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.

Constable’s Great Landscapes, also known fondly as the ‘six-footers’, include some of his most famous and iconic paintings: The White Horse (1819), The Haywain (1821), The Leaping Horse (1825) and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831). The compositions derived from small pencil drawings and oil sketches made outdoors and for each Constable painted a full-size oil study. These ‘six-foot sketches’ were unique and extraordinary creations for the early 19th century and were unseen by all but his family and closest friends during his lifetime. This lecture is based on Sarah Cove’s extensive research on Constable’s oil painting practice carried out over 30+ years of the Constable Research Project. She describes his diverse painting methods in oil sketches, studio studies and exhibited pictures, illustrated by highly detailed images taken during technical and scientific examination of these works. Constable’s dynamic late works and artistic temperament are brought to life in a new and exciting manner revealing a ‘Jackson Pollock of the 1830s’. You will never look at these ‘chocolate box’ pictures the same way again –guaranteed!!

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. 

This lecture 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’. 

This lecture traces the significance and use of beds from the medieval period through to the 18th century both in terms of their association with the highest level of society as expressed through the great ‘State Beds’ and also the history of their construction, decoration and the, often costly, textiles associated with them. The significance of beds through the ages can be judged by the prominence given to them in wills and inventories - Shakespeare, in his will, left his wife Anne “my second best bed” - and modern day audiences may be surprised to learn that in times gone by, married or single, rich or poor, one never slept alone… 

Just why did Scandinavian Modern design become so popular in the mid-century and how did it turn from a revolutionary movement into just another style? And was there a dark side to it? Lurking in the shadows was a Nordic project to change consumer taste and shape the model citizen using scientific experimentation and social engineering. This lecture concentrates on the height of Scandinavian Modern design in the 1950s, when it took America and Europe by storm. It unpicks the machinations behind the scenes which led to the creation of modern classics.  It examines 19th century design reform, leading to the functionalist and ideological roots of Scandinavian Modern in the 1920s and 1930s.  It shows how design became a key propaganda tool of the Nordic social democratic project until well into the 1960s. It also explains how Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway broke away from Bauhaus and International Style to create softer, more organic furniture and graceful ceramics, glassware and textiles. But, using IKEA catalogues from the period, it shows just how resistant consumers were to the new, state-sanctioned, clean lines.  

Featuring designers such as Bruno Mathsson, Josef Frank, Astrid Sampe, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Tapio Wirkkala and Alvar Aalto, the talk explores just how ‘democratic’ Scandinavian design really was and asks whether our conception of it is based on a marketing myth, concealing hidden treasures, appalling copies and regional variations. 

The presentation revolves around three ground-breaking exhibitions: The Stockholm Exhibition (1930), Design in Scandinavia (1954-1957) and H55, Helsingborg (1955) to show how global conceptions of Scandinavian Modern became so completely different. And finally there are tips for how to survive an afternoon in IKEA, by learning to identify what really is Scandinavian Modern and what isn't. 

Dig into the graveyards of 19th century London. As London’s population doubled in its early decades, so did the numbers dying. Where to bury them? The deep attachment to burial in parish churchyards waned as layers of coffins raised ground levels high above the street while backlogs of the unburied became a rat’s delight. Churches acquired extra land. The lecture covers recent excavations which reveal how this plan did not relieve the pressure for long, with families designing tombs to thwart the bodysnatching ‘Resurrection Men’. Scandal broke over a chapel with thousands of rotting bodies discovered in its crypt, just as the Magnificent Seven garden cemeteries were beginning to flower outside the city limits. They were – and still are - places of landscaped beauty, of tranquil reflection for the living as well as gardens holding spectacular monuments to the dead. The lecture ends with the legacy - the railway stations taking corteges to funerals in rural settings, an underappreciated Jewish burial ground, the municipal cemeteries and pocket parks.

Seldom did one country produce so many comical paintings as the Netherlands did during the Dutch Golden Age.

People and animals misbehaving, being silly, naughty and laughing out loud can be seen in unprecedented numbers on Dutch Baroque genre paintings. Some of these paintings were visual representations of common sayings or depictions of stock characters in contemporary plays, while others were created as moral lessons. However, the fashion for this type of painting also coincided with a belief by contemporary doctors that laughing was good for your health, and a boom in the publications of books with jokes and funny poems.

Foreigners visiting the Netherlands during the 17th century commented on the Dutch being "clownish", "full of humour, funny and naughty (sometimes too much)". Time for us the enjoy some of these Dutch Baroque paintings for what they are: funny! Join us as we spot people playing a trick on each other, girls falling asleep on the job, children being children, girls completely love sick, unexpected hidden scenes of bare bottoms, people partying and having fun, dogs peeing in churches and more!

Throughout its 300 year history, Christmas at Blenheim Palace has always been a time of celebration. The 7th Duke and Duchess followed the lead of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in making Christmas a family time and a time to give gifts to those who were in their employ. The traditions established by John and Frances the 7th Duke and Duchess are in many ways still continued to this day. 

This talk looks at how Christmas has been celebrated over the years and how each November, the Palace and its grounds are transformed into a Christmas feast for the eyes. 

When Edvard Munch created The Scream in 1893, he was responding to an intense emotional experience. Today, we would call it a panic attack. Explosive and emotive, the aftershocks of Munch’s vision were felt across the world: in art, and music, literature, dance and film. 

“1500 eggs, 2496 chickens and small birds, 700 ducks and 120 barrels of wine”……. The shopping list for a wedding feast in Florence in 1466 tells us that marriage was a serious business for wealthy families in the Italian Renaissance. An advantageous marriage was vital to secure status and the importance of such marriages was reflected in festivities on a scale that would rival today’s celebrity weddings. The occasion was marked by the giving of extravagant gifts and bedrooms for the newly married couple were decorated with luxury goods and paintings. This talk looks at weddings and at the lavish array of objects and paintings made to celebrate marriage in Renaissance Italy.

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. 

In current theoretical discourse the distinction between sculpture and design has been eroded with many critics seeing them as the same thing. However there remains the creative intentions and end result. As David Hockney said the only design that moves you is the 39 Bus. In the hyper consumer age in which we live design plays an increasingly important role in brand identity and product differentiation. Designers like Jonathan Ive at Apple look at sculpture and art to get inspiration. But sculptors are also inspired by design and we can see the introduction of new materials into the art gallery migrating from industry.

In 1882 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”.  As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. 

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

Bath is famous as England's most beautiful Georgian city, a vision of sweeping crescents and neat squares in golden stone, framed by wooded hills. But this was a medieval and ancient city, too. So what were its origins - how did it burst out of the old walls to develop into its elegant final form; which ideas fell by the wayside, and what do the major individual buildings have to tell us when we look at them closely?

The Japanese are highly sensitive to the changes of the seasons and decorate their homes and themselves according to the time of the year. From clothes to food to art objects we will see and understand the motifs used for spring and summer, as well as explore the almost obsessive Japanese fascination with cherry blossoms.   

For the series and film Downton Abbey, Andrew was commissioned to make many jewels for the main characters and this inspired him to create a talk based on this unique period. 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 decades and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great couturiers collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce jewels and clothes of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this, he illustrates the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and shows how they were worn with their sumptuous gowns.

The Moulin Rouge immediately evokes the Belle Epoque - a period of French, and especially Parisian history around the turn of the 19th century which pulsated with artistic energy, technological and scientific innovations, risqué entertainment and boundless optimism; but was there a dark side as well? The talk explores the golden era of Paris.

Writhing sea nymphs with dimpled bottoms were only a small part of this prolific painter’s offerings. Rubens was charm personified and he worked for every major court in Europe. With his paintbrush he helped create peace in Europe and was honoured with a knighthood by not one but two European monarchs. Rubens used his position to retire early, retreating to his country estate to paint its most beautiful grounds. Understandably his career caused envy, and yet created inspiration in equal parts. His work demonstrates the close relationship between Money, Art & Power, whilst his attention to the female form has both scandalised and seduced.

Daniel Evans is an educationalist with a passion for all things Italian. Dan is a Housemaster and Teacher at Cheltenham College, a full boarding and co-educational independent school established in 1841 and was formerly Head of History of Art at Wycombe Abbey School. He has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer, tutor and tour guide for Art History Abroad. In 2008 he was voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards. Alongside his lectures and special interest days Dan also leads educational study trips for groups of friends to a range of destinations in Italy.

E H Shepard loved Christmas, and this lecture describes, including his own words much of the magic and joy of successive festive seasons, from those of his own childhood to others throughout his long life. We see a range of artistic styles from full colour images to pen-and-ink personal Christmas cards, with cartoons, drawings and watercolours, some featuring the iconic images from the Wind in the Willows (the snow in the Wild Wood…) and Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh and Piglet from The House at Pooh Corner). Many of the images have not been published for over fifty years.

