Lecture Synopsis

How can an artist portray friendship? Love or hate, maternity, childhood-these themes have recognisable motifs that add to the portrayal. But friendship is less easy to illustrate. Artists over the centuries have made portraits of their friends and still managed to convey the relevance of the unique relationship.

Our Lecturer

Juliet studied History of Art at London University. She is the author of 14 books - on art, folklore, fiction and memoir.  Some of these form the basis of her lectures.  Her book on Van Gogh led her to be  interviewed on a BBC 4 arts programme to discuss his work. Her History of Western Painting for Young People was translated into twelve languages. For thirty years she lived in France where she  devised and led art study tours in seven different regions. Returned to England she continues to write and hosts informal art history classes as well as giving public lectures.  

Lecture Synopsis

Ealing Studios is often hailed as the most quintessentially English of all film studios. Run by Sir Michael Balcon for decades, the studio reached its zenith in 1949, its annus mirabilis, releasing Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!, and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Now most celebrated for these and the similarly magnificent comedies that followed, Ealing's films have a reputation for cosiness, whimsicality, and an ever-so gentle subversiveness. This talk revisits these films and reads them again, this time in the light of the post-war new waves that were beginning to emerge across Europe.

Our Lecturer

Benedict Morrison is a lecturer in Literature and Film at the University of Exeter. He has recently published a book entitled Complicating Articulation in Art Cinema with Oxford University Press and is now producing works on post-war British comedy films, the response by the arts and humanities to Covid-19, and cultural narratives of extinction. He spent seven years studying at the University of Oxford, but finally traded the dreaming spires for the cultural bustle of London, where he lives with his partner. He loves nothing more than settling down in the darkness of a cinema to enjoy a great film.

Lecture Synopsis

Monet, perhaps the most important painter of gardens in the history of art, once said that he owed his painting "to flowers". But there were so many other artists who not only created their own gardens, but made them into the subject of their work - among them, Pissarro, Liebermann, Sargent, Sorolla, Tissot, Kandinsky, Klee, Van Gogh, Klimt and Matisse. The modern garden, changed by 19th century innovations such as hybridisation, the use of glasshouses and foreign exploration, was part and parcel of a period of great social change and the changing face of modern cities to which artists responded from the 1860s onwards. We explore the ways in which the theme of the garden inspired so much of the most beautiful and innovative art of the late 19th and early 20th century. The talk will trace not only the appearance of the garden as a modern phenomenon but the development of new art movements which adopted it as a subject.

Our Lecturer

Born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry). She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely to adult audiences. She has taught at London's National Gallery for more than 35 years, and intermittently at Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery as well as collections such as Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Hermitage and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the latter as a guest speaker for travel companies. Since the pandemic began in March 2020 Lydia had devised and delivered a programme of upwards of 180 online lectures to her own group Art For The Uninitiated.

Lecture synopsis

Since the birth of the earliest human civilizations, dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and a means of expression and entertainment.  Jennifer takes a look at dance as an art form from its earliest beginnings; through the birth and rapid development of ballet throughout Europe; the explosion of modern dance in the early 20th century, through to the expansion of street dance, hip-hop and rock dance!

Our Lecturer

Jennifer Toynbee-Holmes is an experienced guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and lectures at various art societies and institutions. She has a special interest in British and European art of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Having gained an MA in film and television practice, Jennifer had a long-standing career spanning twenty years as a television producer/director making documentaries and factual programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. She was also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck, University of London and a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society

Lecture Synopsis

Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497-1543) was one of the most brilliant artists of his age. This lecture traces his life and works, from his training in Switzerland to his experiences at the English court, during the reign of Henry VIII.

Our Lecturer

Dr Christina Faraday FSA FRHistS is a historian of art and ideas, specialising in Tudor and Stuart Britain and the wider 16th and 17th-century world. She is a Research Fellow in History of Art at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, a Trustee of the Walpole Society for British art history, and a BBC New Generation Thinker, appearing regularly on BBC Radio 3 and in other popular media. She is an experienced lecturer, and teaches for the History of Art Department at the University of Cambridge, The Wallace Collection, the National Gallery, London, and for the Institute for Continuing Education, Cambridge, where she is Co-Director of the MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture. Her first book, Tudor Liveliness: Vivid Art in Post-Reformation England, was published in 2023 by the Paul Mellon Centre and Yale University Press. Her next book, The Story of Tudor Art, will be published in 2025.

Lecture Synopsis

Jacob Bell (1810-1859) was the founder of the Pharmaceutical Society, Member of Parliament for St. Albans and a successful pharmacist. He was also business manager for his friend Sir Edwin Landseer, and at the centre of a circle of fashionable artists that included William Powell Frith, William Etty and Rosa Bonheur. How did this pharmacist politician become an influential art patron? This lecture focusses on the 18 works that Jacob Bell bequeathed to the nation, and through them explores Bell's life and those of the artists around him.

Our Lecturer

Briony studied History at Cambridge University, and Museums Studies at Leicester University. Having worked at museums as diverse as Hereford Cider Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Wakefield Museum, she moved into medical history in 2002 as Keeper of the Museum Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, then Director of Museums at the Royal College of Surgeons in England, and has worked as an independent curator for a wide range of medical museums and royal colleges. Her publications include books on liquorice, English delftware drug jars, popular historical medicines, and the histories of UCL, Cardiff and Sunderland schools of pharmacy. She is a Past President of the Social History Curators Group, of the London Museums of Health and Medicine network, of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, and of the Faculty of the History and Philosopedicine and Pharmacy at the Society of Apothecaries. She currently works part-time as Director of Amersham Museum.

Lecture Synopsis

Armenia is one of the best kept secrets of the ancient and modern world. It has for centuries stood at the meeting point of great empires - the Persian, Byzantine, Ottoman, Soviet - but, due to its indomitable tenacity of spirit, it has outlived them all. It was the first country in the world to accept Christianity as its state religion (over 1700 years ago) and has retained its unique form of sacred culture. Of all the arts practised over the years - metalwork, tapestry, carving - none was more precious than the art of the illuminated manuscript. Reflecting an exotic mix of influences from East and West, this craft was raised to the highest levels of enchantment and beauty.

Our Lecturer

Andrew Spira studied at the Courtauld Institute and Kings College, London.

For several years, he worked at the Temple Gallery, London (specialists in Byzantine, Russian and Greek icons) and as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum where he worked on the British Galleries and for the Silver, Metalwork and Jewellery Department.

Subsequently he was Programme Director at Christie’s Education for 14 years. Besides lecturing extensively on a wide range of subjects, he has taken numerous groups (including ADFAS and Arts Society groups) on cultural visits to Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Romania, Crete, Turkey, Tunisia and all over Europe.

His book The Avant-Garde Icon, on the relationship between Russian icons and Russian Avant-Garde art, was published in 2008. His two books on the relationship between art and personal identity, from the Middle Ages to the present day, were published in July 2020. A further book on the Russian artist Kasimir Malevich's pioneering painting 'Black Square', of 1915, was published in 2022.

Lecture Synopsis

The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world.  We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts and discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be. 

Our Lecturer

I qualified as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, graduating at the top of my class. Since qualifying as a guide I have specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue badge, I was a tour manager for 15 years, travelling extensively, all over the world.   I can organise and arrange lecture facilities in central London. I can also combine a lecture with a walk of street art and graffiti in the East End and I can also organise a practical spray session, giving your group an opportunity to have a go at creating their own works. 

Lecture Synopsis

Christmas would not be Christmas without music. And the story of what we perform, listen to and share at that most festive of seasons is both fascinating and transformative. Having had its roots in Rome during the fourth century with chants like Veni redemptor gentium, Christmas music has since gone on to become one of mankind’s most enduring cultural and religious phenomena. Whether it is heard as part of the liturgy or at the cinema, Christmas music never fails to trigger a sense of wonderment. Using carefully chosen sound recordings and film clips, this lecture will trace the history and impact of Christmas music from its Roman roots to the present day.

Our Lecturer

Born in Australia, Professor Raymond Holden AM studied at Sydney, Cologne and London and is both a critically acclaimed and a multi-award winning writer, conductor, broadcaster and lecturer. He has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Emilia Romagna and the New Symphony Orchestra of London, and has been published regularly by Oxford, Cambridge and Yale University Presses, the Royal Academy of Music Press, Hans Schneider Verlag (Vienna) and by ICA, EMI and Warner Classics. Professor Holden has appeared on BBC Television and Radio, Servus TV (Germany), RAI Television and Radio, ABC Classic FM, 3MBS FM, Vision Australia Radio, SRF (Switzerland) and Classic FM (South Africa), and has spoken at many of the world’s leading music and literary festivals, universities, conservatoires and research institutes. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and is currently Emeritus Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Lecture Synopsis

The giant of Spanish painting, Goya, was many things in his long life. Initially he was a designer of tapestries, and later known as an acerbic satirist especially in his etchings. He became regarded as a political commentator with his paintings The Second and Third of May 1808,  but it was in his portraits that he reveals Spanish society from the highest echelons of the Royal family to friends and relations.

Our Lecturer

Historian, art historian, and painter. She is passionate about Spain and Spanish topics. She has been a long-time lecturer for The Arts Society, and before Covid she taught on courses at the V&A, and for Art Pursuits, the National Gallery and the Art Fund. She has lectured on Cambridge University Summer Schools, the Courtauld Institute Summer Courses, Inscape, and for many arts organisations in Europe. In the past she led tours to Spain for The Arts Society and Martin Randall Travel. Gail lectured in the Prado and Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid in the 1980s, and was Deputy Curator of Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome, before that. She was also once a Christie’s consultant in Illuminated Manuscripts. In 2015 Gail was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Católica (the equivalent of the CBE) by the King of Spain for promoting Spanish culture among British audiences. She is President of The Arts Society Colchester. 

Lecture Synopsis

Rodin is one of the heroic figures of 19th century art history and was internationally celebrated during his lifetime. But after his death his reputation slipped and there were questions about his use of the female image. Now that is very much being reassessed and he is seen as having in one career taken sculpture on a revolutionary path equivalent to what the Realists, Impressionists and Post Impressionists did with many careers. This lecture surveys his work showing why he is one of the greatest sculptors ever, looking at his work in relationship to 19th century sculpture as well assessing his continuing relevance.

Our Lecturer

David Worthington has been drawn to abstract sculpture since seeing a Barbara Hepworth in a school history book aged 10. He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, then studied fine art in London, Barcelona and New York.  He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. David is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors, and was Vice President in 2010-13. He has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan. His work is in the museum the Creative Cities Collection Beijing China. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. He has had solo shows at the Lefevre Gallery, Horatio’s Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera,  and at the Lightbox Gallery Museum, Woking. 

Lecture Synopsis

 I write only for fame…   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.

Our Lecturer

Following a career in teaching, Annalie spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wordsworth House in Cockermouth; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire; and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. At Jane Austen’s House, Annalie won the Sandford Award for Excellence in Heritage Education; she also worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people.  Annalie’s lectures focus on aspects of Romantic and Victorian literature. She uses her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses - and their collections - to offer a unique perspective on writers and their works. 

Lecture Synopsis

A fascinating time-line talk focusing on why we collect and how our predilection for collecting has evolved through history, illustrated with examples from the great historical collectors and illuminated with objects from Marc’s own eclectic collection.

Our Lecturer

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He is shortly to begin his 27th 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. He has a passion and reputation for divining the unusual through ‘a desire to connect with history through the interpretation and pursuit of objects and their origins’. 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. He has also lectured as far afield for the Arts Society in New Zealand, Spain, Germany, Malta and Penang. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

2024 is the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, one of our best known and loved charities. As the official historian, I have had privileged access to its rich history of amazing people and heroic stories.  

Our Lecturer

Helen is a Fellow of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter, where she gained her PhD. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the ss Great Britain. She has published extensively on 19th century sail, women in the maritime world, Brunel and his ships and in a departure from her usual maritime themes, she  has written two best selling biographies of WW2 fighter aces.

She has just written the official 200 year history of the RNLI, an important and absorbing commission. Her lecturing experience is wide and she is a speaker onboard all three Cunard ships. She has appeared on radio and television, and is a regular maritime expert for programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? She is based in Hampshire.

Rembrandt is the best known of all the Dutch masters. Working across the genres, he painted landscapes, religious scenes, mythological subjects and portraits. Celebrated as the most successful artist in Amsterdam, he revolutionised the treatment of portraiture. But lived long enough to see his star fall, and his final years very different from those of his heyday.

Our Lecturer

Lucrezia Walker Is a regular lecturer at the National Gallery. She is adjunct professor of art history for the University of North Carolina's Study Abroad semesters in London. She was Lay Canon for the Visual Arts at St Paul's Cathedral 2010-2014.

Old Peking, now known as Beijing, China's capital city, was the former seat of power of two of China's Imperial dynasties: The Ming and Qing. It was a city of walls and palaces, dominated by the Forbidden City, narrow lanes called hutongs and sacred rituals performed by the Emperors at the Temple of Heaven;

Suzhou (sometimes spelt Soochow) is an ancient city of culture with canals, gardens - such as the picturesque Master of the Nets garden, pagodas and tea-houses;

Shanghai is a city of the river, with a famous and distinctive waterfront known as The Bund. The city was developed in the 19th and 20th century following the opium wars, although it retained its ancient walled Chinese city. It was China's most cosmopolitan city, a vibrant architectural and cultural synthesis of East and West. Discover the history of three unique cities of China.

Our Lecturer

Anne has been a lecturer and guide at the Victoria and Albert Museum for more than 20 years and has given regular gallery talks at the British Museum. She was a lecturer for the Royal Collection Trust for 14 years, including 10 years guiding private tours of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. She is a visiting lecturer for Sotheby's Institute and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

Since 2008, she has been a member of the London faculty of Eckerd College, Florida, teaching Art History. She lectures extensively for private groups, including the Arts Society and has lectured on William Morris for the British Council and British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow. After studying Modern History at Durham University, she trained and became a senior specialist in ceramics at the head offices in London of Bonhams (1981-1986) and Christie's (1987-1995).

From 1995 to 2002, she was resident in Shanghai, China and gave lectures on the history of the China trade and European Chinoiserie to the international community of diplomats and expatriates in Shanghai and Beijing. On returning to London in 2002, she worked on a short project cataloguing Chinese ceramics at Kensington Palace and became Hon Membership Secretary and Treasurer of the French Porcelain Society.

A talk which examines the journey of the musical, from its almost accidental beginnings of The Black Crook of 150 years ago through to the modern phenomenon which is Hamilton. This illustrated lecture will highlight the great musical productions which have graced London’s West End and Broadway and focuses upon the game changing moments of both composers and productions. From Jerome Kern to Lin-Manuel Miranda, every great musical has its own story; from page to stage. Enjoy the great music, the great stories and the dynamic theatricality of their finest moment. 

Our Lecturer

After training at RADA Jamie graduated as a Stage Manager and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He became an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and English National Opera and soon began directing productions of his own. He has directed many new opera productions in the UK whilst other new opera productions overseas include Reykjavik, Malta and Melbourne.

Jamie was Associate Director on the original production of the hit musical Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and was Director of Productions for British Youth Opera for over a decade, a company devoted to promoting the talents of our finest young opera singers in the UK. Jamie is a regular enrichment programme lecturer for various leading cruise ship companies. He is married to the mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby and they have three sons. 

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was one of the great figures of the late nineteenth century: a poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, wit and subversive thinker. He lived a life crowded with incident, spanning great success and humiliating failure. This talk charts a way through his life and achievement by examining, and contextualizing, half a dozen of his celebrated epigrams, from ‘Every day I find it harder and harder to live up to my blue china’ to ‘I am fighting a battle to the death with my wallpaper: one of us will have to go.’ 

Our Lecturer

Matthew Sturgis is the author of acclaimed biographies of three of the great cultural figures of the late nineteenth century: Oscar Wilde, Walter Sickert and Aubrey Beardsley. (His biography of Oscar Wilde was shortlisted for the 2019 Wolfson History Prize.) He has also written a history of the English Decadence of the 1890s. A.N. Wilson - writing in the Times Literary Supplement - described him as ’the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had.’

