottish Great Highland bagpipes but, while they certainly dominate the bagpipe landscape, they are by no means the only one. In the British Isles historically we have about 10 different kinds of bagpipe and they are also to be found throughout Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. Whether you're playing the gaita, piva, musette, dudelsack, cornemuse, cabrette, sackpipa or any of a whole world of bagpipes, this varied instrument entertains both high and low society and to this day regional bagpipes are a key touchstone in folk traditions.

So whether you're a medieval Italian shepherd, an 18th century French aristocrat or the official piper to the Duke of Northumberland, you'd certainly know that not all bagpipes are Scottish!

Sophie began playing flute at the age of ten but is now more well-known for her prowess on the English border bagpipes and has become one of the foremost players of the instrument in the UK. She also plays a variety of early woodwind instruments such as shawm, rauschpfeife and recorder. She's also one of a handful of British players of the baroque musette, an 18th century French bagpipe similar to the Northumbrian smallpipes.

Sophie is also recognised as a superb interpreter of narrative song with a clear, pure and unaffected soprano voice. When not touring with GreenMatthews, she makes instruments (she made her own baroque oboe) and works with respected luthier Tony Millyard on his flutes. Sophie is self taught on all of her instruments.

Sophie is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, lecturing primarily on Music in Art.

August Rodin was internationally celebrated as one of the heroic figures of 19th century art history, but after his death his reputation slipped and questions were asked about his use of the female image.Today that is very much being reassessed and he is seen as taken sculpture on a revolutionary path during his career. This lecture will show why he is one of the greatest sculptures ever and assessing his continuing relevance.

David carved his first piece of stone age 16 which was the beginning of his artistic journey. A graduate from Oxford University, David has studied fine art in London, Barcelona and New York. A fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors and a former Vice President, 2010-2013, David has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan. Working primarily as a sculptuor in stone he has 25 years professional practice. In 2010 he installed a large public scuplture in Great Queen Street Covent Garden London.  He has had solo shows at The Lefrevre Gallery, Sadlers Yard, Horatio's Garden, The William Bennington Gallery and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

This is an introduction to sub Saharan African art, focusing on general misconceptions, facts, comparisons and influences of Africa on Europe and vice versa. The lecture explains not only the general premises of African art appreciation but, with a light touch, shows how art can be used to replace the postal service , help with marriage problems or deal with unruly teenagers. Nirvana invites our members to bring their own African traditional artefacts to the lecture so we can take a look at them at the end of the lecture.

Nirvana has 23 years international lecturing experience. With post graduate degrees from the University of Zargreb, History of Art and MA in English Language and Literature, she moved to England via South Africa in 2003. Since than she has been a freelance lecturer at the Manchester Art Gallery, the Walker Gallery Liverpool, The Royal Geographic Society and the Arts Society. She also researches, arranges and accompanies study tours across Europe and South Africa.

The founder's grandson tells the story of the publisher, Faber & Faber, and of the art used on its books, from its beginnings to the present day.

Since its foundation in 1925, Faber & Faber has built a reputation as one of London's most important literary publishing houses. Part of that relates to the editorial team that Geoffrey Faber and his successors built around them - TS Eliot was famously an early recruit - but a large part is also due to the firm's insistence on good design and illustration. Early years brought innovations like the Ariel Poems - single poems, beautifully illustrated, sold in their own envelopes - and contacts with some of the great artists of the inter-war years. From the 1940s, there was an emphasis on typography, led by the firm's art director, Berthold Wolpe; his Albertus font is still used on City of London road signs. In the 1980s, the firm started its association with Pentagram, responsible for the ff logo. Along the way, it has employed some of our most celebrated artists as cover illustrators - from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst.

The talk will also be peppered with personal insight and anecdote. Faber & Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent. As the grandson of its founder, Toby grew up steeped in its books. He was managing director for five years and he remains on the board. He is passionate about the firm's success, and intensely proud of his association with it. 

Toby is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of Faber & Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press. Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius - Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius; Faberge's Eggs and Faber & Faber - The Untold Story, as well as a novel, Close to the Edge. Of these, only the obvious one is published by the family firm.

Drawing on his own experiences as both a child and adult actor, Tyler reveals the pains and the pleasures of a career in the theatre, and takes us through the various intricate processes of putting on a play from the actor’s perspective, from the casting session to the curtain call, and all stops in between.

On the way, he reveals how props can let you down at crucial moments, how actors survive when out of work, and how to deal with stage nudity.

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South. Both his actor parents were very famous .... 

By the 1520s Rome, fuelled by the wealth of the Catholic Church, was the great centre of the Renaissance. But in 1527 the unthinkable happened and for only the second time in her history the city was invaded by an army of unpaid and half starving mercenaries. Many were German Lutherans with an intense hatred of Catholics and the Pope, who they saw as ruling over a cesspit of corruption and pornography. (Spoiler alert: they were not wrong!) Palaces and homes were occupied, their owners killed and tortured to reveal treasure. Convents and monasteries were sacked, inmates raped and murdered, art and relics destroyed. In the Vatican, horses were stabled in the Sistine chapel and the Pope barely escaped with his life. Any cultural figure worth their salt fled. Rome's loss was Venice's gain. The high Renaissance was over, and the impact would extend even to the shores of Britain and the history of the Tudors. A story of seismic cultural change and a voyage into the dark side of the Renaissance. Blood to go with the beauty. 

Novelist, broadcaster and critic. Sarah Dunant read history at Cambridge, then worked for many years as a cultural journalist in radio and television on such programmes as Kaleidoscope (BBC Radio 4), The Late Show (BBC 2), and Night Waves/Free Thinking (BBC Radio 3). She has published 13 novels, taught Renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis and lectured around the world at festivals and conferences. Her last five novels have been set within the Italian Renaissance. In the Name of the Family completes the story of the Borgia family and the remarkable period of Italian history in which they lived. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's A Point of View and these talks, alongside her series on history for Radio 4, When Greeks Flew Kites are available on podcasts, or BBC Sounds.  

Chinese Wallpapers create an extraordinary visual and with their exquisitely painted largescale designs they blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality, the extraordinary and the mundane.  They first appeared in Britain in the early 1700s and quickly took fashionable society by storm. Their exotic subject matter, rich colours and fine details were far superior to other wallpapers of the time and their non-repeating designs of landscapes or Chinese life formed a dazzling panorama that ran all around the room. By the end of the 18th century there was barely a country house in Britain that did not boast at least one, if not more rooms decorated in this way. 

This lecture explores the history and development of Chinese wallpapers from their origins to modern times. It looks at how they were made, how they came to Britain, the different types of design, and how and where they were used.  It ends with the revival of Chinese wallpapers today.

Jo Banham is a freelance curator, lecturer and writer. From 2006-2016 she was Head of Adult Learning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and before that Head of Learning and Access at the National Portrait Gallery, and Head of Public Programmes at Tate Britain. She has also been Curator of Leighton House and Assistant Keeper at the Whitworth Art Gallery. She has published on many aspects of Victorian and early 20th century decoration and interiors. She is currently curating an exhibition on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement for the Juan March Fundacion in Madrid and the Museu Nacional d’Art Catalunya in Barcelona. She is also Director of the Victorian Society Summer School.

L. S. Lowry is one of Britain’s most popular artists and yet our very familiarity with his work has stopped us looking as closely as we should at this extraordinary artist. Though famous for painting the mills and factories of the industrial north-west of England, he was really a painter of the human condition. In this lecture I suggest that his work is the visual counterpoint of T. S. Eliot’s poetry and further, that we can claim him as our English Van Gogh. Too much? Come to the lecture and decide for yourself! 

Michael is a familiar face to The Arts Society. He is President of The Arts Society Bolton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Although retired, he continues to teach at the Manchester School of Art. He has published widely on European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his books include: L. S. Lowry: A Visionary Artist; The Impressionists by Themselves; The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure and the award-winning dramatic interpretation and publication of material originally performed by the Zurich-based Dadaists of 1916. A New Order: An Evening at the Cabaret Voltaire. His book on Gauguin, was written in association with the Gauguin Museum, Tahiti, and his book on Monet for the Musée Marmottan, Paris.  

Michael is a practising artist, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the New York Art Fair and elsewhere. He is represented in Manchester Art Gallery and in many private collections both here and abroad. He has appeared on television and radio many times.

2024 marks the bicentenary of the founding of the National Gallery. This lecture tells the story of the establishment of the National Gallery collection beginning in 1824, when Lord Liverpool's government purchased 38 paintings for £57,000 from the collection of businessmen and philanthropist, John Julius Angerstein. The paintings were initially displayed at 100 Pall Mall, Angerstein's townhouse and by 1838, it was decided that a purpose-built building was required, giving us the William Wilkins designed building we know and love on Trafalgar Square. During the course of the lecture, we examine some of the high (and low) points of the early years of the gallery, including suffragette sabotage, bombs and theft. We also take a close-up look at some of the original "Angerstein 38" paintings.

Simon Whitehouse is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher and award-winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in house at Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon's specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

The Elizabethan era saw the transformation of Britain's medieval dwellings into the basis of modern houses: chimneys, open staircases and glazing became the norm. But what else do Elizabethan houses tell us? We travel through the spectrum, from simple cottages through merchant's houses and great estates, to explore the residences of Elizabeth herself. Underpinning the story is the social change wrought by the end of the monasteries, the growth of cities and the discovery of a world beyond our shores.

Dr Jonathan Foyle is not an 'establishment' academic, but uses the original research he has gained over a 25-year practical career in the world of historic buildings and applied arts to inform architectural conservation projects, broadcasts, books, articles, and talks for groups including the Arts Society. A former Curator at Hampton Court, and Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain for eight years, he has authored seven volumes on great cathedrals and castles, and is best known for presenting series such as BBC2's Broadcast Award-winning Climbing Great Buildings and contributing to series like Channel 4's Time Team and currently Channel 5's Secrets of the Palaces. His talks combine humour with personal insights to offer in-depth and fresh analyses of architecture, furnishings, sculpture, paintings and their all-important symbolism, through which we can better understand them

From July to September 2024 Paris will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But whilst most onlookers will focus on sport, art and design will also play a part, as they have since the games began at Olympia nearly three thousand years ago. Greek art is replete with representations of athletes on vases, plates and bronzes. Every four years modern day hosts unveil dazzling new architecture, in the form of stadia, arenas, velodromes and swimming pools. The athletes themselves act as torch bearers for ever changing ideals of physical perfection. From nudity to Nike, from sand to synthetics, the Olympic story offers art lovers pure gold.

Writer and historian Simon Inglis specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Since 2004 he has edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage. Although sports and recreation might seem an unlikely subject to The Art Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon's themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture. After a history degree at University College London, he freelanced for various publications, including the Guardian, Observer and Radio Times. He has curated exhibitions for the Building Centre, and the British Council, been a regular contributor to radio and television, has travelled and lectured extensively and written a number of books. Two were shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, while another, on British football grounds, was chosen by journalist Frank Keating as the best sports book of the 20th century. A recent high point in his work for English Heritage was the listing of a 1970s skate park in Essex a world first that made the 10 o'clock news.

Founded in 1919 in Weimar, the Bauhaus was a progressive art school. Under the directorship of architect Walter Gropius, its students studied a broad range of artistic disciplines. The Bauhaus lasted for a 14-year period, with bases in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, and during that time it not only came to typify an age but also dictate matters of style for decades to come, through its art, architecture and design. This talk looks at some of the movers and shakers behind this hugely influential movement, including Marianne Brandt, Miles van dear Rohe and Marcel Breuer, as well as exploring their legacy in our world and homes today.

