From 18th century royal pleasure gardens to the most bio-diverse place on earth today, Cindy Polemis digs into the history of Kew Gardens. We’ll look at Kew’s early role as a beacon of historical landscape aesthetic, its crucial part in the advancement of science, colonialism and trade, and how today it drives international efforts to combat the effects of climate change and the threats of extinction in the natural world. Kew scientists have even collaborated with police forensic investigations: thwarting illegal timber trades, solving gruesome murders and identifying poisons are just some of the ways they have helped combat crime. 

Cindy Polemis is an art historian, independent lecturer and art guide. She has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and as a mature student she went back to university to study first for a BA and then for a Masters in History of Art at Birkbeck College, London University. Before that she spent many years as a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service working in news and current affairs. Since 2016 Cindy has worked as a lecturer and an official art guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has also been a trustee at the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum. Cindy has accumulated a wide range of art historical knowledge ranging from 18th European and British art to the contemporary international art scene. She has been an official guide for both Frieze Masters and Frieze Art Fairs in London. She is particularly keen to draw parallels with art and social history and her lectures are accessible and engaging, drawing out the stories of art and artists which are steeped in human emotions and experiences which we all share. 

 My first lucky break was the role of Captain James Bellamy in Upstairs Downstairs, my most recent that of Justin Elliott in The Archers. So in 50 years I’ve gone from one cad to another. In between my career has been a roller coaster ride of successes and the flops, the upsides and downsides of a ‘showbiz’ life. I’ve worked with a wide range of people including Peter Sellers, Joan Collins, David Jason, Nigel Havers, Marianne Faithful, Noel Coward, Judi Dench, Alan Bennett, Glenda Jackson. I’ll be sharing some secrets and maybe dishing some dirt. 

Theatre: Chariots of Fire (Hampstead/West End); Yes, Prime Minister (West End/UK tour); The Deep Blue Sea, The Constant Wife, The Winslow Boy (West End); Allelujah! (The Bridge); Versailles (Donmar); Posting Letters to the Moon (The Minerva & New York); The Power of Yes (National Theatre); Hay Fever (Chichester); The Old Country (Trafalgar Studios). Television includes: Upstairs Downstairs, Sherlock Holmes, The Bletchley Circle, Midsomer Murders, Spooks, Dinner Ladies, Dr Who, Merlin, and Poldark. Film includes: Goodbye Christopher Robin, Viceroy’s House, Silent Hours, The Fever, The Opium War, The Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu, The Prisoner of Zenda, No Longer Alone, The Odd Job, Jabberwocky. He is a writer and columnist and plays Justin Elliott in The Archers. 

 Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) was one of the most celebrated artists her time. She displayed exceptional early talent, and on 31 May 1783 became one of just four women elected to France’s prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de sculpture. Vigée Le Brun was Queen Marie-Antoinette’s favourite portraitist, creating royal portraits that were astonishing in their informality. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, that relationship became a liability. Vigée Le Brun fled France with her nine-year old daughter, travelling through Italy, Austria, Russia, Germany, England and Switzerland. 

Dr Lois Oliver is Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute. She has worked as a Curator at the V&A, the National Gallery, and the Royal Academy. Her recent exhibitions include ‘Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism’ at Dulwich Picture Gallery and ‘Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook’ for the Royal Academy. She has created audio and multimedia tours for many of the UK’s leading arts institutions and has appeared on BBC Radio and TV. Also a keen violinist, Lois plays regularly with Kensington Chamber Orchestra and the Endellion Festival Orchestra. Lois studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and writing her PhD thesis on The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855. 

 Jane Austen’s novels are often characterised as lightweight romances dealing in trivialities and portraying a limited social sphere, reflecting the constricted circumstances of the author’s own life. This lecture offers an alternative reading, suggesting that Austen is not interested in romance but moral challenge, not a mild spinster but a social commentator of contemporary relevance and by no means inferior to Eliot and Dickens by virtue of her limited canvas. Mary will read and discuss extracts from Emma and Pride and Prejudice, considering questions such as how we should view the tedious Miss Bates to whom Emma is so famously insolent and how we should judge the over-excitable Mrs Bennet. 

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

 This lecture looks at the extraordinary rags to riches life of designer Coco Chanel. Declining a marriage proposal from the Duke of Westminster “there will be many duchesses of Westminster but only one Coco Chanel” she chose the art of business over marriage to become one of the most successful women of the 20th century. 

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

In this lively introduction to the tapestry – so much more than the story of Hastings – Rupert unravels some of its mysteries, places it in the context of its age and firmly establishes it as a landmark in the history of Western art.  Commissioned by the Bishop of Bayeux who fought at Hastings, executed by skilled English craftsmen, the Bayeux Tapestry is the last survivor of a vanished art form. Rupert Willoughby presents a lively introduction to the tapestry – so much more than the story of Hastings – in which he unravels some of its mysteries, places it in the context of its age and firmly establishes it as a landmark in the history of Western art.

 Rupert Willoughby is an historian and Classicist, a poet, a father and a committed outdoor swimmer with a passion for castles, lakes and uncovering the layers of the past. A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London (where he immersed himself in the ‘Byzantine’, or medieval Greek Empire), he is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin, and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village, and the whimsical, yet scholarly Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. Rupert also contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph. Accredited by The Arts Society since 2011, he is an experienced lecturer, who is known for his light, humorous touch, his love of narrative and his vivid evocations of the past. Rupert’s forefathers were Vikings and his foremothers were Tatars. 

THE LIVING LANDSCAPE – A WORKSHOP TO PAINT AND CREATE  FOR ARTISTS AND NON-ARTISTS

                                                                      At 10.00 am – 12.30pm

Norfolk House, Bristol Street, Malmesbury Wilts SN16 0AX

£17.00 per person with coffee and cakes/biscuits

Tim Baynes is a practising, local artist and this workshop will open with a conversation about landscap painting. He will show us the process of painting from inspiration, preparation and final painting. If you are interested in the art of putting a design on paper and are drawn to colour, we shall see how the same subject can be rendered in different ways and how these iterations are achieved. Essential to the workshop is conversation - to expand a discussion of what makes a piece of artwork exciting.

This a fun morning for all – for artists and non-artists. There will no pressure to paint – but you never know, you might feel inspired to try your hand! We can all create a drawing or painting and have a go! If you are an artist, do bring along a piece of your work.

Tim will bring along his sketchbooks, preparatory drawings and materials and we will be encouraged ‘to have a go!’. To help our creativity, we are encouraged to question and understand his process on how you can also take a photograph and can turn that into a drawing and then into a painting.

Tim Baynes was recently elected to the Guild of Wiltshire Artists. He studied Fine Art at Carmarthen School of Art with additional studies at Central St Martins School of Art and the Slade. His paintings of fields, farms, factories and towns, and commissioned works, are in collections in the US, UK, France, Spain and Australia.

His heroes of the art world include – John Piper, Kurt Jackson, Laura Knight and Barbara Rae.

See more on www.timbaynesart.co.uk

Click here for the booking form and advice about parking. Numbers are limited to 12.

Inigo Jones (1573-1652) was one of England’s most important and influential architects. He was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaissance into Britain. Hitherto classical forms and proportions had been little understood. However Inigo had travelled in Italy in 1613 where he studied Roman and Renaissance monuments. On his return he was put in charge of all royal building projects. His sensational new Banqueting House for Whitehall Palace (1619-22) is the first classical building in London, followed by the serenely harmonious Queen’s House at Greenwich. His design of Covent Garden Square was the first regularly designed square in England. We shall consider Inigo’s buildings, including his designs for private houses, which were to have an enormous influence on country house design after the Restoration of 1660. He was much admired in the 18th century and his work was a major influence on the great Palladian houses of that period.