His historical and cultural interests also led him to write a book - When In Rome - chronicling the history of how Rome has been visited, and the artworks tourists have admire there, over the millennia - from Classical and Medieval times, via the Renaissance and the Grand Tour, to our own era. 

Until the 1970’s an Art History student could well believe there were no women artists in the entire history of Western Art. None appeared in key texts H.W. Janson’s The History of Art (1963) nor Ernst Gombrich’s The Story of Art (original ed. 1950).

Is this because there were none?

Some brave Feminist Art Historians attempted to rewrite the ‘canon’. It was not an easy task! Were there any great women artists? If so, where was the evidence? Where were the art works? Were they correctly attributed? Did they even utilize techniques, or depict subjects, acceptable as Fine Art?

Research over the past few decades has changed the subject of Art History and the Art we see in galleries and museums. 

This lecture will discover Old Mistresses and look at contemporary women artists: from Artemisia Gentileschi to Tracey Emin.

Our Lecturer

Now working as a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, Lynne originally trained as a fine artist and has taught painting, drawing and printmaking in higher and adult education. She lectured as an art historian for the universities of Sussex and Bristol where she introduced 'Understanding Art' to the Lifelong Learning programme and residential summer schools.

Gives talks, lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations and institutions including ARCA colleges, the National Trust, Art museums and Art societies.

She has worked as a professional artist specialising in oil painting and etching. Solo and group shows have included the RWA, British Museum and the Barbican. All titles available as lectures or study days.

A king's favourite who amassed a great art collection.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you!’ 

He was a discerning patron. Inigo Jones renovated his houses. John Tradescant was his garden designer.  In his great house on the Strand he put together a collection of art works as fine as King Charles’s.  At the age of 35 Buckingham was murdered. His collection was scattered, but contemporary inventories allow us to reconstruct it. 

I will show you some of the magnificent paintings he owned - the Titians, the Tintorettos, the Veroneses. But Buckingham was not just a collector of old masters: he was also a patron, commissioning boldly innovative new work. Most remarkable are the portraits of himself that he commissioned from painters including Van Honthorst, Van Dyck and Rubens – images by great artists of a man known as ‘the handsomest-bodied man in Europe’

Our Lecturer

Lucy Hughes-Hallett's  book on the 17th century Duke of  Buckingham, The Scapegoat, will be published by Fourth Estate in October 2024. Her last non-fiction book,  The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio was described in The Sunday Times as ‘the biography of the decade’. It won all three of the UK’s most prestigious prizes for non-fiction - the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography Award. Her other non-fiction books include Cleopatra and Heroes.  

She also writes fiction. Her novel, Peculiar Ground, is largely set in the 17th century, and narrated by a landscape designer loosely based on the diarist John Evelyn. It was described as 'almost Tolstoyan in its sly wit and descriptive brilliance' (The Guardian) and 'full of drama, vivid characters, wit, gorgeous writing and fascinating detail’. (New York Times).  In her short story collection, Fabulous, she retells fables from classical mythology, relocating them to modern Britain. 

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Historical Association, she has written on books, theatre and the visual arts for publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The New Statesman and the TLS. She was Chair of the Judges for the 2021 International Booker Prize. She lives in London and Suffolk.

The foods we eat at Christmas have a long, curious and visually spectacular history. This lecture narrates and illustrates that history from Medieval boar’s head and brawn, by way of highly decorated seventeenth century mince pies to the almost forgotten Twelfth Night Cake. Medieval illuminated manuscripts, paintings and prints from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, and illustrations from cookery books provide us with images of some of the lost glories of the British Christmas feast.

Our Lecturer

Peter has a BA in the History of Art, Design and Film, a MA in London history, a PhD in the cultural history of an English criminal, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.  Until recently Principal Librarian at Guildhall Library, he has for 20 years lectured on a broad range of topics including the history of English books, portraiture, and London history. Peter has appeared on TV and radio as a consultant on the 18th century criminal Jack Sheppard,  on the history of English food, and on Shakespeare’s First Folio. His most recent publication, The Curious Cookbook, was published by the British Library. Peter is currently writing a book on Eating out in Georgian London.

A search for Paradise Lost -was Gauguin nothing but a tourist seeking for a some lost Shangri-la or was he an exile searching for his lost home? He called himself  'the savage from Peru' yet was a master of self-promotion. An artist who was imprisoned by the myths he himself invented. Any of this could destroy a lesser artist - but not Gauguin. He was a true visionary, a troubled creator of beautiful jewel-like canvases that sing to us with a dream-like intensity: each picture offering us an invitation to voyage.  Woven into this lecture is my own story of international intrigue, mystery and skulduggery as I became involved in the quest to authenticate two Gauguin paintings - each worth millions of proven to be so, worth nothing if proven to be forgeries.

Our Lecturer

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.  One of his most recent books concerns his wife’s life and work: The Human Touch: Ghislaine Howard. (Ghislaine is also an accredited lecturer of The Arts Society).  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 and in 2004 he and Ghislaine worked the film, Degas and the Dance which has awarded one of the prestigious Peabody awards.

Standing in the nave of Ely cathedral when I was 14, I stopped listening to the guide saying how long and how high and started wondering how on earth ordinary human beings created sky-scraping, dizzyingly high buildings on which even the top-most parts were delicately decorated. How, why and for whom were my questions. For God, for personal redemption and to make a living are the answers to the last two of those, but the "how" was harder to fathom. In this lecture we meet the Master Masons who both designed the buildings and ran the site. They commanded everything whether it was sourcing the vast quantities of wood and stone, recruiting the workforce or knowing enough about their various trades to be able to create heaven on earth out the cacophony of thousands of chisels and hammers. These men were charismatic leaders, but they were continually checked by their fellow Master Masons in the interests of making a building as strong as possible - we only see their successes, after all. They were real people who got into trouble with the law, who occasionally cheated on contracts, who liked to start a job but not to finish it. On the other hand, their creations remain to this day, some breathtakingly beautiful in their exquisite detail causing us, centuries later, to stand in a nave and wonder.

Our Lecturer

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham.She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land. She has written Stone on Stone: the Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published 2019.

 A Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators.She is an  advisor on memorials and monuments for Canterbury's Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Chagall’s floating figures, dreamers, brides and lovers, exist in a rootless universe where gravity has no pull, and where there are no sure foundations and his only recourse was to trust in the narratives of his ancient people and draw on the strength of his God. As the quintessential alien in exile, his ever-present sense of loss resurfaces in dreamlike, childhood memories of his Hassidic Russian Jewish roots. His early Cubism in Paris gave way to a narrative style in his large Old Testament paintings in which Ultramarine dominates. It is the colour of wisdom and of the cosmos, and is also radiant in his stained glass windows. Blue came to represent the fragility of human love, and thus it unified his last works which were windows made as a gesture towards German Jewish reconciliation.

Our Lecturer

Hilary lectures in the main museums in London for American universities, and has toured widely in the USA and lectured for the Smithsonian Institution. Has also worked for the Art Fund, taught courses for Cambridge University, has been a guest speaker on cruises. Trained as a painter at Central St Martin’s, she exhibits abroad, most recently in Berlin and France. Lives in London and in Provence

2024 marks the bicentenary of the founding of the National Gallery.This lecture tells the story of the establishment of the NG collection beginning in 1824 when Lord Liverpool’s government purchased 38 paintings for £57,000 from the collection of businessman 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.

Our Lecturer

Simon 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

Examining the world-beating graphics, designs, maps and poster created for the London Underground. From early days through the inventive inter-war years, this lecture is rammed with well-known artists and great stories. Modern London was shaped by the Underground. Tunnel vision has never been so celebrated.

Our Lecturer

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

From the beginnings of the Renaissance in 13th century Italy to the birth of Abstraction in the 20th century, this lecture charts the main developments of Western European painting. Focusing on a selection of acclaimed masterpieces, this dynamic lecture charts both the stylistic and thematic development of European painting alongside the historical contexts in which they were created. 

Our Lecturer

Born in Paris in 1976, Aliki 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 the 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.

The reputation of Japan as a country fabulously rich in silver and gold reached the west in the 14th century through the writings of the Venetian merchant and explorer, Marco Polo. Gold was used generously to adorn Buddhist icons in Japan from the sixth century when Buddhism was introduced from Korea, and for centuries gold was considered to be the most appropriate precious material for decorating Buddhist halls and statues. The perception of gold as a sacred material underwent a radical change in the sixteenth century when newly powerful warrior rulers began to decorate their castles with magnificent screens and wall paintings with gold-leaf.

Our Lecturer

Dr Meri Arichi studied Art History in London and Florence, and worked at Christie’s in Kings Street, London, from 1989 to 1993. She completed Post-graduate Diploma in Asian Art (1994), MA (1996) in History of East Asian Art, and PhD in Japanese Art (2003) at SOAS. She taught History of Japanese Art in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS as a Senior Teaching Fellow from 2007 to 2016. She worked as a tutor for the Post-graduate Diploma in Asian Art course at the British Museum from 2001 to 2007, and at SOAS from 2008 to 2016. She contributes to the Diploma course at SOAS as a guest speaker now. She has run course at the V&A, Birkbeck College, the British Museum and the Coutauld Institute Summer School. She is Trustee of the Japanese Women’s Association in Great Britain and the Chair of the Circle of Japanese Art London.

The Cotswolds has drawn dreamers and practitioners to try to create utopias for well over a century. This talk explores some of the communities who took up the challenge of living well and creating craft in our local area, such as C R Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden, the Whiteway community near Stroud, Prinknash Abbey, and the Taena Community in the Forest of Dean, as well as more unexpected experiments, such as Rodmarton Manor, and Gloucestershire's part in national movements, such as women's suffrage. Craft and art were at the heart of these new communities, and Kirsty will explore the personalities, histories and art of a surprisingly radical area.

Kirsty Hartsiotis has been the curator of the decorative and fine art at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham since 2008, and prior to that was the curator and manager of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. At Cheltenham she looks after the Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection, which includes the important private press archive, the Emery Walker Library. She’s curated many exhibitions on the Arts and Crafts and Private Press Movements, most recently Ernest Gimson: Observation, Imagination & Making. 

Passionate about sharing her deep love for and knowledge of the arts, she’s also a freelance researcher, currently researching Arts and Crafts war memorials and the work of Arts and Crafts designers in churches in the South West. She’s also been an oral storyteller for over 20 years, and has published a number of collections of stories. She’s the newsletter editor for Society of Decorative Art Collections, a regular columnist for Cotswold Life, and writes for diverse other publications on art history and folklore.

Having had access to the jewels designated Heirlooms of the Crown and with a spectacular collection of her own, the Queen Mother had so much jewellery to choose from over the course of her long life that it would be almost impossible to describe it all. So in this talk I chronicle her passion for jewels by concentrating on a selection of items which are of particular gemmological and historic interest ..… and have an intriguing story attached.

Our Lecturer

On leaving Durham University with a degree in geology I decided to join the Army. I then spent five years in the Irish Guards, the last two and a half of which were on secondment to Clarence House as the Queen Mother’s equerry. Being a geologist I couldn’t help but notice the magnificent gemstones in the Queen Mother’s jewellery. Indeed if I admired a piece she would sometimes take it off and give it to me to have a closer look. This inspired me to study gemmology and on leaving the Army I qualified as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association. Then, in addition to working as an exploration geologist in South Africa and a gold miner in California, I spent several years as a jewellery and precious stone dealer in London’s Hatton Garden. When the Queen Mother died in 2002 I helped open the Castle of Mey to the public and what was supposed to be a six-week appointment turned into six years. As a result I spent more time at the Castle of Mey than its royal owner ever did, and developed it as one of northern Scotland’s most popular tourist attractions.

Caravaggio – one of the best known names today. A man of proverbial rebelliousness, painting in a style which he knew would drop a bomb on the art world he grew up in. He painted with startling immediacy, rejecting his peers’ obsession with highly artificial designs and stale quotations from earlier works of art. But he was also fortunate to be painting at a time when the Church wanted to harness the power of his art to enforce its message. This lecture considers the unlikely alliance of artist and patrons, considering why the establishment was prepared to accept him, outrageous lifestyle and all, and at the same time, examining why his art is so powerful for us today. 

Our Lecturer

MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions

Illustrated with many wonderful works of art, this lecture tells the extraordinary story of the rise of the son of a lawyer in Ajaccio, Corsica, to become Emperor of the French before finally being defeated and sent into exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. It also attempts to explain the nature of his genius as an administrator and a military commander, assessing his achievements and his failures, his strengths and his weaknesses. Among the topics covered will be his marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais, his relationship with the Duke of Wellington, and his place within history. It is in some ways a very human story, but one which focuses on one of the most remarkable men who has ever lived.

Educated at New College, Oxford, and formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where he had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups and many lectures on its art and other related subjects. His latest publication, The Discovery of Paris, is a book on early nineteenth-century watercolour views of Paris by major British artists

In this talk we will look at works of art that depict episodes from the story of Christmas. We will look at paintings of Mary and Joseph, as well as Mary with her baby son Jesus, we will see the Shepherds and the Three Kings visiting the new-born child, and see how artists have depicted these scenes differently over the centuries to remind us of the story of Christmas.

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, so relevant tours and visits for talks can be arranged. Since 2008 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. She is a gallery educator and Adjunct Faculty at Richmond University (since 2008) teaching the History of British Art, the History of Museums in London and the History of London, and runs regular courses and independent lectures on a variety of art historical periods.  

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth, and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher. 

Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives.

It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 

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 museum

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

Studied archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and completed PhD thesis (1979) on the prehistory of the French Pyrenees. Has held post-doctoral fellowships, at Liverpool and London, plus a J. Paul Getty postdoctoral fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities. Devotes time to writing, editing and translating books on archaeology, plus occasional journalism and as much travel as possible. Main research interest is prehistoric art, especially rock art of the world, and most notably Palaeolithic art, as well as Easter Island. Led the team which, at his instigation, searched for and discovered the first Ice Age cave art in Britain (at Creswell Crags) in 2003.

Fiona Rose has been lecturing about topics she feels passionately about since 2010 including William Morris and his circle, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Frida Kahlo and Frank Lloyd Wright. She has a BA in Social Psychology and aims to include the human story behind the artistic endeavours of her subjects. After an early career in public health Fiona founded and runs a home interiors business featuring the work of the great C19th designers such as Morris, Dearle, Voysey and Mackintosh. Fiona is a member of the Museum Collections committee for The William Morris Society and a former Trustee serving as Chair of their Communications and Business Development committees. She is also a regular contributor to the Society’s Magazine and a book reviewer for the Journal of William Morris Studies. Fiona is a House Guide and specialist lecturer for the David Parr House in Cambridge.

Many people around the world today believe the harp to be an exclusively 'Celtic' instrument and are unaware of its considerable presence in England since the 10th century. This lecture describes the many illustrations Sarah has collected over 20 years, from stone and wood carvings, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass and wall paintings. With the aid of the many references there are in literature and household accounts of the time, Sarah reveals the hidden history of this delightful instrument, and using her own reproduction medieval harps performs music and songs from medieval England.

Sarah Deere-Jones

Sarah is a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music and in 2015 was elected an Associate. She performs, writes and lectures about the harp regularly in America, Australia, Europe and UK. All lectures are presented digitally and include live music and songs on harps and other instruments depending on subject matter. 

Lecture Synopsis

Palestrina spent most of his working life in Rome, including many years working for the Pope, both in the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s. But he held several other jobs in Rome and taught and mentored many of the great composers of his day. At his funeral in 1594 many of these composers paid their respects at the lavish ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica. While looking at and listening to Palestrina’s sublime music, we shall also hear the compositions of other Renaissance composers from across Europe who made their reputations in the city of Rome, including Josquin, Lassus and Victoria.

Patrick Craig

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia.

As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry. 