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Gavin lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. His 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, was published in June 2022.

Please note we will not be able to offer this as a Zoom lecture and it will be in person only

Although upward of a hundred pleasure gardens are known to have thrived in 18th century London, it was Vauxhall, with its walks, triumphal arches, statues and reputation for scandal, that became the firm favourite with Londoners and visitors alike. For the price of a shilling, patrons could stroll through the groves accompanied by the voices of nature, or – if they wished – could dine to the popular melodies of the day, borne high on the evening air from the famous Orchestra. Drawing on period newspapers and diaries, digital images, and music in the Vauxhall Gardens’ repertoire, Peter Medhurst gives a vivid impression of cultural life at London’s first ‘South Bank’.

Music performed includes: The Lass with the Delicate Air – M Arne, Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind – TA Arne, Hornpipe for Vauxhall 1740 – GF Handel, Allegro from Organ Concerto in C – TA Arne, Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill – J Hook, and Farewell to Vauxhall – J Lampe

Peter has visited us in Shrewsbury on several previous occasions and always delivered very enjoyable and informative lectures. Peter appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

This colourful lecture is based on two decades' personal experience of a unique art colony. Nowhere else in the USA have Native American, Spanish and Anglo cultures grown side by side as they have here, and this diversity, along with the glorious light of the high desert, has attracted artists since the early days of the railroad. The history of this still thriving colony is rich, strange and full of remarkable characters, including British visitors like DH Lawrence and famous American artists such as Georgia O'Keefe. Having spent five years selling art on the city's Canyon Road - think Bond Street with cowboy hats - James can offer an intimate picture of Santa Fe: it's inspiring, funny and occasionally scandalous.

Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James Russell enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience that inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th century art. Of his dozen or so books, one was a Sunday Times book of the year, while his writing has been described by critics as 'insightful', 'informative' and 'enjoyably readable'. James has curated major exhibitions at Dulwich Art Gallery and for museums across the country. He bases his lectures on wide-ranging original research into the subjects that fascinate him.

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. An overview of Bach's life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work which draws on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses which are infused with the joyous spirit of dance.

This is a return visit for Sandy Burnett who is one of the UK's most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catherine's College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London's West End, Sandy spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays 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.

Micromosaics are made of thousands of tiny pieces of glass, invisible to the naked eye. Inspired by the discovery in Hadrian's Villa in 1735 of what was then thought the finest mosaic ever made in ancient Rome, the mosaic artists of 18th century Rome invented a method of making tiny mosaics in glass instead of stone. This lecture traces the development of these astonishing feats of ingenuity, none more than 7cm in length, from their neo-classical beginnings to the romantic landscapes and naturalistic subjects of the 19th century. Stunning slides taken under high magnification demonstrate the technical virtuosity and the kaleidoscope of colours that never fade. These micromosaics were highly prized in their day and brought back by visitors to Italy as treasured mementoes and as portable miniature versions of largescale mosaics or paintings.

Judy Rudoe has been a curator at the British Museum (BM) since 1974, specialising in jewellery, and in 19th - 20th century decorative arts. She is the author of "Cartier 1900-1939" (BM 1997) and organiser of the Cartier exhibition at the BM; co-author of the "Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift of Jewellery" (BM 1984); contributor to the "Catalogue of Micromosaics" in the Gilbert Collection (2000). Her lastest book, "Jewellery in the Age of Victoria", co-authored with Charlotte Gere, was published in 2010 and won the 2011 William Berger Prize for British Art History. Judy is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Years of working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in England and Germany have given Angela unique insights into the destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. In this thought-provoking talk she offers a deeper understanding of the minds, lives and challenges of offenders. With extraordinary slides of art projects and prisoner’s art, she demonstrates how within the process of creating art of any discipline, there are vital opportunities for offenders to confront their crimes and develop the key life skills so essential in leading a positive and productive life. A frequent response to this talk has been “I had no idea!” and indeed it casts light onto areas of our society where the Arts not only are visual, decorative or commercial, but absolutely vital, hugely relevant and potentially life-changing. This talk is moving, informative and very original. Interspersed with personal accounts of humorous or slightly horrifying situations, these talks have kept audiences across the country engrossed. 

Angela Findlay is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long career of teaching art in prisons in Germany and England. Her time ‘behind bars’ and later as Arts Coordinator of the London-based Koestler Arts, gave her many insights into the huge impact the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation.    

Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her book - In My Grandfather’s Shadow - expanding on the above subjects and published by Penguin Transworld is available in bookshops and online from July 2022.

When the Duke of Wellington witnessed Joseph Paxton at work at Chatsworth, he exclaimed “I’d have liked that man as one of my generals.” Paxton was one of the most inventive and influential figures of the 19th century, whose most famous masterwork, the Crystal Palace of 1851, is considered by significant contemporary architects like Sir Norman Foster to be ’the birth of modern architecture’. Born into a humble farming family, as gardener, engineer, designer, architect, publisher, railway investor and MP, Paxton was to leave his mark on Victorian Britain like few others. 

For more than 30 years he worked at Chatsworth, supported by his formidable wife Sarah, enhancing it with innovative buildings and garden designs in a close partnership with his patron the 6th Duke of Devonshire. His boundless energy and vision found its greatest expression in his radical design for the Great Exhibition, where the ‘industry of all nations', and a dazzled populace, gathered under his vast glass structure. My lecture celebrates the man and his achievements which have profoundly influenced architecture ever since.

Simon Seligman studied art and architectural history at Warwick University. For 19 years until 2010, worked at Chatsworth in a variety of roles, latterly as Head of Communications. Has lectured about Chatsworth, the Devonshire Collection and associated topics, throughout the UK and on several US tours. Alongside his lecturing, he is a Life Coach in private practice, and works part time for John Ruskin’s charity the Guild of St George.

Alfred Munnings, the son of a Suffolk miller, left school at the age of fourteen and a half when he was apprenticed as a commercial artist. Attending evening classes at the Norwich School of Art, Munnings would go on to become one of the most successful English artists of the first half of the twentieth century, ending his long career as President of the Royal Academy.

This lecture looks at his amazing and extensive artistic output from his early life as a commercial artist, through the extraordinarily evocative and powerful depictions of Canadian soldiers during the First World to his mature work as this country’s leading sporting and equestrian artist. It also touches on the controversy around his views on modern art and as such acts as an accessible examination of the tensions between figurative painting and non-representational art during the early twentieth century.

Christopher Garibaldi is presently an independent researcher. From 2010–2019 he was Director of Palace House, Newmarket (National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art. From 2008–2010 he was 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.

The photograph is courtesy of The Munnings Art Museum - 'My Wife, My Horse and Myself'

When the new process of photography was formally introduced and demonstrated to a joint meeting of the Académie des Science and Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in January 1839, the history painter Delaroche is reported to have exclaimed “from today painting is dead!”. Far from sounding the death knell of painting, photography in fact gave rise to a fascinating dialogue between both art forms. This lecture charts and outlines the birth of photography in the early nineteenth century and how its invention transformed and influenced the use, purpose and aesthetic of painting.

Born in Paris in 1976, Aliki Braine studied at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford, The Slade School of Fine Art, London and The Courtauld Institute where she was awarded a distinction for her masters in 17th century painting. After working for National Gallery for 20 years, she now teaches for Christie’s Education and the Wallace Collection, and is an Associate Lecturer for the Camberwell College of Art, University of the Arts London. Aliki is also a practicing artist who regularly exhibits her photographic work internationally.

This engaging talk looks at the history of the chair and ‘sitting solutions’, charting the humble to high design, from antiquity to the 21st century. Never again will you take your seat for granted!

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He is shortly to begin his 23rd year as a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and has appeared on numerous television and radio programmes. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc has his own unique style with interests ranging from pre-history to modern design and is a self-confessed collectaholic. Marc has lectured widely for many years to a number of different organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust, The WI and many literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath, Wells and Petworth. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

This lecture draws on Elizabeth’s time in Morocco in visits spanning more than 25 years. The lecture focuses particularly on the stories behind the blue pigment used for the fishing boats and doorways of photogenic Essaouira on the Moroccan coast, and the Majorelle Blue developed and patented by French artist Jacques Majorelle in Marrakech in the 1920s. The story of Morocco’s blues takes us from Berber veils to Yves Saint-Laurent who restored Majorelle’s Marrakech garden, via Modernist Orientalist art and a protected mollusk.

Elizabeth Gowing studied at Magdalen College Oxford before training as a teacher and working in Lambeth, Hackney and Islington. Moved to Kosovo in 2006 and there worked with the Ethnological Museum in Prishtina and co-founded ‘The Ideas Partnership’, a charity working on education and cultural heritage projects. Speaks fluent Albanian and has translated two books (the unauthorized biography of Yugoslavia’s longest-held political prisoner, Adem Demaci, and the memoirs of one of the leaders of the 1912 uprising). Also the author of four books about Kosovo – Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo (2011), Edith and I; on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo (2013); The Rubbish-Picker’s Wife; an unlikely friendship in Kosovo (2015) and The Silver Thread; a journey through Balkan craftmanship (2017). Regular contributor to Radio 4 (Saturday Live, Excess Baggage, From Our Own Correspondent) and the BBC World Service. Member of the advisory board of GuideKS, the NGO for Kosovan tour guides, and of the board of Faktoje, the Albanian fact-checking organisation

Taking one mythological work from each of the three major Italian cities; Venice, Florence, and Rome, Helen will explore the extraordinary secrets of Renaissance marriage. Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, Botticelli’s Primavera and Raphael’s Galatea show the differences between each city, their attitudes towards brides, ideals of love and even bizarre anatomical beliefs. With such a focused analysis of just three works of art, the talk will uncover the politics, personalities, and sex lives of the Renaissance rich and famous. Many images contain nudity, and the talk includes the topics of conception, sexual violence, and masturbation.

Helen Oakden is the Head of the History of Art Department at St Mary’s School Ascot. She studied at Manchester University and achieved her Masters’ Degree in architectural history from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Based in London she has previously worked for the Royal Academy and National Gallery, as well as leading specialised art history courses across Italy. 

When Augustus John died in 1961 he was described in The New York Times as ‘the grand old man of British painting and one of the greatest in British history.’ He was only in his mid twenties when, in the early 1900s, he was widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and promising young British artists – a Welsh rival, perhaps, to Gauguin or Picasso. This lecture explores John’s extraordinary life, including his early achievements, his position as one of the most exciting and outrageous young British artists before the Great War, his slow decline after it, and his troubled status as ‘the last Bohemian’.

David Haycock read Modern History at the University of Oxford, and has an MA in the History of Art and a PhD in British History. He is the author of a number of books, including Paul Nash (2002), A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War (2009) and Augustus John: Drawn from Life (2018); he has lectured widely at galleries and museums in the UK, including Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Watercolour Society and Pallant House. He was formerly a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, and at UCLA, and was Curator of Maritime and Imperial History at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is now a freelance writer and lecturer. 

In the Renaissance, Christmas was a popular time to hold jousts, tournaments and courtly spectacles. In the dark, dead of winter, a colourful, glamorous celebration of chivalry very much took on the role of a kind of sixteenth-century 'festival of light'. In England, Christmas jousts became especially popular under that famous lover of armour and fighting, King Henry VIII. Such events were a kind of performance art, which fused real armoured combat with fantastical, mythological and allegorical themes. In this lecture, we explore this rich history through the personal experiences of the lecturer, an academic specialist but also one of the world’s foremost jousters and medieval martial artists.