Darling’s daring rescue of steamship passengers off the Northumberland coast in 1838 brought her international fame. Discover more about her bravery and short life (died aged 26) and the artistic contribution that has helped to keep her in the public eye. Grace became the ‘poster girl’ of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was the first woman awarded their medal for gallantry. (This talk coincides with the commemorations to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI in 2024.)

The first decade of the sixteenth century in Florence was an exhilarating place for an artist to work, brimming with new ideas and approaches. For a brief but intense period Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael coincided in Florence. These are the years of Mona Lisa, David and Raphael’s many serene Madonnas. We explore the rivalries between the artists and the impact that Michelangelo and Leonardo had on the young Raphael.

(This lecture complements the forthcoming Royal Academy Exhibition 'Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Florence, c. 1504')

No ancient Greek archaeological site has quite the appeal to the modern imagination, or is more important to understanding ancient Greek culture, as the sanctuary at Olympia.

Sumptuously illustrated with slides, video and ancient Greek music, this talk examines the religious aspects of the ancient Olympics, the concept of ‘sport’, athletics as an inspiration for art, the mythical/historical origins of the Olympics, and provides an overview of the main athletic events of the ancient festival.

It ends by examining whether the Ancient Greeks really were ‘true’ amateurs, or whether we are projecting our own ideals onto them.

The artistic relationship between Japan & the West is explored, beginning with the Nanbam or golden screen paintings of 'southern barbarians' that reflect the presence of Portuguese Jesuits in 16th century Nagasaki.

Japan’s subsequent isolationism and limited contact with the outside world through the Dutch trade produced a small but significant window to the West in the 17th and 18th centuries, introducing new artistic conventions and ideas. But it was the reopening of Japan to trade in the 1850s that brought quantities of Japanese prints and other artefacts into Europe, creating an explosion of interest in Japanese art and design among artists in the West, including the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

In tracing these developments, from Namban to Japonaiserie, the collision of Japanese and Western visual traditions and techniques will be explored.

Medieval bestiaries are wondrously colourful worlds, blending fact with fiction, morality with mythology. They represent an understanding of the physical world, but also fulfilled the need for symbolic creatures to supplement biblical stories, offering a wide array of noble or crude behaviours with which to compare ourselves. What happened if you chased a bonnacon? What was a beaver's superpower? What did owls mean? And how did animals graduate from bestiaries into the realm of heraldry? In the course of an hour, we'll explore all these and more.

Robert Hughes declared of Still life painting; ‘Still Life is to eating what the
nude is to sex’ (we won’t go there I assure you!), although he did also admit
that Spanish Still Life painting is ‘more sacramental than gastronomic’. The
lecture will cover a cabbage that has been painted with such astonishing
accuracy that the painted version is more alluring than the vegetable itself.
Goya’s painting of a pile of 6 silvery fish, is a political commentary on the
disasters of war. These bream have been abandoned on a beach in the
middle of the night, left to rot in the sand, evidence of reckless waste at a
time of famine. Through this and others paintings by Velazquez, Zurburán,
and Meléndez, we shall explore several stunning key themes that can all
be discerned from arrangements of simple food stuffs; religious fervour and
symbolism, the absence of presence and that importance generates waste.

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…

Despite the traumatic nature of their dislocation and the obstacles they
often encountered on arrival in the UK, those who fled here from Nazi-
dominated Europe in the 1930s and 1940s made a deep, pervasive and
long-lasting contribution to British culture. Focussing on the visual arts, this
new lecture will examine the nature of this contribution, embracing not only
familiar names such as Gombrich, Kokoschka, Moholy-Nagy, Schwitters
and Heartfield, but also lesser-known figures such as Albert Reuss, Josef
Herman and Marie-Louise von Motesiczky.

Monica is the initiator and creative director of the insiders/Outsiders Festival.
www.insidersoutsidersfestival.org
 

The image dispalyed is subject to Copyright Josef Herman Estate. With kind permission Ben Uri Collection. 

We might assume that our modern Christmas owes much to the Victorians. In fact,
many of our favourite Christmas traditions date back much further. Carol-singing,
present-giving, mulled wine and mince pies were all just as popular in Tudor times,
and even Father Christmas and roast turkey dinners have their origins in this period.
The Tudor Christmas was a time of feasting, revelry and merrymaking, a twelve-day-long festival, over which the Lord of Misrule held sway, and convention was thrown to the winds. Christmas was so beloved by English people that its traditions survived remarkably unchanged in this age of tumultuous religious upheaval.

(This lecture is based on my book with Alison Weir A Tudor Christmas, published by Jonathan Cape, 2018).

The UK provides some of the biggest Ceremonial Events in the world and
arguably the best in the world but why is that? How do the military prepare
for major events such as State Opening of Parliament, State Visits,
National day of Remembrance, Royal Weddings or even a State Funeral?

The fireworks that mark great events such as the opening of the Olympics or the start of a New Year make an enormous impact.Despite their brevity, the displays live on through film and photography.

For centuries, the very fact that the fireworks themselves were seen only for seconds and yet cost large amounts of money provoked a strong desire to record them and a large archive of visual evidence remains.

When rulers such as Louis XIV or the Russian Emperors began to see the value of circulating images designed to impress and amaze fireworks graduated from popular entertainment to become a sophisticated instrument of statecraft.

This lecture takes an exhilarating look at one art form that is never likely to
gather dust in a museum.

This lecture tells Ukraine's story through the shared culture which binds its proud
people together.

We will explore the sacred art and architecture of Kyiv and its links to Byzantium, as well as the distinctive characters and ethnicities of Odesa and Lviv.

Tracing Ukraine's complicated multi-ethnic history also means looking at its rich folk culture traditions. These range from native song and the secret codes embedded in ancient embroidery which have exerted a surprising impact on modern painting and contemporary haute couture, to Cossack dancing and borshch.

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.

Lecturer Imogen Corrigan is an author and lecturer on Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art.

A very interesting lecture on the links between varous places in Cheltenham and the Cotswolds and Parliament.

An overview of Britain’s ‘Big Four’ postwar glass companies, comprising Whitefriars, King’s Lynn (Wedgwood), Caithness and Dartington. As well as company and designer histories, special slides examine, compare and contrast ‘Good, Better, Best’ examples from each company. The emergence of these factories is put into context and major influences behind them are discussed. The current glut of Whitefriars fakes are covered, including tips on how to spot them.

The illustration is a Caithness glass vase.

Lecturer Mark Hill is a valuer and author and specialist in 20th century design and decorative arts. He is well known for his appearances on ‘The Antiques Roadshow'

One of the most celebrated artists of her time, French painter Rosa Bonheur had an extraordinary gift for painting animals that brought her international fame and recognition. Her works fetched exceptionally high prices on both sides of the Atlantic, and in 1865 she became the first woman to be awarded the légion d’honneur, France’s highest of merit. Defying convention, Bonheur obtained official police permission to wear men’s clothing, so that she could study animal anatomy in the male-only spaces of livestock sales. Her most famous work ‘The Horse Fair’ displays such dynamism that when it was exhibited at the 1853 Paris Salon, one critic wrote that he had to suppress the urge to jump out of the way of the galloping horses. Such was its fame, that Queen Victoria requested a private viewing at Buckingham Palace.

Bonheur’s commercial success enabled her to buy the Chateau de By, near Fontainebleau, where she lived with her lifelong companion Nathalie Micas, establishing a studio and menagerie, that included sheep, gazelles, monkeys, and three lions. This lecture offers an in-depth account of her extraordinary life and work.

Lecturer Dr Lois Oliver is an art historian who is currently Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Royal Academy.

Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on yak, or camel at a moment’s notice; the little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world. Chris also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years.

Chris Aslan is an author who has worked extensively in the Central Asia countries, reviving craft traditions and establishing workshops for the nomadic tribes of the ‘Stans’.

Settled by the Romans, who first brought wine and gastronomy to this most luscious of French regions, Burgundy is packed with stupendous and moving architectural wonders dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries – many of them now World Heritage Sites. Autun, Vezelay, Fontenay, Pontigny and Cluny were spiritual service stations for crusaders, pilgrims and monks, profoundly influencing Western European art in the middle ages. From the heavenly portals and sculpted capitals of the Côte-d'Or to the Maconnais, come on an armchair tour through this most gorgeous Romanesque terroir, and find out how those Benedictine abbeys and Cistercian monasteries in turn created some of the best wines in the world on their estates which we still enjoy today. Travel tips and tasting recommendations included!

Lecturer Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian and formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London and senior archivist at the National Archives

Because of the freezing weather, it is with much regret that this lecture has been cancelled. It is hoped that the lecturer will be able to attend on another occasion.

The lecture looks at the contributions made by artists of African, Caribbean or Asian origin to British art since the SS Empire Windrush arrived in Tilbury from the West Indies in 1948. It considers, among others, the work of Sir Frank Bowling, Francis Newton Souza, Eddie Chambers, Yinka Shonibare, Sonia Boyce, Rasheed Araeen, Lubaina Himid and the Singh Twins, all of whom have achieved international recognition and respect, their works collected by museums world-wide. They may not all be household names but their work is eye-catching and thought-provoking, and they have set much of the agenda for British art of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The illustration is of a gown made from Ghanaian Kente cloth.