In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

Lecture Synopsis

An opportunity to ‘travel’ to New York and experience the excitement of visiting its premier modern art museum. Established in 1929 and newly extended in 2019, the museum offers a superb range of art ranging from Impressionism to the present day. On this trip I look briefly at its fascinating history and architecture, but mostly, I tour the collection through its different floors, looking closely at specific pieces and seeing how they resonate with other works close by. The talk offers a lively introduction to MoMA, and leads you through time, looking at different works by modern and contemporary artists from Vincent Van Gogh to Cindy Sherman. It should be of interest whether you have already visited the actual museum, or not!

Anna Moszynska

I am a London-based lecturer and writer specialising in contemporary art. During the 1990s, I oversaw the development of the first British Master’s Degree in the subject at Sotheby’s Institute. I have also taught at institutions including The City Lit, the Royal Academy and Tate London, as well as lecturing in cities ranging from Dubai to New York. I currently teach at academic institutions in London and Paris and run my own courses. My books include Abstract Art (1990, enlarged ed. 2020) and Sculpture Now (2013), both published by Thames & Hudson. I enjoy introducing art to audiences in a lively and approachable way to make modern and contemporary art both accessible and interesting.

Lecture Synopsis

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 Riley

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.

Lecture Synopsis

Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson are three of the most important British artists of the last century. Friends, neighbours and artistic rivals, their lives were intertwined through their personal relationships as well as through their shared determination to make new and radical forms of art in mid-twentieth century Britain.

In this study day we will look at the background to their emergence as dynamic artists fascinated by the cutting-edge ideas of European artists such as Picasso, Brancusi and Mondrian. We’ll see how, in the staid British art world of the 1930s, their use of new materials and techniques injected a truly modern dimension into both painting and sculpture, complimenting that of modernist architects and designers. We’ll see how they coped with the challenges of making art during times of war and in the rebuilding and regeneration that followed.

The complex relationships between them – with Barbara Hepworth being both friend and rival to Moore, as well as lover, wife and rival to Nicholson – make this a personal and compelling story. As each of the trio achieved international stardom in the 1950s, drawing younger artists into their orbits as helpers, students and assistants, we’ll explore the different paths they took in dealing with wealth, influence and success in the international art world of the later twentieth century.

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. Now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, the Art Fund, and Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery and local art societies.

Lecture Synopsis

Exactly how did a modest jewellery concern with an extremely un-Russian sounding name become an enduring symbol of Romanov luxury?  This talk takes us beyond the legendary Easter eggs to consider the design sources, materials and techniques that distinguished the legendary Russian firm from its contemporaries. We look, in particular, at Fabergé gifts that were selected to convey romantic ties, filial devotion, diplomatic esteem, and even loyalty from beloved pet. 

Cynthia Coleman-Sparke

Cynthia is an independent researcher, author and lecturer on Russian pre-Revolutionary works of art, consulting regularly on Fabergé for auction houses. Having periodically grown up on and off in Moscow within a family of Russian art collectors, she was destined for a career in Russian art. Previously, Cynthia ran the Russian Department for Christie’s in New York and worked for Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Washington DC. This was followed by a restoration project at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, Nicholas II’s last residence. Her book Russian Decorative Arts was published in 2014 by the Antique Collectors’ Club. Cynthia now lives permanently in London. 

Lecture Synopsis

Dr. Pring was educated at Oxford and London universities. His PhD thesis was on “The Pre-classic Ceramics of Northern Belize” and has written many subsequent articles, mainly on Mayan ceramics. 

The Maya lived in Central America between 1000 B.C. and 1528 at which time they were conquered by the Spaniards. The peak of their civilization was between 300 and 900 AD. During that time, they built enormous monuments, produced jade and ceramic items of great beauty and developed a calendar that was far more advanced than anything in Europe at the time. They had an advanced understanding of mathematics and astronomy and developed a hieroglyphic script which scholars are beginning to decipher, allowing us to understand their achievements much more fully. 

Lecture Synopsis

Drawing comparisons between different styles and approaches, Italo-Byzantine art will be considered as background to the early or ‘proto’ Renaissance at a time when Italy was a focus of cross currents from the East and Northern Gothic styles. The ancient heritage of Rome and the revival of the classical tradition by artists like Cimabue, Duccio, Simone Martini and Giotto will be considered, alongside the historical and philosophical context that contributed to the ‘rebirth’ of the arts in fourteenth-century Italy. (The first of a series of three lectures on the art of the Italian Renaissance from the late 13th to early 16th centuries, from Giotto through the Quattrocento to Michelangelo.)

 Valerie Shrimplin

Valerie is currently Senior Research Associate at Gresham College London (previously Registrar and Secretary of the College). Having studied at the Universities of Bristol, Manchester and the Witwatersrand, she has lectured extensively on Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture and published widely on the influence of astronomy and cosmology on art (including her PhD on the influence of Copernican heliocentricity on Michelangelo’s Sistine Last Judgment). After her main career in education management, she now works freelance, in order to pursue her writing and research (www.valerieshrimplin.com). She is Chair of the series of Conferences on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (www.insap.org). Author of many publications

Lecture Synopsis

There were four major Frost Fairs held on the Thames between 1621 and 1814. They were depicted by distinguished foreign and British artists, sketched in prints and drawings, and described in great detail. They are also depicted in a modern mural, and described in a modern novel. A wide variety of remarkable, enjoyable or scandalous activities went on at the Fairs. Various winter sports were arranged, after which one could eat or drink at coffee-houses or taverns set up on the ice. Bonfires were lit on the Thames to roast meat, souvenir leaflets were printed and a rich variety of Christmas food was on offer. Now that Somerset House holds skating events in the quadrangle every Christmas, a look at previous Frost Fairs gives us an interesting glimpse of one of the most dramatic events witnessed by our ancestors.

Nicholas Reed 

An art historian and archaeologist. In the 1980s he became Founder- Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe. In 2005 he was one of two Lecturer Representatives on the The Arts Society Advisory Council and also Vice-Chairman of Folkestone. He is the author of four books on the Impressionists in England, and one on the Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames. His latest book My Father, the Man who Never Was features in his latest lecture.

Lecture Synopsis

Cinema didn’t begin with the bioscope, moving pictures evolved from the much older traditions of magic lanternism, optical toys, peepshows, raree men and cabinets of curiosity. Tony has researched the travelling peepshows of the late 18th & 19th centuries and now performs them at events, festivals and museums throughout the country. This is his talk about the subject, which features a range of optical devices that the audience can use, as well as a series of delightful slides to demonstrate the visually-aided storytelling that predated the cinema by 150 years and which now plays a part in the augmented realities of 21st century computer gaming! 

Tony Lidington

An illustrated 1-hour lecture about the development of the British seaside and how the entertainments there evolved. Pierrot troupes and concert parties were ubiquitous throughout the seaside resorts of Britain, but what is a pierrot troupe? Where did they come from? How do they impact us today? Find out in this lively and intriguing talk - featuring unique archive materials from Tony’s vast personal collection. This lecture can be tailored to the specific geographic location of your society and a chance to join-in with the live performance of a song!Tony has been a showman, researcher and teacher for over 35 years: he has run theatre venues, companies, festivals and events for and with a wide range of diverse communities. He specialises in historical popular entertainment forms and their application to contemporary contexts and in 2017, he was awarded a doctorate by Exeter University for his research into itinerant British performance forms and where he is now a part-time lecturer. He regularly broadcasts for both radio and television – most recently for Lee Mack’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? However, he is perhaps best known by families throughout the country, as ‘Uncle Tacko!’ - ringmaster of his extraordinary flea circus and the founder of ‘The Pierrotters’, Britain’s last professional seaside pierrot troupe.

Lecture Synopsis

An introduction to Islamic art and architecture, this lecture takes us on a journey across the greater Middle East, from mediaeval Andalusia and North Africa to Persia. There’s a sense that while we might struggle to define Islamic art and architecture we’d recognise it if we saw it.  

This lecture opens with a practical definition of the subject. After that, we’ll turn our attention to an exploration of the four main features common to the vast majority of Islamic art and architecture: calligraphic; geometric; vegetal; and figurative. To do this, we’ll look at the finest examples of Islamic art and architecture from the Middle East and in collections across Europe and North America. 

Rather than, “I don’t know much about Islamic art and architecture, but I know what I like”, this presentation will allow you to say, “I know quite a lot, and have seen much that I love!"

Eamonn Gearon

 Eamonn Gearon is an author, historian, and recovering journalist, who lived and worked across the greater Middle East – from Kabul to Casablanca – for more than 20 years. As well as living in the Sahara with the Bedu, Eamonn conducted a number of solo, camel-powered expeditions … and has never lost money when re-selling a camel! 

The author of three, multi-million selling lecture series on Middle Eastern history and culture for The Great Courses, in addition to entertaining general audiences, Eamonn also designed, and is responsible for delivering Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area studies training for both the British and American governments, at the US Department of State and FCDO (ex-FCO) respectively.

Eamonn’s a highly experienced speaker who has spent years delivering entertaining and educational presentations to audiences of all shapes and sizes, including the universities of Oxford and Harvard, scientific and geographical societies, aboard Queen Mary 2, and in scores of other venues on both sides of the Atlantic and across the Middle East and North Africa. 

Lecture Synopsis

Photographs have the ability to stop time, to provide a freeze-frame of a moment in time and space. They give the observer the opportunity to think, to react, to feel and to soak in the details of the circumstances surrounding the image. This talk examines some the most important images and photographers of the past century. It explores why these images are so powerful and influential in our understanding of history. 

Roger Mendham

A keen and accomplished photographer Roger has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society  and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. A scientist by background, his interest in art was sparked by his wife’s academic studies into the History of Art and he has a particular interest in 20th century art.  With his focus on the visual aspects of art he has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. An experienced public speaker, his talks are all richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers in history. 

Lecture Synopsis

Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge has been described as “one of the country’s most intimate  and spellbinding museums, the collection of one man and his unerring eye; restorative,  homely yet life-changing”. This man was H.S. ‘Jim’ Ede, curator, writer, collector and  friend to artists. In1957, he opened his Cambridge home to university students as “a  living place where works of art could be enjoyed… unhampered by the greater austerity of  the museum or public art gallery.” His collection included works by Ben and Winifred  Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska which were  carefully placed alongside pieces of furniture, ceramics and natural objects. His cur ated home remains, by and large as he left it, characterised by its unique atmosphere,  fascinating juxtapositions and personal connections. This lecture will discuss the life  of Jim Ede, his collecting, his vision for Kettles Yard and its enduring legacy.

“I found it a pigsty” Sir Sydney Cockerell and the Fitzwilliam Museum One off lecture 

Described as ‘one of the greatest museum directors of all time’, Sydney Cockerell’s  energy and enthusiasm transformed the Fitzwilliam Museum in the early 20th cen tury. Between 1908-1937, Cockerell doubled the size of the museum and trebled  the size of the collection - an extraordinary and unique achievement. Notable addi tions to the collection included paintings by Titian, Gainsborough and Rossetti, as  well as medieval manuscripts, antiquities, ceramics and much more. His charm, ambi tion and determination is legendary, as is his famous quip: ‘I found it a pigsty, I turned it  into a palace’. This lecture will discuss the life and career of Sydney Cockerell from  his early years as an assistant to William Morris to his time as Director of the  Fitzwilliam Museum. It will tell the stories behind some of his key acquisitions and  reveal how he persuaded so many collectors and philanthropists to support “my museum".

Sarah Burles

Sarah Burles studied History of Art at Cambridge University before doing a master’s degree at University College London. She went on to have a career in museum and gallery education, establishing new services in three different museums before working at the Fitzwilliam Museum for many years.  

Sarah is the founder of Cambridge Art Tours, which runs tours and courses in and around East Anglia. She is also a Tour Director for a travel company and has led tours to Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and America. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sarah moved her work online, offering art history courses to audiences all over the world.

Lecture Synopsis

Venice is the greatest glassmaking centre in the world. For centuries its glassmakers have maintained an awesome mastery of technical and artistic ability and influenced every other country. The first important glass to be made in Britain for example was produced by Jacopo Verzelini, a Venetian who came to London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. George Ravenscroft invented lead glass in London in the 1670s, after working in Venice. Venetian glass techniques were a ‘must’ to copy in the 19th century and today Venice continues to exert its magic on British studio glass artists. 

Charles Hajdamach

Former Director of Broadfield House Glass Museum (1974-2003) and one of the top authorities on glass in the country. Author of British Glass 1800-1914 (1991), 20th Century British Glass (2009) and contributor to numerous books and magazines. Lectures internationally to glass museums and collector's societies. Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology, and a member of the Arts Advisory Board at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland. President of the Glass Association which he was instrumental in founding.

Lecture Synopsis

Several of Seurat’s works and considerably more by van Gogh, have been widely reproduced, leading to a general sense of familiarity and, potentially, a diminished desire to look closely at the art itself. Yet when van Gogh visited Seurat’s studio, he remarked upon the ‘fresh revelation of colour’ in Seurat’s work. This presentation aims to rejuvenate our interest in looking slowly with a curious eye to discover how works by both artists were no less than pioneering.

Despite their short artistic careers, both Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat made extraordinary contributions to the development of modern art, each through their own distinctive and experimental approaches to picture making. Discussing the terms Post-Impressionism, Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, we consider the suitability of such labels when faced with unique work and we compare paintings by both artists with those made by their Impressionist contemporaries to potential connections.

Joanne Rhymer

Since completing an MA at University College London (UCL) in the History of Art: Modernism and the Politics of Representation (1997), Jo Rhymer was employed in various roles at the National Gallery including Adult Learning Officer and the Head of Adult Learning Programmes.

In a freelance capacity, she has worked in prestigious learning departments in London galleries and museums including Tate, the Hayward Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery as well as leading group excursions in the UK and abroad. She currently lectures for the Institute of Continuing Education at University of Cambridge and the V&A and teaches for the Wallace Collection,the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of York as well as a range of private institutions. 

Her areas of specialism include 19th century and early 20th century French art and her interest include the visual skills involved in sustained looking at paintings

Lecture Synopsis

Everyone is aware about “1066 and all that” without necessarily knowing the exact facts about this momentous event. This lecture will present in details the historical, cultural and artistic aspects of that unique masterpiece, the Bayeux Tapestry, which provides posterity with such a startling testimonial of peoples’ lives in the late Viking age. 

Evelyn Eaton

BA Hons Courtauld Institute; Diploma: Study Centre for the History of Fine & Decorative Arts. Freelance lecturer in Fine Arts and has been a tour-guide to Berlin, Dresden, Munich. Past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden Trust.

Lecture Synopsis

The day commences with in-depth looks at the history and architecture of the building.  We then discover the way that daily performances and rehearsals of opera and ballet and much else besides all fit into this elegant Victorian theatre – the flagship of the British arts world and the workplace of more than a thousand people.  Includes several performance video clips and additional focus on costume and set design, production values and how the digital age has been embraced by the opera and ballet worlds.  Includes many performance audio and video clips.

Nigel Bates

Nigel has been a performer for more than forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra and eight years as the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet.

 He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the ROH.

He has given lectures for over thirty years, including many arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.

Lecture Synopsis

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 Fletcher

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. He has lead art appreciation holidays across Europe. 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

Lecture Synopsis

The opening of trade routes across Eurasia by land and sea enabled the movement of peoples, along with their cultures, arts, beliefs, technical skills and aesthetics. This was to have a profound influence on the arts of China, introducing new forms, designs, and materials, along with the craftsmen to pass on their skills.

This lecture will look at several examples of masterpieces of art from China in the first millennium AD to illustrate this influence and show how the arts of China were greatly enriched by its Silk Road links.

Susan Whitfield

Dr Susan Whitfield is a writer, scholar, lecturer and traveler of the Silk Roads. During 25 years curating the collections of over 50,000 medieval manuscripts from central Asia at the British Library, she also helped found and then developed an international collaboration working on the art and artefacts of the eastern Silk Roads.

She has lectured and written widely on the history and arts of the Silk Roads. Her latest book, Silk Roads: Peoples, Culture and Landscapes, was published by Thames & Hudson in October 2019 and translated into six languages. She has also curated several major exhibitions, with a forthcoming show at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, and has organized field trips to archaeological sites in the Taklamakan desert

Lecture Synopsis

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

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

Christopher Garibaldi

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

Lecture Synopsis

Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe. There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society wine has been ever present. Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story.