This is a return visit for Tobias Capwell. He is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection and an internationally-acknowledged authority on Medieval and Renaissance weapons. He is the author of numerous books on the subject of arms and armour, including Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection; The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe 1520-1630; Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450 ; and most recently Arms and Armour of the Medieval Joust . Toby also appears regularly on television, most recently on A Stitch in Time (2018; BBC4); as presenter and armour advisor on Richard III: The New Evidence (2014; C4), and as the writer and presenter of Metalworks: The Knight's Tale (2012; BBC4). In 2015 Toby had the unusual honour of serving as one of the two fully armoured horsemen escorting the remains of King Richard III, from the battlefield at Bosworth to their final resting place in Leicester Cathedral.

London not only has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries, but also a remarkable range of art outside in the streets. We tour the capital discovering some of the most interesting works from across the centuries. They range from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, which is sometimes audacious and often playful, but they all have a place in our society. We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many hidden gems.

Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours around each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide and leads regular tours. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies.

Porcelain, jade, jewels, architecture, gardens and a few surprises are featured in this fascinating talk, which encompasses the wonders and exoticism of the East that held the West enthralled for over two centuries. The Meridian line of the Forbidden City, the pure white marble path, double hip roofs and the importance of the number 9 are all discussed, together with Court ritual. The importance of the beautiful objects that surrounded the Emperors and some gifts that were given by “the Barbarian” westerner in exchange for trade agreements feature to excite the eye and hopefully stimulate a passion for these wonderful wares.

Peter Le Rossignol has degrees in Decorative Arts & Historic Interiors and Fine Art Valuation; he also holds a DPhil in Art History. He has forty years' lecturing experience, including to the Art Fund in Jersey and Guernsey, the Ringwood Antiques Club Hampshire, the Jersey College for Adult Education, and various after-dinner engagements. He has given talks on local radio, and held antique road shows for various organisations. Interests include eighteenth century fine & decorative art, the Grand Tour, Oriental decorative arts, and silver and jewellery. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville Wests and the Rothschilds and their family history with the story of the gardens they have all created, despite their very different backgrounds, here in the English countryside.

Caroline Rayman has lectured for many years to universities and art organisations in America and on cruise boats. She was an official guide at the British Museum and has published articles on samplers. Her lectures range from the role of the royal mistress in history to more scholarly lectures on Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Chardin's still-life paintings drew the astonished admiration of his contemporaries. These included the Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot, who remarked that Chardin's ability to evoke the appearance and texture of objects was akin to magic. Chardin's work was also appreciated and sought after by prominent 18th-century collectors including Louis XV of France and the Empress Catherine of Russia. And Chardin's reputation as one of Europe's greatest still-life painters endures to this day. This lecture follows the course of Chardin's career from obscure beginnings to his emergence as one of the most admired artists of his generation. In addition, we consider Chardin's approach to the art of still life, evaluating his ability to combine remarkable illusionistic effects with harmonious balance in colour, form and composition. 

Kathy McLauchlan is a lecturer who specialises in 19th-century art history. She is currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, organising courses and study days on the history of art and design. She is a graduate of Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute, with a PhD on French 19th-century painters in Rome. 

There is something incomparably romantic about a long-lost country house, and although Britain still possesses some of the finest of these architectural treasures to be found anywhere, many have been destroyed. A single ruined lodge or pavilion, an over-grown drive or group of mature trees are sometimes all that now exists to remind us of a lost house and pleasure-ground.This lecture tells the story of just some of these losses to our National Heritage – destroyed for a variety of reasons; from neglect, arson, enemy action, incompetence, family rivalry, financial disaster or even insanity! In the mid-twentieth century particularly, profound social change, wars, high taxation and bad management often contributed to the demise of many grand houses. Hundreds were demolished after 1945 – some beautiful, some ugly, but each lost house, as the lecture shows, is fascinating in its own way.  

Matthew holds degrees from the Universities of Nottingham and Manchester and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is a recognised expert on the work of the Victorian designer William Burges, Matthew was Curator of Cardiff Castle for nearly 30 years. His most recent  publication is a major book Cardiff Castle and the Marquesses of Bute, published in 2019. He is a long-standing member of The Arts Society, Matthew has been a programme secretary and a chairman before becoming an accredited lecturer in 2001.

Since the end of the 15th century, when Wynkyn de Worde set up England's first printing press and after 1702, when the first newspaper, the Daily Courant, moved in, the term "Fleet Street" has been synonymous with newspaper journalism. This lecture looks at the ups and downs of this notorious ‘Street of Shame’ via the art that illustrated its stories.

Geri is a former Fleet Street journalist and film PR. She has a first-class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate from Roehampton University in London. She has been lecturing for the past 14 years both in the UK and internationally. She is also principal lecturer on The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and is an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University.

The Camden Town Group was a small, short-lived group of artists which flourished between about 1911 and 1914. Key members of the group were Walter Sickert, Harold Gilman, Charles Ginner, and Spencer Gore, and it was named after the area of London in which several of them lived and worked. Inspired by the work of artists like van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne, these painters adapted the Europeans’ brilliant use of colour and energetic brushwork to very British subject matter, creating a vibrant visual style in the process.

Linda Smith holds two first-class degrees in Art History. She has a broad knowledge of art historical subjects, but specialises in British Art and twentieth century art. She is an experienced lecturer and guide, especially at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. 

The lecture examines the question of what constitutes a garden in the 21st century, and charts recent, current and planned creations in Britain and abroad. Specific British gardens mentioned include Ian Hamilton Finlay’s garden at Little Sparta, Alnwick Garden, Charles Jencks’s gardens and garden architecture, and the Green Dock in the Thames Barrier Park, London. 

Patricia has been a curator of museums and galleries in Eastbourne, Chelmsford and Durham; Deputy Director, Scottish Museums Council. She is now a heritage consultant, and lecturer to a wide range of organisations including the National Galleries of Scotland and their Friends, and on cruises. Her publications include articles in Apollo, The Burlington Magazine, Country Life and The Walpole Society’s Annual Volume; contributions to Allan Ramsay and the Search for Horace's Villa (2001), The Grand Tour and its influence (2008), Scots in London in the 18th Century: Patronage, Culture and Identity (2010), and numerous reviews. Her book A Chasm in Time: Scottish War Art and Artists of the Twentieth Century (2014) won the Saltire Scottish History Book of the Year 2015. 

Starting in 1607 with Monteverdi’s astonishing opera Orfeo, and ending in 1759 with the death of that great “English” composer George Frideric Handel, the Baroque era produced music of great brilliance and emotional depth. In helping to navigate us through its choppy waters, Sandy draws on his experience as broadcaster, conductor and hands-on practical musician. His in-depth exploration of this fascinating period of Classical music draws on hand-picked images, autograph scores and recorded musical illustrations, with a special focus on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Sandy 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, he devises and leads cultural holidays 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.

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 is currently Special Events Organiser, Theatre Royal Bath. She interviews visiting actors, writers, directors. She lectures regularly to theatre going societies, NT and history and fine arts groups and is a West Country Tourist Board Registered Blue Badge Guide and Lecturer. She is an author and researcher of theatre programme notes on Hamlet, Sheridan's The Rivals and Jane Austen's Emma and is also a theatrical landlady! Home Economist. She also acts as a  consultant to various TV productions of Jane Austen adaptations on food in the 18th and 19th centuries, and also hosts and cooks period meals in her Regency house in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and other literary groups.

There are currently over 316,000 listed buildings in England, and thousands more in Scotland and Wales. But only a tiny proportion of those are related to sports or recreation. After 35 years of research in the field, Simon Inglis introduces us to some of the most interesting examples, from a 15th century tennis court in Scotland to a 1970s skatepark in Essex. Why are these buildings – among them grandstands, pavilions, squash courts and scoreboards – so important? What do they tell us about our sporting heritage and social history? And why has it taken so long for recreational buildings to achieve the same level of protection afforded to buildings in other sectors? Wherever possible Simon will feature local examples in his lecture.

Writer and historian Simon Inglis specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Since 2004 he has edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage. Although sport and recreation might seem an unlikely subject for The Arts Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon’s themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture. After a history degree at University College London, he freelanced for various publications, including the Guardian, Observer and Radio Times. He has curated exhibitions for the Building Centre and the British Council, been a regular contributor to radio and television, has travelled and lectured extensively, and written a number of books. Two were shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, while another, on British football grounds, was chosen by journalist Frank Keating as the best sports book of the 20th century. A recent highpoint in his work for English Heritage was the listing of a 1970s skatepark in Essex, a world first that made the 10 o'clock news.

In this talk Andrew shows how the rise of Cinema and Hollywood had such an important impact on fashion and jewellery design.

From Dietrich to Grace Kelly, he guides you through the Screen Goddesses and how they were portrayed.

He discusses that with the development of advertising, labour saving machines and leisure time, people had more opportunities to enjoy themselves and spend money on the finer things in life and later how political events influenced what was worn. He also shows how the Edwardian and Art Deco styles did not in fact end with the outbreak of the Second World War, rather, they slowly combined to finally flower again in the late 1940s and 1950s with Christian Dior’s 'New Look'.

Andrew's taste for fine 'costume jewellery' can be traced back to an antique market, where he came across a late Victorian brooch set with what he initially thought were emeralds and diamonds. They were, in fact, crystal and green glass set in silver and gold. He realised that beautiful jewellery didn't require expensive stones, and that it was the elegance of the design and the quality of the workmanship that truly mattered. Private commissions then started to trickle in. The trickle turned into a flood, as celebrities such as Michael Jackson (a large crystal and pearl shoulder jewel) and Shirley Bassey (necklaces) were seen wearing Andrew's creations.

In 2002, the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent Tiaras, Past and Present exhibition which became one of their most popular exhibits. The exposure gained by the show then led to Andrew's jewellery appearing in film.

In 2005, he was asked to make tiaras and jewellery for Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judy Dench. In 2009, pieces were commissioned for The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson. In 2012, he was chosen by the creators of Downton Abbey to supply a large collection of jewellery for the third series. The characters played by Maggie Smith, Shirley Maclaine, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery were all adorned with elegant tiaras, combs, earrings and necklaces designed and created by Andrew Prince.

This is the story of the epic rivalry between the two giants of British art, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. 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.  

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.

The fabulous Frick Collection in New York was largely inspired by Henry Clark Frick’s knowledge of the Wallace Collection, London. The style of connoisseurship was similar, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   This lecture explores the types of quality, provenance and objects which appear in both collections; from superb Sevres, fine French furniture, great European painters from Titian and Frans Hals to Rembrandt and Fragonard, to Renaissance bronzes and enamels.  There are reasons for the shared taste.  A key-figure, Sir John Murray Scott and his amitie amoureuse with the mother of Vita Sackville-West, led to an infamous court case linked with Knole in Kent.

Formerly a Print Room Superintendent at the British Museum, Hilary is now an Art History Education Officer. She lectures for BM, London Borough of Bexley and for the Wallace Collection. l She is iaison officer at  the British Museum and with The Arts Society. A founding Artistic Director of The Arts Society of North Kent Evening.  Hilary guides Special Interest Private Tours of State Apartments Buckingham Palace.

image coutesy The Wallace Collection Guide Book

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 Pollock, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

Since 1986 Timothy has given 1,500 public lectures. This was originally part of his 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 he has 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. Timothy's lectures investigate this relationship.