Lecturer Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art.

The Sahara has inspired the artistic and cultural life of the West for millennia, and this eye-opening presentation allows us to journey there with no risk of getting lost in a sandstorm. Whether resident, foreign adventurer, or armchair traveller and artist, the deserts of North Africa are a palimpsest upon which poets, painters, filmmakers and other dreamers have been inspired by and drawn to for millennia.

The Sahara proved as vital for the oracles of Ancient Greece as it has for the high priests of Hollywood, and North African landscapes have witnessed the creation of both stunning prehistoric rock art and Impressionist canvasses; inspired mythology and faith; and been a muse for every form of creative endeavour. This is a fascinating talk through time and space, war and peace, love and loss, that will never again let you see the Sahara as a blank canvas. 

Lecturer: Eamonn Gearon is an author, historian, and journalist, who lived and worked across the greater Middle East from Kabul to Casablanca for many years.

“The greatest art patron in the world” Rudolf II and his Kunstkammer.

By the close of the sixteenth century, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II had amassed one of the most impressive collections of art, natural artefacts and scientific instruments in Europe at the time. According to one Venetian ambassador, the paintings in his collection alone numbered three thousand. While somewhat reclusive on the political arena, Rudolf wielded his power through culture and the opulent display of wealth at his court in Prague. After a brief introduction to the concept and practice of the Kunstkammer, this lecture will explore the nature of Rudolf’s collection, the wide networks of artistic patronage that his collecting enabled across Europe, and examines the group of artists, philosophers, alchemists and esoteric figures who gathered at his court.

Lecturer: Albert Godetzky is a lecturer and author whose research concentrates on Northern European art of the early modern period.

Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James Russell enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience that inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th century art. Of his dozen or so books, one was a Sunday Times book of the year, while his writing has been described by critics as 'insightful', 'informative' and 'enjoyably readable'. James has curated major exhibitions at Dulwich Picture Gallery and for museums around the country. He bases his lectures on wide-ranging original research into the subjects that fascinate him. In 2021 James curated an exhibition Seaside Modern: Art and Life on the Beach at Hastings Contemporary Gallery.

Between the wars something extraordinary happened to the British seaside: it became glamourous, exciting... modern. Enticed by eye-catching railway posters, holidaymakers grabbed their new cameras and slinky new bathing suits, and headed for the coast. Meanwhile artists galore found inspiration on the beach, from Laura Knight in Lamorna and Eric Ravilious in Newhaven to Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore in North Norfolk. With eye-catching artworks, glorious posters and startling archive photos, this exuberant, colourful lecture explores a remarkable period in 20th century British culture.  

Clive Stewart-Lockhart  studied on the Sotheby's Works of Art course and has now been working in the fine art world for 47 years. Until recently he was a Director of Woolley and Wallis, the UK's leading regional firm of auctioneers, in Salisbury, and was a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow for 25 years between 1991 and 2016. Has also lectured on cruise ships as well as for many other groups, and recently published a major article in the Journal of the Decorative Arts Society on Betty Joel. He is now an independent art advisor.

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

Dr Ann Benson FSA FRHistS is a writer and lecturer on Garden, Landscape and Architectural History specializing in the Tudor, Stuart and early Georgian periods. She teaches and lectures for the Society of Antiquaries, the Gardens Trust, the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and many local history groups. Ann has also taught garden history at the Institute for Historical Research. She has degrees in Garden History (MA, Distinction), Learning and Assessment (MEd, PhD) and Science (BSc, Hons). Ann was first a teacher and then an academic at the universities of Oxford, Bristol, and the Open University whilst serving as a consultant for the UK’s Cabinet Office. She has published three ground-breaking history books, one commissioned by the Duke of Beaufort, and many peer-reviewed articles on garden and architectural history. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians of London, Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow for her garden history research, an Associate of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates, and Beaufort Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. She has forty years’ experience of being an educator and continues to love sharing her knowledge and experience with others.

 Oxford has its quads but Cambridge has its courts. The difference? All is explained as Ann describes how the early history of Cambridge produced colleges with tennis courts and bowling greens attached to buildings grouped around lawns and leafy spaces. She selects from her research of the sixteen colleges founded in late medieval and Tudor times to illustrate the beautiful architectural features of the buildings variously supported by religious bodies, kings and queens. Richly illustrated throughout, Ann then reveals how the college grounds have changed across time due to their association with notable head gardeners and college members such as Laurence Chaderton at Emmanuel, Sir Issac Newton at Trinity and Charles Darwin at Christs, and from responses to changing fashions and financial pressures. A virtual tour of the college gardens as they currently exist provides a final feast of colour and form to delight the senses.

The story of one of the greatest creative collaborations of all: Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, whose team of dancers, choreographers, and costume and set designers transformed expectations of what a night in the theatre could be, and the circumstances behind its most notorious stage work of all. Sandy examines the build-up to the Rite of Spring’s premiere in Paris, takes a look at the original costumes, plays excerpts from this fascinatingly inventive score, and explores what divided opinions of that first-night audience quite so dramatically.   No nothing, could top the riot at the Rite in 1913…

After officer service in the Royal Navy, Justin Reay entered a long career in business, becoming CEO of a healthcare company and consultant in management development. Retiring from business in 2001, he studied the History of Art and Architecture at Oxford, and was awarded the University’s Diploma with Distinction. He frequently lectured and wrote on naval history in this period, and completed a doctoral thesis in naval history at the University of Exeter. He was invited to join the bicentenary commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, and was appointed Admiralty Liaison Officer for the Trafalgar Despatch 2005.  From 2002 Justin was senior lecturer in post-graduate marketing at Oxford FE College and is a qualified teacher. For six years from 2004 he delivered courses in the University of Oxford / UCal Berkeley accredited residential summer schools. In 2011 he was appointed as tutor in the History of Art and Classical Civilisation at Oxford Tutorial College, for A-level and Cambridge Pre-U students, and also privately tutors undergraduate and post-graduate art history students. Formerly a senior academic manager of the Bodleian Library, Justin is Secretary of the Colloquium of Learned Societies at Oxford. He is a published historian; among his impending works are an edition of Samuel Pepys’s naval papers, and a study of the Admiralty buildings in London, and he is researching maritime art in the National Trust collections. He is frequently engaged as an enrichment speaker on art history for cruise lines. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association, New York, and a member of The Arts Society Cheltenham.

Perhaps the best sculptor in wood ever to lift a chisel, Grinling Gibbons rose from an obscure apprenticeship in Rotterdam to reach the height of his profession in England, collaborating with Wren and Vanbrugh, building a consistently substantial business for his atelier, and becoming King’s Carver.

Much of his work survives in country houses, large churches and state apartments, and in this talk Justin describes Gibbons’s life and career, and discusses the techniques he used to create a convincing illusion of reality.

Illustrated with overmantels, picture frames and architectural mouldings from many private and public collections, this talk makes a case for identifying Gibbons as a major artist. 

Angela  Findlay is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long career of teaching art in prisons in Germany and England.  Her time ‘behind bars’ and later as Arts Coordinator of the London based Koestler Arts, gave her many insights into the huge impacts the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation.  In the past decade Angela’s Anglo-German roots led her to research Germany’s largely unknown post-WW2 process of remembrance and the extraordinary culture of ‘counter memorials’ and site-specific artworks that emerged to express national shame and apology. 

Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her book on the above subjects will be published by Penguin in early 2022.

We all use chairs! But over the past 150 years, artists across the world have been using the humble chair as a conduit for profound ideas on themes from protest, absence and memory to domestic or everyday life.

In Europe, Egon Schiele, René Magritte, Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys used empty chairs for personal expression, while in America, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Kosuth and Bruce Nauman used chairs to develop the exciting new artistic movements arising in the sixties.    The Palestinian artist, Mona Hatoum, adapted chairs to explore female identity and the Columbian artist, Doris Salcedo, stacked 1,550 between two buildings to remember anonymous victims of war.
 

These are just some of the many diverse artists and uses of chairs we will be looking at in this talk.  And as in all my lectures, my personal connection as an artist, who has worked with chairs throughout her career, will aim to bring the subject to life.

One of the first artists to paint snow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569) is known today for wintery masterpieces such as The Hunters in the Snow, The Census at Bethlehem and The Massacre of the Innocents. This lecture will explore Bruegel’s iconic winter scenes, looking at how they both follow and break with traditions that had gone before. 

Dr Amy Orrock is an art historian and curator who has published and lectured widely on Northern European art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She first became fascinated by Bruegel as an undergraduate at University Colege London and then completed her PhD on Pieter Bruegel the Elder at the University of Edinburgh. In 2017 she co-curated the exhibition Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty at the Holburne Museum, Bath. Amy is currently Senior Curator at Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park, where she has curated the exhibitions Cranach: Artist and Innovator (2020-21) and Painting Childhood: From Holbein to Freud (2019).