David Wright

I have been a wine retailer, importer and distributor for 30 years. In that time, I have publicly presented tastings and talks on wine to trade and private audiences. These have taken the form of wine ‘tastings’ or charity events where a particular subject is presented and wines tasted. I have developed a talk, A Brief Story of Wine, a great subject, and full of rich evidence, going back 7,000 years, in the form of paintings, decorated drinking vessels, buildings and literature that contribute to the story.

Lecture Synopsis

So many of our historical references for musical instruments can be found in works of art. Not only can these windows into the past show us what the instruments looked like but also the social context in which they would have been played. Music and different instruments also play a strong role within symbolism in art. Sophie explores the instruments in selected works and then gives live demonstrations on replicas of the instruments depicted.

Sophie Matthews 

Sophie is a musician 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, crumhorm 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.

When not touring with GreenMatthews, Sophie also 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.

Tessa Boase

Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She’s the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change. Her interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics. Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines. 

Lecture Synopsis

As adults we carry in our heads huge numbers of images from childhood, and some of those most deeply etched come from illustrations in books that we read as children. Images of ‘Tigger’ and ‘Toad’ or even ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ will probably remain with us for ever! In addition to a wide range of examples John will examine how illustrations contribute to the development of understanding and how the interaction of image and narrative creates such powerful memories. 

John Ericson

Formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. 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.

Over the last decade he has been a popular speaker on the Arts Society circuit in the UK and Europe as well as a frequent visitor to the societies in Australia and New Zealand.
In his professional life he has developed a particular interest in presentation skills including the role of pictures in learning and the appropriate use of PowerPoint. This coupled with his ability to relate well to people of all ages and backgrounds makes him an impressive and confident public speaker.

As well as the talks he has developed from his professional background, he offers presentations on an eclectic range of topics that are derived from his diverse interests and enthusiasms such as, Pub Signs, Children’s Book Illustrations and the Shakers of North America. All his talks are entertaining, highly informative, very well illustrated and presented with warmth and humour.

Lecture Synopsis

Les Parisiennes is a story about women’s lives during the dark years of Nazi occupation and beyond and includes British and American women caught in Paris as well as native born resisters who were eventually sent to camps, couturiers and jewellers, some of whom flourished in wartime, as well as actors, singers, night club dancers and housewives.

The lecture opens with a magnificent surrealist circus ball held by Elsie de Wolfe at the magnificent Villa Trianon, a Louis XV chateau in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. Many of the guests there could not believe that war is imminent but, in a different part of Paris, thousands of refugees such as Miriam Sandzer are only too aware that they must escape as soon as they can, but how?

By 1940, following the swift defeat by Germany, Chanel moved into the Ritz with her German lover as wartime Paris became a city of women. The men were either prisoners of war in Germany, with de Gaulle and the Free French in London or in hiding. Several British women working as secret agents began living clandestinely in the city escorting downed Allied airmen from one safe house to another. Women were essential because they attracted less attention and many of those who joined Winston Churchill’s secret army of SOE (special operations executive), first had to get to Britain for training before being flown back in. Most, such as Violet Szabo and the Indian princess, Noor Inayat Khan, were caught and tortured. Few survived.

While these women were leading highly dangerous lives, actors were performing at the Comédie Française and the Wagnerian, Germaine Lubin, singing at the Opera House as the Germans wanted to create an illusion that everything was carrying on as normal. The wealthy heiress and keen horsewoman Beatrice de Camondo foolishly believed it was and since her family had already given so much to the state, including her magnificent home, she would be safe. Alongside the creativity of jewelers such as Cartier and Van Cleef, designers including Jeanne Lanvin and Maggie Rouff ware flourishing partly because they were making costumes for stage and screen as well as gowns and jewels for the wives of German officers. But at the same time the brilliant story teller Irène Nemirovsky, author of Suite Française, was sent to her death.

After the war, American and British diplomats, tourists and secretaries flooded in to Paris. There were cultural, diplomatic and economic initiatives - as well as affairs - and In 1947 Paris celebrated Christian Dior’s New Look as well as a perfume, Miss Dior, named after his sister Catherine, a resister, who had only just survived a prison camp and never wanted to talk about her experiences.

The lecture ends with two Americans arriving in Paris for short stays with dramatic results; Julia Child, a former diplomat discovered French cuisine and wrote a ground breaking book about it while Jacqueline Bouvier stayed with a countess, a war widow in hard times who had survived a camp, and discovered the Parisian style for which she was forever renowned.

Anna Sebba

Biographer, historian and author of eleven books who lectures to a variety of audiences in the US and UK, including the English Speaking Union, Royal Overseas League, National Trust, British Library, Imperial War Museum and on several cruises. A former Reuters foreign correspondent, Anne is now a broadcaster who has presented documentaries for Radio 3 and Radio 4 and regularly appears on television talking about her books, mostly biographies including Jennie Churchill, William Bankes, Laura Ashley and Wallis Simpson. The latter, published as That Woman, was an international bestseller followed in 2016 by a history of Paris between 1939-49 through women's eyes entitled Les Parisiennes, How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s. Her latest book is Ethel Rosenberg A Cold War Tragedy (published 2021). Anne is a former chair of Britain's 10,000 strong Society of Authors and a Senior Research Fellow at The Institute of Historical Research.

Lecture Synopsis

In this talk we examine the situation of artists in Europe at the end of the Second World War and the exciting diversity of art that emerged in the 1950s ranging from Art Informel (the European equivalent to Abstract Expressionism) to Socialist Realism.

We’ll look at the work of Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richier, Francis Gruber and Bernard Buffet, Jean Helion and Andre Fourgeron, the Kitchen Sink School in Britain and the new British sculptors such as Lynn Chadwick and Reg Butler, the expressive work of Wols, Jean Fautrier and Henri Michaux, the gestural art of Bram van Velde, Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages in France and the work of Antoni Tapies and Eduardo Chillida in Spain, Lucio Fontana and Alberto Burri in Italy, Graham Sutherland, Francis Bacon and Frank Auerbach in Britain

Colin Pink

Colin Pink has a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Southampton and a MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London. He specialises in the interrelationship between the history of ideas and the history of art and has lectured on aspects of modern art at a wide range of cultural organisations: Putney School of Art and Design; the Temenos Academy; APT Studios; Mascalls Gallery; the Museum of Futures, Surbiton; the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings and the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea. He also curates exhibitions and has published two books of poetry: Acrobats of Sound, 2016 and The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament, 2019.

Lecture Synopsis

The history of English garden design can be told in different ways, but rarely can it be told "through the lens" of one garden. The Oxford Botanic Garden was founded at the beginning of the 17th century and its design bears all the hallmarks of 17th century design. Through the next 400 years successive Horti Praefecti (head gardeners) changed the features reflecting the art of gardening, and very occasionally the science of botany. This talk looks at how the art of gardening has changed, or perhaps has not, in four centuries in Oxfordshire and how the Oxford Botanic Garden now reflects garden design at the beginning of the 21st century.  The title of the talk refers to the fact that one of the motivations for garden design remains the desire to create paradise on Earth. The meaning of paradise may now be less rooted in the Biblical account of the rise and fall of man, but there is still a clear vision of what we would like the world to resemble. 

Timothy Walker

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

Lecture Synopsis

Much richer than the Guggenheims, the Rockefellers - even today the richest and most powerful family in the USA – not only amassed one of the greatest art collections of the 20th Century, including superb impressionists, but also donated their 9 storey New York townhouse on Fifth Avenue to found the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA. An incredibly private family, mostly the family avoided scandal, but some time back I worked for a year in one of Harvard University's research institutes, whose director had been married to a Rockefeller, so I learnt some of their secret and shameful stories.

The Guggenheim family managed to amass extraordinary art collections, and design or acquire astounding buildings to display their art, their name even becoming a brand. This talk, based on my experience working at the Guggenheim in Venice, examines the celebrated museums in New York, Venice and Bilbao, as well as the stunning works they display.

One of the richest and most famous families of 19th century Europe, the various branches of this banking family had outstanding residences filled with their collection across the continent, as well as in London and in Buckinghamshire. This richly illustrated talk looks at their most important properties and art works, including Waddesdon Manor.

Andrew Hopkins

Previously Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from 1998 to 2002 and since 2004, Associate Professor at the University of L'Aquila. Part of his PhD (Courtauld Institute 1995) on Venetian architecture was awarded the Essay Medal of 1996 by the Society of Architectural Historians (GB). A Fellow at Harvard University's Villa I Tatti in Florence in 2003-2004, and in 2009 was the Paul Mellon Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Amongst his many publications are, with Arnold Witte, Alois Riegl, The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome (2010), and Baldassare Longhena and the Venetian Baroque (Spring 2012).

Lecture Synopsis

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

Ian Swankie

A Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours around each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide and leads regular tours for various corporations and organisations. 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.

Lecture Synopsis

Sarah Cove ACR founded the Constable Research Project in conjunction with the V&A Museum in 1986 to study John Constable RA’s materials and techniques from the technical and scientific point of view. Since then she has examined over 250 works from collections worldwide, from tiny oil sketches on fragments of canvas, paper supports and boards to the ‘six-footers’, some of Constable’s most famous and iconic paintings including The Haywain (1821), The Leaping Horse (1825) and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831). She has developed a technical chronology that assists with the dating of his known works, relatively few of which were signed and dated by the artist, and is also useful for the attribution (or not) of newly discovered pictures. 

Sarah Cove has been instrumental in the attribution of three significant Constable oils for BBC1’s Fake or Fortune? series, appearing in 2014 and 2017. In 2014 she set up a Facebook page that is hugely successful in raising awareness of her research so that now she is regularly contacted by people that think they have a found a previously unknown Constable!! Some have, some have not, as you will see in this lecture which gives a ‘behind the scenes’ look at how such decisions are made and will describe some extraordinary successes but also crashing disappointments. Stories will include, at opposite extremes, a hugely publicised oil sketch reputedly worth £250,000 that turned out to be a copy and the chance discovery of a fabulous, almost abstract, oil study of the 1830s that had formerly belonged to an American G.I.

Sarah Cove

Sarah Cove is an accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with more than 35 years’ experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She is based in London and Falmouth and is a specialist in British portraits, 19th- 20th century British landscapes and oil sketches on paper and board. In 1986 she founded the Constable Research Project and she is now the leading authority on Constable’s materials and techniques. She has appeared in several TV programmes for the BBC notably Constable in Love with Andrew Graham-Dixon and twice on Fake or Fortune? where she was instrumental in the discovery of 3 ‘lost’ Constables. Other research interests include Tudor and Jacobean Portraiture, the 19thcentury Newlyn and St Ives schools and early-to-mid 20th century British painting generally. She has been a lecturer for The Arts Society since 2003 and is an experienced international speaker having lectured independently at major public and gallery venues across the UK, USA, Australia and NZ. Her presentations are lively and enthusiastic as she speaks without notes with an inimitable passion that comes from presenting her own work and research with wonderful images.

Lecture Synopsis

In this talk Giles romps through the Edwardian period, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, the Space Race and the Information Revolution and shows how, in this age of extremes, the show still went on and continued to tell us our own story.

Giles Ramsay

Giles is an independent theatre director and producer who specializes in creating new work with artists in developing countries. He is the Founding Director of the charity Developing Artists (www.developingartists.org), a Fellow of St. Chad’s College, Durham University and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Giles has run theatre projects in Botswana, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kosovo, Palestine, Mexico, Thailand and Zimbabwe and given numerous talks for institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London. He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK. Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring a unique insight to the world of the theatre.

Lecture Synopsis

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.  

Nicola Moorby

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

Lecture Synopsis

There have been pictorial representations of The Magi from as early as at least the 6th century, such as depictions in Byzantine ivories with origins in places such as Constantinople. Indeed, a vast array of artists, such as Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), Pieter Bruegel the Elder (active 1550/1; died 1569), Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Masaccio (1401-1428/9?), and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) to name but a few, have been clearly fascinated by story and its possibilities when it comes to visual depictions. However, these depictions over this vast period of time have been anything but consistent. All the aforementioned artists will be mentioned in this lecture, as I seek to will unravel the myth and the iconography behind the proliferation of the story of the adoration of the magi from its Eastern and pagan roots to its current Christian interpretation. To aid my examination of this story, and to trace the changes in iconography and depictions of the kings themselves, I will be illustrating it with a variety beautiful works of art, images made across many centuries that will illuminate this fascination as never before. The lecture will begin by looking at the etymology behind the term ‘magi’ and how it has come down to us and what is now means in contemporary society. 

This lecture will then look at the changing iconography behind the depictions of the story and the various meanings behind these changes in its iconography, not to mention the changes in the story of the adoration of the magi itself.  Moving on the lecture will then look at the origin of the names of the magi and the significance of their gifts to the Christ Child.  Following this exploration of the fundamental roots of the story I will then come to the issue of the inclusion of the black king, where he came from, why he would be included, how significant was he and how European artists tackled the problem of depicting this magus when they themselves had little or no knowledge of such people of colour.  

Finally, I will examining the actual origins of the story and how much of a bearing does that story, as we understand it, have on the actual story written in the Bible.  To examine this final question, I will contrast the relevant passages the biblical with images from many sources to help clarify the difference between those and the example images.  This final part of my lecture will set out to ask what it is we want this story to mean and why do we hold on to the legendary story rather than biblical tale in our mostly Western secular society.

Leslie Primo

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

Lecture Synopsis

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, born in December 1770, Sandy guides us through the life and work of this brilliant, cantankerous, visionary and astonishingly original composer, a man who tore up the rule book of classical music. Visual illustrations include a selection of contemporary portraits, while musical examples are drawn from his genre-busting piano sonatas, quartets and symphonies, and from the revolutionary opera Fidelio. We’re talking about much more than just a musician here – Beethoven was a true Romantic artist, or as he preferred to describe himself, a “poet in sound.”

Sandy Burnett 

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

Lecture Synopsis

In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis 1 meet to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and celebrate the betrothal of Henry’s daughter Mary to the Dauphin. The two handsome ‘Renaissance Princes’ are in their 20s with similar reputations in military prowess, sport and patrons of the arts. Both have imperial ambitions and are eager to display themselves as magnificent nobleman and warrior kings. Each brings an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of various events and entertainments staged to display the skill and splendour of each King and country. The logistics of transporting, accommodating, ordering, feeding and watering, protecting and entertaining the English contingent for this spectacular event is staggering and the supply chain, often through the City of London Guilds, is equally fascinating. 3,217 horses shipped across the ‘Narrow Sea’ to Calais; a vast quantity of wood sourced from Flanders and floated along the coast; a huge temporary palace is built on stone foundations with brick and timber-framed walls reaching to 40 feet. Royal palaces were virtually emptied of their silver, gold, tapestries and furniture to decorate the temporary palace, other principal tents and a chapel (with an organ); gold and silver cloth, velvet and sables, jewels and pearls were imported to ‘dress and impress’.

How was it all achieved?

2020 is the 500th Anniversary of this extraordinary event. 

Jo Mabbutt Our Lecturer

Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Freeman of the City of London. Originally a trained singer, pianist and orchestra administrator, Jo is now a decorative artist who gilds antique lace and crochet, often combining with hand printing and painting.  She works to commission, sells through galleries and exhibitions and collaborates with other designers. 

Jo trained in wood graining, marbling, gilding, specialist paint finishes and interior design and was awarded the City & Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence in 2000. She taught in further education for 8 years on Art & Design National Diploma and Foundation courses then up-skilled at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design developing her own practice. She now divides her time as a designer/maker, lecturer and tutor running workshops for specialist groups.

Lecture synopsis

In Greek legend, Pandora was created with the express purpose of causing trouble to men which, by opening her box, she achieved. This lecture looks at the original sources for the story, draws parallels with both Eve in Genesis and Galatea in Ovid before showing how ballets, operas and plays from Coppelia to My Fair Lady and The Winter’s Tale to Educating Rita have developed the theme of a creation that runs out of control.