Barbara Peacock is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 35 years' lecturing experience. Organises art and architectural tours in UK and abroad. Previously lecturer for Birmingham University Department of Extra-Mural studies and Tutor in Fine Art, Dept of Continuing Education, Southampton University; Assistant Keeper of Fine Art, Birmingham City Art Gallery. Freelance lecturer throughout Britain and abroad for the National Trust and numerous other organisations. Much involved in the preservation of the architectural heritage of the Czech land and has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Czech government and the Points of Light Award from the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May.

This talk examines the complex and fascinating story of how Pantomime developed out of its Greek and Roman roots through to the religious plays of the Middle Ages and the Italian Commedia Dell’Arte. It looks at the characters of the Harlequinade, Grimaldi the 18C clown, Music Hall artistes like Dan Leno and Marie Lloyd, and the soap stars of today. They have all contributed to the art of Pantomime and have helped to turn it into a peculiarly British institution associated with the festive season. 

Jane Tapley

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

The development of British art from the Elizabethans, with their exquisite miniatures and hieratic portraits of the Queen, to the extraordinary diversity of works produced in the reign of our present Queen.   

Val Woodgate

Val is currently a Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, as well as National Trust, U3A, City of London libraries (Barbican and Guildhall), and other organisations. 

Val lectures on Zoom for arts organisations.  She was formerly a Tate Guide for 39 years, and a member of Teaching Team at Dulwich Picture Gallery where, as well as lectures, she gave 50 Study Days and ran evening courses. She has held lectures and courses at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, on P&O cruises representing the Tate, and has lectured at University of Cape Town, and worked as a script writer for The Living Paintings Trust.

The Grand Tour was regarded as an essential rite of passage for the aristocracy and educated classes. Its origins, dating from the 15th century and incorporating the wonders of the ancient world from the Mediterranean to the Holy Land, reached their zenith in the 18th and 19th centuries with the discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This talk, based on Marc’s passion for collecting Grand Tour souvenirs, is a fascinating insight into the world of early tourist travel and collecting, and its influence on the fashion and style of a nation October.

Marc Allum

Marc has decades of experience in the auction world, and his natural insight into the working of the markets gives an accompanied tour of an auction house viewing a whole new light! What is it? Is it a fake? Is it restored? What are the pros and cons of buying at auction? Marc's knowledge will enthuse and advise on all areas of the auction world, so why not tailor a day out? Typically, an accompanied view with lunch in between and a visit to a local antiques centre works well, depending on your geography and locality. Groups are ten maximum. Marc also accompanies gallery tours, and conducts private tours of his house and collections. 

Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption were the Borgias really so bad? This lecture reveals the real family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the charismatic figure of Pope Alexander VI, living inside his sumptuously decorated apartments, the career of his son, Cesare, cardinal, general, employer of Da Vinci and the model for Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the journey of Lucrezia Borgia from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Sarah Dunant

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

Commissioned by David Attenborough to show off the potential of colour television, "Civilisation: A Personal View" was a thirteen-part survey of western culture from the Dark Ages to Concorde's first flight. Broadcast to great acclaim on BBC2, the series went on to attract even more enthusiastic audiences in the USA.

Jonathan Conlin

Dr Jonathan Conlin is a cultural historian of modern Britain and Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton. His books include "Tales of Two Cities" (2014), a comparative history of Paris and London, and biographies of Adam Smith and the Anglo-Armenian oil baron Calouste Gulbenkian. Born in New York, he studied History and Modern Languages at Oxford, subsequently moving to the Courtauld Institute and Cambridge for his MA and PhD. In 2023 he was commissioned by the National Gallery to write its bicentenary history. All his talks draw on his own archival research, allowing him to give audiences insights into how historians approach different kinds of evidence, the gaps and dead-ends as well as the surprise discoveries.

The Flourishing of the Arts and Summer Supper with The Reverend Oliver Ross, Vicar of Malmesbury Abbey

We are delighted to welcome the Vicar of Malmesbury Abbey, The Reverend Oliver Ross to talk to us about The Flourishing of the Arts, after a Summer Supper at Crudwell Village Hall on Friday 6th June with arrival from 6.45pm.

Oliver will explore with us the remarkable time which became known as the Renaissance, when the rediscovery of all things classical – philosophy, literature and art was promoted.  This time of change particularly impacted the painter, sculptor and architect.  Explore with us this fascinating period.

Cost and Booking Form

This event is open to members and their guests, and the cost for the lecture and supper is £29.50 per person.

Numbers will be restricted for this great opportunity to enjoy delicious food and socialising with fellow members and their guests while also learning about things artistic.  Click here where you can complete a fillable form on-line.

Places are limited for this talk and supper, so please sign up via this link as soon as you can.

George V was the only British monarch to visit India, for the Coronation Durbar of 1911. He surprised the entire population by announcing the relocation of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. This involved not only the building, but also the layout of an entire new city. The centrepiece was a mansion for the Viceroy, dominating the processional avenue that divided New Delhi from the old town. Its architect was Edwin Lutyens, known as the highly inventive creator of country houses in an eclectic Arts and Crafts Style. Here, he not only undertook the largest single dwelling erected in modern times, he also devised a hybrid style that incorporated elements of Indian architecture.

Timothy Wilcox

Timothy Wilcox is a writer, lecturer and exhibition curator with special interests in British art, in landscape and in watercolour painting. He was a museum curator in the British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings following positions at the V&A, in Liverpool and Hove. As a freelance curator and lecturer since 1997, he has organised exhibitions on Laura Knight, Hilda Carline, John Sell Cotman and John Constable, at venues including The Tate, The Lowry, the Wordsworth Trust and Dulwich Picture Gallery. He contributes regularly to the educational programmes at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and lectures at museums and galleries in Britain, Europe and the USA.

One of our greatest composers, Edward Elgar, was an extraordinary man.  Brought up in a provincial town, his father a piano tuner and the owner of a music shop, Elgar was completely self-taught as a musician, evidence of the strong determination behind his original and unique genius. His path to recognition was hard and bitter.  He had to contend with the prejudices of the British musical establishment, religious bigotry (he was a Roman Catholic) and with the entrenched class-consciousness of late Victorian provincial society.  However, with his wife Alice as his staunchest supporter, from a hesitant start with pieces written for his local music societies, to cantatas celebrating Britain’s history, “King Olaf” and “Caractacus”, he finally achieved national and international success with his “Variations on an original theme (Enigma)” of 1899. 

Roger Askew

Roger was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English. He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London and, after obtaining a further degree in Music, became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. After retiring in 2003 he returned to the south of England. He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society.

Where is the boundary between illustration and art? In this lecture John invites participants to decide whether Rockwell was a Great American Artist or a Mere Illustrator.

He is often referred to as a story teller with a brush! Many of his paintings tell us whimsical stories that invariably make us smile. Later in life however he chose to tackle some of the more serious political issues of the day, and it is these paintings that may well be his greatest legacy.

In America his work enjoys broad popular appeal, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations he created for ‘The Saturday Evening Post.’ Today his work sells for many millions of dollars. 

John Ericson

John was a lecturer at the University of Bath, where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. Over the last decade he has been a popular speaker on the Arts Society circuit in the UK and Europe as well as a frequent visitor to the societies in Australia and New Zealand. 

As well as the talks he has developed from his professional background, he offers presentations on an eclectic range of topics that are derived from his diverse interests and enthusiasms such as, Art Inspired by Wine, Visual Illusions in Art and The Shakers of North America. All his talks are entertaining, highly informative, very well illustrated and presented with warmth and humour.