The image is Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Wedding Dance. 1566, Detroit Institute of Arts

John Francis is an inspirational speaker who initially trained as a painter. He was awarded the Max Beckmann Memorial Scholarship in painting in New York and went on to be artist in resident for the state of Texas. Later in his career John produced and directed short films and animations. He has taught film, art and pedagogy at the University of Exeter, Arts University Bournemouth, University Sains Malaysia, Southwestern College, California, Brunel University, London and Kingston University.

Words by WH Auden and music by Benjamin Britten loudly announced the beginning of ‘poetic realism’ and the Documentary film movement.

The General Post Office Film Unit (1933) established an exciting collaboration of artists, photographers, composers, anthropologists, poets and animators.

Together we will explore Nightmail (1936) and Len Lye’s hugely inventive camera less, A Colour Box (1935). The social realism advocacy of Director John Grierson’s has left a powerful legacy which can be easily identified in the recent films of Ken Loach and Danny Boyle.

Our Meeting today will start with the AGM.

Briony Hudson 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 was Keeper of the Museums Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society from 2002 to 2010.  Her publications include English Delftware Drug Jars: The collection of the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, histories of the schools of pharmacy at UCL, Cardiff and Sunderland, and Popular Medicines: an illustrated history.  She is a Past President of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy and current President of the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Society of Apothecaries.

Blue and white tin-glazed earthenware has long been admired and collected for its attractive appearance, but this lecture goes further by examining English delftware with a pharmaceutical purpose. Drawing on examples from collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, this talk will provide a beginner’s guide to these beautiful yet practical vessels. By placing them in their wider historical context, Briony will also demonstrate that delftware drug jars have an undervalued role to play in understanding medical practices in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 [ Copyright for the Drug Jars:   RPS (Royal Pharmaceutical Society]

Two hundred and fifty years after Antonio Stradivari’s death, his violins and cellos remain the most highly prized instruments in the world. Loved by great musicians and capable of fetching fabulous sums when sold, their tone and beauty are legendary. Every subsequent violin-maker has tried to match them. Not one has succeeded. How can that be? This lecture explores that central mystery by following some of Stradivari’s instruments from his workshop to the present day. It is a story that travels from the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, and from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings. Toby Faber’s book Stradivarius:  Five violins, one cello and a genius, was described in The New York Times as ‘more enthralling, earthy and illuminating than any fiction could be.’

The lecture is illustrated with pictures of violins and of key individuals and locations, as well as with some short musical recordings.

Swimming is Britain’s second favourite form of physical recreation (after walking). Almost everyone has memories of visiting their local baths. But whilst not all these memories might be positive – drooping knitted cozzies anyone? – for many swimmers the baths themselves are cherished. Some, particularly those built in the late Victorian and Edwardian years, are rich with decorative tilework, stained glass, polished wood and terracotta detailing. This sense of municipal pride continued into the 1920s and ’30s, when Art Deco and Modernist lidos became the urban beaches of their day. In this lecture, Simon highlights the treasures of aquatic art that survive, and considers how the pools of today compare.

Flow with the current of the river from its beginnings as a muddy puddle to its magnificent merging with the sea. Paintings by artists past and present will open our eyes to the beauty of the river. As the river snakes its way towards the sea, the movement of the water and the shape of the landscape change. Individual artists are attracted to particular parts of the river. Constable is an obvious example but so are Stanley Spencer, Whistler and Michael Andrews. Some artists paint imaginary rivers inspired by English literature such as Millais and Waterhouse. Cecil Collins and Peter Doig are modern artists who imbue the river with a deep spirituality. Flow with the current of the river from its source to the sea. 

Unlike the widely publicised looting of Jewish collections by the Nazis during the Second World War, the wholesale dispersal of Russia’s cultural heritage during the inter-war period is rarely discussed. This talk looks at the process by which the Russian Revolutionary authorities sold off vast quantities of their country’s valuable patrimony following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in order to raise valuable hard currency. Sometimes referred to as the conversion of “Treasures into Tractors,” the process effectively confiscated and sold off the contents of Russia’s churches, libraries, monasteries, museums and aristocratic private collections, thereby dispersing much of the country’s cultural treasures to the far corners of the world. Many nations took advantage of these sales between 1918 and 1938, most notably the USA where, with the help of the international art trade, many of the more important works went on to form the basis of the Washington National Gallery and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. What happened to all those Fabergé eggs and the imperial crown jewels, the Raphaels and Botticellis? This talk lifts the lid on the extraordinary events that unfolded after the Revolution

The work of women photographers has often been unfairly neglected. This lecture seeks to correct that by examining the contribution of three outstanding British practitioners; Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian pioneer; Jane Bown, a brilliant portraitist; and Fay Godwin, who excelled in landscape photography. We will also explore the work of two highly influential Americans: Dorothea Lange, who produced brilliant documentary images and Annie Leibovitz, who continues to both surprise and delight her audience.

Bolton’s connection to Egypt dates back to the 1860s when local cotton manufacturers began trading with cotton merchants in Alexandria. Annie Barlow, a mill owner’s daughter, had a chance meeting with Flinders Petrie whilst he was excavating in the Nile Delta, resulting in her becoming the Honorary Secretary of the Egypt Exploration Fund/Society in the North West. She collected local subscriptions for the benefit of Bolton Museum which today houses the most important and unique collection of Egyptian textile artefacts in the UK. These Egyptian textiles I have personally documented and conserved which has enabled this lecture to provide a detailed insight into the skill of the Egyptian textile weavers and embroiderers from the Pharaonic periods through to the 10th century AD. The lecture has detailed colourful images of clothing, furnishing fabrics through to mummified animals, all with a story to tell.

As a young reporter working for the Lahore Gazette Kipling took a journey through Rajasthan during 1888 during which he produced some magical and evocative descriptions of the buildings he saw there. Nowadays he is overwhelmingly associated with the world of the Empire and the British Raj in India. But as the son of the Principal of the Bombay Art School and a talented artist himself, Kipling’s ‘seeing eye’ and his love of India provide a wonderful way into the world of the Moguls and Maharajahs. We explore some of Rajasthan’s magnificent architectural splendours and gain insights into the rich cultural history of the ‘Land of Kings’

This talk will be at 3pm via Zoom

The term 'Magi' refers to the Zoroastrian priest-sages, anonymous wise men who were specialists in medicine, religion and astronomy, who travelled from 'The East' - variously identified as almost any country from Arabia to Persia. Tradition has placed the number of Magi at three, relating to gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but earlier versions has the number between two and thirty. It is one of the most famous legends used by storytellers and artists alike, with Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar becoming universal symbols and representations, such as the three ages and races of man.

 Recommended reading:

'The Magi: from Zoroaster to the Three Wise Men' by Ken Vincent (Scott 1999)

'Magi' by Adrian Gilbert (Invisible Cities Press 2002)

This talk will be at 3PM via Zoom

William Morris led a revolution against the products of the machine age. The first of our ‘passionate potters’, William de Morgan, was a friend of Morris who rediscovered the secrets of Near Eastern lustre glazes. In contrast, the eccentric and argumentative Martin Brothers created a range of elaborate salt glazed pots unparalleled in their imaginative breadth. Sir Edmund Elton, the ‘potter baronet’, made pots which combine startling glazes with exotic forms. And finally, Bernard Leach, the father of English studio pottery, not only married the arts of Japan and England but created a legacy that is still alive today.

Raphael’s is one of the most famous names in art history, and until the late 19th century to emulate him was the goal for most artists succeeding him. Yet today he is not as well known as this might suggest. Is this because his biography is less dramatic than Caravaggio’s? or his career less tormented than Michelangelo’s? or is it because his qualities are difficult to define - the elusive qualities of grace, harmony and idealised beauty.

This lecture asks “what is the magic of Raphael?” It takes a fresh look at Raphael, exploring what he achieved, and looking, as if for the first time, at the beauty and grace of his work. It will examine his astonishing ability to grow and transform himself over the years of his career, and whose tragically early death leaves us wondering – had he lived, what would have come next? “

This talk will be at 3pm via Zoom

This talk will be at 3pm via Zoom

Even though ‘work’ was the bedrock of Victorian progress and improvement, Queen Victoria’s reign saw the greatest upsurge in leisure pursuit ever witnessed. People earned more money and worked shorter hours than ever before and, with the birth of the railways and a desire to be health-conscious, it was a golden age for the art of entertaining oneself and being an amateur in the true sense of the word. This talk celebrates a pre-television age when the ability to entertain was paramount. This talk has a particular resonance during this time of lockdown.

During his long career Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) created a glorious light-filled art in which both past and present are fused within the expressive atmosphere of a vision.  This lecture explains how Bonnard, influenced by Gauguin, Japanese art and impressionism, loosened the connections between object, image and surrounding space and conveyed experience in totally unexpected ways.  Towards the end of his life he told a young painter: ‘Our God is our light.  A day will come when you understand what that means’.  The alchemy of light became his goal.