Mary Sharp Our lecturer 

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

This is a Dmmy lecture

For a historian, there can be little to match the excitement of discovering a forgotten treasure. Dr Griffiths’s eventful research across Russia to unveil the Romantic figure of Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), composer and concert pianist (previously known only as ‘Stravinsky’s piano teacher’), offers the perfect example. Kashperova’s re-discovered music establishes her as the earliest-known female Russian composer of international stature. (Rimsky-Korsakov’s affectionate nickname for her was ‘Snow-maiden’.) Kashperova’s lyrical music and Griffiths’s research were selected by BBC Radio 3 and the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council) for inclusion in their 2018 celebration of ‘Five Forgotten Female Composers’. This presentation offers narrative, images and musical performance at the piano (*) illustrating ‘what it takes’ to recover the life and works of a composer whom History has completely forgotten. Until now.

Graham Griffiths

Lecturer, conductor, pianist, composer. Music Research Fellow (City, University of London). DPhil., Musicology (Christ Church, Oxford, 2008), PGCE (Cambridge), BMusHons (Edinburgh). 

Musical Director Grupo Novo Horizonte de Sao Paulo (featured on BBCR3); lectures, concerts, and recordings (UK, Denmark, Brazil, Russia); Guest of The British Council; University lecturing (UK) at Bath, Bristol, Canterbury (Christchurch), City (London), Oxford.

Author: Stravinsky’s Piano: Genesis of a Musical Language (Cambridge, 2013/2015; ‘Kaschperowa, Leokadiya’ in Instrumentalistinnen-Lexikon-online (Bremen: Sophie Drinker Institut, 2018).

Editor: Stravinsky in Context (Cambridge, 2020); Contributor to The Stravinsky Encyclopedia (Cambridge, forthcoming); Strawinsky Abécédaire (ed. Marie Strawinsky) (Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 2018).

Recordings: Latin American Sacred Music of the 18th and 19th centuries; Brazilian contemporary music; the piano music of L.A.Kashperova.

Composer, film: Voyage of the Vikings: Hurricane! Hurry! (dir. Camille Bontemps: Edwards Films, 2018).

Guest appearances at ‘St Petersburg International Conservatoires Festival’ performing lost works by Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) re-discovered by Griffiths. This research featured in the BBCRadio3/AHRC celebration Five Forgotten Female Composers on International Women’s Day (8 March 2018). Griffiths’s work has been featured by public service broadcasters in several countries.

A comprehensive survey of his life and the development of his art, from his early struggles as an artist up to his final recognition as RSA, RSW. The people he met - Gauguin, Vuillard, Hornel- and the places he painted - Kirkcudbright, Normandy, Venice - form the core of the talk.

The illustrations cover all aspects of his oeuvre - watercolour, oil, tooled leatherwork woodblock prints and sculpture. A journey with this 'forgotten man' of Scottish art will provide evidence of his skill as a colourist and reclaim his place in art's pantheon.

Pat Clark

Teacher of history and politics for over 30 years and latterly, ISI Inspector and Headteacher of Secondary school. Presentations to parents, governors, staff and visitors formed part of the job remit. 2004-6 appointed as VSO Education Adviser to NGO in Cambodia. Lectures to Khmer colleagues, fellow volunteers, sister NGOs and representatives from the Ministry of Education widened my experience. Following the publication of my book People, Places and Piazzas. The Life and Art of Charles Mackie (Sansom & Co. 2016) I have lectured to audiences in Perth, Edinburgh, Bearsden, Dunfermline, Falkirk and Kirkcudbright as well as the Staithes Art Festival. I have been invited to deliver the Annual Edinburgh Philosophical Institution Lecture in May 2019.

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

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case.

In his talk Andrew guides you through the extraordinary periods and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great fashion houses collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce works of art of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this he discusses the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and how they were worn with the sumptuous gowns.

To accompany his study day, he brings with him many of the pieces used in Downton, so the audience can see what was worn, close up.

In this talk that follows on from Downton to Gatsby, 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 Prince has had a passion for the jewellery since he was a small child. In fact his enthusiasm can be traced back to the time when, at the age of three, he swallowed his one of his mother’s pearl earrings having found her jewel box hidden from him in a cupboard. The very first piece of jewellery he created was a ring made of copper wire pulled from the back of a television. He presented it to his grandmother (it turned her finger green and gave her a rash). He then created a necklace for his mother using beads taken off her wedding dress (she was not at all happy).

In 1980, when he was nine, Andrew's mother took him to the Princely Magnificence exhibition at the V&A, exhibiting Renaissance jewels dating from 1500 to 1630. It proved a revelation. Dazzled by the splendour and opulence of the jewels on show, Andrew decided then and there that creating jewellery was what he wanted to devote his life to. His passion for jewellery grew when, in 1984 on his first ever visit to Bond Street, Andrew viewed an exhibition by Castellani and Giulianoe at Wartski & Co’s. While there, he was allowed to handle beautiful 18th century gold boxes and magnificent imperial Russian pieces by Fabergé. In 1987, just before leaving school, he took time off to visit Geneva to view the astonishing Sotheby’s auction of the Duchess of Windsor's jewellery collection. Here, for the first time, he held pieces created by some of the world's greatest jewellers, fashioned from only the finest of stones and set in designs of outstanding quality. For the young Andrew, it was a life-changing experience.

In August of that year, two weeks after his 16th birthday, Andrew started work in London’s Bond Street, working for The Antiques Roadshow expert Ian Harris. Under his guidance, Andrew developed an appreciation for jewels that were valued for their quality of design and craftsmanship, rather than for how much the stones in the piece were worth. He then joined the renowned contemporary jeweller Elizabeth Gage and worked with her on the design and production side. Through her and her private collection, Andrew was able to see and handle rare and extraordinary stones with names such as Sphene, Andalusite, Spinel and Dioptase, many of which are far rarer than diamonds. Elizabeth Gage was to have an enormous influence on Andrew's sense of what was possible within the realm of jewellery design.

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.

Les Parisiennes is a story about women’s lives during the dark years of Nazi occupation and beyond and includes British and American women caught in Paris as well as native born resisters who were eventually sent to camps, couturiers and jewellers, some of whom flourished in wartime, as well as actors, singers, night club dancers and housewives.

The lecture opens with a magnificent surrealist circus ball held by Elsie de Wolfe at the magnificent Villa Trianon, a Louis XV chateau in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. Many of the guests there could not believe that war is imminent but, in a different part of Paris, thousands of refugees such as Miriam Sandzer are only too aware that they must escape as soon as they can, but how?

By 1940, following the swift defeat by Germany, Chanel moved into the Ritz with her German lover as wartime Paris became a city of women. The men were either prisoners of war in Germany, with de Gaulle and the Free French in London or in hiding. Several British women working as secret agents began living clandestinely in the city escorting downed Allied airmen from one safe house to another. Women were essential because they attracted less attention and many of those who joined Winston Churchill’s secret army of SOE (special operations executive), first had to get to Britain for training before being flown back in. Most, such as Violet Szabo and the Indian princess, Noor Inayat Khan, were caught and tortured. Few survived.

While these women were leading highly dangerous lives, actors were performing at the Comédie Française and the Wagnerian, Germaine Lubin, singing at the Opera House as the Germans wanted to create an illusion that everything was carrying on as normal. The wealthy heiress and keen horsewoman Beatrice de Camondo foolishly believed it was and since her family had already given so much to the state, including her magnificent home, she would be safe. Alongside the creativity of jewelers such as Cartier and Van Cleef, designers including Jeanne Lanvin and Maggie Rouff ware flourishing partly because they were making costumes for stage and screen as well as gowns and jewels for the wives of German officers. But at the same time the brilliant story teller Irène Nemirovsky, author of Suite Française, was sent to her death.

After the war, American and British diplomats, tourists and secretaries flooded in to Paris. There were cultural, diplomatic and economic initiatives - as well as affairs - and In 1947 Paris celebrated Christian Dior’s New Look as well as a perfume, Miss Dior, named after his sister Catherine, a resister, who had only just survived a prison camp and never wanted to talk about her experiences.

The lecture ends with two Americans arriving in Paris for short stays with dramatic results; Julia Child, a former diplomat discovered French cuisine and wrote a ground breaking book about it while Jacqueline Bouvier stayed with a countess, a war widow in hard times who had survived a camp, and discovered the Parisian style for which she was forever renowned.

Anne Sebba

Biographer, historian and author of eleven books who lectures to a variety of audiences in the US and UK, including the English Speaking Union, Royal Overseas League, National Trust, British Library and Imperial War Museum. A former Reuters foreign correspondent, Anne is now a broadcaster - she presented a BBC R3 documentary about the pianist Harriet Cohen and for Radio 4 the documentary Who was Joyce Hatto? she regularly appears on television talking about her books, mostly biographies including Jennie Churchill, William Bankes, Laura Ashley and Wallis Simpson. The latter, published as That Woman, was an international bestseller. Her latest book is a history of Paris between 1939-49 through women's eyes published in 2016 as Les Parisiennes How the women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s. Anne is a former chair of Britain's 9,000 strong Society of Authors.

The opening of trade routes across Eurasia by land and sea enabled the movement of peoples, along with their cultures, arts, beliefs, technical skills and aesthetics. This was to have a profound influence on the arts of China, introducing new forms, designs, and materials, along with the craftsmen to pass on their skills.

This lecture will look at several examples of masterpieces of art from China in the first millennium AD to illustrate this influence and show how the arts of China were greatly enriched by its Silk Road links.

Dr Susan Whitfield is a writer, scholar, lecturer and traveler of the Silk Roads. During 25 years curating the collections of manuscripts from Dunhuang and other Silk Road sites at the British Library, she also helped found and then developed the International Dunhuang Project (IDP), now a thriving international collaboration working on the art and artefacts of the eastern Silk Road. She has lectured and written widely on the Silk Road. Her latest book, Silk, Slaves and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road, was published in March 2018. She has also curated several major exhibitions and organized field trips to archaeological sites in the Taklamakan desert.

Raphael is often referred to as one of the three giants of the High Renaissance in Italy, alongside Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, yet his fame and position in the canon of art history may seem hard to explain. He made no discoveries like those of his celebrated rivals: although undoubtedly a draughtsman of exceptional talent he made no great progress in the fields of anatomy, science and construction nor did he share the wide-ranging talents which Leonardo and Michelangelo demonstrated in so many disciplines. Furthermore, his career was short-lived as he died tragically young, aged 37. Yet in this relatively short space of time Raphael managed to move from humble initial commissions in and around his home town of Urbino to the covetous position of one of the leading artists at the court of the most important patron in Italy, Pope Julius II, for whom he created some of the most sublime and influential frescoes of the early 16th century. We explore how Raphael achieved this extraordinary rise in status, tracing the development of early works and influences to the masterpieces created in Rome.

Studied at Cambridge University. 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. Also teaches private courses, and organises lectures, study days and art holidays abroad. Has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

Armour was one of the great Renaissance art-forms. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries most of the richest noblemen in Europe were dedicated patrons of the armourer’s art, a kind of visual language which they used to project their identity and prestige. The armour-making process demanded both fantastic skill in the sculpting of iron and steel and mastery of decorative techniques such as acid-etching and mercury-gilding. This lecture serves as an introduction to the idea of armour as an expressive art-form, where the achievements of virtuoso armourers embodied splendour and richness while also carrying more complex messages about status, aristocratic associations, the social order and divine power.

Tobias Capwell

Toby is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London 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 (2011; Apollo Magazine Book of the Year 2012); The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe 1520-1630, ex. cat. (2012); Armour of the English Knight 1400 – 1450 (2015; Military History Monthly Illustrated Book of the Year 2017); ans most recently Arms and Armour of the Medieval Joust (2018). 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.

The Christmas that we now celebrate is largely based on the one that the Victorians invented but there are many traditions that we take for granted that have their origins in much earlier times…Who  invented mince pies, Christmas pudding and cake? Where did cross dressing, and slapstick from theatrical performances become part of the Christmas tradition? Who invented and designed the first Christmas card and what themes were popular in this artistic industry?

Jane Tapley

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

Arguably the greatest Victorian polymath, Ruskin stoutly defended both Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. A patient and enthusiastic teacher of drawing, he was a significant collector of paintings and a perceptive critic. A scholar of the northern gothic, he also elucidated the evolution of Venetian architecture. Generous with his treasures, he endowed a museum for working men at Sheffield, supported the Working Men’s College in London and did much to encourage the education of women. In the arts and crafts he advocated high quality workmanship, whilst criticising exploitative industrialists. His books influenced Tolstoy, Gandhi and the founders of the National Trust.

Hon. Research Fellow, Durham University. Founder of the Cumbrian Biographical Project. Past President of Cumbria DFAS. Author of biography of George Romney. Specialises in Lake District artists of all genres. Art history lecturer to undergraduate and adult classes at Universities. Catalogue of Paintings in Durham Castle (2002). In recent years has lectured on cruises in the Mediterranean and Baltic. He has edited two volumes of the illustrated letters of Percy Kelly (1919-1993). His volume in the national series on public sculpture is Public Sculpture of Lancashire and Cumbria and was published in 2017.

The Victorian period witnessed massive increases in the production of wallpaper when a product that had previously been a luxury item became a commodity that was available to all but the very poorest of homes. It was also a time that saw a huge proliferation of different styles ranging from glamorous hand-printed French floral patterns, to the geometric designs of the Gothic Revival, to the innovative work of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. This lecture also discusses innovative features such as nursery designs and relief decorations like Lincrusta Walton and Anaglypta, and the many different ways that wallpaper was used in the decoration of the Victorian home.

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.

Deborah Devonshire, the youngest of the Mitford sisters and wife of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, was hefted by marriage to one of Europe’s greatest treasure houses, Chatsworth. In the second half of the 20th century, in partnership with her husband, she imbued it with a spirit, elegance and sense of welcome that transformed it from being the worn-out survivor of decades of taxation, war and  social change into one of the best-loved, most-emulated and popular historic houses, gardens and estates in the country. With responsibility for Lismore Castle and Bolton Abbey as well, no wonder her passport stated her profession as ‘housewife’.

Along the way, she became a best-selling author and sell-out speaker, champion of the countryside, its skills, traditions, livelihoods and food, trustee and patron of numerous charities, businesses and good causes, and the most famous poultry keeper in the country. She met Hitler and Churchill, was a trusted confidant of the Prince of Wales, played her part as the steady heart of the Mitford sisters’ melodrama and was friends with a dazzling array of some of the brightest and most fascinating of her contemporaries, including President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh, Oscar de la Renta, John Betjeman, Lucian Freud, Tom Stoppard, Neil MacGregor, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Alan Bennett.

She said herself that charm was the hardest quality to describe in another person; hers lived in her unique turn of phrase, her stoic Mitfordian perspective on life’s challenges, her curiosity about everyone she met, her stylish beauty, quick wit and delight in all that life offered her. Debo had a lasting impact not just on Chatsworth but on everything she touched and everyone she met; I was lucky enough to work for and with her over more than 20 years and in this lecture I pay tribute to an astonishing life.

Simon studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, including a semester in Venice. Also Graduate of the Attingham Summer school. From 1991 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 (including the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery of Art). Gave numerous public presentations and interviews with the late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. Alongside his lecturing, working part time for John Ruskin’s charity the Guild of St George, a trustee of three arts festivals, and a Life Coach in private practice.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert expressed their love for each other through art. Every birthday and Christmas they exchanged gifts of paintings, sculpture and jewellery, and they commissioned artists to record their lives together at Balmoral and Osborne House. They were keen amateur artists, sitting side-by-side to draw and to try their hand at etching. And they took pleasure in arranging their collection of portrait miniatures, drawings and prints in a special room the prince designed at Windsor Castle.

We will look not only at glamorous paintings by Landseer and Winterhalter, but also at the lesser-known watercolours the couple took pleasure in arranging in their treasured ‘souvenir albums’. This lecture tells the story of these royal patrons and collectors who were every bit as passionate about art as they were about each other.