Samuel Pepys was a composer, MP, civil servant, diarist, historian, Fellow of the Royal Society, 'man about town', friend of the 'high and mighty', a prisoner in the Tower of London and eyewitness of both Plague and Fire. He had an enormous zest for life. We will explore the man himself, his friends such as Sir Christopher Wren and John Evelyn, his wife Elizabeth and also his times. Evelyn called Pepys "universally beloved".  Could anyone have a finer memorial?

Andrew Davies

Andrew is an extra-mural tutor for London, Essex and The Open University. He is also author of nine books, including The East End Nobody Knows, is a frequent contributor to radio and television, and has lectured all over the world. He organises walks to complement his lectures.

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.  

Clive Stewart-Lockhart

Clive studied on the Sotheby's Works of Art course and has been working in the fine art world for 50 years. Now an independent art advisor, Clive was, until recently, a Director of Woolley and Wallis, one of 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. He has also lectured on cruise ships as well as for many other groups, and recently published a major article in the Journal of the Furniture History Society on Betty Joel. Clive is a Founder Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.

The “Star” of Bethlehem apparently did exist. But what it was exactly and when it shone in the night sky are questions that for two thousand years people have taken on trust. Astronomy can now recreate the night sky at any given moment historically, and we can actually see an intense light when looking south from Jerusalem towards Bethlehem one November night in 7BC – the year Jesus is thought to have been born. The “Star” signalled a new King for Israel and for the West because of the ancient astrological meanings attached to the planets and signs of the Zodiac. Deep space photos from NASA confirm the wisdom of the Magi who read the night skies accurately, astrologically, so many centuries ago.

The question is why would the Magi, if Persian as has always been assumed, set out to find the Saviour? Why would gentiles do this? Would it not make more sense if the wise men were in fact Jewish?  And this conclusion in also part of the story.

Hilary Guise

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

In 1838 David Roberts, the son of an Edinburgh cobbler, travelled up the Nile as far as Abu Simbel then back to Cairo. He was the first western artist to record the great statues of Rameses II, the Temple of Amun and the statues of Amenhotep III. He then travelled from Cairo across the Sinai desert to the Holy Land. His paintings of Petra were the first that Europeans had seen of this wonder of the ancient world. He went on to Jerusalem, Nazareth, Tyre and Baalbec. David Roberts’s paintings of his epic journey influenced travellers for generations to come. 

Felicity Herring

Felicity has an MA degree in Fine Art Valuation and a BA in History and Economics. She is an experienced cruise lecturer and lecturer to National Trust, Rotary, yacht clubs, public school sixth forms and retirement groups such as U3A and ProBus. She is a Member of the Nelson Society and 1805 Club, Programme Secretary of Blackmore Vale for four years and formerly a committee member of Wimborne.

The Arts and Crafts gardens created, in particular by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, set a standard against which English gardens would be measured for the next 60 years.

James Bolton

James studied at Inchbald School of Design 1990 (Dip ISD). He was Head Gardener at the Old Rectory Farnborough 1990-92, Faculty Director, Design History at the Inchbald School of Design and has been a Garden Designer since 1992. He has been a lecturer for The Arts Society since 1995, and Organiser of The Arts Society's garden study days and tours in UK and Europe. He organises tours to the best private gardens in the UK, Italy, France and South Africa. Garden Mania, his book on garden ornaments, was published in 2000.

Windsor Great Park is the largest and oldest space in the densely populated south-east of England and the most important site in north-west Europe of ancient oak trees. Its origins lie in the hunting forest of the Saxon and Norman kings. In the 18th century the Duke of Cumberland began the transformation of a section of the Park into his country estate, creating Virginia Water Lake. King George IV used the Park as his private pleasure ground, complete with a Chinese Fishing Temple and a Royal Menagerie. In 2006 1000 acres of the Park were designated “The Royal Landscape”, including Virginia Water Lake and the Savill and Valley Gardens.

This lecture traces the development of the Park and its historic buildings from Saxon times to the present day. The lecture can be linked to a coach tour of Windsor Great Park and a visit to the Savill and/or the Valley Gardens. 

Barbera Askew

Historian and London Blue Badge Guide since 1988. Lecturer, Examiner and Course Director on Blue Badge Guide Training Courses and an acknowledged expert on Royalty and Windsor Castle. The only Blue Badge Guide accredited to guide the Albert Memorial. Has conducted tours for American museums and alumni groups for the past 25 years. Offers guided visits and walking tours linked to her lectures.

The Kano school was a hereditary group of professional painters who specialized in sumptuous large-scale paintings for the rulers of Japan from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Their dynamic style of painting appealed to the Shoguns and warriors who built many magnificent castles and palaces in order to project an image of their authority, wealth, and power. The Kano school operated in a highly efficient studio system, and monopolized official commissions during the Edo period (1615 – 1868). In this lecture, the paintings and the architecture of Nijo Castle in Kyoto are examined to demonstrate the function of art as an enhancement of political power.

Meri Arichi

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

This talk by Fiona James, a member of Arts Society Malmesbury, provides a closer look at scientific and medical themes in art. From the Renaissance to the present day, scientific and medical themes have appealed to artists. The talk will explore a range of subjects including anatomy, the drama of the operating theatre, quack medicine and quack doctors, and the artist as patient.

This talk is being given at Tetbury Goods Shed Arts Centre, and starts at 7:00pm.

Ticket costs are £8.50 each if bought in advance, or £9.50 if bought on the day.

For further details click here.

*** SOLD OUT ***

We are delighted to welcome local historian, Tony McAleavy to talk to us about Tudor Malmesbury, followed by a Summer Supper at Crudwell Village Hall on Wednesday 15th May at 7.30pm. 

Malmesbury is steeped in history, of both local and national significance, and in this new talk, Tony will explore the Tudor elements of this with us.  The Tudor years - 1485-1603 - were a time of dramatic change for Malmesbury. After almost a thousand years of existence the Abbey was closed on the orders of Henry VIII. This was also the heyday of the town as a centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth. Elizabethan Malmesbury was the birthplace of the great philosopher, Thomas Hobbes.

Tony has unearthed a mass of interesting details about life at the time which he will share in his talk. His discoveries reveal that Tudor Malmesbury was not a happy place, superstition was rife, and people often went hungry. There was antagonism between poor weavers and wealthy clothiers, and frequent violent feuds between the leading families of the district.  

Tony McAleavy 

Tony is well known as an historian of Malmesbury. He studied history at Oxford and was for many years was the schools’ history adviser for Gloucestershire County Council. He has written extensively about Malmesbury, and recently published the first ever full-length history of Malmesbury Abbey.

Cost and Booking Form

This lecture is open to members and their guests, and the cost for the lecture and supper is £28.50 per person.

Numbers will be restricted for this great opportunity to learn more about our local town followed by delicious food and socialising with fellow members and their guests.  Places are limited for this talk and supper, so please sign up via this link as soon as you can.

The last time St Paul’s Cathedral was deprived of music for a long period was after the devastating Fire of London in 1666. But in 1697 Christopher Wren was able to triumphantly declare RESURGAM as the phoenix rose from the ashes.

Patrick will look at music from either side of this momentous event. He will also guide us through the finest repertoire from across the Cathedral’s liturgical year. Escorted by a selection of his favourite photographs, music and videos he will aim to convey the glories of twenty-five years of singing in this extraordinary building. 

Patrick Craig

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.  In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

Many people now carry a phone with a camera capable of taking very high-quality pictures, and yet the painting of botanical specimens persists with new Florilegium Societies still being formed.  Why is a drawing and painting still considered to be superior to a digital image?  This talk looks at the history of botanical illustration from the early herbals 1,500 years ago to the present day, taking in the lives of both the artists and the plants immortalised in the artwork.