Nicholas Watkins studied in Florence, Vienna and at the Courtauld Institute of Art.  His numerous publications include Matisse (1984) Bonnard Colour and Light (1994).  Television involvement include the BBC film Pierre Bonnard: A Love Exposed, Omnibus 1998.  He regularly contributes to The Burlington Magazine and other leading journals and lectures extensively.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is acknowledged by many people as America's greatest architect.   He was trained in the Arts & Crafts tradition, and yet by the end of his career in the late 1950s he was able to envisage a One-Mile-High skyscraper.   Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, New York's Guggenheim Museum and the Robie House in Chicago are well known.   But we shall also look at his visionary ideas for The Living City (1958), unbuilt yet an encapsulation of Wright's ideas for a modern utopia.

Anthea Streeter 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 in 20th century architecture. Since returning from America she has taught courses in Oxford and London, lectured on the Country House course in Sussex, and for several private groups around the country. Her special interest is in the architecture and design of the 20th century

Changes in dress have perhaps never been as tumultuous as in the decade between 1940 and 1950. World War II saw the rationing of cloth prompting not only a limit on what was available to purchase, but new approaches to design, initiatives in re-fashioning, re-cycling and re-using and a nationwide shift in attitudes to appearances. The reaction to austerity came in 1947 with the launch of Dior's 'New Look' a nostalgic romanticisation of femininity. This lecture looks at the lengths the British population went to in order to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ from a sartorial perspective, reinforcing the importance of dress and textiles to morale and exploring how these initiatives might actually form part of the 21st century approach to slow fashion and the hand made. It looks at how ‘Make Do and Mend’ became a government priority, how Mrs Sew and Sew encouraged women to use their imagination and how you can make a natty blouse from a worn out old shirt.

Dr Kate Strasdin is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University and a Specialist Visiting Lecture at the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai. Her first book 'Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra' was published by Bloomsbury in 2017. Kate is working on her second book, revealing the secrets of a 19th century dress diary. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of handmade Honiton lace.

Christmas at Covent Garden - 300 years of Christmas Shows

The London Christmas season was invented by Covent Garden. The first theatre on the site was the home of Harlequin and Columbine and 300 years on Harlequin and Columbine still dance in The Nutcracker.  Most of what we now consider to be quintessential Pantomime - the principle boy, fairy tales, transforming scenes and the dame, can be traced back to the operas and ballets put on by Covent Garden during its first 200 years.  Panto has moved on to the Palladium, but you can still see these basic components in the seasonal operas and ballets  that are performed at the Royal Opera House puts on.

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre, principally at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and English National Opera.  She broadcasts for the BBC on CD Review, does live opera transmissions and podcasts; lectures on he operatic and ballet reps and writes programme articles and websites.

The Industrial Revolution had a profound impact on every aspect of the decorative arts, bringing commodities that had previously been associated with the nobility within reach of the ever-growing middle-class. Radical new inventions enabled an increased quantity of goods to be produced at a reduced cost, while also accelerating the manufacturing process. This led to the development of shops and entrepreneurs which led in turn to completely new approaches towards life-style and self-fashioning that continue to pervade our everyday lives. It also resulted in radical changes in attitudes towards nature and industry. These are reflected in a unique series of paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby which will form a key part of the lecture.

Andrew Spira studied at the Courtauld Institute and Kings College, London. For several  years he worked as a curator at the V&A and subsequent was Programme Director at Christie’s Education for 14 years. For over twenty years, he has been taking groups (including Arts Society groups) on visits to cultural sites in Russia, Armenia 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. Two books on the relationship between art and personal identity, from the Middle Ages to the present day, are to be published in November 2019.

THE WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND: WILLIAM BLAKE

The Tygers of Wrath are wiser than the Horses of Instruction. [William Blake: Proverbs of Hell]

William Blake: Poet, Painter and Philosopher; Rebel, Radical, and Revolutionary. His art was shaped by life in England under George III in the shadow of the revolutionary upheavals in Europe and America and he was as deeply concerned with the immediate relief of the suffering of London’s poor as with idealistic dreams of an esoteric utopia. With the Tate Gallery mounting its first major Blake exhibition in almost twenty years, this lecture explores the rich and fascinating worlds of William Blake in the context of his time and our own, and celebrates his paradoxical way of seeing the world, which challenged orthodoxy of all kinds in his lifetime and continues to do so.

Dr Justine Hopkins studied at Bristol University, with an MA at the Courtauld Institute and then a PhD at Birkbeck College exploring relationships between science, religion and landscape painting in the nineteenth century. She has contributed articles to a wide variety of periodicals and journals; she works as a freelance lecturer in Art History for institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum and Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

In this illustrated lecture Adrian Barlow will explore the development of British stained glass in the past hundred years. Beginning with the short-lived post-war boom in war memorial windows after 1918, and drawing where possible on examples of windows within reach of the Cotswolds, his talk will consider the work of key twentieth century artists such as Ninian Comper, John Piper, Lawrence Lee and Tom Denny. There will be a particular focus on the significance of Coventry Cathedral in re-shaping attitudes to modern stained glass and the lecture will conclude with some reflections on recent windows commemorating the centenary of the First World War.

 Adrian Barlow lives in Cheltenham. A Fellow and former President of the English Association, he has written and lectured for many years on literature, architecture and stained glass. His recent books include Extramural: literature and lifelong learning (2012) and two studies of stained glass: Kempe: the life, art and legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe (2018) and Espying Heaven: the stained glass of Charles Eamer Kempe and his artists (2019)

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

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

He regularly contributes to waterway and heritage magazines and writes and provides images for a range of countryside and outdoor titles. Roger is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society and a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute.

While Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) are two of the most familiar figures in Italian Renaissance art, the rivalry and antipathy that existed between them remains a story untold.  This lecture throws light on these themes using select examples of their works which, it is argued, hold the key to understanding the motivations for their animosity.  Particular emphasis is given to the commission they received to undertake frescoes for the great council chamber in Florence.

James was the first Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the V&A. He has convened and presented at international conferences, lectures widely in the UK and overseas and is currently a fine art underwriter in the City. 

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 Solomon. A passage in the Bible’s Book of Kings has immortalised this Queen and the journey that 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 archaeologists to go in search of her land – a search that has led to discoveries of great temples, tombs and treasures in both the 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 – in Tigray province, northeastern Ethiopia – is a temple, probably dedicated to a moon god and dating to the 5th century BC – a time when this area of Ethiopia formed part of the kingdom of Sheba. Excavations undertaken there in 2015 and 2016  have uncovered a rich cemetery which includes an extraordinary burial of a 2000 year old Ethiopian 'Sleeping Beauty'.

Suggested Reading

Stuart Munro-Hay, Ethiopia: an Unknown Land (2002)

St John Simpson (ed), Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen (2002)

The term Art Deco was not used to describe the style of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ or the ‘Jazz Age’ until the 1960s.  It was taken from the Exposition Arts Decoratifs held in Paris in 1925, where Paris emerged as the leader of style in the post World War period.  This exposition featured the glass of Lalique, the furniture of Ruhlmann, the jewellery of Cartier and the lacquer of Dunand.  Le Coubusier, one of the pioneers of Modernism, was also represented in the exhibition.  Modernism was a style that really made an impact on popular culture during the following decades.  This lecture will trace the development of Art Deco and Modernism in the 1920s and 1930s, through dress, architecture, interiors, furniture, glass etc.

Dr Anne Anderson graduated in Art History and Archaeology in 1978 and then worked as an archaeologist for eight years being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997.  Anne is currently an Hon Research Fellow at Exeter University.  She is also a consultant to Lord Frederic Leighton’s Studio House.  Anne has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne-Jones as well as lecturing extensively for The Arts Society and the V&A.

This lecture celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the births of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were first cousins and born just three months apart in 1819.  Their shared enthusiasm for art and music endured throughout their twenty-two years of marriage and they demonstrated their love through the works of art and jewellery they gave each other for birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries.  Theirs was a partnership of patronage by a monarch and her consort which is unique in the history of the British monarchy.

Barbara Askew is an Historian and London Blue Badge Guide since 1988.  Lecturer, Examiner and Course Director on Blue Badge Guide Training Courses and acknowledged expert on Windsor Castle.  Barbara also guides at the Albert Memorial, British Museum and Houses of Parliament.

In our modern world it is easy to take colour for granted.  Yet before organic chemistry the most desirable pigments were often exotic or poisonous.  Merchants supplied pungent yellow ‘purree’ nuggets from India, cochineal ‘grana’ from the holds of Spanish galleons, lapis rock carried by camel train from the mountains of Badakhshan.  Alchemists prepared deadly ‘Kings Yellow’ and ‘Ruby of Arsenic’; Moorish Gold’ was concocted according to a 12th century monk, from basilisk powder ground with human blood! This lecture tells the stories of alchemy and adventure behind some of our most colourful and beautiful paintings.