Dr Susan Owens is an art historian, writer and curator. She studied English literature at Oxford University and European art at the Courtauld Institute, then wrote a doctoral thesis on Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations to Oscar Wilde’s play Salome at University College London. She worked as a curator for the Royal Collection before becoming Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Susan has written or co-authored books on decadent interiors, natural history illustration, watercolours, drawings and self-portraits, and is a regular contributor to publications including the Times Literary Supplement and The World of Interiors. Now freelance, Susan lives in Suffolk. Her book The Ghost: A Cultural History, was published in 2017

Modigliani remains one of the most popular artists of the 20th century. I discuss his short life in some detail looking at his early development and his arrival and life in Paris from 1906 to his death in 1920. Modigliani was at the centre of Bohemian Paris and was a close friend of Maurice Utrillo, Picasso, Max Jacob, Moise Kisling, Chaïm Soutine and many other painters and writers who made up Bohemian Paris. I discuss the influences on his painting and sculpture including Cézanne, African art and Cubism and show how he developed a highly individual style of his own. I look at his haunting portraits and sensual nudes while exploring the Bohemian life of Montmartre. 

Our Lecturer:

Julian Studied History of Art at Cambridge. Formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. Publications include Venice - the Artist's Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon's Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View - David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002). Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and appointed Keeper in 2010.

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.

Our Lecturer:

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.

Earlier in December 2014 he became the youngest Guide Lecturer at the Wallace Collection, where he regularly gives talks, tours and lectures to both public and professional audiences. He has also given lectures at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, and is organising a series of talks there on the lute in paintings in 2018.

Adam is currently planning a publication on the Grevilles of Warwick Castle, and has had articles published by the British Art Journal, The Sidney Journaland Hispanic Lyra. He was also the Editor of the Georgian Group's 80th Anniversary Exhibition catalogue entitled Splendour! Art in Living Craftsmanship (2017).

Our Lecturer:

Douglas graduated from Cambridge in Fine Arts. He is a Writer, Artist, TV Presenter and Lecturer to many London art courses. Director of the New Academy of Arts. Author of 6 Novels.

Modern art is often considered difficult, but it is much less so when seen through the eyes of some of the greatest cartoonists of the last one hundred and fifty years, who provide a humorous and sceptical but instructive guide to modern art from Courbet to the Britart of the 1990s. A chance to enjoy the insights and cartoons of (among others) Daumier, Larry, Thelwell, Matt, the wise guys at the New Yorker magazine and, of course, the immortal Giles. Collectively, they provide an absorbing, illuminating and, above all, a funny, revealing and sidelong view of 150 years of modern art. 

Our Lecturer:

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.

Painted between 1430 and 1432 by Jan van Eyck, and possibly his brother Hubert, for St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent; also known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, this altarpiece was, over the ensuing seven centuries, stolen no less than thirteen times.

This lecture tells the extraordinary story of these thefts, culminating with the final one which took place during the Second World War, when it was stolen, along with many other treasures from all over Europe, by Adolf Hitler for the magnificent museum he intended to build in his name in his home town of Linz.

Our Lecturer:

Caroline 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.

Van Gogh’s adult life was in grim reality a constant struggle against poverty, misery, ill health, both physical and mental, and loneliness. A man of conscience and self questioning, his early career and personal life seemed doomed to failure. Art provided his only outlet. Through it he was able to express himself; in his own words, “I believe that pictures will tell you what I am not able to express in words”. In this lecture, a selection of his paintings will take us through his short but prolific painting career and try to help us to understand the inner workings of Van Gogh’s mind. 

Our Lecturer:

Carole is a guide and lecturer on combined history/art tours in France, with over ten years' experience. Life aboard river vessels on the Seine, Oise, Marne and Rhone offered the chance to explore and further research certain riverside locations linked to art, which helped develop in-depth knowledge. Also has experience working with The Arts Society groups through work as a private guide for a privately owned stately home in the UK.

From the beginning of time the fascination with magic and the impossible has been widespread. Egypt was the cradle of magic. Sorcerer Priests used scientific principles to create illusions for the edification of worship and to hold power over the people. Where there was power there was magic. Then there is the age-old skill of sleight of hand, which proves that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye’. Magicians were known as ‘Jongleurs’ lest they be sentenced to death for ‘witchraft and conjuration’ under the edicts of Henry VIII.

With the emergence of the Music Hall, Magic gained a new respectability and audiences flocked in their thousands to watch the extraordinary feats of The Great Illusionists. This gave birth to legendary tricks such as pulling a rabbit from a hat and sawing a lady in half. And if magicians guarded their secrets with their lives, how was the Magic Circle formed ? – Home to 10,000 secrets.

Even Today in our super technical age of ipods and broadband, the wonder and surprise of magic are as popular as ever, not forgetting the Harry Potter craze.

'Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion' is a whistle stop tour of the history of mystery from 3000 BC to the 21st century and be careful! – you might be amazed and bewitched.

Our Lecturer:

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

Food and Art Through the Ages is a whistle-stop tour of the history of food as artistic medium; starting with 16th century sugar sculpture and venturing all the way up to 3D dessert printing and beyond. Hosted by Food Historian Tasha Marks, this lecture is a treat for those with a sweet tooth, as Marks feels the subject of food and art through the ages is most exciting in the realms of the dessert. Topics covered include; the origins of dessert, the crossover between sugar and art, architecture and dessert (including Renaissance banqueting houses), sugar and spectacle, food as artistic medium, and the future of food. This exploration into the realms of dessert as spectacle includes an accompanying display to illustrate and enhance the historic subject.

Our Lecturer:

Tasha Marks is an award-winning food historian and artist, who explores the relationship between food, art and history. Her practice, AVM Curiosities, champions the use of food as an artistic medium, with projects ranging from museum-style exhibitions and sculptural installations, to interactive lectures and limited-edition confectionery. Recent academic achievements include publication in the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, where Marks authored the entry on Mrs Beeton, one of the Victorian era’s most influential cooks.

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

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

Before her untimely death in 2016, Dame Zaha Hadid was one of the most distinguished architects in the world. She was also a talented designer. As well as receiving numerous awards and honours, she received the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2004; the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the RIBA Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011; and the Royal Gold Medal in 2015. In 2012 she was made a Dame for services to architecture. 

Zaha Hadid’s work is exciting because she developed a new form of architecture: she set architecture free by rejecting 90 degree angles. Her early abstract paintings are of particular interest because in them she began to create her visionary world where there is no definition, lines converge, and gravity disappears – all conceived before the advent of advanced computer software.  From her early sharp-angled buildings she developed a fluid architecture, where floors, ceilings, walls - and even furniture - all form part of the overall design. Thus many of her later structures are extruded to the most extreme organic shapes in what she called a “seemless fluidity”.  

The lecture tells the story of this pre-eminent architect. We move around the world to look at some of her completed works, including her most famous building in the UK, the Aquatics Centre for the London Olympics in 2012, as well as unexecuted designs.

Members who have a keen interest in cutting-edge design will be mesmerised by the daring yet brilliant structures of Dame Zaha Hadid.

Our Lecturer:

Anthea studied Fine and Decorative Arts in London and continued her studies at Harvard University. It was while at Harvard, where there was great enthusiasm for American design, that she became interested herself in 20th century architecture. Since returning from America she has taught on courses in Oxford and London, lectured on the Country House course in Sussex, and for several private groups around the country. Special interest in the architecture and design of 20th century.

Britain’s oldest fine arts institution will be celebrating its 250th Anniversary in 2018. The Royal Academy has an illustrious history that spans from the mid 18th century through to the 21st century.  We contemplate its past and review its various homes before settling on its current Mayfair location in Burlington House. This fully illustrated talk explores a selection of its ground–breaking temporary loan exhibitions and considers its role and impact on the art scene, both on British soil and overseas.  The talk wouldn’t be complete without a behind the scene look at the Summer Exhibition – held without interruption since 1769 – which displays works in a variety of media and genres by emerging and established contemporary artists. In addition, anecdotal stories will also be revealed by the lecturer based on her twelve year career with the institution. We also consider the influence of certain world-renowned Royal Academicians, exemplary artists in their chosen field, and the pivotal role that is played by the RA Schools.  The impressive roll call of RAs over the past 250 years includes household names such as Reynolds, Constable, Turner, Munnings and, more recently, Hockney, Paolozzi, Foster, Craig-Martin and Gormley. By charting its history through intriguing and important archival photographs and considering its place in Britain’s rich artistic heritage, we can mark this significant anniversary and consider its future with much excitement and anticipation. 

Our Lecturer:

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

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic laboratories in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Looking at these and others figures in the context of the society in which they worked, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900. 

 A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to The Independent on Sunday and The Guardian. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, including to the National Gallery, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York, as well as for history of art societies and The Art Fund. 

Eric Gill (1882-1940) was one of the finest British artists and craftsmen of the 20th century, although his personal life made him something of a paradox. He was the second of thirteen children of an Assistant Minister in a chapel and a former professional singer, and at the age of 30 converted to Catholicism. Despite being very devout, he had extremely unconventional views about sexual licence. It is said that even Augustus John, who had nine children in a ménage à trois and possibly more by other women, was shocked by Gill’s succession of mistresses. His best-known sculptures are the Broadcasting House Prospero and Ariel (shown above) and the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral, which owe something to those of Giotto in the Arena Chapel, Padua. He was a highly skilled draughtsman, producing exquisite drawings and woodcuts, an imaginative typographer and a prolific writer. This lecture will examine Gill’s sculpture, both free-standing and reliefs, his graphic works and typeface designs. Despite his unconventional life, he was favoured by the Establishment, carrying out commissions for the British Government, the Royal Mint and the London Underground, as well as the BBC.

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

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

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

Ninette de Valois (Madam) founded the Company (then playing at Sadler's Wells) in 1931, passing on to themthe classic Russian technique she had learned with Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.She sought the influence of other ballet masters and choreographers.Nicholas Sergeyev, exiled from the Imperial Russian Ballet, Frederick Allen, who introduced the Danish tradition of "fast feet" and the great tragic story teller Kenneth Macmillan. She also welcomed Rudolf Nureyef, who , in his 1961 "leap to freedom", brought with him more full length Russian ballets and gave a whole new prominence to the male dancer. Madam was instrumental in creating his legendary partnership with Margot Fonteyn.

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre, principally at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and English National Opera. She writes programme articles and websites, she gives lectures on the operas and ballets in the rep. and does live opera broadcasts and podcasts for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She has written and directed many shows, including more than 20 for the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio Theatre and for Glyndebourne Touring Opera.She is also a cartoonist.

The fame of the Queen of Sheba has lasted across the many intervening centuries since she made her epic journey from her distant land to the court of King Soloman. a passage in the Bible's Book of Kings has immortalised this Queen and the journey she made, her camel caravan laden with gold and incense as gifts for the king of Jerusalem. In this talk Louise looks at how the Queen of Sheba has captured the imagination of great artists, inspired epic films and has led arcaeologists to go in search of her land - asearch that has led to discoveries of great temples, tombs and treasures in both Yemen and Ethiopia.

Louise Schofield has been working in Ethiopia since 2006, directing archaeological , conservation and development projects in that extraordinary country. Her current archaeological site - Tigray province, northeastern Etiopia - is a temple , probably dedicated to a moon god and dating to the 5c BC - a time when this area of Ethiopia formed part of the kingdom Sheba. Excavations undertaken there in April and May 2015 have uncovered a rich cemetary which includes an extraordinary burial of a 2000 year old Etiopian "Sleeping Beauty".

Louise was Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities in the British Museum for thirteen years. She lectures for a number of universities and institutions, including Florida State University, Christie's Education and cruise companies.

Artists were never far behind the explorers who opened up the west of America in the 19th Century. Sometimes they painted what they saw. Sometimes they painted what they wished they saw. Either way, painters like Alfred Miller, Frederick Church and Albert Bierstadt have left us a powerful, if romanticised, record of the country and people that the settlers found. Now we can use their pictures to chart the  history of the opening of America’s west - the arrival of the railroad, the confinement of native Americans into reservations, and the extermination of the buffalo.
This is a story on a big scale and it seems appropriate that among the pictures illustrating the lecture are some of the largest and most grandiloquent paintings of the era. After a period of deep neglect, they are now very much back in vogue, but whatever one thinks of their artistic merits, I hope audiences will agree with me that they are, above all, great fun. 
 
Toby has written two works of narrative history, Stradivarius and Fabergé's Eggs, published by Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US, and given lectures associated with these two subjects at venues including The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Library of Congress and the Huntington Library, as well as a number of literary festivals. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press and the Copyright Licensing Agency.

Only Matthew and Luke describe the birth of Christ and the circumstances leading up to it, and they give very few detail, Matthew describes some wise men and their gifts; Luke writes of the shepherds led by an angel, Nowhere do they mention the stable, the arrival of three Kings, or the presence of an ox and an ass. Over many centuries the limited information in the Gospels has been expanded into a rich blend of legend and fact. This lecture will explain how the wise men became kings, how it was decided that there were three of them, the symbolism associated with their gifts, how animals turned up at the event, why the stable is always in ruins, and much more.
The theme of Christmas, taking us from the Annunciation to the Adoration of the Shepherds and of the three Kings, has inspired some of the greatest and most moving works of art ever created.

Valerie is a Lecturer and Guide in Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and for Tate on cruises. She is a lecturer in other major galleries, including the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and, on religious art, in churches and cathedrals. Valerie is also  a Script-writer for Living Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially-sighted). 

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. Was Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading in 2005 and 2007, and gives lectures and guided tours, plus special talks, at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Also lectures at the City Literary Institute, and has presented a series of talks at the National Maritime Museum and the Courtauld Institute

Rodin began working on the commission for The Gates of Hell in 1882 and they were not finished by the time he died in 1917. Taking inspiration from Dante’s extraordinary work Rodin did wonderful drawings and then filled his magnificent doors with figures which would inspire his entire career. We will look at The Kiss and his other depictions of characters condemned to Hell for their crimes and we will look back to the poem, one of the most important works of all time.

A linguist and art historian, with first degrees in French and Spanish and Art History, an MA in Applied Linguistics and a PhD in Art History and Spanish on 'The Drawings of García Lorca as gifts, citations and exchanges'.Jacqueline has taught at Westminster School since 1984 as Head of Art History for 16 years and has lectured at Birkbeck for 20 years. She is now Managing Director of an art tour company. She is currently publishing a book on Masterpieces of Art in London.

For Lee Miller a woman at war was any woman caught up in World War 2. She shot faultless images for Vogue’s haute couture in London’s bombed out streets. She documented the magnificent work of the WRNS, ATS, the Land Girls, the WRVS and the nurses. She shows us the refugees in Europe, girls accused of collaboration and women forced into slave labour or prostitution and concentration camp victims. Their roles range from bravery to stupidity and from enforced involvement to volunteering.
This is a documentation of one of the biggest social changes in British and European history, as three million women left their normal housewife roles and entered industry and the armed forces discovering careers and undreamed of freedom. It is told against the background of Lee Miller’s own life story which takes her from being a fashion supermodel via life as a surrealist artist to a combat photographer and finally a gourmet cook.
 

For the past 30 years Anthony has conserved and disseminated the work of his parents, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. He is the director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection at Farley Farm House in Sussex and has seen his parents' work featured in major exhibitions at the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Whitworth. He has lectured at museums and universities around the world, and made documentaries for television. Publications include The Lives of Lee Miller, Lee Miller's War (editor), The Angel and the Fiend, The Home of the Surrealists, Roland Penrose the Friendly Surrealist and The Boy Who Bit Picasso

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

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

Julian 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. Elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1992 and is being awarded an honorary doctorate. 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. Also curated an exhibition for the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna, in 2016. 

Art UK was set up to catalogue every oil painting in public ownership in the UK. This unique and ambitious project involved visiting 3,000 collections across the country and photographing over 212,000 paintings. These paintings are reproduced in an acclaimed series of hardback catalogues entitled Oil Paintings in Public Ownership.
The paintings are freely available to view on the Art UK website (www.artuk.org). The lecture offers an insider’s view of the project and describes some unusual collections visited, intriguing paintings uncovered, detective work involved and assistance given by NADFAS members. Each lecture is tailored to reflect the locality of the venue.