Timothy Walker

From 1988 to 2014 I was the Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.  Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms and my lectures often investigate this relationship.  Since 2014 I have been a college lecturer and tutor in Botany and Plant Conservation at Somerville College Oxford. 

The National Gallery's collection begins with works from the early 13th Century and finishes with masterpieces by the Impressionists in the 19th Century. We firstly ask why do we have a National Gallery? The rest of Europe mostly began their National Collections by amalgamating a Royal Collection, but we still have our Royal Collection and so we had to build by other, far less prestigious means. 

I have chosen 10 paintings that are among my favourites in the collection. Mostly, they are not the well-known favourites. They have stories behind them that are interesting, amusing, unexpected and sometimes surprising. For example, a portrait of a female rhinoceros which toured London and set a fashion for having one’s hair styled ' a la rhinoceros' - or a portrait of an unknown man who has been sitting on my desk for more than 30 years. Or - in my mind - the most beautiful little angel in the gallery, or a painting by Paul Cézanne, the gruff, rough Southern Frenchman who was continually surprised that his paintings were even worth framing. 

I love looking into these pictures and reading their stories. Most of all, it is important to remember that none of these pictures were produced to hang on the walls of a London gallery. - they have all lived other, often surprising lives.

Linda Collins

Lecturer Historic Royal Palaces & National Trust. Freelance lecturer Tate Modern & National Gallery, London. Independent lecture organiser. Member of the Association of Art Historians. President of The Arts Society Harpenden Area.

Her publications include The Tudors: The Crown, The Dynasty, the Golden Age.  Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke,  Andre Deutsch Publishing, 2019;  King & Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke, The History Press, 2021. and Gloriana: The Art of Elizabeth I, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke, The History Press, 2021. Release date to be confirmed. 

In the early decades of the 15th Century, the small city state of Florence was the birthplace of an astonishing, bloodless, revolution, now known as the Renaissance. Many of its painters, composers, musicians, architects, thinkers, philosophers and patrons knew and influenced each other. None more so than the sculptor Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, who created new worlds out of stone, suffusing them with drama, humanity and tenderness. In the wake of a major exhibition at the V and A, this lecture looks at how he, in harness with many others, changed the face of European culture for ever.  

Sarah Dunant

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

Click here

In the late 18th century, Britain led the way in the major industry of slavery, which although it did not invent, it did industrialise to an extent never seen before in human history. However, the idea that the enslavement of human beings and the dehumanising to the status of animals was in fact wrong was just beginning to take hold of the consciences of some people in England at this time. This lecture will trace the beginnings of abolition through the eyes of Dido Elizabeth Belle a black woman living in Kenwood House in the late 18th century, and the only known portrait of her painted by the German, but London based Neo-classical painter Johann Zoffany (1733-1810). What made her so different from other blacks living in London at this time, how did Dido come to live at such a grand house at the height of slavery in Britain, what exactly was her status and how was she treated? In the light of these fundamental questions, this lecture will take us back in time on a journey that will not only look at the image of Dido, but will also look at a variety of images by artists such as Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). These artists and their paintings will be seen in the context of abolition, the changing social attitudes towards the industry of slavery, and the first stirrings of the Anti-Slavery movement in Britain.

Leslie Primo

Art historian Leslie Primo is an author, broadcaster, and graduate of Birkbeck, University College, with an MA in Renaissance studies. He lectured at the National Gallery, London for 18 years, and has appeared on the BBC speaking on Michelangelo and presenting on JMW Turner. He contributed to the Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History, and has a forthcoming Thames & Hudson book called, The Foreigners that Invented British Art. He currently teaches art history at Imperial College, and lectures for the Royal Academy, London.

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.

Amy Orrock

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 College 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).

In the year 2000, having been a Curator in the Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum for 13 years, Louise decided to escape. Given a trowel with a diamond and silver casing in the handle as a leaving present, she set off on a series of extraordinary archaeological adventures. In this richly illustrated talk she will take you with her to a mysterious and atmospheric ancient city on the coast of southern Albania, to the banks of the two great rivers of Mesopotamia - the Euphrates and the Tigris  - and then to the wild and wonderful mountains of northern Ethiopia.

Louise Schofield

Louise Schofield is an archaeologist who was Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities at the British Museum from 1987-2000. Her book, The Mycenaeans, was co-published by the Getty Museum and the British Museum in 2007. She now writes, lectures and runs international archaeological projects - previously in south-eastern Turkey, Greece and Albania and currently in Ethiopia. And rather wonderfully she has just been appointed Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the American University of Rome.

In 1848 seven young men – mostly artists – formed a secret brotherhood, bent on reforming British art. They were determined to paint with that attention to nature and vivid colour which (they believed) had prevailed in the Middle Ages, before Raphael and the Renaissance initiated a fatal decline. Once the secret of the brotherhood was exposed, their work aroused fierce criticism. They were championed however by John Ruskin, a 30-year-old critic whose observations of art and nature had already made him an influential figure. Ruskin’s association with the Pre-Raphaelites left his personal life in disorder, but brought the crusading artists the recognition which they still enjoy today. 

Patrick Conner

Patrick was a teacher at Marlborough College in 1970-71. From 1975-86 he was Keeper of Fine Art at the Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums in Brighton. Since 1986 he has been Director of the Martyn Gregory Gallery in London. He is the author of several books including Savage Ruskin, Oriental Architecture in the West and George Chinnery, artist of India and the China Coast.

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. 

Pepe Martinez

I qualified as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, graduating at the top of my class. Since qualifying as a guide I have specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue badge, I was a tour manager for 15 years, travelling extensively, all over the world.  

I can organise and arrange lecture facilities in central London. I can also combine a lecture with a walk of street art and graffiti in the East End and I can also organise a practical spray session, giving your group an opportunity to have a go at creating their own works. 

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

Sophie Matthews

Sophie is a musician well-known for her prowess on the English border bagpipes and has become one of the foremost players of the instrument in the UK. She plays a variety of early woodwind instruments such as shawm, rauschpfeife, crumhorm and recorder. She is also one of a handful of British players of the baroque musette, an 18th century French bagpipe similar to the Northumbrian small-pipes.

When not touring with GreenMatthews, Sophie makes instruments - including her own baroque oboe - and works with respected luthier Tony Millyard on his flutes. Sophie is self-taught on all of her instruments.

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.  

Rosamund Bartlett

Rosamund is a writer, lecturer and translator whose work as a cultural historian ranges across the arts. She completed her doctorate at Oxford and is the author of several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a study of Wagner's influence in Russia. She is currently writing a history of the Russian avant-garde. Her new translation of Anna Karenina for Oxford World’s Classics was published to acclaim in 2014. She has written on art, music and literature for publications such as The Daily Telegraph and Apollo, and received commissions from institutions including the Royal Opera House, Tate UK, and the Salzburg Festival. Her lecturing work has taken her from the V&A and the National Theatre in London to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and she contributes regularly to Proms events and opera broadcasts on the BBC.

Leonardo da Vinci was not a physician so why did he study anatomy? He believed that art was based on a scientific understanding of everything depicted, and that accurate representation depended on him getting under the skin and into the mind of his subjects. He also subscribed to the hypothesis that man was a microcosm of the universe. It followed that if the form and function of man could be explained then the universe would be better understood.

This talk explores the way in which Leonardo acquired his knowledge of anatomy from experience through extrapolation to human dissection and ties in with the chronology of his travels and well-known artistic achievements. It is illustrated with examples of his anatomical drawings and reflects the extra ordinary accuracy of his findings. 