Hosted By The Arts Society Stourbridge

Thursday 13th May at 11 am

Famously, every morning of his adult life, Beethoven measured out exactly 60 coffee beans for his breakfast.  A man who is capable of such discipline over a cup of coffee, can surely apply that exactness elsewhere in his life; and in Beethoven’s case, it was applied to his compositions. In fact, the detail found in his music is often so subtle, that most people don’t even know it’s there. This lecture  explores Beethoven’s genius as a writer of music, at the same time setting his extraordinary story against the backdrop of 19th century warfare, revolution and dramatic social changes. (Beethoven was 250 years old on 17 December 2020.)

PETER MEDHURST will need little introduction to many of our members since he has visited us on several occasions.  Peter appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Bizet’s opera Carmen, is about the flamboyant, tragic figure of the gypsy woman Carmen and her lovers, the soldier Don Jose and the bullfighter Escamillo and is based on a novella by Prosper Mérimee. Mérimee was an archaeologist and historian as well as a novelist, and much of his descriptive writing, carried across to the opera’s libretto, was based on observation. Carmen famously worked in the tobacco factory in Seville but, far from being a dusty warehouse, this Baroque palace was the second-largest building in Spain. Now part of Seville University, it preserves many of the tobacco factory’s furnishings, and celebrates its role as Carmen’s workplace. Candilejo, the street where Lillas Pastia had his tavern, is still visitable, as is the bullring of the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, on the bank of the Guadalquivir river, where Carmen meets her fate.

Simon Rees has worked as dramaturg on many productions of Carmen, and has photographed these and other locations in Seville, as well as researching costumes, sets and original productions, and musical illustrations, to give a vivid picture of Bizet’s most famous opera.

Hosted By The Arts Society Stourbridge

Thursday 17th April at 11 am

This lecture explores ways in which the modern treatment of traditional genres in art is different from that of the Old Masters, the effect of these differences, and whether they add to, or change, our understanding of the subject and its message. The lecture will cover all of the traditional genres, i.e. History Painting, Portraits, Genre (pictures of everyday life), Landscape and Still-Life, and will consider the ways in which the treatment of these subjects has changed over the centuries, up to the present day. 

VAL WOODGATE lectures at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London galleries.  She was a member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and also lectures and runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Why were foreigner painters preferred by the aristocracy in London to native-born English painters, why did foreigners come in the first place, what was their motivation, and what was the impact of foreigners in London on English art and art practise? The lecture will look at the various formats and uses of art, tracing foreign artists from the Tudor period through to the Renaissance and Baroque, looking at their origins and how they came to work in England. It will examine the contributions of artists such as Holbein, Gerrit van Honthorst, Marcus Gheeraerts the younger, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout, Isaac Oliver, Paulus van Somer, van Dyck, Peter Lely, and Rubens. This lecture will look at how these artists influenced the British School of painting and assess their legacy.

Leslie holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. He was Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading in 2005 and 2007, and gave lectures and guided tours, plus special talks, at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery for 18 years. Currently he lectures at the City Literary Institute, Imperial College, London, and has presented a series of talks at the National Maritime Museum and the Courtauld Institute.

Picture - Double portrait of Rubens and van Dyck by Peter Paul

Hosted By The Arts Society Stourbridge

Thursday 11th March at 11 am

It is now around 200 years since the purchase of the so-called 'Elgin Marbles' from Lord Elgin, by the British Parliament. This lecture, beautifully illustrated with specifically taken slides and video, will explore the aesthetics, the back-story, and the heated debates surrounding these fascinating and controversial works of ancient Greek art: what do we mean by 'the Elgin Marbles'? How and why were they originally created? Why are they so highly regarded? What happened to them between their creation and Elgin's time? How did he acquire them? Why are they now in the British Museum? And why are there such passionately held views both for and against their repatriation to Greece?

DR STEPHEN KERSHAW is Classics Tutor for Oxford University Department for Continuing Education and Professor of History of Art for the European Studies Program of Rhodes College and The University of the South.  He has spent much of the last 30 years travelling extensively in the world of the Greeks and Romans, both physically and intellectually. Amongst other books, he has published A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths (Robinson, 2007), A Brief Guide to Classical Civilization (Robinson, 2010) and A Brief Guide to the Roman Empire (Robinson, 2013).

How real was Homer’s world of heroes? Until the late 19th century, it was assumed to be fiction: scholars thought Greek history began in 776 BC with the first Olympics. Then Heinrich Schliemann discovered ‘golden Mycenae’. The archaeological and artistic treasures in the famous ‘shaft-graves’ and elsewhere revealed the reality behind Homer’s account of the Trojan War. This lecture will use literature, archaeology, and ancient art to reconstruct the lost world of the Greek Bronze Age – the world of Agamemnon, Helen, Achilles, Hector, and Odysseus.

Neil was educated at King's College Cambridge and Institute of Archaeology UCL.  He works as a lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster. He is a research Fellow at The University of Bristol and editor of Military History Monthly. He is the director of Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project and of the Great Arab Revolt Project. Author of The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse, Hidden Treasure, Rome: Empire of the Eagles, and The Ancient Greek Olympics: a visitor's guide and of the forthcoming Lawrence of Arabia's War. Major TV appearances include Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

Hosted by The Arts Society Stourbridge

 at 11am

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 really so bad? This lecture reveals the real family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the charismatic figure of Pope Alexander VI, living inside his sumptuously decorated apartments, the career of his son, Cesare, cardinal, general, employer of Da Vinci and the model for Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the journey of Lucrezia Borgia from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth !

SARAH DUNANT is a novelist, broadcaster and critic. Sarah read history at Cambridge, then worked for many years as a cultural journalist in radio and television on such programmes as Kaleidoscope (BBC Radio 4), The Late Show (BBC 2), and Night Waves (BBC Radio 3). She has published thirteen novels, taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis, is a visiting tutor on the MA in creative writing at Oxford Brooks and has lectured around the world at festivals and conferences. Her last five novels have been set within the Italian Renaissance. Her latest, In the Name of the Family (2017) completes the story of the Borgia family and the remarkable period of Italian history in which they lived. Her recent series on history for BBC Radio 4 is called When Greeks Flew Kites.

Please Join The Arts Society Worcester for a virtual talk on

‘The architecture of Royal Buildings’

led by Vincent Manda.

Wednesday 3rd February at 2pm

Vincent Manda's Introduction.

The tour will look at iconic buildings associated with the royal family and how these buildings affected them. The walk will have a lot of emphasis on the architect John Nash and his work during the Regency and Georgian era and how his work on Buckingham Palace still affects the royal family today. It will also give us the opportunity to explore the fascinating, though little known, battle that raged between neoclassical architects and their Gothic revivalist contemporaries in the late 18th century and for most of the 19th century.

Please type questions in the Q&A window and our guide will answer selected questions at the end of the talk.

Vincent Manda requests that you do not record or take any screen shots please.

In the 1880s and 1890s Europe and America saw the rise of artistic colonies, such as the Newlyn School, practising a form of painting known as “naturalism”. Another such colony, the Glasgow boys, seized the mantle of Bastien-Lepage and their paintings became the toast of Europe. The Glasgow Girls were their contemporaries. Painters such as Bessie MacNicol and designers, such as Margaret and Frances Macdonald, influenced the development of the Glasgow Style and achieved international recognition, contributing to the development of the modern movement. The Scottish Colourists had direct contact with French Post-Impressionism, particularly Matisse and the Fauves. As a result their paintings are considered some of the most progressive in British art of the early 20th century. During my talk, I will discuss the lives, the times and the work of these artists. 

Harry has tutored three courses for the Open University - The History of Modern Art, Art and the Environment and Design, Processes and Products. He has worked as an OU examiner and A level examiner in the History of Art. He is a practising artist who has had work shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Harry has led art appreciation holidays across Europe and as Head of Art & Design in a comprehensive school he taught A level Art, the history of art, printmaking, the history of printmaking and the history of architecture.

Picture - Poppies by George Henry

We are delighted to invite you to join us on Tuesday 12 January at 2pm for an extra lecture, which explores one of the most important historic buildings in the world. 
 
The Main Mill at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, built in 1797, is the first iron framed building in the world, and as such is seen as the grandparent of the skyscraper.  Although just five stories high, its construction using cast iron columns and beams was revolutionary at the time and was the forerunner of all other steel framed buildings.
 This talk will take you through the history of the site, why it is here in Shrewsbury, who built it, its 90 years as a Flaxmill and its 90 years as a Maltings taking us right up to the present day and its current refurbishment thanks to a National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant
The talk will be given by Dick Allen, a volunteer tour-guide and member of the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings.  He will be joined by Richard Benjamin, the coordinator of the Friends, and they will be happy to answer questions about the history, restoration and future development of the site after the talk.  Please type any questions into the ‘chat’ function during the talk.  If you have ever driven past the building thinking ‘I wonder what’s going on there’, this is your opportunity to find out!

While the National Lottery Heritage Fund have been very generous in helping to finance the restoration of the building, The Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings do need to raise funds to support their work in public engagement.  Their income has been seriously impacted by Coronavirus restrictions, so If you would like to support this important local heritage site please make a donation at  https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/13939#!/DonationDetails     Thank you.

The Arts Society Worcester is delighted to welcome The Arts Society Shrewsbury to join them for a virtual talk about the Queen's Personal Jewellery, given by Viv Haxby, who will guide us through the collection on Wednesday 6 January at 2 pm. Her talk will last an hour.

Please join the Zoom webinar (ID 955 0916 4807) from 1:50 pm for a prompt start at 2 pm.

 The Queen's personal jewellery collection, our Guide's Introduction.

Probably the most important collection of its kind in the world, this extraordinary collection comprises the items that HMQ wears as she carries out her roles of head of nation, and head of state. We will hear about tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and brooches that have been accumulated by two queens regnant and four queens consort. There are fascinating stories about how many of them have entered the collection, and much thought is put into what she wears for particular occasions.
Please type questions in the Q&A window and our guide will answer selected questions at the end of the talk.
Our guide requests that you do not record or take any screen shots, please.

With best wishes,
Lynda Townsend
Visits Secretary,
The Arts Society Worcester.

In case of technical difficulties, please contact our Digital Lead, Neil Woolford,   digital@artsocwoo.org.     digital@artsocwoo.org or 01905 613987.
If you cannot watch on Zoom, the event will also be streamed at artsocwoo.org though this may not be at optimum quality

The links!

The main Zoom link for the presentation https://theartssociety-org.zoom.us/j/95509164807

(No password or code needed)

Support email mailto:digital@artsocwoo.org

Link to access YouTube stream (not optimum, use Zoom if possible) http://artsocwoo.org

The term Magi refers to Zoroastrian priest-sages, anonymous wise men who were specialists in medicine, religion and astronomy, who travelled from ‘the East’. Tradition has placed the number of Magi at three, relating to gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but earlier versions has the number between two and thirty. The Adoration of the Magi is one of the most popular religious subjects but how accurate are the depictions of Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar? Empress Helena’s attempts to find traces of the Magi led her envoys around the Middle East, taking us from Constantinople, to Milan and finally Cologne.

Christopher 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. Has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Oman; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. As a photographer has pictures represented by four photographic libraries. A broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and cameraman he has made documentaries for the BBC, National

All the leading lights of the Pre-Raphaelite movement turned their hand to designing stained glass.  This lecture reveals some unexpected Victorian art masterpieces tucked away in our churches, and puts them into the wider context of the Pre-Raphaelite revolution in art.