Lynne Gibson BEd, MA has held posts at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol where she introduced ‘Understanding Art’ to the Lifelong Learning programme.  She gives talks and lectures, runs courses and guides tours for a wide range of organisations including ARCA colleges, Art Galleries and Museums. The Art Fund, the National Trust and The Arts Society.  She has also worked as a professional artist specialising in oil painting and etching.

St Nicholas,  a fourth century bishop, is said to have saved the lives of three virgins by offering gifts and dowries.  The sailors of Bari and Venice hoped that his fame (and body parts) would protect their own busy ports and dangerous journeys. As the patron saint of sailors his fame spread to Italy, but it is the Dutch who transform him into Sinterklaas and finally Santa Claus. This gift-giving saint then emerges in Britain as Father Christmas.

Christopher Bradley is an expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia and written extensively on the area. He is also a professional photographer.

In 2018 The Royal Academy of Arts celebrates its 250th anniversary, so it is an opportune time to explore its history and role it has played in the development of British art.  The lecture will look at the position of artists in London before and after the formation of the Academy in 1768 and some of the characters involved.  Like any important institution, the Academy has been embroiled in intrigue and controversy over the course of its history and no scandal or outrage will remain unexposed as we trace the life of one of Britain’s most important cultural bodies.

Rosalind Whyte has a BA and MA from Goldsmith College and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College.  She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich.  Rosalind also lectures at the Tate, Dulwich Picture Gallery and to independent arts societies and on cruises.

The late 1940s was a time of great economic expansion for Britain after World War II and the 1951 Festival of Britain showcased the best of new British industry and design. Gerald Barry, the Festival’s director, described it as a riot of ‘ fun, fantasy and colour’.  It was held over five months at London’s South Bank.  This lecture looks at how and why the Festival of Britain had such a huge impact on people’s perception of design (including graphics, textiles, ceramics and industrial design) and on design itself.

Dr Sally Hoban is an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Birmingham and has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques.  Sally has also broadcast with the BBC and her publications include Miller’s Collecting and Modern Design as well as writing for a number of local, national and international media.  Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design.

A 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!  This exploration into the realms of dessert as spectacle includes an accompanying display to illustrate and enhance this historic subject.  Topics covered:  the origins of dessert; sugar and status - the crossover between sugar and art; architecture and dessert; the shift of dessert from luxury to fashion, to ritual; sugar and spectacle; ways of seeing - food as artistic medium; food futures- 3D printing and technology.

Tasha Marks is an award-winning food historian and artist.  Recent academic achievements included publication in the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets where Marks authored the entry on Mrs Beeton. Tasha has worked  on various projects with the V&A, The Royal Academy of Arts, The National Gallery and the Barbican.

The world’s first underground railway has a wonderful heritage of architecture, ingenious design, powerful advertising posters and unique calligraphy. In this talk we plot the early development of the Underground, examine the legacy of Frank Pick and Charles Holden, look at some of the iconic posters, and celebrate the award winning architecture of the modern Tube in the Jubilee Line Extension. We’ll also take a peek at some of the forthcoming Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) stations, designed by some of the world’s top architects.

Ian Swankie -  Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral.  Also a qualified and active freelance London guide and a member of both the City of London and Westminster Guide Lecturer Associations. Clients include NADFAS and WEA groups, Transport for London, the National Trust and London Open House. In 2012 he established a weekly independent art lecture group in Richmond and gives talks on a variety of subjects. 

The talk describes how the building developed from a modest Georgian house to the present Palace; from King George III's purchase of a family home in 1762 to the creation of a stunning palace by King George IV and John Nash in the 1820s; to the royal residence used by Queen Victoria and monarchs ever since as the centre of British Court life and the glittering setting for thousands of official functions and State visits. Mention is also made of the houses that stood on the site before George III's time. 

The Palace also contains hundreds of art treasures from the Royal Collection, including world famous paintings, furniture, sculpture, porcelain, clocks and other objects.

Oliver Everett was educated at Cambridge and did post graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and the LSE.  Following service in the Foreign Office 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) and is now Librarian Emeritus following his retirement.  He has written articles and books on the Royal Castles and the Royal Collection.  He also lectures widely in Britain and abroad.

Who were the women gardeners of the 20th century?   From the pioneering women such as Gertrude Jekyll and Ellen Willmott, who first established the place of women among the horticultural elite, to mid-century plantswomen like Vita Sackville-West and Marjorie Fish, and ultimately in the latter decades of the century to the great professional women such as Arabella Lennox-Boyd and Penelope Hobhouse, who now dominate English gardening.  This lecture looks at the gardeners and their gardens and points up how dramatically the role and influence of women has changed for the good of the horticultural world.

James Bolton is a garden designer and historian who set up his garden design business in 1992 following a course in garden design at the Inchbald School of Design and two years as Head Gardener at the Old Rectory Farnborough.  He lectures extensively on garden history and has set up courses for the Inchbald School of Design.  He organises tours and writes extensively.

The Medici were in many ways an unattractive family.  Ruthless in pursuit of profit for their Florentine bank which had branches in every city of the known world.  And yet without them we wouldn’t have Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, the Fra Angelico frescoes in San Marco, Donatello's David or the majestic Michelangelo sculptures in the Medici chapel.  This lecture looks into the turbulent history of this extraordinary family.  The triumph and tragedies, the intrigues and plots; the assassination attempts, the years of exile and their perpetual desire to glorify the family name in works of art, which result in some of the greatest achievements of the Italian Renaissance.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980.  He has given over 400 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies in the UK and overseas.  He has written several books and presented various TV documentaries.

The Wilton Diptych is one of the most beautiful yet enigmatic paintings ever made. It appears in the last decade of Richard II’s turbulent reign and represents the high watermark of a period rich in artistic achievement.

The lecture will focus on this work of art but will also include other examples of art and architecture: the angel hammerbeam roofs of Westminster Hall and East Anglian churches, the rebuilding of great cathedrals in the perpendicular style and illuminated manuscripts. 

Mark Cottle  was born on the Isles of Scilly and educated at Truro School, Cornwall, and Birmingham University. His career has been spent in education and training at home and abroad. He has lectured at Exeter College on Medieval and Tudor history, St Mark's & St John's University College, Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and medieval England. He currently runs two small companies providing training and study breaks.

2016 was the bi-centenary of the nation’s purchase of the Elgin Marbles.  On 7th June 1816 the House of Commons voted funds to buy the collection for the British Museum.

The most significant part of the collection were the sculptures of the Parthenon in Athens and the lecture will begin with a description of these sculptures and why they are so celebrated.  How Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin ‘acquired’ them will be considered and the task of bringing them to London.

It was a controversial decision then – and it remains so still – but the sculptures of the Parthenon have been the subject of arguments ever since their creation two thousand five hundred years ago.  This lecture will also examine some of those debates and how the significance of the sculptures has changed: from architectural decoration to disputed cultural objects.

Alan Read has a first class honours degree in History of Art and acts as a guide for many of Britain’s top galleries such as the Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery.  He lectures extensively and is also a Blue Badge Guide and City of London Guide. He also conducts walking tours for the Twentieth Century Society, The National Trust and team London Bridge.

‘Follow your desire, allow the heart to forget’, so sang the ancient Egyptian harpist as he encouraged the partygoers to relax and have a good time. The ancient Egyptians loved nothing more than to feast and celebrate whenever the opportunity arose. This lecture will explore the depiction of celebration in Egyptian art, from the elaborate temple festivals to banquets with family and friends. We shall examine the ancient art in order to explore the clothes and adornments worn; the food and drink consumed; and the entertainment enjoyed. We shall pay particular attention to the so-called ‘banqueting scenes’ on the walls of the New Kingdom (c1550 – c1069 BC) non-royal tombs at Thebes (on Luxor’s west bank). 

Lucia Gahlin  is an Egyptologist who works in museums and on excavations in Egypt, and leads tours to Egypt.  She mostly lectures. She is an Honorary Research Associate at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology and teaches Egyptology for the University of Exeter. She also works in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London where she chairs the Friends of the museum. Co-Director of Bloomsbury Summer School at UCL.  Her publications include Egypt: gods, myths, religion (2001).

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 Primo holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading in 2005 and 2007. He 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.

‘When my father Roland Penrose made his collage titled Homage to Man Ray, he included the pencilled wording HOM MAGE, a pun in French which can be translated as Magic Man. Roland knew that in his photography Man Ray magically transformed light into wonderful Surrealist images, and in his objects everyday things became visual puns, sometimes sinister, sometimes funny, but always provocative. Man Ray was much adored by both my parents and from an early age by me too. He encouraged me to make my own objects and my own puns. I knew he and my mother Lee Miller had been lovers in their youth and their love endured as a deep friendship. There was always a special smile on her face when Man Ray was around. It took me much of my life to discover the history that lay between her, Man Ray and my father. This is the story of Lee Miller’s special smile.’

 Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) have iconic status in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 swept away the old régime and banished European influence in the arts. Kahlo and Rivera, in their different ways, helped to shape the cultural identity of twentieth-century Mexico.

Diego Rivera’s panoramic images adorn the walls of public buildings, combining social criticism with a faith in human progress. His intricate visual narratives incorporate allegory and symbolism.

Compared with the monumental scale of Rivera’s work, Kahlo's work is small in format. Arguably Mexico’s most original painter, she made herself the principal theme of her art. Her paintings reflect her experiences, dreams, hopes and fears.

Chloë Sayer is a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. She leads cultural tours to Mexico, and has lectured for galleries, museums and cultural institutions worldwide. She has published many books on Mexican textiles and the arts and crafts of Mexico.

She has been a lecturer with The Arts Society since 2004, and has been the The Arts Society guest-speaker on many cruises.She has been awarded several notable research fellowships in the UK and overseas. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government, in recognition of her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture.

A reading list for this lecture can be found here: Reading list

NB: THIS LECTURE IS ON A WEDNESDAY

Chairs are familiar objects which we take for granted. Janusz, who previously spoke to us about The Cupboard, will talk about the development of the chair in terms of its construction and style from ancient times through to the 19th century and also discuss its use as a symbol of power and authority in courtly ritual.

Janusz is a freelance lecturer and researcher in English furniture history and also antique dealer.

This lecture marks the centenary of Rodin’s death. It will investigate the important role played by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) in the evolution from traditional to modern sculpture – as he succinctly put it himself: “I am the link, the bridge between the past and the future, between yesterday and tomorrow.” The talk will focus on Rodin’s famous masterpieces such as The Kiss, The Age of Bronze, The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais and Balzac – looking at the ideas behind these works as well as the new techniques employed by the sculptor.

Eveline Eaton graduated from the Courtauld Institute. She is a freelance lecturer in Fine Arts and tour-guide to Berlin, Dresden, Munich. She is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden Trust.

Many stories are told about Degas, his attitudes, and his work. To mark the centenary of his death, this talk seeks to unpick myth from reality, pointing out the strange, even contradictory nature, of Degas’ modernity and the ways in which he gave expression to it in his art. We concentrate on the 1860s, quite early on in Degas’ career, when he was still in search of an artistic identity. We look at Degas’ experiments with modern-life genre subjects, setting them against his early ambition to be a history painter, and comparing his paintings with contemporary works by Manet, Renoir and Tissot. 

Kathy McLaughlan graduated from Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute. In 2001, she completed her PhD on French painters in Rome during the 19th century. A course director at the V&A and freelance lecturer specialising in 19th century art history, she has published catalogues and articles for the British Council and the Barbican Art Gallery. She is currently head of the Visual Art Department, Morley College, London

From the late seventeenth century to the modern period this lecture looks at the development of the sport of horseracing in England through its associated cultural material. Using the wealth of paintings, archive material and decorative art objects associated with and depicting the ‘Sport of Kings’, the lecture will take as its starting point the earliest origins of the sport including the development of Newmarket and the Jockey Club as racing’s ‘Headquarters’. Treasures of the Turf also explores other influential racing circuits and, especially since this talk will be given in the week of the Festival, will include a focus on Cheltenham. 

Christopher Garibaldi is Director of the National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket. Before that he was Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum 1998-2003. In 1998 he curated the exhibition in Bury St Edmunds to mark the tercentenary of George Wickes,  silversmith to Frederick, Prince of Wales  and who founded the firm which became Garrards. He has also catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Speaker's Residence, The House of Commons.

As adults we carry in our heads a huge number of images from childhood and probably some of those most deeply etched come from illustrations in books that we read as children.  Images of ‘Tigger’ and ‘Toad’ drawn by E.H. Shepard will probably remain with us for ever!

In this colourful and nostalgic lecture, we will not only consider a range of book illustrations but also the intriguing lives of famous illustrators such as Beatrix Potter, and Arthur Rackham.

In addition John will compare different styles of illustration from simple line drawing to photo realistic imagery, before examining how the interaction of image and narrative creates such powerful memories.

John Ericson was formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education.  His principle areas of research were course design and the role of pictures in both teaching and learning.  He has worked extensively as an educational consultant and gives lectures and presentations all over the world. 

Of the Italian Renaissance masters, only Piero della Francesca viewed the visual arts and mathematics with equal importance.  Late in his life he declared that the whole visual world could be described through only five geometric forms.  Indeed, his art is spare and uncluttered.  His figures are dreamy and detached from their surroundings, with little emotional content, although the landscape background is always vital to meaning. No single place houses a major quantity of his work and this lecture takes us to those Italian cities where he left behind a visual legacy. 

Piero was forgotten soon after his death and it was not until the 19th century that painters and art historians recognised this master of form, perspective, his studies of light and his optical realism.

Alice Foster lectured for the University of Oxford Department of Continuing Education for 15 years  and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Bristol and New College, Oxford. Teaches History of Art courses in conjunction with the Oxfordshire Museum, and with the Three Counties History of Art Society. She guides study holidays in Italy and has been a NADFAS lecturer since 2004. 

Charles Dickens has often been proclaimed as “The Man Who Invented Christmas” and indeed on hearing that Dickens had died a cockney barrow-girl said: “Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”  Dickens revived the Christmas traditions with his warm portrayal of Christmas in the domestic setting; with plum pudding, piping hot turkey, games, dancing  and family cheer by the hearth. Although he celebrated Christmas in numerous works it is his enduring master piece, ‘A Christmas Carol’ published on 19th December 1843 which immortalises the spirit of Christmas Cheer. Dickens was a man of extraordinary energy and talent: literary genius, reformer, public speaker, actor and amateur magician.

In his lecture Bertie Pearce reveals a Dickensian Christmas with readings, biographical details and conjuring tricks.

Bertie Pearce has a degree in Drama from Manchester University and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théâtre.  He is also a member of the Magic Circle with Gold Star.  He lectures extensively for NADFAS and other groups and has toured the world with a magic cabaret show.

Birmingham Town Hall was built in 1832-4 to serve both as an emblem for the town and as a venue in which to hold its great public events.  As such it occupies a central place in Birmingham’s story. Study of this landmark provides an opportunity for consideration of the broader history of this the ‘city of a thousand trades’.  Regarded as Britain’s first truly civic building, Birmingham Town Hall was also the country’s first great purpose built concert hall.  Over the course of its history it has played host to many noteworthy events.  For instance it was here, in 1846, that Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of Elijah.   

The lecture also engages with the colourful story of the Town Hall’s construction. When it was finally completed the Town Hall was lauded as being ‘by far the cheapest building of its magnitude perhaps ever erected’ as well as ‘the pride of Birmingham and an ornament to England’. Finally there is an insider’s account of the recent £35 million scheme to repair and revitalise the building.

Anthony Peers is a freelance historic buildings consultant, educated as an Architectural Historian at Manchester University and trained in building conservation at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, York. He reviews buildings for various institutions and has written several books including in 2012, a history of Birmingham Town Hall.

This talk focuses on the family and influences upon Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy, the commander of HMS Beagle and their participation in the celebrated voyage of 1831-36 which enabled Darwin to collect vital evidence for his ground-breaking publication On the Origin of the Species.  Fitzroy paid for two artists, Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens, to paint the people and places encountered and these images underpin the remarkable seafaring stories.

James Taylor studied at both the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester and is a former curator of paintings, drawings and prints and co-ordinator of various exhibitions and galleries at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich.  He lectures extensively, including as ships’s historian on cruise ships.  His many publications include the illustrated histories of Marine Painting (1995) and Yachts on Canvas (1998) and researches and writes the catalogues for many marine exhibitions.

This lecture illustrates the potential of the book as a three dimensional object, from pop-ups, hidden fore-edge paintings, peep-show books, to books with hidden compartments and intriguing surprises. Whatever the reason for the creation of these unusual books, playfulness and humour is always a guiding principle. Dominic will show work from his favourite book artists, including examples of experimental book structures he has collected and some he has made himself as part of his interest in this creative genre. Seen together they represent over two hundred years of questioning the notion of ‘what is a book?’.

Dominic Riley is a bookbinder, artist, teacher, writer and lecturer. He specialises in the restoration of antiquarian books and the creation of contemporary fine bindings. He teaches bookbinding both in the UK and USA, and his prize-winning bindings are in collections world-wide. In 2013 he was awarded first prize in the International Bookbinding competition, the Sir Paul Getty Award. His winning binding was acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Dominic is a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders and serves as Vice President of the Society of Bookbinders.

A mixture of art-historical analysis and scandalous anecdote, this lecture takes a generally light-hearted look at changing attitudes to sexual morality down the ages, by examining the portraits and careers of some of history’s most notorious mistresses and courtesans.  It also charts the rather complex and ambiguous attitudes of art and society towards the numerous anonymous working girls at the lower end of the scale, by investigating how they have been represented in different times and places from the 17th to the 20th century.