Guy Rooker

Guy came to The Arts Society not with a background in the arts but from the world of science in general, and surgery in particular. He describes himself as a retired surgeon with a lifelong passion, fascination, and admiration for the work of Leonardo da Vinci. He considers that the contribution Leonardo has made to both the world of art and the investigation of scientific concepts to be quite unique and extraordinary in the way that so many of his pioneering investigations have contributed to the understanding of our world today.

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

David Wright

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

At some stage in their life most of us have received or sent a valentine card. While enthusiasm for such a romantic gesture has fluctuated over the years, the symbolism has remained enduring. This talk explores the expressions of roses, hearts and cupids as depicted by generations of engravers and concludes with the satirical and elaborate confections of the late Victorian era.

John Scott

John graduated in History at the University of Stirling, and then had a career in the City at Morgan Grenfell and Deutsche Bank. Elected as a councillor in The City in 1999, he has since served as Chief Commoner and on the governing bodies of the Museum of London, Gresham College, Thames Festival and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has lectured at Gresham College, The Smithsonian, Ironbridge Museums, the National Waterways Museum and Guildhall Library. All the lectures are based on original unpublished sources from his own archive.

When Henry VII arranged the marriage of his favourite, Sir Charles Somerset, a descendant of John of Gaunt, to his ward, the Welsh heiress, Elizabeth Herbert, in 1492, it heralded the meteoric rise of the wealthy and politically savvy Somerset family dynasty which became the Dukes of Beaufort from 1682. Elizabeth brought the Herbert’s main residence of Raglan Castle in Wales to the marriage.

This lecture covers the Somerset family’s transition of Raglan from fortress to Renaissance palace. It deals with the fall of Raglan in the Civil War and the family’s subsequent move to Troy ‘Palace’ near Monmouth, where they enriched Troy’s architecture and gardens to reflect the family’s national importance. Finally, following the first Duke of Beaufort’s astute reclamation of the family’s wealth and position during the reign of Charles II – and his wife’s design and botanical skills ? Badminton became the main family seat, famous for its palatial buildings and cosmologically inspired gardens.

Dr Ann Benson FSA FRHistS

Ann 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.

Mexico has a vast range of festivals. Visually splendid, many feature lavish processions and masked dances with richly decorated costumes. Although some festivals commemorate national events, most are religious in inspiration. After the Spanish conquest of 1521, priests used theatrical representation as a method of instruction. Traditionally, people displayed elaborate nativity scenes in their homes.

The Christmas story is acted out in towns and villages: adults and children perform as shepherds and shepherdesses, hermits and devils. Other important celebrations include Saints' Days, All Souls' Day, and Carnival. Chloë Sayer's book 'Fiesta' was published in 2009 by The British Museum Press. 

Chloe Sayer

Chloe is a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. She has lectured in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, and has curated exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. She has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum, and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture.

Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson 1990), Focus on Aztecs and Incas (Watts Books 1995), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland 1998), Textiles from Mexico (British Museum Press 2002), and Mexico: Clothing and Culture (Royal Ontario Museum 2015). She has also published articles in travel guides, newspapers and magazines.

Betty Joel, born Mary Stewart Lockhart, ran a furniture making and design business. At its peak, in the 1920s and 30s, Betty Joel Ltd employed 50 craftsmen and had showrooms in Knightsbridge. With no formal training, she created, through a flair for branding and marketing, the leading furnishing company of the day in London. The talk explores her early life and marriage to David Joel, exhibitions, and projects. Her clients included royalty, high society, politicians, banks, hotels (such as the Savoy in London) as well as film companies and theatres. With rare access to three surviving schemes, the style and glamour of 1930s' design is brought to life and retells the story of a determined woman in a world still run by men. 

Clive Stewart-Lockhart 

Clive 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. He 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.

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

Sarah Stopford

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

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

Is this because there were none?

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

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

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

Lynne Gibson

Now working as a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, Lynne originally trained as a fine artist and has taught painting, drawing and printmaking in higher and adult education. She lectured as an art historian for the universities of Sussex and Bristol where she introduced 'Understanding Art' to the Lifelong Learning programme and residential summer schools. Lynne gives talks, lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations and institutions, including ARCA colleges, the National Trust, National Gallery, art museums and art societies. She has worked as a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching. Her solo and group shows have included the RWA, British Museum and the Barbican.

This lecture covers all aspects of Islamic art in some of the most important cities, sites and museums in the world, particularly Cordoba, Cairo, Istanbul, Damascus, Isfahan and Samarkand. Islamic art encompasses the great wealth of artistic treasures inspired by the Islamic religion, including decorated ceramics, carved wood, metalwork, glass, tiles, mosaics, carpets, architecture and gardens. There is also non-religious art such as the colourful dancing figures from the pleasure palaces of Persia, the simple mud brick decorations of a merchant caravanserai, and the delicate carved marble of arguably the world’s most beautiful building – the Taj Mahal. Despite unifying themes of mosques, minarets, madrassas and mausoleums to be found between Morocco and China, each region has its own history which influences the decorative art we see today.

Christopher Bradley

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

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a man out of step with his time. Scorning the traditional idealised interpretation of religious subjects, he took his models from the streets, painting them realistically and heightening the emotional intensity by his dramatic contracts of light and shade. Such a revolutionary style was condemned by many as was his equally dramatic personal life and uncontrollable temper which involved him in endless brawls and even murder.

This lecture will study the life and works of this enigmatic man and of his influence on later artists.

Shirley Smith

Shirley graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part-time lecturer for the University of East Anglia and for the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She has run study days and certificate courses as well as residential weekend courses, and also lectures to the Art Fund and individual clubs and societies.

She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced.

How does the modern viewer recognise and interpret the hidden stories told through signs, symbols iconography in paintings when visiting art galleries? Were paintings merely illustrations of the text, and if so which texts, or did they carry some deeper meaning? How did artists such as Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Titian and Tintoretto approach these subjects? Why were these subjects so popular?

In order to unravel the hidden iconographical content of paintings that may reveal how audiences might have seen these works produced during the Italian Renaissance, rather than how we now see them, the modern viewer needs to reacquaint themselves with what was common knowledge during the Renaissance - the knowledge of religious and mythological signs and symbols. Most often these stories originated from antique literary sources, which had survived through the middle ages and were the preserve of the wealthy and cultured élite.

This lecture aims to reveal the hidden language of stories in these paintings and equip the modern viewer with an antique language and a new way to look at paintings through signs, symbols and iconography.

Leslie Primo

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

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

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

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

Simon Seligman

Simon studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, including a semester in Venice, nd is also a Graduate of the Attingham Summer school. From 1991 until 2010, he worked at Chatsworth, in a variety of roles, latterly as Head of Communications. He has lectured about Chatsworth, the Devonshire Collection and associated topics, throughout the UK and on several US tours (including the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery of Art). He gave numerous public presentations and interviews with the late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. Alongside his lecturing, and working part time for John Ruskin’s charity the Guild of St George, he is a trustee of three arts festivals, and a Life Coach in private practice.

Andalucia conjures orange blossom, flamenco, fountains, patios and decorative plaster work. For nearly 800 years from 711 the Iberian peninsula was dominated by the Moors, and Seville, Cordoba and Granada became centres of culture, learning, luxury and magnificence. Their history, architecture and paintings are traced as Moorish mastery gradually gave way to Christian Reconquest. In many intriguing ways, centuries of Moorish rule are still visible in Andalucia, and are vital to an understanding of the diversity of Spanish culture. This lecture can also be titled: Caliphs and Christians - Art and History in Andalucia.