Suzanne studied History at Oxford University and Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and at Christie's Education. She was a Curator and Research Fellow at the V&A Museum for 12 years, and now a Visiting Fellow at the University of York. Suzanne has lectured extensively for museums and on Cunard liners, and undertaken broadcasts and consultancies for the BBC and Channel Four. She was the historical Consultant to Ralph Fiennes for The Invisible Woman, a film about Charles Dickens, and the BBC drama, The Living and the Dead. Her publications include Pre-Raphaelite Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum (2003), The Victorian Woman (2001), and Effie Gray, Ruskin & Millais (2010). Her most recent book is To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters and she is currently working on a new book: At Home with Jane and William Morris. 

In these years of World War centenaries and anniversaries, the subject of this talk is hugely relevant. In this country, relatively little is known about Germany’s complex post-WW2 process of remembrance and the counter memorial movement that started in the eighties and continues to this day.

Germany’s very specific situation rendered all traditional concepts of monuments and memorials irrelevant and inappropriate. Instead of commemorating their own losses, German artists created art forms that responded to questions of apology and atonement: How does a nation of former persecutors mourn its victims? How do you remember what you would rather forget?

The idea behind counter memorials is to keep the memories and lessons of the past alive in the individual psyches of the people. The results are extraordinary, brave and inspiring.

Angela Findlay is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long career of teaching art in prisons in Germany and England. Her time ‘behind bars’ and later as Arts Coordinator of the London-based Koestler Trust, gave her many insights into the huge impact the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation

In the past decade Angela’s Anglo-German roots led her to research Germany’s largely unknown post-WWII process of remembrance. So completely different to the British one, the arts once again play a huge and vital role, this time in expressing the apology that underlies the country’s unique culture of counter memorials.  Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. 

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, Adam will perform live with the lute)

Adam Busiakiewicz is an Art Historian, lutenist and lecturer. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in History at UCL in 2010 he held the position of Head of Historical Interpretation (curator) at Warwick Castle. He left the castle in 2013 after winning a full AHRC studentship to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine and Decorative Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Art History at Warwick University after winning a CADRE Postgraduate Scholarship in 2017.

In 2014 he became the youngest Guide Lecturer at the Wallace Collection, where he regularly gives talks, tours and lectures as well as at the National Gallery

Adam is currently planning a publication on the Grevilles of Warwick Castle. He was also the Editor of the Georgian Group's 80th Anniversary Exhibition catalogue entitled Splendour! Art in Living Craftsmanship (2017).

This lecture explores the fascinating story of how dyes were discovered, made and used, focusing on some of the social implications of colour at different times in history. The lecture takes us from pre-historic man to the middle of the 19th century and geographically from Europe to the Middle East, India, Turkey, north America, Mexico and Peru. It is a story of exploration, invention, war, the church, money, power and sex.

Susan Kay-Williams is the Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Institute of Marketing and in 2015 she was made a Fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in recognition of her work on the history of dyes. Susan has a longstanding interest in textiles, especially colour, and published her first book, The Story of Colour in Textiles (Bloomsbury) in 2013. She has extensive lecturing experience and has been invited to lecture in the USA, Canada, China, Japan and Taiwan as well as for the V&A and across the UK. 

The Lunar Society of Birmingham, whose members included Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestly and their friend Josiah Wedgwood, were both artists and scientists and their legacy of experimentation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries helped give us the modern industrial world we know today. This lecture discusses the relationship between art and science in the Lunar Circle, with examples drawn from subjects including painting and drawing and Matthew Boulton’s silver. The lecture also discusses the virtually unknown women connected with the Lunar Circle, including Elizabeth Stockdale Wilkinson (1799 – 1871), who was involved in early photography in Birmingham, and the poet Anna Seward (1747 – 1809). 

Dr Sally Hoban has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques throughout the UK and at The University of Birmingham. She has broadcast on BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 4 and her publications include Miller’s Collecting Modern Design. She has an Honours certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design from The University of Birmingham

The cartoonist, Carl Giles, once said that he loved his creation, Grandma Giles – that fearsome, black-clad, gambling, drinking battleaxe – because she allowed him to say things through his cartoons that he was too polite to say in person. She helped him to poke fun at authority in all its forms, from Hitler to traffic wardens and even his employers at the Daily Express, who didn’t trust him and had sub-editors scouring his cartoons for subversive background details. His admirers included Prince Charles, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Tommy Cooper, and it was no surprise when he was voted Britain’s best-loved cartoonist in 2000. Few people realise, however, that this likeable and humane satirist was also a war correspondent who witnessed the horrors of Belsen, where he found that the camp commandant, Josef Kramer, was also a great fan of his work. Giles gave us a remarkable picture of a half-century of British life. He was also, as his editor John Gordon put it “a spreader of happiness’ and ‘a genius…with the common touch’.

Barry is an historian of British art with a particular interest in the work of JMW Turner, on whom he has published widely, including 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 The Arts Society, Christie's Education and other organisations.

Image courtesty of The Arts Society

Cristobal Balenciaga was born in 1895, the son of a seamstress, in San Getaria, a fishing village in Northern Spain.  After training in Madrid, he opened a successful boutique in the Basque town of San Sebastian.  Following the events of the Spanish Civil War and attracted by the sartorial magnetism of the French capital, he moved to Paris where he opened a couture house on the prestigious Avenue George V.  During a stellar career in Paris, he was the darling of American fashion editors, such as Vogue magazine’s Bettina Ballard and dressed the royalty and nobility of Europe.  He created innovative silhouettes which reshaped the female form and always retained an uncompromising desire for perfection.  Many of his unique designs referenced his Spanish heritage of flamenco, the Catholic Church, the world of the matador and the art of Velazquez.  This gifted, distinguished yet enigmatic courtier was honoured by Christian Dior as ‘The Master of us all’.

Anne is a lecturer at the V&A. She is a guide for private tours of the State Rooms and The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace and lectures in British Painting for American students resident in London. In Autumn 2002 she catalogued the collection of Chinese porcelain at Kensington Palace. From 2002 2005, she was a committee member of the French Porcelain Society. From 1995 2002 she was resident in Shanghai, China and visited ancient kiln sites and lectured to expatriate groups. From 1981 to 1995 Anne trained and became a senior ceramics specialist at Christie's and Bonhams head offices.

image: Black taffeta cocktail dress designed by Balenciaga 1951

Picasso told his biographer, John Richardson, that his work was like a diary – “To understand it, you have to see how it mirrors my life”. This lecture examines the way Picasso’s emotional life influenced what he painted and how he painted it. His response to each new love in his life can be seen in the different styles in which his many women were represented. When he fell out of love, that fact would be revealed first in his paintings. The lecture concentrates on the seven most important women in his life (two of whom he married). 

Val Woodgate is a Lecturer and Guide in Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London galleries. Former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Lecturer and runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Image:  Pablo Picasso, Portrait of A Woman

The modern skyline of Barcelona is dominated by Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece the Sagrada Familia. As Catalonia grew in wealth and power, from the mid-19th century, the region strove to re-establish its national identity, separate to Castilian Spain, firstly by restoring its language (after 150 years of oppression), but equally by a conscious injection of modern ideas designed to invigorate and lift Catalan society and culture as it approached the 20th Century. Barcelona’s most famous architect took the tenets of Modernisme to daring extremes and developed a style unmistakably his own. From the sinuous facades of La Pedrera, an apartment block,  to the impossibly grandiose La Sagrada Familia, dedicated to the Holy Family, Gaudi stamped his individuality on every aspect of his buildings. He combined industrial materials, metal, glass and tile with fabulous ornamentation inspired by Hispano-Arabic architecture and co-opted the progressive concepts of Art Nouveau, evolving a style that expressed both modernity and Catalonia nationalism. Gaudi was fortunate; supported by his patron Eusebi Güell he was commissioned to build the Güell Palace, Colònia Güell  and the Parc Güell, a experimental garden suburb. But Gaudi outlived his era, his last years committed to completing the Sagrada Familia, a testament to the transforming power of Art.

Anne Anderson has a degree in archaeology and a PhD in English and was a senior lecturer in Art and Design History at Southampton Solent University for 14 years.  She has held several prestigious fellowships including Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA (2008 and 2018) and Fellow of the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Library and Museum (2009/10). Currently she is a tutor for the V&A Learning Academy and specialises in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. Her career as an international speaker has taken her all over the world, including Jersey, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Anton Gaudi - Casa Batilo

Bizet’s opera Carmen, about the flamboyant, tragic figure of the gypsy woman Carmen and her lovers, the soldier Don Jose and the bullfighter Escamillo, is based on a novella by Prosper Mérimee. Mérimee was an archaeologist and historian as well as a novelist, and much of his descriptive writing, carried across to the opera’s libretto, was based on observation. Carmen famously worked in the tobacco factory in Seville but, far from being a dusty warehouse, this Baroque palace was the second-largest building in Spain. Now part of Seville University, it preserves many of the tobacco factory’s furnishings, and celebrates its role as Carmen’s workplace. Candilejo, the street where Lillas Pastia had his tavern, is still visitable, as is the bullring of the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, on the bank of the Guadalquivir river, where Carmen meets her fate. Simon Rees has worked as dramaturg on many productions of Carmen, and has photographed these and other locations in Seville, as well as researching costumes, sets and original productions, and musical illustrations, to give a vivid picture of Bizet’s most famous opera.

Simon Rees Studied at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He has taught in Italy and Japan, exploring the art and architecture of both countries. From 1989 to 2012 was Dramaturg at Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, working with set, costume and props designers and giving lectures on their work in opera production. He now lectures widely on opera, art history and literature, travelling extensively with travel companies. 

Image: Plaza De Espana in Seville - Courtesy of Wikepedia Commons

The Surrealists aimed to paint the ever-shifting world of the unconscious, fusing dream and reality into ‘an absolute reality, a super-reality’. By means of deliberately irrational images, crazy metamorphic forms and incongruous juxtapositions their art confronted people with hitherto repressed thoughts and compulsions. Artist, film-maker, self-promoter: in a real sense Dalí was the epitome of Surrealism, just as he wanted to be: ‘Every morning upon awakening I experience a supreme pleasure; that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí’. This talk will look at the man and the movement. 

Sarah Stopford is a guide and lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern.  She studied art history as part of her first degree at Harvard and a further degree in English at Cambridge. Afterwards she had a career as a teacher of English literature in both the United States and England before returning to the world of art history where her special interests are in British and post-1900 art as well as the connections between literature and the visual arts. 

This lecture is about Francisco Goya, a Spanish artist who began his career as a painter of religious imagery and a designer of tapestries. He was a friend of many of the enlightened thinkers in late 18th century Spain known as the ilustrados and like them, he had much to say about the times in which he lived. Goya’s prints in particular proved a useful tool for his reflections on the pain and suffering generated during the French occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. In this lecture we survey Goya’s career and focus on the way in which the artist used his art as a vehicle of commentary on human behaviour. 

Angela Smith has a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. She is the author of numerous articles and several books including A Timeline of Art History (2013). She is an experienced lecturer who has taught for several universities, and has also led tours to various museums and galleries, most recently she led a three week cultural tour in Spain for ADFAS.

Image: Francisco de Goya El Medico Image: National Galleries of Scotland

The ‘discovery’ of the body of the Apostle, St James, proved a timely propaganda tool just as the Christians in northern Spain began their reconquest of Spain from the Moors. It opened a new European pilgrimage route, and by the 12th century the Way to Santiago de Compostela, or the Camino, was a well trodden route. Hospitals, monasteries, churches and shrines grew up all along the Camino to attend to the spiritual and worldly needs of the pilgrims, and cities along it also prospered and expanded. Pilgrims’ tales abound – and the Camino still exerts a fascination today. Gail has walked most of it.