Linda Smith holds two first class degrees in Art History. She is a guide Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Dulwich Picture Gallery and lecturers widely to independent arts societies.

Art Deco was an exciting new style celebrating a new era. Sandwiched between two World Wars it evokes the glamour of Hollywood, the Jazz Age, cocktail parties and ocean-going liners set against the misery of unemployment with the Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash. Influenced by developments in Europe especially the appointment of celebrated painters as glass designers in Sweden in 1916, and the hugely influential Paris 'Exposition des Arts Decoratif' and the glass of René Lalique in 1925, British glass companies caught up with their overseas counterparts in terms of design and quality. In Stourbridge, the firm of Stevens and Williams employed the free-lance architect Keith Murray who is still the only British glass designer to win a Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale, while Stuart Crystal worked with fine artists including Graham Sutherland, Eric Ravilious, Dame Laura Knight and Paul Nash to create exciting new ranges shown at Harrods in 1934. The very best of British Art Deco glass celebrated the machine age with emphatic geometric lines and vibrant colour schemes and still retains its international significance.

Charles Hadjamach is the former Director of Broadfield Glass House Museum from 1974-2003. He has written and lectured widely and his publications include British Glass 1800-1914 (1991) and 20th century British Glass (2009).

The Silk Road stretches for over 8,000 kms from China through Central Asia to the Mediterranean. Early Persian routes spread east towards India, until stability finally allowed the Chinese to trade silk, jade and ceramics in exchange for horses, pearls and gold. The route also acted as a highway for beliefs, ideas, inventions and art for 1,400 years. During this colourful lecture we will see traditional murals, ceramics, statues, carpets, architecture, mosaics, tile-work, rock carvings and of course, silk itself.

Christopher Bradley is a specialist in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. On this subject he has written extensively, lectured, made documentaries and he is also a professional tour guide. His publications include the Insight Guide to the Silk Road.

‘In Picasso is all the history of modern art,’ proclaimed one English critic in 1934, whereas G.K. Chesterton described a cubist work as “a piece of paper on which Mr. Picasso has had the misfortune to upset the ink and tried to dry it with his boots”.  Picasso’s influence grew in Britain from being at first seen by a small elite to ever wider influence, but even his champions did not always understand what he was trying to do, seeing, for instance, his cubist experiments as exercises in abstraction whereas Picasso maintained that he was the only true realist in paint, insisting that cubism was not abstract.   The lecture explores Picasso’s influence on such key figures of modern British art as Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and David Hockney.

Sarah Stopford has a BA from Harvard and a BA from Cambridge.  She is a guide and lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Her specialist interests are in British and post 1900 art.

The tall London terrace house overlooking a tree-filled square is a familiar image of London. This lecture looks at its 17th century origins in Covent Garden, and the development of London’s West End with well-planned streets and squares. Different functions were on different floors, providing flexible space for entertaining and living. London squares, often embellished with churches, still provide some of the most attractive places to live or work. The lecture will end with the only royal development, Regent’s Park, with its picturesque landscape setting.

Caroline Knight is an architectural historian, lecturer and writer. Her publications include London’s Country Houses (2009).

The Spanish artist Francisco de Goya’s long life spanned the reigns of four Bourbon monarchs, and a period of considerable social and political upheaval, including the Peninsular Wars.  His early works were designs for the royal Tapestry Works in Madrid, but by the 1790s he branched out into portrait painting, political satire, imaginative commentaries, and experimental works.  Goya was an energetic and restless genius whose paintings reflected the turbulence of his age.

Gail Turner read History at Oxford and has an MA in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute. She lectures extensively in the UK and Spain.

London’s National Gallery is a marvellous place to see how artists have treated the Christmas story through the ages. The most beautiful images ever made are here.  The earliest paintings date from before the Reformation when the richest imagery and fabulous stories of the saints were much admired.  Following the Counter Reformation in the middle years of the 16th century, Catholic art was stripped of these colourful stories derived from the Golden Legend, which were regarded often as superstitious fabrications.  There was still a big demand for Christmas images for altarpieces, but now earthed in every day life, emphasising Emmanuel - God with us.  by way of contrast the Protestant north stripped churches of art.  However, there was a market from private patrons, especially in Holland, where artists like Rembrandt painted some of the most tender and moving interpretations of the theme.  By choosing images from the 1260s up to the mid-1600s we also see how Western European art developed in Italy and the Netherlands.

Caroline MacDonald-Haig is a Design and Decorative Arts journalist and author as well as a London Blue Badge Guide.  Her specialist subjects are: history of glass, London’s history, galleries, museums and architecture.  She lectures and tours throughout the world.

Eveline Eaton will introduce the history of Munich and its rulers. She will show the most important sites in the city and decorative arts within them.

Throughout history, mankind has been absorbed with understanding the concept of Time and we have used the ‘tick-tock’ of nature (whether the cycles of sun, stars, moon, or the vibrations of the atom) to develop devices to tell WHEN things should happen. All kinds of other things (whether the flowing of water, the burning of wax or the falling of sand) have been used to tell HOW LONG things should take. A third class of things (bells, guns, or alarm clocks) has alerted us to the NOW – to get something done. As civilization has progressed, the social context of who needed to tell the time - whether civic leaders, the church, merchants, or individuals - has varied dramatically. Equally, there has been a continuing drive towards greater accuracy, driven by the needs of navigators, commerce and scientists. But a significant feature of time-telling has been our perception of the transience of our own lives. This appears to have resulted in two things. Firstly, time-telling devices have always been produced with exceptional intricacy, craftsmanship and beauty. Secondly, while poets understand time, philosophers and scientists have struggled…

Kevin Karney studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge and worked across the world as an underground engineer.  Has had a life long interest in the history of timekeeping and cosmology and has lectured on these subjects throughout the UK and US.

Eveline Eaton will introduce the history of Drrsden and its rulers. She will show the most important buildings in the city and the decorative art that they have within them.

This talk will first look at the ideas and designs of Dr C. Dresser, as well as the arts and crafts ideas of William Morris put into effect for silver by C. R. Ashbee. These two remarkable and opposing developments during the 1880s and 1890s set the foundations of modern silver. The talk will then progress through Art Nouveau and Art Deco to the remarkable developments of the 1960s which internationally put Britain into the lead in this area. It will finish by looking at the work of some of our exciting modern craftsmen.

Ian Pickford lectures for a number of London galleries and museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and broadcasts on radio and television.

James Gillray was the natural successor to William Hogarth but represented, in his cutting and brilliant caricatures, everything about satirical prints that Hogarth disapproved of.  Uncompromising and fearless in his art, Gillray tore into politicians and the royal family alike.  And yet, full of contradictions, that didn’t stop him pursuing a staunchly patriotic stance when it came to the French Revolution, nor accepting a pension to tone down his satirical bite.  After he died insane in 1815, his reputation, in the Victorian climate of moralistic righteousness, plummeted.  It is only now that he can be seen as the natural forefather of Spitting Image and the cartoons of Gerald Scarfe and Steve Bell – although none of these have quite matched the wit and vitriol of Gillray at his best.

Ian gained a first class degree from Oxford in PPE and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant and also became a member of the Inner Magic Circle.  He has written and lectured on several topics throughout the US and Europe.   

The lecture covers 250 years of American history and 1000 miles of American terrain. The Plantation Houses of Virginia and the Carolinas provide some of the finest examples of Colonial Architecture in America. Houses like Shirley, Westover and Drayton Hall show all the Palladian elegance of a Georgian Country House. George Washington's Mount Vemon and Thomas Je:fferson's Monticello are more personal houses, entirely appropriate residences for their distinguished owners. We then move from the Old South to the Deep South and look at some of the spectacular houses of Louisiana and Mississippi - Parlange, San Francisco, Nottaway and Longwood among them.

Anthony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Mark Wallinger are amongst the most well known sculptors working in Britain today and have all had major commissions for public works of art. With a wide range of inspirations and motifs, the work of these three artists provides an interesting insight into contemporary views and preoccupations in Britain. This lecture will look at examples of all three artists' work, exploring both the common ground between them, and the differences in style, technique and themes.

There is no name more evocative of Bohemian life: of high spirits, decadence, poverty, and revolutionary art in Paris, than Montmartre. In reality it was little more than a rundown suburb overlooking the city, bristling with windmills. But the garden cafes, the dancehalls and cabarets, and the ramshackled studios that spilled down the hillside of Montmartre would become the inspiration and home to some of France's greatest artists. From the Moulin de la Galette where Renoir painted Parisians dancing in the afternoon sunlight, to Toulouse Lautrec's vivid images of the Moulin Rouge, the smoke filled cabaret where the can-can was danced to Offenbach's music, to the shabby garrets of the Bateau Lavoir where a group of artists headed by Picasso would paint canvases that would shake the foundations of Western art, this lecture charts the course of this extraordinary artistic life.

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