Gail Turner

Gail is a historian, art historian, and painter. She has been a lecturer for The Arts Society since 1992, lectures regularly for the V&A High Renaissance and Baroque course, Art Pursuits, and the Art Fund. She has taught on Cambridge University International Summer Schools, the Courtauld Institute Summer Courses, Inscape, Gainsborough’s House and other arts organisations. She has led tours to Spain for The Arts Society and other tour companies. She has lectured in the Prado and Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid 1983-5, was Deputy Curator of Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome 1978-80, manager of the Courtauld Slide Scheme 1977, and a Christie’s consultant (Ill. MSS) 1976. Gail has recently given a course at the National Gallery, on Sorolla.

In 2015 Gail was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Catolica (the equivalent of the CBE) by the King of Spain for promoting Spanish culture among British audiences, and was recently elected President of The Arts Society Colchester.

Unfortunately this talk will only be available on Zoom, owing to Covid. Please read the January Newsletter for details

This lecture explores the little-known history of Victorian women mountaineers and the clothes they chose to wear on the mountains of Europe. Unlikely stories of some intrepid explorers abound! 

Kate Strasdin

Kate has worked as a curator of textiles and dress for over 20 years and is now the Deputy Curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum. She is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory at Falmouth University, and is a Special Visiting Lecturer for the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai.

Her publications include An Easy Day for a Lady (Costume Journal, 2008) and Empire Dressing - the Design and Realisation of Queen Alexandra's Coronation Gown (Journal of Design History, 2012). Kate's book on Queen Alexandra's wardrobe was published in 2017 and she is working on her next book, The Secrets of a 19th Century Dress Diary. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of Honiton lace.

Nicholas was the Greek Bishop of Myra, a 4th century port in Anatolia. Following his death, his legendary generosity established him as the principle gift-giving saint as well as the patron saint of seafarers. The body of St Nicholas was stolen by Italian sailors to protect their own ports in the Adriatic. Over the centuries the image of St Nicholas changed constantly until the Dutch re-invented him as Sinterklaas. Taking him to their new colonies in America, he transformed into kindly Santa Claus. He was later re-imported into Britain without his Catholic baggage, and gradually emerged as Father Christmas.

Christopher Bradley

Christopher is an expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. He has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Oman; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. As a photographer he has pictures represented by four photographic libraries. Christopher has a broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and camera-man he has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

During his short life Eric Ravilious was acknowledged as a brilliant wood engraver, designer of ceramics and lithographer, and today his designs and illustrations are widely available once more, on china, cards and stationery.

In this lecture we explore the making of his most familiar work, from wood engravings of winter scenes to the lithographs featured in ‘High Street’, his 1938 book of shops, and the Alphabet design created for Wedgwood. We also see how his work has influenced contemporary designers like Angie Lewin and Mark Hearld, and there are plenty of tips for collectors. 

James Russell

Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James 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.

During the 19th Century, Glasgow was known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire’. It was a vibrant place, a city which was growing – both industrially and culturally. It was within this innovative environment that the Glasgow Boys were born.

The ‘Boys’ were a group of around 20 young artists who revolutionised Scottish painting by bringing it into the mainstream of European art. They carved their own, distinctive path rebelling against the elitist, Edinburgh dominated art scene and the artists they termed the ‘Glue Pots’. This talk explores their diverse, modern and inventive work.

Stella Lyons

‘Without sacrificing scholarship, Stella Lyons has a most engaging way of hooking an audience into sharing her passionate interest in art history, drawing three dimensional human stories and experiences from the two-dimensional canvas’ – Maev Kennedy, writer and Arts correspondent for The Guardian

Stella Grace Lyons is a freelance Art History lecturer, speaker and writer accredited with The Arts Society. She has lectured across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia and will soon embark on a lecturing tour in Australasia.

Stella gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol (2007-2011), and her MA in History of Art from the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, a private atelier that follows a curriculum based on the leading ateliers of nineteenth century Paris.

Stella runs her own Art History lectures both in person and online. She is a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, Tour companies, and the National Trust, amongst others. Stella is also a part-time lecturer for the University of South Wales.

She has written about art for several publications and her article on Norwegian art was recently featured on the front cover of The Arts Society magazine.

In addition to her lecturing work, Stella works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

This will be the first live lecture we have held since Lockdown started last year. It will be held at Crudwell Village Hall and the audience will be limited in size to just 25 so that we adhere to Covid regulations.

To reserve your free place at this lecture you must book online using this link to TicketSource. You will receive an email confirmation of your booking, and we will receive a list of attendees as well. Once the 25 places have been allocated the booking system for this event will close, and there will not be any opportunity to make a last-minute booking.

Spanish Still Life, 1600-1812: Cabbages, Carrots and Lamb

Robert Hughes wrote of Still Life painting; ‘Still Life is to eating what the nude is to sex’, although he did 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. You’d rather make soup with a cabbage painted by Sanchez Cotán than a cabbage bought in Waitrose.... Goya’s painting of a pile of six 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.

Dan Evans

Dan is an educationalist with a passion for all things Italian. Dan is a Housemaster 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 nine years working as a senior lecturer, tutor and tour guide for Art History Abroad. He was voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards in 2008 and alongside his lectures and special interest days he leads educational study trips for groups of friends to a range of destinations in Italy.

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

Barry Venning

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

Between 1885 and 1916, Carl Fabergé made fifty jewelled eggs – Easter presents from Russia’s last two emperors to their wives. Since the brutal murder of the last tsar and his family in a Siberian basement, these eggs have become the most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire: both supreme examples of the jeweller’s art and the vulgar playthings of a decadent court.

After going missing in the Revolution, most of the eggs re-emerged in the store-rooms of the Kremlin, where they were immediately identified as a source of much-needed foreign exchange. Their subsequent history holds up a mirror to the twentieth century and encompasses Bolsheviks and entrepreneurs, tycoons and heiresses, con-men and queens. Eggs have been sold and smuggled, stolen and forged. Now, as they return to Russia, their history – like that of Russia itself - seems to have come full circle. Then there are the eight eggs which remain missing. What prospect is there that they will ever emerge, and if they do, will anyone believe that they are genuine?

Toby Faber wrote Fabergé’s Eggs: One Man’s Masterpieces and the End of an Empire, described by P.D. James as a ‘fascinating story which combines unique decorative art, contemporary culture, history and the murder of the Romanovs with the excitement of a crime novel’. The lecture is illustrated with pictures of the eggs today and their owners, and with archival material showing some of the missing eggs.

Toby Faber

Toby is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press.

Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius – Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius; Faberge’s Eggs; and Faber & Faber – The Untold Story, as well as a novel, Close to the Edge. Of these, only the obvious one is published by the family firm.

We see the influence of the Greeks and mysterious Etruscans, and visit fertile Vesuvius to see how Romans got their food and drink (and a Roman vineyard buried in AD79!). Into the bustling city, past hawkers, shops and bars we enter the house, visit the shrine of the gods (with a chicken head!) and the gorgeous garden with its flowers and fountains. We recline in the dining room, with exotic food and fine wine, and surrounded by Greek-style luxury – fine silver, mosaics and frescoes.  A skeleton mosaic reminds us that death is always at the feast…saying to us loud and clear “Seize the day - Carpe diem!!”  Dare we see the kitchen? No fridge, no running water, no hygiene – and there is the toilet, feeding into a cess pit below….

Lastly we look at how Roman ideas and customs on food caught on in Roman Britain. Along with Roman gods of fertility and wine, come exotic imports like pepper, figs and finest fish sauce. We witness the birth of the British beer industry with the first brewer, cooper and beer deliveryman and even see the British dead, feasting into the afterlife, like all good Romans. Death comes as the end and we come face to face with the resin lady, a real inhabitant of Pompeii who died in the eruption, but we finish with the convivial afterlife she would have hoped for. 