Gail Turner is a historian, art historian, and painter. She has been a lecturer for The Arts Society since 1992, and lectures regularly for the V&A High Renaissance and Baroque course, Art Pursuits, and the Art Fund. She has taught on Cambridge University International Summer Schools, the Courtauld Institute Summer Courses, Inscape, Gainsborough’s House and other arts organisations. She has led tours to Spain for The Arts Society and other tour companies. Gail has also lectured in the Prado and Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid from 1983-5, and was Deputy Curator of The Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome 1978-80, manager of the Courtauld Slide Scheme 1977, and a Christie’s consultant (Ill. MSS) 1976. In 2015 Gail was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Catolica (the equivalent of the CBE) by the King of Spain for promoting Spanish culture among British audiences.

James the Pilgrim by Juan de Flanade - image curtesy of The Ministerio de Cultura

Celts, Romans, Christians, Visigoths and Arabs have left many marks on the landscape of Iberia.  The most vivid reminder of their presence lies in their great cities, endowed with a remarkable fusion of cultures and architectural styles. This lecture will unfold the many layers that make up this complex building and artistic history from the earliest settlements to the fall of Granada and the end of Moorish rule in 1492 with a particular emphasis on Andalucia.

Tom Duncan after a generation in University life, has now retired from teaching to concentrate on lecturing to a wider public, and to leading tours to his major areas of interest: the, architecture and archaeology of Ireland, and the Mediterranean basin.

Image of the Alhambra

The 17th century is known as the Golden Age of Spanish Art, a period in which the country was able to use its vast wealth, accumulated during the 1500s following the expansion of its territories in Europe and the Americas, to fund extravagant and ambitious programmes of building and painting. At the helm of the country’s artistic patronage was King Philip IV, one of the greatest collectors of art throughout Europe. His well-honed instinct for talent drew him to the young, brilliant Diego Velazquez who would become his court painter, recording his likeness and that of his family for over 30 years. Velazquez soon became internationally recognised as the greatest artist of his generation, praised for his ability to capture a sitter’s personality or mood and admired for his mysterious, varied and often provocative subjects and interpretations. Many of his paintings are deliberately enigmatic, creating heated debate even today. This lecture will trace the rise of his glittering career at one of the most illustrious courts in Europe.

Sian Walters studied at Cambridge University. She is a lecturer at the National Gallery and The Wallace Collection and taught at Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish art & architecture, and the relationship between dance and art.  She has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

Picture"Las Meninas" - Diego Velazquez curtesy of the Prado Museum

In this lively presentation John shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for wine and the contribution that ‘wine art’ makes to our colourful world. Wine can be a civilising influence upon us and it is made to be shared and enjoyed. As a consequence there are numerous wonderful paintings of wine being made and wine being drunk in celebration but it also lends itself to wicked cartoons and striking posters. In addition we shall examine wine labels from around the world which now display such style and creativity.

John Ericson was formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world.He has undertaken extensive lecture tours of Australia and he has been a popular speaker on The Arts Society's circuit for a number of years.

Image: Albert Anker -"Still life: Two Glasses of Red Wine"

The first pots appeared in Britain about 6000 years ago and this lecture will chart the ways in which ceramic production has evolved from this time to the present day. From the hand-formed and bonfire-fired pots of our prehistoric ancestors to the products of both modern industry and individual craft potters, this lecture will examine the major changes that have shaped the ways pots are produced and distributed. Roman industrialisation, the introduction of the potters wheel and kiln, the effects of the industrial revolution on rural potteries and the rise of the art potteries of the 19th century are all part of this evolving story, told through the pots themselves and the potters that made them. This is a genuinely a ‘potted history’.

Julian Richards studied archaeology at Reading University and has since worked as a professional archaeologist, in commercial archaeology, for English Heritage, for the BBC and as an independent. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1992 and is being awarded an honorary doctorate. He has been involved in teaching and outreach projects, lecturing widely in continuing education, to groups and societies and to special interest tour companies. A career in broadcasting involved researching and presenting Meet the Ancestors and Blood of the Vikings for BBC2, and Mapping the Town for Radio 4. Author of a number of English Heritage publications on Stonehenge, including the previous and current guide books to the monument and landscape. Guest curator of Wish you were here, an exhibition of his own extensive collection of 'Stonehengiana' which is currently on display at the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Julian also curated an exhibition for the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna, in 2016. 

Coalport demi-tasse and saucer - Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The horrors of the First World War had a profound effect on the artists who fought in it, and they produced powerful images of the war and its aftermath. In the 1920s, many artists on the allied side returned to traditional subjects such as tranquil landscapes, while German artists produced powerful polemics against post-war deprivation, the treatment of war wounded and rising militarism. This lecture examines the art of both sides before, during and after the war which was expected ‘to be over by Christmas’. 

Frank Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and for Tate on cruises. He also lectures at Dulwich Picture Gallery and is a scriptwriter for the Living Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially-sighted). 

The Menin Road, 1919, by Paul Nash courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, Art.IWM ART 2242

Why was the best paper made from the worn out clothes of peasants? Why did leather have to be tanned outside the city walls? Why is gold leaf so thin that it is measured in atoms and cannot be touched with the hands? Why do printers have to do everything upside down and backwards? Why did gold finishers get paid more than other bookbinders despite not washing their hair? And why is the art of bookbinding itself, surely the most complex of all hand crafts, as beguiling and enchanting today as it was when it was invented on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago. This lecture is a ‘Through the Round Window’ for grown-ups, and tells the fascinating story of everything that makes a traditional hand bound book. 

Dominic is a bookbinder, artist and teacher. He first learned bookbinding at 16 from Benedictine Monks at Douai Abbey in Berkshire and later at the London College of Printing. He has worked at the V&A, and for various binderies in London, New York and San Francisco, and spends part of the year teaching across the USA. He has his bindery in the Lake District, from where he travels across the UK teaching master classes and lecturing. He is Vice President of the Society of Bookbinders and was elected a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in 2008. His binding work is mostly the restoration of antiquarian books and Design Bindings. He has won many prizes in the Designer Bookbinders competition, including both first prizes and the Mansfield Silver Medal in 2007. His bindings are in collections worldwide, including the British Library and the John Rylands Library in Manchester. In 2010 he bound a special copy of the winner of the Booker Prize which was presented to the author. In June 2013 he won first prize in the prestigious Sir Paul Getty International Bookbinding Competition. His winning binding was acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Is topiary an art, one may wonder? Love it or hate it, topiary is certainly eye-catching. The art of creating shapes and animals out of shrubs has a long history that dates back to Roman times. At times it was the height of fashion, only to become the subject of ridicule of critics such as the poet Alexander Pope. Ultimately, topiary is laborious and costly to maintain, which is why many topiary gardens have fallen victim to neglect, yet it always manages to attract new followers. This lecture by a self-confessed topiarist from the Dutch nursery village of Boskoop aims to present the history and variety of topiary, albeit with a wink! 

Sophie Oosterwijk was born in Gouda (Netherlands). She has an MA and PhD in English Literature (Leiden), an MA in Medieval Studies (York) and a PhD in Art History (Leicester). She has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester, Nottingham and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and organised many study days, tours and visits. Also a regular lecturer for Cambridge University and Martin Randall Travel, and Honorary Research Fellow with the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews. Sophie has numerous publications to her name. 

Topiary Elephants: Getty - Bob Krist

4.6 Billion years ago, a star was born and our sun started to shine. Soon after this the Earth and our other planets were formed and light began its eight minute flight to Earth. This lecture looks at how science and art have moved forward together in the quest to understand light.

The representation of light has been a fundamental pursuit of Western art, in both its physical manifestation and as a symbol of the Divine. Painted light is used as a metaphor for a range of feelings, from El Greco’s light of spiritual ecstasy to the dangerous darkness of Caravaggio, from Turner’s sublime sunlight to Samuel Palmer’s melancholy moonlight.

Artists respond to different weather conditions such as Whistler’s greys in his foggy London “Nocturnes” and Alexandra Drysdale’s bright blues of Australia.

The “spotlight” theatricality of much old art contrasts with the bright white light of Impressionism.

Alexandra Drysdale is an art historian and a professional artist specialising in painting, sculpture and performance. Her lectures combine art historical knowledge with personal expertise in aesthetics and artistic techniques. Art from all periods, including examples of her own work, is examined from an artist's point of view. This entails a perceptive analysis of a painting's structure, its meaning, and its relationship to the history of art. She has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art and an MFA from Cambridge School of Art.

image courtesy of The Tate; War Excile and Rock, Joseph Mallard William Turner

The lecture comprises a practical, step-by-step guide to the conservation of paintings through the ages.  It starts with a brief history of the preparation of panels and canvases and illustrates the different approaches and techniques involved in their conservation.  Various ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ photographs show the pictures undergoing conservation and the processes involved. The frames housing various paintings undergoing conservation are discussed with illustrations showing the various stages involved in their conservation.  In addition, a 16th century Holy Family group in terracotta is appraised after a catastrophic accident and the talk shows how it was rescued and nurtured back to health.

Julia Korner is a specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings,.sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art. Julia trained in art history, sculpture and graphic illustration in Cambridge, England.  For twenty years, she worked for Christie's as a paintings specialist and now workes independently in her own studio in West London where she and her small team give specialist conservation work personal and expert attention. Damaged paintings, polychrome statues, frames, over-mantles, traditional gold leaf and gesso frames all emerge restored and transformed under her expertise, knowledge and care.

image courtesy of google images

The beginning of the new millennium has witnessed a growing taste for clean lines and lack of clutter which has stimulated interest in 20th century design. With many of us visiting Ikea on a regular basis, the influence of the great Scandinavian designers of the mid-20th century has had more of an impact on contemporary design than most people realize. Some of the most important designers whose influence remains extraordinarily strong were Scandinavian, such as Alvar Aalto from Finland, Henning Koppel, working for Georg Jensen, and Arne Jacobsen from Denmark or Orrefors glass from Sweden. These were designers and makers of the new ‘antiques’, pushing the boundaries in the use of design and materials and with a lasting legacy. 

Deborah Lambert was formerly Curator of the Schroder Collection, a private art collection. She studied for her MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute and worked for many years as an academic director and lecturer for Christie's Education. Appears regularly as a furniture specialist on the Antiques Roadshow.

New York Cutlery - designed by Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen in 1963.

When Thomas Gainsborough moved to Bath in 1758 it was a bustling cosmopolitan spa centre experiencing a phenomenal building boom, attracting nobility and wealthy merchants alike, and described by Mrs Delany at the time as “the busiest idle place in the world”. The lecture explores how and why a young, entrepreneurial Gainsborough identified Bath as ‘the’ place from which to build his reputation. What was the experience like for those who jostled to sit to Mr Gainsborough during the Bath season? How did High Society entertain themselves? The focus will be on Gainsborough’s work in Bath, with contemporary journals and letters (including his own witty correspondence) and caricatures used to bring the city, its buildings and personalities to life. 

Mary Alexander has thirty years' experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History and History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Her experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London and museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume, Manchester. Now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies, she also worked in Pentagram design consultancy in London and New York, organising conferences and special events. Author of various articles on design and visual awareness issues, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills. Lectured for ADFAS Australia and New Zealand in 2011 and 2013. Mary is an enthusiastic member and President of Glaven Valley DFAS.