Mary gained a 1st class honours degree in History of Art and English Literature, and an MA in Victorian Studies from Royal Holloway, University of London. Has written several arts-related articles and in 2010 contributed a chapter on the Victorian artist F.D. Hardy to Wolverhampton Art Gallery's exhibition catalogue. Is a volunteer guide at Dorich House Museum, studio-home of the Russian sculptor Dora Gordine, and at Turner's House, Twickenham. Since 2007 has worked for the Public Catalogue Foundation on an acclaimed arts project that is the subject of her lectures.

This lecture tells the storyof the outstanding artistry and craftmanship that rescued key examples of our architectural heritage.We open with an account of how the great dome of St Paul's Cathedral was found to be close to collapse in the 1920's and why its restoration inspired one of the most extraordinary drawings ever produced of a British building.

Other examples incude the rescue, after fire, of Castle Howard , the setting for Brideshead Revisited and the remarkable reconstruction of one of London's smallest and oldest churches following an IRA bomb.

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

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 an immediacy that charged his religeous, mythological and , most importantly , his portaits with a realism hitherto unknown in 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 an influence over every painterly painter of the next four centuries.

Cambridge Fine Arts. Writer, Artist, TV Presenter. Lecturer to many London art courses. Director of the New Academy of Arts. Author of 6 Novels.

Four hundred years of international jewellery design, examining the changing styles from the pomp of High Renaissance enamelled gold work to the glamour of Harry Winston diamonds. This presentation covers many of the key elements of manufacture, including the progress of diamond cutting, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, 19th Century Archaeological and Renaissance Revivalism, the impact of diamond mining in South Africa, Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco, Post War Modernism and designs of the future. Other important areas covered include Cartier and the introduction of platinum jewellery as a statement of style and the jewels of the Duchess of Windsor.

John was with Phillips Auctioneers for 23 years, latterly as International Director of Jewellery. Since 1999 he has been an independent Jewellery Consultant. Lectures, writes and broadcasts (including BBC Antiques Roadshow). Admitted to Goldsmiths' Company in 2000. Author of "Starting to collect Antique Jewellery" and co-author with Paul Atterbury of "The Jewellery and Silver of H.G. Murphy".

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 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 and the other lectures listed above.

Please note there has been a change of speaker for this lecture.

How do you go about curating an exhibition in a contemporary art gallery? How do you judge if an artist is worth exhibiting and how do you find them? How do you ensure an exhibition is visited? These are just some of the questions that will be answered, by drawing on the experience of curating more than 60 exhibitions, advising and directing multiple London galleries, and developing artists careers from graduation to museum recognition.

William Lunn is a graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the director of the contemporary art gallery, Copperfield, London.

He has curated more than 60 exhibitions working independently and for public institutions, and has placed artists in collections of some of the world's leading museums and galleries, including the V&A, The British Museum and the MET Museum. His exhibitions and projects have received coverage with publications such as the Guardian, the FT, the Independent, the Telegraph, the Times, the New York Times and the BBC

Rome, September 1531 Cardinal Salviati has just hosted a magnificent feast at which astonished  guests were served  new culinary sensation, described by the agent of the Duke of Mantua who was present as "a kind of Indian peacock"! This is one of the earliest mentions of what today we call the turkey, within any context, cultural or culinary.

How then was this exotic bird first introduced into Europe? It seems that Christopher Columbus may have been the first European to see the " Indian peacock" or turkey when, on his fourth voyage in 1502, he landed at Cape Honduras. Shortly thereafter the bird was introduced to Spain, and eventually to Europe at large. Not only was it relished for its culinary rarity, it also quickly became a favoured subject with artists of every sort due to the subdued magnificence of its plumage.

It appears in frescoes by Giulio Romano at the Villa Madama just outside Rome, in tapestries woven in both Flanders and Elizabethan England, such as the fine Armorial Tapestry woven for the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth 1's great favourite, now in the V&A.It also became a staple member of the menageries so lovingly painted in the seventeenth century, mostly by Northern European painters. The parallel careers enjoyed by the turkey as a great star both in grand kitchens and on grand tables and as a worthy subject for artists of many different backgrounds are equally fascinating, offering an insight into the rich traditions of centuries past, cultural and culinary!

After a generation in University life, Tom 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.

This lecture focuses on the Garden of Paradise as described on several occasions in Quran, and its influence on the medieval palace architecture of the Islamic World - especially in Andalucian Granada, in Ottoman Istanbul, in Iranian Isfahan and in Mughal India. The garden's fundamental geometric and floral design decorates ceramics, textiles and carpets, while gardens are a major setting for the exquisite miniatures of Iran and Mughal India. It is a vivid and richly decorative world.

Sarah has a  BA (Hons) (Oxon) in Modern History. Historian and journalist specialising for many years in the Middle East; published extensively books and articles on the subject. More recent interest in the art history of the Islamic World; 1990-92 MA in Islamic Art, London University. Lectures on Islamic art including on special tours to the region. Her latest book, 'Lapis Lazuli: in pursuit of a celestial stone', was published in 2010.

The Royal Collection contains over 485,000 objects collected by the Royal family from King Henry VIII to the present Queen. The lecture selects about 40 of the finest items in the Collection to demonstrate its range and magnificence, as well as showing the varying collecting interests of individual monarchs and other members of the Royal family. The objects include oil paintings (Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Stubbs, Monet, Lucian Freud); old master drawings (Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Holbein, Canaletto); miniature paintings (Hilliard); sculpture (Canova); porcelain (Sèvres, Chelsea); gold and silver objects (the Neptune centrepiece; Queen Elizabeth I's salt); Fabergé (Russian Imperial Easter eggs; Sandringham animals); jewellery (the Diamond Diadem; the Cullinan diamond; Frederick the Great's snuff box); furniture (the Riesener jewel cabinet); rare books (the Mainz Psalter, 1457) and manuscripts (the Sobieski Book of Hours, 1420; the Padshahnama - chronicle of the Indian Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan).

Oliver was educated at Cambridge University and did post graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA; and at the London School of Economics. Following service in the Foreign Office, including postings in India and Spain, he was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales,1978 80; and then Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, 1981 3. He was Librarian in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1984 2002. He is now Librarian Emeritus following his retirement in 2002. He wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle, taught a course on its history and advised on a television programme about it. He wrote articles on the Royal Library and helped with two books on aspects of the Royal Collection. He is advising on a possible history series for television. He lectures widely in Britain and abroad and also on cruise ships.

“Antiques. I don’t understand them and they’re beyond my budget. They’re not for me.” A persuasive introduction to buying antiques and integrating and using them in today’s homes. The state of the antiques market and the different meanings of the word value are considered, and we take a look at what current and future generations of collectors are buying, why they are buying it and how they are displaying it.

Mark studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. Became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. Has since 2002 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

It’s almost taboo to mention money in art gallery wall labels, yet in reality artists were as pre-occupied with cash as the rest of us. We watch the tug of war between creativity and credit in financial vignettes from five centuries, including a role for Charles Dickens as a virtuoso financial advisor solving a little local difficulty for William Holman Hunt. We look at prices for new art in relation to the cost of living for both artists and patrons in the past and conclude by wondering whether today’s colossal world art market is to the benefit or at a cost for creativity. 

David studied History at Oxford, and from 1968-82 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-98, Lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at University of Manchester. Published a book about museum... 
 

My new talk starts with Official War Artists, such as Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious, who now have international reputations. But there is one artist who is rarely mentioned, who ran  DoubleAgents during the Second World War. He was Tomas Harris, a Spaniard who worked as Case Officer for Garbo, the double-agent who invented no less than 26 fictitious agents, through whom we misled the enemy. Harris was a West End art dealer and an accomplished artist in his own right.

There were also several women who were official war artists. One of them, Evelyn Dunbar, painted vivid pictures of wartime life on the home front; another, Dame Laura Knight RA, was astonishingly versatile, and only the second woman to become a full member of the Royal Academy.

The work of Eric Ravilious now has a distinctive nostalgic feel, and many of his works are on permanent show in Eastbourne. Sadly, he was killed in 1943.

Two major artists, Paul Nash and William Roberts, painted in both First and Second World Wars, and Roberts was one of those rare artists whose sense of humour is visible in his work. The most famous art historian with intelligence connections is Sir Anthony Blunt. An expert in Renaissance painters, he started recruiting undergraduates who could spy for Russia, when he was a don at Cambridge in the 1930s. After the War, he became Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures. But he still kept loyal to the Cambridge Five, such as Philby, Burgess and Maclean, most of whom he had recruited. His role in spying was discovered in 1964, but kept secret until 1979. In 1975 Blunt wrote a detailed appraisal of Tomas Harris’s work.

My father Ronnie Reed, as an MI5 Officer, was the Case Officer for Agent Zigzag during the War, and was also involved in ‘The Man Who Never Was’. During the 1950s he was in charge of the Russian Department of MI5, which uncovered the Russian spies. My father knew both Harris and Blunt, and made interesting remarks about them. You will no longer have to sign the Official Secrets Act, before I tell you what he said! 

An art historian and archaeologist. In the 1980s Nicholas became Founder- Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe. In 2005 he was one of two Lecturer Representatives on the NADFAS Advisory Council and also Vice-Chairman of Folkestone DFAS. He is the author of four books on the Impressionists in England, and one on the Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames. His latest book My Father, the Man who Never Was features in his latest NADFAS lecture, War Artists, Spies and the Art of Deception.

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. And, with extraordinary slides of art projects and prisoner’s art, demonstrates how within the process of creating art of any discipline, there are vital opportunities for offenders to
develop key life skills.
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 are not only 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, Angela talks have kept audiences across the country engrossed. 

Professional artist and freelance lecturer with a long career of teaching art and murals in prisons and Young Offender Institutions in Germany and England. Angela is a former Arts Coordinator and founder of the Learning to Learn through the Arts Scheme at the Koestler Trust: arts by offenders in London. Angela's Anglo-German roots led to extensive research into and writing on Germany's complex post-WWII process of remembrance and the vital contribution of artists to its unique culture of memorials and counter memorials. 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.

A non-technical and not-too-serious account of this masterpiece, its characters and story, with musical illustrations on the piano, focussing on the composer's ability to express character and mood through music and with a brief look at the circumstances and context of its composition.

Educated at St Paul's School & Trinity College, Cambridge. Now semi retired, Jonathan was a Principal Coach at Glyndebourne Opera (Head of Music Staff until 1997) and worked as keyboard player and conductor for Glyndbourne Touring Opera, Kent Opera and English Touring Opera. He has also taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio and the Advanced Performers' Studio. 

Here is an architect whose work, over a period of half a century, spanned the globe and the British Empire in particular. Born the tenth child of the erstwhile soldier, turned sporting artist, Charles Lutyens, Edwin was a godson of the famous Victorian artist, Edwin Landseer. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that with this background he should show from an early age an artistic bent. In his case this manifest itself in architecture. After a somewhat rickety start in the offices of Ernest George, Edwin set up on his own at the age of twenty. His friendship and encouragement by the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll was of immeasurable benefit and one sees when one looks at the list of Lutyens’ works that by 1897 (when he was 28) that his order book was full with commissions from the great and the good of those halcyon days before the first war. So it was to continue throughout his career. 

Aided by his marriage to Lady Emily Lytton and his friendship with Edward Hudson, owner of Country Life magazine, Lutyens’ career continued to prosper. The overtly Arts and Crafts style of his early years was transformed into ever more aristocratic mode culminating in his building of Imperial Delhi. Notwithstanding this Lutyens’ work always displayed a lightness of touch, enhanced by his mastery of architectural principles and his meticulous attention to detail. Above all he displayed a most uncommon trait in the architect, a sense of humour. All these attributes have given us some of the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century be it his country house like The Salutation, or his Dolls’ House for Queen Mary. This is the man who designed the dome of the Viceroy’s House in Delhi and the whimsical lights in the nursery of the same building

Nicolas' career has mirrored his abiding interest in antiques. He has worked for some of the major auction houses in London as well as running his own book business devoted to the decorative and fine arts. His particular interest is English 18th century furniture and country houses; he enjoys discussing objects, particularly in their historical context. He lectures extensively in the USA, South Africa, Europe and UK, including the V&A, as well as for the principal cruise lines. He is the Art Fund's West Yorkshire Representative. He arranges specialist short breaks for collectors and a range of prestigious clients including NADFAS societies who enjoy visiting the treasures of the UK.

In the mid-1820s Constable added the newly fashionable seaside resort of Brighton to his familiar motifs of the Suffolk countryside and the skies of Hampstead Heath. His family began to take regular holidays there from 1824 in response to his wife’s deteriorating health (she died of consumption in 1828). In Brighton Constable was confronted with the hustle and bustle of cosmopolitan life against the backdrop of traditional fishing and coastal industry.

He adapted practiced painting methods to the challenges of the new subject matter. He developed striking techniques such as ‘slapping’ paint on with a palette knife and ‘tickling’ it about with the point of a brush handle to create movement and texture in some of the most fabulous depictions of the British coast and sky ever painted. From an accumulation of virtuoso outdoor oil sketches and studio studies he created one of his most famous “sixfooters”, The Chain Pier, Brighton, 1828 (Tate).

This lecture is illustrated with recent research and images of oil sketches from the V&A and Royal Academy collections, studio studies and the full-size The Chain Pier, Brighton, examined during the Constable Research Project, and it also touches on Sarah’s examination of A Sea Beach, Brighton for BBC1’s ‘Fake or Fortune? Constable’ in 2014. This new title is timed to coincide with the exhibition ‘Constable in Brighton’ at the Brighton Museum, Summer 2017. 

Sarah is an accredited Easel Paintings Conservator and specialist in historic painting techniques, especially British 16th-17th century and 19th-20th century. She is a foremost authority on Constable's painting materials and techniques, joint author of the Tate's 1991 'Constable' and 'Constable's Six-Footers' (Tate Britain, 2006) exhibition catalogues. Fine Art background; BA (Hons) History of Art (Courtauld); Internships V&A/National Portrait Gallery. Visiting Fellow at Yale 1989. Fellow of the British Association of Paintings Conservator-Restorers and International Institute for the Conservation and Preservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Extensive lecturing and teaching experience. No longer VAT registered

Begun in 1220 the cathedral at Salisbury, built to replace a smaller building at Old Sarum, was completed in as little as 38 years. It is the first and most complete Early English cathedral in the country.  Then came the tower and spire which were added after 1315 . Built on the existing foundations which are only four feet deep, the spire reaches just over 400 feet, the tallest in England.  The glory of the building was captured by both Constable and Turner just as it was being unsympathetically restored by James Wyatt, 'The Destroyer'. The building was subsequently 're-restored' to its Medieval glory by George Gilbert Scott after 1860. This lecture explores the different phases of the Cathedral's history through the centuries and focuses on the 18th and 19th century restoration and the controversies generated.

Christopher read Geography at Oxford and taught Geography. Formerly Head of Geography, Downe House School Newbury. Became interested in country house architecture whilst at Oxford and has lectured on the subject ever since. Regular 5 day summer school courses for Marlborough College Summer School. Lectures for the National Trust.

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

Sarah performs, writes and lectures in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, having been a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music.She has appeared on national radio and television in UK and America, lectured for National Trust, English Heritage, U3A, schools and colleges and onboard the QE2. All lectures are presented digitally and include live music and songs on various harps, depending on the subject.

The year 2016 will mark the 200th anniversary of the purchase of the so-called 'Elgin Marbles' from Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of 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?

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

Goya designed tapestries, produced hundreds of etchings, and political works on a broad canvas, but in his powerful and original portraits, he turns his critical eye directly on to his contemporaries. Goya's sitters came from many walks of life: politicians, architects, aristocrats, actresses, bankers, bullfighters, friends and relations, and the extraordinarily unattractive members of the Spanish Royal Family. Today we marvel at how daringly unflattering he could be, and how he managed to get away with such provocative work. 