Dr Paul Roberts

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

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

To round off our Winter Series of extra tours and talks, we have invited back Philip Taubenheim, MD and senior auctioneer, valuer and cataloguer at Wotton Auction Rooms, to talk about the current state of the auction world.  

This will be an interactive talk using a Zoom platform.  After an introductory talk on current auction trends - what is selling well and what is not - Philip will conduct an Antiques Roadshow-style session using photos of interesting items submitted by members.

Philip is an amusing and informative speaker and many members will remember how well he entertained us at one of our summer parties several years ago.

The Zoom talk will start at 2:00pm.

Philip Taubenheim

Philip has spent all his working life in the world of Antiques and Auctions, his parents were book dealers from Burford in Oxfordshire so even school holidays were often spent at sales.

When not dealing with the day-to-day dealing of the business, Philip is a contributor to the Antiques Roadshow, while the Antiques Roadtrip and other well known TV programmes film at these fine old buildings. Evenings and weekends often include Charity Auctions, lectures and after dinner speaking.

Philip is supported at the Auction by a small team of hardworking and loyal staff, always happy to help with any questions you may have

Standing in the nave of Ely cathedral when I was 14, I stopped listening to the guide saying how long and how high it was, and started wondering how on earth ordinary human beings created sky-scraping, dizzyingly high buildings on which even the top-most parts were delicately decorated. How, why and for whom were my questions. For God, for personal redemption and to make a living are the answers to the last two of those, but the "how" was harder to fathom.

In this lecture we meet the Master Masons who both designed the buildings and ran the sites. 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.

Imogen Corrigan

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours. She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours on land.

Margie worked for Rosemary Verey for about 11 years up until her death, and much of the material comes from personal papers her family gave Margie access to for her Masters Dissertation.

Her most famous garden House was that at Barnsley House, which was her home.

Margie Hoffnung

Margie completed a four-year Horticulture Degree at Writtle College, after working at Westonbirt Arboretum as a work experience student for six months. Her sandwich placement was with Rosemary Verey, the well-known plantswoman, author and garden designer, with whom she continued to work for over a decade until Rosemary’s death.  

Margie also spent some years at Highgrove as both gardener and garden guide for HRH The Prince of Wales She also manned Jekka McVicar’s herb stand at flower shows like Chelsea and Hampton Court for several seasons, and worked as a hands-on gardener for Lady Mary Keen, the garden designer and writer.  

Margie subsequently completed a Masters in the Conservation of Historic Gardens & Cultural Landscapes at Bath, and since 2013 has worked for the Garden History Society (now the Gardens Trust) and is their Conservation Officer.  In this role she liaises closely with County Gardens Trusts all round England and responds to planning applications which might affect listed historic designed landscapes, to make sure as far as possible that these proposals do not have an adverse effect on those sites or their settings.  She is a regular speaker to gardening societies on a variety of topics as well speaking on conservation issues relating to historic gardens to heritage bodies.

The Art of George Chinnery (1774 – 1852) tells the story of worlds within worlds as the talented Royal Academy-trained painter crossed different continents at the start of the Victorian age to make his mark as one of the greatest English portrait and landscape artists in the East. Among his patrons were the leading lights of the East India Company who supported his career in India and the Chinese Hong merchants of southern China. His scenes of everyday life and local landscapes describe a more informal meeting of East and West by an artist whose fascinating back story rivals that of his subjects.

Professor Marie Conte-Helm

Professor Conte-H|elm is a long-established Arts Society Lecturer with a BA in History of Art and an MA in Asian Art, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was Director General of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation from 1999-2011 and has held senior academic positions at various UK universities. She has most recently served as Executive Director of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, and as a member of the Board of Governors of the University for the Creative Arts. She is widely published and has lectured throughout the UK and abroad. She is also an experienced cruise speaker and a Resident Historian with Viking Ocean Cruises, lecturing on many aspects of Asian Art and East-West Encounters. She was awarded an OBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to UK-Japan educational and cultural relations and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Government of Japan in 2019.

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

Peter Medhurst

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Viv Haxby will guide us through the Queen’s personal jewellery collection.

Probably the most important collection of its kind in the world, this extraordinary collection comprises the items that HMQ wears as she carries out her roles of head of nation, and head of state. We will hear about tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and brooches that have been accumulated by two queens regnant and four queens’ consorts. There are fascinating stories about how many of them have entered the collection, and much thought is put into what she wears for particular occasions.

The Virtual Tour will start at 2:00pm.

Matthew Denney

I have worked with the fine and decorative arts all my life. I have worked as an auctioneer and valuer with a number of firms. I am currently a senior valuer and head of department at Lawrences in Crewkerne, one of the countries leading provincial auctioneers. I have also worked in Higher Education as Course Leader and a Senior Lecturer on the no longer extant Fine Arts Valuation Degree at Southampton Solent University. I taught on a range of subjects including furniture, silver art and design history. I completed a PhD in the Arts and Crafts Movement and have written on design history for a number of publications. I have current research interests in ‘Great Exhibitions’, ‘Post War Design and Architecture’ and ‘The Crafts in Post War Britain’. 

I love to give talks to all sorts of different groups on the fine and decorative arts, my interests in the various Great Exhibitions since 1851 and Post War architecture and design are amongst my current favourite talks which have been well received by a number of groups over recent months.

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A Virtual Christmas Extravaganza in Two Acts

Presented by Blue Badge Guides

Pepé Martinez and Simon Whitehouse

Starting at 2:30pm 

Part 1:  An exploration of all things Christmas –

crackers, mince pies, Christmas cards and lots more

INTERVAL

Part 2: A Live virtual performance of

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

For the last 150 years Christmas cards have been adorned with nativity scenes or holly, ivy and mistletoe, a rotund Father Christmas, hosiery, trees, and to the shout of Noel, Noel. Sacred and profane, plant symbolism and carols that echo the sacred magic of the nativity scene, the lowing animals popularized by St Francis of Assisi, the shepherds and kings, all playing their part and foretelling the future. There are also fashion plates, New Year wishes and cartoons. So what on earth do Christmas cards portray – tasty, tasteful or tasteless?

Caroline Holmes

Caroline has lectured in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, Japan and on cruises to the Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indian Ocean. In 2017 she returned to The Arts Society in New Zealand. Lectures for the University of Cambridge ICE (Course Director for International Summer Programme), the Royal Horticultural Society, museums, and specialist travel companies. Caroline is a consultant designer specializing in evoking historic, artistic and symbolic references. She is the author of 11 books including Water Lilies and Bory Latour-Marliac, the genius behind Monet’s water lilies; Impressionists in their Gardens; Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas; Monet at Giverny and Icons of Garden Design.

Georgina Bexon

Georgina is an art historian specialising in South Asian art who has lived and worked in the UK, USA and Singapore. Her practice includes lecturing, writing, consulting and collecting and she has developed a network of gallery and artist connections in Europe, the USA and India, which she visits regularly.  

An official tour guide at Tate Modern and Art Historian at the Oriental Club, London, Georgina is also a guest speaker on luxury cruise ships for whom she has developed a series of art talks relating to Asian and Pacific destinations. She has been a visiting lecturer at UK universities, presents talks at leading art institutions including Christie’s Education New York and the Museum of Modern Art, Moscow and speaks at international art conferences, most recently in New York, Paris, London and Lisbon.

Georgina holds a BA in Art History from Southampton University, an MA in Arts Management and Policy from City, University of London and an MA in Art History from SOAS, University of London. Georgina is a Patron of the Contemporary Art Society, has been a Trustee of Salisbury Arts Centre and on working committees at Tate and the Art Fund. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society.