Image of Thomas Gainsborough's Mary, Countess Howe (1760) courtesy of Kenwood House (English Heritage)

Henry Moore is one of the most popular and important British sculptors of the twentieth century, revolutionising the way people thought about the human figure and sculpture, and making beautiful forms that grew out of his love for the landscape. He was often inspired by the art of the past and of other cultures, but he was also at the forefront of modernism – creating a new language of sculpture, full of abstract shapes, holes and magisterial forms. This talk explores his life and works, as well as the vibrant artistic world of mid-twentieth century Britain. 

Jo Walton has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She is now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, the Art Fund, Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery and local art societies.

Image of Henry Moore's Family Group (1949) courtesy of Tate Britain

Amongst his other skills Charles Dickens was an accomplished conjurer, calling himself The Unparalleled Necromancer.  We know this from a playbill that Dickens wrote for a show he did on the Isle of Wight.  Playbills were the principal means of advertising entertainment in the 19th century, capturing the public’s imagination with their exaggerated wording.  In this talk, Dickens's own playbill is brought to life by reference to their historical development through various amusing animal acts, contemporary conjurors that directly influenced him and some demonstrations of legerdemain which the great man himself actually performed. And all presented by a professional magician and author of Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature.

Ian Keable obtained a First Class degree from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and then became a professional magician.  He is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and has received The Magic Circle Comedy Award.  Ian has written and presented a Radio 4 documentary on mind readers, and is currently performing a show about Charles Dickens, who was an amateur conjurer, called The Secret World of Charles Dickens. Ian collects 18th and 19th century books, posters and prints relating to magic and hoaxes, and has lectured at conferences from London to Los Angeles.In 2014 he published Charles Dickens Magician:Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature.

Image: A Christmas Carol - Mr Fezziwigs Ball courtesy Google images

The 1950s–70s saw a renaissance in Czech glass design that re-established the Bohemian region’s global reputation in this area. From behind the Iron Curtain, skilled designers pushed the boundaries of 20th century glass design and produced unique art glass masterpieces that went on to inspire visually stunning, highly innovative and commercial ranges. Despite this, the designers responsible were rarely named. Until today, the designs they produced have been typically forgotten or misattributed. This lecture reveals the work of seven influential designers across cut, blown and pressed glass, and considers the economic and political context that affected it.

Mark Hill studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's as a Specialist in the Collectors' Department.  Since 2002, he been the co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller, initially with DK and now with Miller's. Founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts. A Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, and has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. Has lectured across the world, including at the V&A in London, and contributed to many newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

Image courtesy of Mark Hill.

During a long, successful and immensely lucrative career, Titian established himself as the foremost painter of northern Italy. Training in the Bellini workshop, he developed the Venetian love of light and colour, but adding a sense of drama and immediacy that charged his religious, mythological and, most importantly, his portraits with a realism hitherto unknown to the arts. Tough, astute and ambitious, he is often seen as the first 'modern' painter, applying the pigments directly to the canvas without preparatory studies, drawing the figures as he invented the composition, building up the paint in thick sensual layers, drenched in colour and sunlight, a brilliant new style of painting that shaped the art of the Baroque and cast its influence over every painterly painter of the next four centuries.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time, 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.  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.

Image of Titian's Doge Andrea Gritti courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington

It was largely due to the impact of the Napoleonic wars that Germany finally established an artistic and cultural identity and became one of the leading figures in the early 19th century Romantic Movement.  Peter Medhurst explores the effects that these wars had on writers, artists and musicians, including Goethe, Friedrich, Weber & Mendelssohn.

Music performed may include: excerpts from Der Frieschütz – CM von Weber, Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär – CM von Weber, Die beiden Grenadiere – R Schumann, Bei der Wiege – F Mendelssohn, extracts from An die ferne Geliebte – L van Beethoven

Peter Medhurst’s work as singer, pianist and lecturer-recitalist has taken him all over the world, and in the last few years he has toured New Zealand, Australia (twice) and South Africa (four times), and made frequent tours in Europe, giving performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Salzburg, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris and Spain.  Closer to home, he has presented events at the Barbican, St John’s Smith Square, and the Royal Festival Hall on The Beethoven String Quartets, Mozart Operas, Vermeer’s Music Lesson, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Golden Age of Vienna, and 18th Century Venetian Art and Music.  He has also directed presentations at the Wallace Collection, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A, linking the visual arts with the world of 17th & 18th century music making.

Image of Country Wedding 1820 by John Lewis Krimmel courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This lecture provides a comprehensive insight into how highly decorative and expertly created costume and textiles were utilised at the Chinese Imperial Court to denote the rank and status of the wearer. Insignia and symbols, defined within extensive regulations, identified where the person resided in the 12 Ranks within the Imperial family or the 9 Ranks which existed for both Civil (Mandarin) and Military Officials. Particular consideration will be given to the utilisation of the Dragon as an emblem of Imperial association together with the birds and animals that signified the ranks of the civil and military officials. In addition to textiles there will be consideration of dress accessories that were utilised to determine rank. The focus will be on the Qing Dynasty but there will be contrasts with examples of Imperial costume from the earlier Ming Dynasty. The images used will be predominantly drawn from our collection. Where practical a range of textiles illustrated in the talk can be displayed. 

A Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment. He has in excess of 25 years of working and living in Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories. Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank.

Image courtesy of the David and Wendy Rosier Collection of Chinese Imperial Textiles.

Following in the footsteps of Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre Auguste Renoir we analyse what was modern about Impressionist landscape paintings: their experiments with colour theory, new synthetic pigments, and, most importantly, the distinctly modern landscape that they chose to depict. We’ll be travelling by train, in and out of the Gare Saint Lazare in Paris, with boating trips and balloon excursions thrown in. We’ll also consider the distinctively modern independent exhibitions mounted by the Impressionist group in Paris from 1874 onwards, and beyond that, Monet’s exploration of a new kind of modern landscape painting during the 1890s, epitomised by his series of Poplars, Haystacks and Rouen Cathedral, and culminating, at the end of his life, with his monumental Water Lilies. 

 Dr Lois Oliver studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and writing her doctoral thesis on The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855. She worked at the Harvard University Art Museums before joining the curatorial team at the V&A and then the National Gallery where she co-curated the major exhibition Rebels and Martyrs: the image of the artist in the nineteenth century (2006) and a series of touring exhibitions. Currently Assistant Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, she writes audio and multimedia tours for clients including the National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Royal Academy and Tate, and has appeared on TV programmes for the BBC and Channel 5, as well as broadcasting on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Also a keen violinist, she plays regularly with orchestras including the Endellion Festival Orchestra.

Image of Monet's The Bridge at Argenteuil courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington

This lecture aims to consider some of the Avant-Garde art movements that were formed in the 100 years between 1900-2000 – principally in Paris, London and New York. We ask why these works were produced when they were – and what was happening in the life of the artist at the time they were produced. It is a lecture that should enable one to put ‘isms’ into boxes – cubism, surrealism, conceptualism, minimalism etc., etc.! and to enjoy a light-hearted stroll through some of the most well-known Modern works of our century. 

Linda Collins was employed by the Historic Royal Palaces for more than twenty years before becoming an independent lecturer and lecture organiser.  Working amongst the paintings in the Royal Collection allowed her to develop her interests in Italian and Tudor Art, but her first love is the art and culture of France.  She now works as a freelance lecturer at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Modern, and is in the process of putting a book together on the history of Modern Art in Paris.

Image of Lobster Telephone by Salvador Dali, 1936, courtesy of Tate, London

This lecture uses the English cathedrals as ‘time machines’ to the medieval period, tracing their story from the revolutionary birth of English Christianity in about 600AD, through the great rebuilding that followed the Conquest of 1066, to the decades around a century later when gothic was invented in an atmosphere of febrile change and political tension. It then follows the story through the cults and traumas of the fourteenth century, backdrop to England’s most extraordinary architectural miracles, and into the dynastic struggles of the late medieval era; struggles which eventually tore apart the very world that created the cathedrals. Throughout, beautiful photography of the buildings themselves, as well as of contemporary manuscripts and paintings, helps to use these buildings to bring to life the remarkable events they witnessed, and helping explain how these events shaped their architecture. 

Following a chance encounter with a lonely Devon church at the age of 12, Jon Cannon developed an obsession with sacred places, especially the things people build in them to make them special. This theme underlies all his writing, from the academic to the popular.  He presented BBCTV's How to Build a Cathedral and wrote Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World that Made Them (2007).  The Secret Language of Sacred Spaces: Decoding Temples, Mosques, Churches and other Places of Worship around the World was published in 2013; the Shire book of Medieval Architectural Style the following year. He is currently working on a major book on geology and place in the British landscape. Other publications include numerous works for English Heritage and academic volumes on West Country churches.  He lectures in the History of Art at the University of Bristol and as a freelance lecturer, leads tours on medieval church art, architecture and history. He is also Lay canon (Keeper of the Fabric) at Bristol Cathedral.

Image of Durham Cathedral courtesy of Jon Cannon

When Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra committed suicide in 31 BC, Egypt became part of the Roman Empire. Change came to Egyptian life, including the age-old rituals of burial. From the 50s A.D, realistic portraits of people in realist Roman style start to appear on traditional Egyptian mummies. These portraits on linen, wood or gilded plaster were unknown until the 1880s when major finds took pace in the Fayum region, about 100 miles south-west of Cairo. This talk looks at the discoveries made by the British archaeologist Sir William Flinders Petrie at Hawara, the cemetery of Arsinoe the capital of the Fayum. 

He discovered dozens of beautiful portraits and recorded his thoughts and ideas on them, in his journals and notebooks. Through them we see the portraits not just as astonishing works of art but as real people who lived and walked in Roman Egypt. We examine their daily lives, from their hairstyles, jewellery and dress, to their cultural and racial origins. We even gaze on two of the people of the portraits, reconstructed from the skulls which Petrie brought home, so we can see for ourselves how true these ancient faces are.

Dr Paul Roberts is the newly appointed Sackler Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University. From 1994 to 2014 he was Senior Roman Curator in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, where he was the driving force behind the major exhibition 'Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum'. At the Ashmolean he is working on 'Storms, War and Shipwrecks: Sicily and the Sea' - an exhibition opening June 2016 - telling the history of Sicily through shipwreck finds around the island. 

He studied at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield and Oxford and lived in Italy for several years, in Milan, Rome and Naples. He has excavated in Britain, Greece, Libya, Turkey and in particular Italy, where he directs excavations in the Sabine hills near Rome. His research focuses on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people in the Greek and Roman worlds. He has accompanied tours to Sicily, the Bay of Naples and Rome and has written books on Roman daily life, Roman Emperors, mummy portraits and Roman glass. He is currently writing a walking tour of Ancient Rome.

Image courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum

Armour was one of the great Renaissance art-forms, but today it is usually overlooked by art historians, scholars and enthusiasts. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, almost all the richest, most powerful noblemen in Europe could be counted as dedicated patrons of the armourer’s art. This was an intensely personal art, both expressive and decorative. Its essence was the creation of a living sculpture, a process which demanded not only fantastic skill in the sculpting of iron and steel, but also mastery of all decorative techniques available to the Renaissance metalworker. The achievements of virtuoso master armourers like Kolman Helmschmid, Konrad Seusenhofer, Filippo Negroli, Pompeo della Cesa and Jacob Halder were not however just about splendour and richness. They also embodied more complex messages, about status and the social order, divine power, and attitudes and identities. 

Toby is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and an internationally acknowledged expert on Medieval and Renaissance weapons. He has published numerous books and articles on the subject, including Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection (2011).  After fifteen years of research, Toby's ground-breaking book Armour of the English Knight: 1400-1450 was published in September 2015; the second part, dealing with the second half of the 15th century, will be released in 2017.  He appears regularly on television, most recently as presenter and armour advisor on Richard III: The New Evidence.