Historian, art historian, and painter. Lecturer for NADFAS since 1992, lectures regularly for The Art Fund, Cambridge University International Summer Schools, the Courtauld Institute, the V&A, Inscape, Gainsborough's House and other arts organisations, and has led tours to Spain. Also contributes to arts magazines. Lectured in the Prado and Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid 1983-5, was Deputy Curator of Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome 1978-80, manager of the Courtauld Slide Scheme 1977, and Christie's consultant (Ill. MSS) 1976. Gail has been awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Católica - the Spanish equivalent of the CBE - by the King of Spain and the Spanish Government for her work promoting Spanish art and culture through her lectures and study tours. She will be presented with this at the Spanish Embassy in London in October 2015.

A pictorial history of drinking glasses through the ages, studied through images of actual objects and through paintings. The lecture will focus particularly on the development of the wine glass, but will also look at glasses designed for other beverages, such as: beer, cider, ale, cordial etc. It will consider the drinking habits of different countries and the types of glass associated with those countries, e.g. the Venetian wingstemmed glass, the German roemer, the Dutch flute and the English balusterstemmed glass; and will discuss the association of fine glass drinking vessels with feasting and conviviality.

Jane has an  MA in History of Art from the University of London.She trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. Was Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK.She has also lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institut d'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private women's college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs and interior design conferences in America.

Although a great deal has been written over the years about the Grand Tour in the 18th century, very little has been researched in the field of the music experienced by the travellers as they settled for a while in Italy (“the land of music”, as Francis Head once described it). For many tourists, it motivated their travels in the first instance. In 1791, for example, Thomas Brand raced through the night in order to arrive in Venice in time to hear a performance of an oratorio by Anfossi. He was not disappointed by the occasion, and later remarked “I never expect so long as I live to hear such music and such execution”. Although Brand was an amateur, Italy also attracted a wide range of professional musicians such as Thomas Rosingrave, the young Thomas Linley and Dr Charles Burney, who in addition to their peregrinations, learned part of their musical craft there.

Other visitors discovered that Italy could offer musical items of a superior quality when compared with those on offer at home; and not only did Lord Burlington return to London with a selection of Florentine and Venetian harpsichords, but with a live violinist – Pietro Castrucci – as well.

In this lecture, Peter Medhurst takes a look at 18th century Italian music making – the composers, the performers, the musical forms and styles – and determines exactly what it was that drew the musical British travellers south, time and time again.

Music performed may include: Già il sole dal Gange – A Scarlatti, Eia, Mater, fons amoris from Stabat Mater – GB Pergolesi, Dove sei from Rodelinde – GF Handel, Fugue in G – Padre Martini, Allegro from Sonata in D – D Alberti, Keyboard Sonatas K381 - D Scarlatti, as well as Scarlatti’s G major Sonata K146m which was acquired by Lord Fitzwilliam on his ‘extended’ Grand Tour when he took in Madrid. The version of this Sonata in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and another he found, still remains the only source for the work. 

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as 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. Takes groups to Europe (please enquire). All lectures are presented digitally. Lectures include live music sung and played on piano, virginals or clavichord. Musical programmes devised for special or larger scale events

Anthea studied the Fine and Decorative Arts in London and continued her studies at Harvard University. It was while at Harvard, where there was great enthusiasm for American design, that she became interested herself in 20th century architecture. Since returning from America she has taught on courses in Oxford and London, lectured on the Country House course in Sussex, and for several private groups around the country. Special interest in the architecture and design of 20th century.

Valerie is a Lecturer and Guide in Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and for the Tate on cruises. She is also a Lecturer in other major galleries, including the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and, on religious art, in churches and cathedrals. Valerie is also a Script-writer for Living Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially-sighted).

Ian is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company, Freeman of the City of London. Lecturer University of London, University of Surrey, V&A, National Trust, The Art Fund. He broadcasts on both television and radio. He is also an author and Editor of 'Jackson's Silver & Gold Marks'.

Brian has been a dealer and consultant in antique oriental rugs and carpets since 1979 after his return from Iran. He is the author of 'Tribal Rugs - Treasures of the Black Tent' which was originally published in 1997 and was re-printed in April 2010. Brian is one of few western dealers to have lived and worked among tribal groups in remote areas of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1970s and then again, after the Iranian Revolution, in the 1990s. In 1990 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for his work amongst the Persian tribes. He has lectured for NADFAS since 1986

Alan holds a masters and a first class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College.He is a gallery guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and National Portrait Gallery, and has lectured at the NPG, Penlee House (Penzance), Plymouth City Art Gallery, Croydon Clocktower and the Bridewell Institute. He is also a London Blue Badge Guide and City of London Guide and has conducted walking tours for the Twentieth Century Society, the National Trust and team London Bridge.

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. In this lecture we will be looking 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, with a first class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate. She has been lecturing for the past ten years and now heads up the Visual Arts distance learning programme for Exeter University and is principal lecturer on NADFAS South West Area's History of Art Foundation course. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Caroline is the Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster, archivist, historian and writer. Educated at St Andrews University, Worcester College Oxford and UCL and was previously a senior archivist at the National Archives;She is a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society. She is also an Honorary teaching fellow in Archives at the University of Dundee. Caroline has appeared on national radio and TV and for The Spectator. Her book, The Day Parliament Burned Down, published in 2012, was shortlisted for a number of literary prizes and won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. Caroline lives in Oxfordshire but works in London.

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as 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. Takes groups to Europe (please enquire).His lectures include live music sung and played on piano, virginals or clavichord. .

Anna is a biographer, historian and author of nine books who lectures to a variety of audiences in the US and UK, including the English Speaking Union, Royal Overseas League, National Trust, British Library and Imperial War Museum. She is also a broadcaster - she presented a Radio 3 documentary about the pianist Harriet Cohen and for Radio 4 the documentary 'Who was Joyce Hatto?' - she regularly appears on television talking about her books, mostly biographies including Jennie Churchill, William Bankes, Laura Ashley and Wallis Simpson. The latter, published as That Woman, was an international bestseller and she is currently working on a history of Paris between 1939-49 through women's eyes to be published in 2016. Anne is currently chair of Britain's 9,000 strong Society of Authors.

Susan is an independent jewellery advisor, auction consultant and lecturer. Studied for postgraduate degree at Glasgow University.She was an International jewellery specialist at Phillips Auctioneers from 1996 and then Head of Department from 1999-2002. She has lectured extensively for ladies luncheon clubs, antiques and collectors groups and is a specialist on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow.

Clare has an Honours degree in History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London. Her regular commitments include Centre for Lifelong Learning, London University, National Gallery, V&A Museum, WEA, Morley College, the City Literary Institute, the Art Fund and National Trust. Study tours abroad.

A freelance art historian specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nicola 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.

Brian Stater’s chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history and he combines all three in his lecturing career. He has taught at University College London, since 1997 and became a NADFAS lecturer in 2003. He is a member of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography and an exhibition of his own photographs has been staged at UCL. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the skills of some great photographers of the past, he has begun to work with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others. Brian is a lively and engaging speaker who seeks to entertain as well as to inform his audience.

Focusing on the role of posters and poster artists in the history of advertising, this global-award winning Creative Director of international advertising agencies has lectured extensively on design, illustration and photographic styles as they have influenced the building of brands. He has himself created posters for major brands including British Airways, Nestlé, Sony, General Motors and Shell. His travel writing and photography has appeared in various airline magazines as well as Time. He has also written and produced several hundred TV and Radio commercials and corporate video programmes. A member of Newbury DFAS

Michelangelo was grumpy, dirty, ugly and tight-fisted but produced sculpture,painting and architecture of such startling beauty and originality that two biographies were written in his lifetime. We know exactly what he looked like in life and at his death and today we have over 1400 surviving letters by his own hand. As nearly 450 years have passed since the death of this talented yet tempestuous superstar, this lecture sets out to examine several of his drawings, a little of his poetry and a few of his finished and unfinished works with the aim of all but summoning the great man to the room.

Previously Head of History of Art at Wycombe Abbey School, Dan is now a lecturer at Cheltenham College and also a senior lecturer for Art History Abroad and is an award-winning travel guide throughout Italy as well as in Paris and London. He studied at the University of Manchester, and has over 10 years of lecturing experience including talks to the Art Fund, Pembroke College, (Cambridge University), Art History Society (Durham University) and many prestigious independent secondary schools in the UK.

Eric has over twenty-five years experience lecturing to museums and galleries around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Art Deco Society of New York, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and the South African Antique Dealers Fair, along with countless antique societies in the UK. Hosts Fine Art, Antiques and Architectural trips in the UK, USA and Europe, and has broadcast for thirty years with the BBC's 'Antiques Roadshow.

Eveline is a freelance lecturer in Fine Arts and a tour-guide to Berlin/Dresden/Munich/Côte d'Azur/Normandy and New York.She was recently invited to become a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden Trust.

As a Classics Tutor for Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, Professor of History of Art for the European Studies Program of Rhodes College and The University of the South, and as a guest speaker on cruise ships, Steve has spent much of the last 30 years travelling extensively in the world of the Greeks and Romans both physically and intellectually. He has recently published A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths (Robinson, 2007) and A Brief Guide to Classical Civilization (Robinson, 2010) and is currently working on A Brief Guide to the Roman Empire.

David studied History at Oxford, and from 1968-82 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-98 he was Lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at University of Manchester.He has also Published a book about museum practice with Manchester University Press, 'Exhibiting Authenticity', 1997.

Rupert is a prize-winning historian who specialises in the domestic and social life of the past. A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London, he is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin, of guides to castles owned by English Heritage and Hampshire County Council, and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village and Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. He contributes regular obituaries to The Times and The Daily Telegraph, writes privately-commissioned histories of houses, and is an experienced lecturer - and occasional broadcaster - on a broad range of topics, with a particular interest in architecture, interior decoration and costume.

Bernard has a BA (Hons) in History and an MA in History of Art. Having taken early retirement, he commenced a new career as an art history tutor for the WEA. He has taught French and British art of the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as women's art, for the past eight years. He has also lectured to various societies, and guided parties around galleries in London and Paris. In addition to teaching, he is currently researching artists working in Sussex in the 19th century, with a view to publication

Christopher is a Donnelley Fellow Librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.He was responsible for all catalogues and sales of illuminated manuscripts at Sotheby's for twenty-five years until 2000. He has doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge and two honorary doctorates, and has written well over a hundred books and major articles on medieval manuscripts, translated into numerous languages. Christopher Is probably the best-known expert on medieval manuscripts in the world, and has given public lectures extremely extensively in six continents.

Caroline is a Design and Decorative Arts journalist and author.She is also a London Blue Badge Guide, specialising in themed tours for American Museums and Art Galleries. Her specialist subjects are: History of Glass and London's history, galleries, museums and architecture.Caroline is a freelance lecturer for Adult Education Groups and is delighted to devise tours, lecturing and study days based in and around London.

Linda holds two first-class degrees in Art History, and is an experienced guide and lecturer at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. She lectures to secondary school audiences and independent arts societies.

Peter has degrees from Cambridge, an Academic Diploma from the Courtauld Institute, and a PhD from the University of East Anglia. He lectures at art galleries and universities in England, the United States, France, Italy, Canada, Hong Kong and Mexico. Publications include Sphinx: the Life and Art of Leonor Fini (2009), Death, Desire and the Doll: the Life and Art of Hans Bellmer (2006), Portrait of David Hockney (1991) and The Erotic Arts (1975).

Christine first started working at Chatsworth, in housekeeping,as a holiday job in 1975 whilst studying for a degree in history at Newcastle University. On graduation she was offered a permanent position and working up through the ranks became Housekeeper for the visitor part of the house. Christine become Head Housekeeper in 2006 - and now has overall responsibility for the visitor route, the private apartments, all offices and attic spaces and four holiday cottages on the Chatsworth estate.

Anne graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Leicester University in 1978 and worked as an archaeologist for 8 years, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997. Between 1993-2007 she was 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. Research Fellow at Exeter University; a Fletcher Jones Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA; a fellow of the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum and Library; Cumming Ceramic Research Foundation Fellow (2007 and 2010) and consultant for Lord Frederic Leighton's Studio-House, Kensington. Her 2008 exhibition Ancient Landscapes, Pastoral Visions Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists attracted some 47,000 visitors. She has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne-Jones. A NADFAS lecturer since 1993, Anne toured Australia in 2000, 2006, 2009 and has lectured on cruises. Her television credits include BBC's Flog It!

Catherine has been a NADFAS lecturer since 1982. She has pursued an academic career at Bristol and Oxford universities where she has published books and articles on many aspects of Northern European and Tudor art and architecture. She co-devised and lectures on the V and A medieval year courses, and also lectures for Swan Hellenic, Martin Randall and Art Pursuits.

Joanna’s passion for jewellery started over 30 years ago when as a young girl she trained to be a goldsmith before working for De Beers valuing and grading rough diamonds. She then became one of the few women diamond dealers, trading in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Mumbai and New York. She worked as a senior jewellery specialist at Philips Auctioneers before becoming a senior specialist and auctioneer for Sotheby’s London for 14 years, where she was responsible for jewellery sales in New York, Geneva and London. Joanna is now an independent jewellery consultant, delivers seminars, jewellery masterclasses and lectures worldwide. Joanna writes for the international press and is a published author with her book ‘Collect Contemporary Jewelry’. She curates Contemporary Jewellery exhibitions and is a regular jewellery expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow. Joanna is a Liveryman of the Goldsmith’s Company, a Freeman of the City of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Sarah read Theology at King's College London and has spent most of her working life in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for Royal Opera House programmes, lectures at study days, and gives pre-performance talks for both the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. She has written and directed more than 20 shows for the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, and gives tours at the London Coliseum. She does live commentary for BBC Radio 3 Opera broadcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio 4. She is also a cartoonist.

Jacqueline gained textile conservation experience with the Museums' Service and established a freelance studio in 1982. She is listed in ICOM's Conservation Register and is an accredited Conservator-Restorer. She has lectured and given study days/courses to NADFAS,the Embroiderers' Guild, the Lace Guild, Antique Collectors' clubs and others. She has appeared on Channel 4, BBC 2 and the Discovery Channel and is President of Bowdon & District DFAS. Restore Products 0161 928 0020 On line catalogue and ordering www.restore-products.co.uk

Dominic Riley studied Art History at the University of Leeds, and Bookbinding at the London College of Printing. A professional bookbinder, he has lectured to colleges, art centres and antiquarian book fairs in both the UK and USA. In addition, he has curated three bookbinding exhibitions in San Francisco, and organised a variety of weekend workshops and training seminars. His many published articles include those written for The Ampersand, The Bookbinder and The New Bookbinder. He also served as editor of Gold Leaf, the journal of the Hand Bookbinders of California from 1993–1998.

Lucia Gahlin is Deputy Director of the Bloomsbury Summer School at University College London, and a Trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society. She has taught Egyptology for the Universities of London (Birkbeck College), Reading, Surrey, Sussex and currently Bristol, while leading a number of successful online courses for the University of Exeter. She is the author of Egypt: Gods, Myths and Religion (Anness, 2001), and has also written chapters in The Egyptian World (Routledge, 2007) edited by T. Wilkinson. Lucia has worked extensively on the Amarna material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, and chairs the committee for the Friends of the Petrie Museum. She has worked at the archaeological site of Amarna in Egypt, registering the small finds. These days she visits Egypt several times a year accompanying study tours and trips. Her areas of special interest are Ancient Egypt's social history, settlement archaeology and popular religion.

A journalist and presenter as well as an architectural historian, in 2008 Jon presented and co-wrote How to Build a Cathedral on BBC4, and appeared on Excess Baggage on BBC Radio Four Jon has taught undergraduate and MA courses at the University of Bristol, for the departments of History of Art and Historical Studies since 2008, and continuing education courses since 2003. He has also taught courses on medieval architecture at the Oxford University Summer School (2007, 2008, 2010) and continuing education dayschools and 10-week courses at the Universities of Oxford (Rewley House) and Reading. He is in demand as a public speaker and tour leader, and an accredited NADFAS lecturer.