Image courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum

Please note that the lecture starts at 11:00

Bertie ‘Punch & Judy’ Pearce will provide an in depth look at the profound mystery of perception. There is an eternal fascination with the unfathomable, the weird ambiguous state of seeing things which are not there – yet are there. It carries us back into that long gone deeply missed period of our childhood when magic was commonplace and when the boundary between the possible and the impossible was very blurred. In the same way as a magic trick surprises and delights us there is a primal enjoyment in being deceived by optical illusions.  From trompe l’oeil to camouflage, our lecturer will delight us with “the tricks of the trade”!
 
Bertie Pearce has a degree in Drama from Manchester University and a Diploma Internationale from the Ecole Internationale du Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He is a member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and has toured the world with a magic cabaret show. Bertie became an accredited NADFAS lecturer in 2009 and has toured extensively sharing his passion for Magic, Punch and Judy, Victorian Pastimes and Charles Dickens.

This lecture will trace the development of traditional German and Netherlandish drinking glasses such as the ‘berkmeyer’ and the ‘roemer’ and the status given to this type of glass, as exemplified in Dutch still-life paintings. It will discuss enamel glass for ceremonial use, the revival of wheel-engraving and the development of luxury glass, such as ‘gold-ruby’ glass and ‘gold-sandwich’ glass. Finally, it will consider the importance of Dutch calligraphic engraving and the development of stipple engraving in the 18th century.

Jane Gardiner has an MA in the History of Art from the University of London. She trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. She was a Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK.

The economic and social situation in turn-of-the-century Brussels were ripe for the emergence of Art Nouveau.  Victor Horta emerged as the leading architect, transforming industrial materials, metal, glass and tile, into stunning architectural ensembles. Wealth from the Congo, ensured there was no shortage of luxury materials; mahogany and ivory were used in abundance. All aspects of the interior were harmonised. Horta constructed a series of stunning palaces including the Tassel, the Solvay and the van Eetvelde which survive today.

Professor Anne Anderson began her career as an archaeologist. She eventually became a senior lecturer on the Fine Arts Valuation degree courses at Southampton Solent University, specialising in the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism. She is currently Hon Associate Professor at Exeter University.

 She has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne-Jones. Her television credits include BBC's Flog It!

Given the close proximity of England and the Low Countries, and the fact that the people of both regions have always had a great love of precious metals, it is hardly surprising that there has, over the centuries, been considerable interaction between the goldsmiths of both countries. 

Although records show that many Dutch goldsmiths worked here during the medieval period it is in the 16th and 17th centuries that we see their greatest influence. Ian looks at the interchange of ideas and craftspeople between these areas.

Ian Pickford is one of the foremost authorities in the United Kingdom on English silver. He is a well known contributor to television programmes about antique silver including the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.  He has written, contributed to and edited many of the standard reference books on English Silver. He is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company and Freeman of the City of London.

Janusz will explain the history, techniques and uses of veneering, inlay, parquetry and marquetry in decorating fashionable and expensive items of furniture such as cabinets, tables, mirrors and long case clocks between the period 1675 – 1730, with particular reference to the Netherlands.

Janusz is a well established NADFAS lecturer and researcher into English furniture history. He is also an antiques dealer.

The beautiful tulip migrated west from Central Asia, where it is found in the wild. It was celebrated by the Ottoman Sultans who commissioned ceramics painted with tulips in jewel-like colours from local potters.  Large tile-panels added colour and pattern to the mosques and sumptuous interiors of the Topkapi palace. From Istanbul, the tulip went west through trade and gifts to 17th century Holland where, in the hothouse of rising prices, those who coveted this rare and precious flower found it less expensive to commission oil paintings of tulips. Cheaper still were the Delft tiles, dishes and vases painted with tulips. 

Anne began her career at Christie’s and Bonham’s auction houses where she progressed to become a senior ceramics specialist.

Anne lived in Shanghai for 7 years. During this period she visited ancient kiln sites and lectured to expatriate groups.

Anne now lecturers at the V&A, London. She is also a guide for private tours of the State Rooms and The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. In 2002 she catalogued the collection of Chinese porcelain at Kensington Palace.

‘Baroque’ is often associated with the Catholic Counter-Reformation.  Sarah Lenton discusses two notable exceptions.

Sarah has spent most of her working life in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for the Royal Opera House’s programmes, and gives pre-performance talks for both the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. She does live commentary for BBC Radio 3 Opera broadcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio.

Interior views were a popular subject in the Golden Age: shops, taverns, churches, schools, cottages. Best known are the domestic settings with men and women reading, writing letters, making music or ‘simply’ drinking, as in the works by Vermeer, Terborch, De Hooch, and others. The room often includes marble floors, rich carpets and gleaming chandeliers. However, do these paintings really portray the actual appearance of Dutch middle-class interior in this period, with features that one could really find in homes of the period, or are they just an artistic illusion?

Dr Sophie Oosterwijk was born in Gouda in the Netherlands. She has an MA and PhD from Leiden, an MA in Medieval Studies from York and a PhD in History of Art from Leicester. She has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester, Nottingham and Manchester, plus Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

In 1685, William & Mary built Het Loo in the Netherlands, an impressive hunting lodge where their formal gardens have been beautifully restored. When they came to London in 1688 they used Whitehall Palace, but quickly bought what is now Kensington Palace as a retreat from the formality of court life. They asked Wren to rebuild Henry VIII’s Hampton Court, only finished after Mary’s sudden death in 1694. The state rooms of Hampton Court are a splendid example of Baroque interiors, and like the King’s Privy Garden which they overlook, have been superbly restored.

Caroline Knight is an architectural historian, trained at the Courtauld. She specialises in the 16th to 18th centuries.

In addition to NADFAS, she lecturers at the V&A and for the Art Fund.

Caroline has written and contributed to a number of books, including a history of Kensington Palace. Her book, ‘London’s Country Houses’, was published in 2009.  

Dr Paula Nuttall reveals the hidden meanings of these strange and enigmatic works by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1455 - 1516), whose nightmarish monsters and demons, his bizarre allegories and the amorous exploits in his Garden of Earthly Delights have intrigued viewers for centuries.  Paula's lecture unravels all this in the context of his own time and in terms of social satire, medieval folklore and pre-Reformation spirituality.

Paula Nuttall studied at the Courtauld Institute (CI) and specialises in artistic relations between the Netherlands and Italy.  She began lecturing at the British Institute of Florence, and is now an independent scholar based in London.  A course tutor for the V&A's Medieval and Renaissance Year Course Paula teaches for other institutions and organisations, including the CI, Christie's Education and NADFAS.  She has also participated in numerous international symposia. You can see her 'Face to Face' interview by clicking here.

Note that the lecture starts at 11.am

The British Royal Collection remains unsurpassed in its extensive holding of early 19th century silver and gold ware, the breadth and richness of which today is due primarily to the concentrated efforts of George IV.  This lecture looks at highlights from this remarkable collection, especially the grand palatial settings which George IV created as Prince of Wales, Prince Regent and King, to display his collection.

Oliver Everett gave us an excellent lecture in 2011 on the terrible fire at Windsor Castle.  His distinguished career has seen him working in the Foreign Office, being Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, Private Secretary to Diana, the Princess of Wales, and Librarian in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.  He also wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle.

Many people today believe the harp to be an exclusively ‘Celtic’ instrument and are unaware of its considerable presence in England since the 10th century. Using the many references there are in literature and household accounts of the time, Sarah reveals the instrument's hidden history and will perform music and songs from medieval England on her own reproduction medieval harp.

Sarah Deere-Jones  is a prize-winning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where she studied the classical harp.  Alongside her performing career she has done extensive research into the history of the harp in England, studying and collecting historic instruments and their repertoire.  Specialising in harp music from the Medieval, Tudor and Regency period Sarah has lectured and performed all over the UK, and aboard the QE2,

Jeremy Black considers the development of maps; their history, politics and art, from their origins to the present day.

Professor Jeremy Black has been Professor of History at the University of Exeter since 1996. He has lectured all over the World to both academic and general audiences. He has appeared on radio and television, most recently presenting the BBC2 programme ‘Why did the Industrial Revolution Happen Here?’.  He has published a vast number of books including 'Visions of the World: a History of Maps' (2003). He was awarded an MBE in 2000 for services to stamp design.

In the years leading up to the First World War, London's Slade School of Art was England's leading teaching establishment for drawing and painting.  Its students included notable British artists of the first half of the twentieth century such as Bomberg, Carrington, Gertler, Nash, Nevinson, Roberts, Spencer and Wadsworth.  Based on his book (title below), this lecture explores the fascinating story of these artists’ interlocking lives, and their artistic education and development during this exciting period in modern British art, culminating in the horror and drama of the First World War.

Dr David Boyd Haycock read Modern History at Oxford University, then took an MA in the History of Art and a PhD in British History.  He has lectured throughout the UK including Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery.  He was Curator of Maritime and Imperial History at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and  has written numerous books including ‘A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War’ (2009), on which this lecture is based.

South American gold had a spiritual importance.  Its brilliance evoked the Sun - the golden disk that nourished the Earth.  In Peru and Colombia goldsmiths made some of the most spectacular treasures of the ancient world. Cast and hammered, gold was transformed into sacred offerings for tombs and temples.  Europeans, by contrast, saw gold as a commodity - a symbol of wealth. For decades, Europeans searched in vain for the legendry El Dorado.  Although many golden treasures were melted down for bullion, some magnificent pieces are preserved in museums in Peru and Colombia.

 Chloe Sayer is a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America.  A Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute she has carried out fieldwork, curated several exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4.  She has published many books including ‘Textiles from Mexico’ (British Museum Press, 2002) and ‘The Incas - The Ancient World’ (Wayland, 1998).

This lecture will looks at the work of Man Ray, the American visual artist and his influence on, and relationship with, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.  In his photography Man Ray magically transformed light into wonderful Surrealist images, and in his objects everyday things became visual puns, sometimes sinister, sometimes funny, but always provocative.  Man Ray was adored by both of Antony Penrose’s parents and, from an early age, by Antony himself. 

Antony Penrose has for 30 years conserved and disseminated the work of his parents, Surrealist photographer Lee Miller and British Surrealist artist Roland Penrose.  A director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection, he has lectured widely and contributed to TV documentaries featuring his parents' work.  

Frank Lloyd Wright is acknowledged by many people as America's greatest architect. The lecture examines his long career, sampling the sheer variety of his work and versatility of his designs. He began his career training in the Arts and Craft tradition of the late 19th century and ended it, in the 1950s, designing buildings with a highly modern appearance.  His work continues to influence and inspire today’s architects. 

Anthea Streeter last spoke in Shrewsbury in 2008 about the history of the skyscraper.  She studied the Fine and Decorative Arts in both London and Harvard where she developed a love and enthusiasm for American design and 20th century architecture.

The great gardens of England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were formal extravagances dominated by knot gardens and mounts. Under the Stuarts, English gardens were increasingly influenced by styles from the Continent, particularly France and Holland.  Under William and Mary, formal gardening reached its zenith.  James Bolton will speak about these formal gardens, many of which were swept away by the following craze for the landscape style.

James Bolton, a garden designer of considerable experience having qualified at the Inchbald School of Design in 1990, now lectures and organises tours to the best private gardens of the UK, Italy and France.  His book ‘Garden Mania’ was published in 2000.