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Although everyone knows that Shakespeare came from Stratford-upon-Avon, all of his famous working life was spent in London. Follow in his footsteps and see the places where he lived, wrote and acted. See the original site of the Globe Theatre and its sister the Blackfriars Theatre, two houses where he lived and the very spot where we believe Othello, King Lear and Macbeth were written. This virtual tour will also visit some of the monuments that modern London has erected in the Bard’s honour.”

The 14th century artist Cennino Cennini recommended using “the chicken bones that you will find under the dining table” for making charcoaled bone black to paint with. His treatise, The Artists’ handbook, gives us an understanding of some of the surprising materials which any artist had to master before he could begin to paint, such as using the tail of a squirrel to make his paintbrushes. But many of these materials were difficult to use and have an effect on the finished look of paintings from the centuries before industrial processes changed the artist’s world.

This lecture will explain the techniques and the reasons for some of the features of 15th and 16th century paintings which may seem odd to our modern eyes. Chantall will bring examples of the materials mentioned in the talk to pass round and discuss with participants. 

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe

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

Turner once said, “The only secret I have is damned hard work.” The son of a Covent Garden barber, he was a classic example of a self-made man in an era when such mobility was the exception. From his first watercolour exhibited at the Royal Academy when he was fifteen to the final oils exhibited sixty years later, he experimented and took landscape painting to a radically new place, truly exploring the face of nature and the sublime. He brought tempests and snowstorms into the gallery and dissolved castles and mountains into paint and light. 

Sarah Stopford

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

A new Parisian leisure society developed in the second half of the 19th  century, providing ample material for artists who portrayed not only the excitement and energy of this vibrant period but also its darker side.
 

This talk will be given online using Zoom, details of which will be sent to members in due course. The talk looks at the way ‘scenes of modernity’ were depicted through images of the new absinthe-fuelled café society, the nascent emancipation of women, or the rise of the bourgeoisie. It will consider the work of Manet, Toulouse Lautrec and the Impressionists.

Stella Lyons

Stella Grace Lyons is a freelance Art History lecturer, speaker and writer accredited with The Arts Society. She has lectured across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia and will soon embark on a lecturing tour in Australasia.

Stella gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol (2007-2011), and her MA in History of Art from the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, a private atelier that follows a curriculum based on the leading ateliers of nineteenth century Paris.

Stella runs her own Art History lectures both in person and online. She is a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, Tour companies, and the National Trust, amongst others. Stella is also a part-time lecturer for the University of South Wales.

She has written about art for several publications and her article on Norwegian art was recently featured on the front cover of the Arts Society Magazine. In addition to her lecturing work, Stella works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

‘Without sacrificing scholarship, Stella Lyons has a most engaging way of hooking an audience into sharing her passionate interest in art history, drawing three dimensional human stories and experiences from the two-dimensional canvas’ – Maev Kennedy, writer and Arts correspondent for the Guardian

This lecture has been cancelled

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

Leslie Primo

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

This lecture has been cancelled

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

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

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

Simon Seligman

Simon studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, including a semester in Venice. He is also a Graduate of the Attingham Summer school. From 1991 until 2010, Simon worked at Chatsworth, in a variety of roles, latterly as Head of Communications. He has lectured about Chatsworth, the Devonshire Collection and associated topics, throughout the UK and on several US tours (including the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery of Art). He gave numerous public presentations and interviews with the late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. His publications include written or edited guidebooks and articles for and about Chatsworth.

This lecture has been cancelled

This lecture explories the little known history of Victorian women mountaineers and the clothes they chose to wear on the mountains of Europe. Unlikely stories of some intrepid explorers abound! 

Kate Strasdin

Kate has worked as a curator of textiles and dress for over 20 years and is now the Deputy Curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum. She is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory at Falmouth University and a Special Visiting Lecturer for the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai.

Her publications include An Easy Day for a Lady (Costume Journal, 2008) and Empire Dressing - the Design and Realisation of Queen Alexandra's Coronation Gown (Journal of Design History, 2012). Kate's book on Queen Alexandra's wardrobe was published in 2017 and she is working on her next book, The Secrets of a 19th Century Dress Diary. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of Honiton lace.

This lecture has been cancelled

This lecture covers aspects of Islamic art in some of the most important cities, sites and museums in the world especially Cordoba, Cairo, Damascus, Isfahan and Samarkand. From its Arabian heartland comes a wealth of decorated ceramics, carved wood, metalwork, glass, tiles, mosaics, carpets, architecture and gardens. Islamic art encompasses the great wealth of artistic treasures inspired by the Islamic religion, but there is also non-religious art such as the colourful dancing figures from the pleasure palaces of Persia; the simple mud brick decorations of a merchant caravanserai; or the delicate carved marble of arguably the world’s most beautiful building – the Taj Mahal.

We tend to think of all Islamic art in a religious context, but within these regions are many non-Muslim communities of Copts, Jews and Zoroastrians whose own art is inextricably linked. Despite unifying themes of mosques, minarets, madrassas and mausoleums to be found between Morocco and China, each region has its own history that influences the decorative art we see today. 

Christopher Bradley

Christopher is an expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. He has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. As a photographer he has pictures represented by four photographic libraries.

Christopher has a broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and cameraman he has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

This really is a fascinating insight into the history of one of our greatest ever institutions - our Great British Public Park. We have all enjoyed them at some time in our lives but what do we really know about them? What are their origins? This talk illustrates their origins from the great Royal Parks to the Pleasure Gardens of the eighteenth century, to their Victorian heyday. It discusses what makes a great park, it’s ‘parkitecture’ with examples of lodges, lakes, bandstands, fountains, lidos, palm houses and to their wonderful floral displays, to their great decline in the sixties, seventies and eighties. However, the subsequent revival has led to a major shift in interest in our parks and once again we are very much in love with them. This is a highly illustrative lecture accompanied by slides with examples of parks from across the UK and their designs and architecture and can be shaped to the locality of the lecture.

Paul Rabbitts

Paul graduated at Sheffield with a BA Honours in Geography followed by a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh. He is a qualified landscape architect and park manager, and has worked for several local authorities across the UK. He is a passionate advocate for public parks and in particular the Victorian and Edwardian bandstand, and is a prolific author on the subject. His first of 14 books were published in 2011 on the iconic bandstand and was followed rapidly by books on the Royal Parks, our Great British Parks and most recently on ‘Parkitecture’, as well as some of our greatest park designers. He is now working on a biography of Sir Christopher Wren.

Now a UK leading expert on bandstands he has been asked to assist in localised restoration projects nationwide and has been a regular and popular speaker on bandstands and public parks for many years.

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 Germany, Anselm Kiefer and Joseph Beuys used empty chairs to draw attention to their nation’s past, while Gerhard Richter used them to explore the mundane. In a conceptual piece, the American artist, Joseph Kosuth, juxtaposed three versions of chairs to question what “chair” actually is. The Palestinian artist, Mona Hatoum, adapted chairs to explore female identity and the Columbian artist, Doris Salcedo, stacked 1,550 between two buildings to address migration and displacement.

These are just some of the many diverse artists and uses of chairs we will be looking at in this talk. 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 alive.

Angela Findlay

Angela is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long standing interest in the role the arts and the creative process can play in bringing about changes, on a personal level or within societies. Her long career of teaching art in prisons and Young Offender Institutions in Germany and England, followed by her role as the former Arts Coordinator of the Koestler Trust in London, gave her many insights into the huge impact the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation. She is currently advising the Ministry of Justice and presenting the case for the arts to be included in their new rehabilitation and education policies.

In the past decade Angela’s Anglo-German roots led her to discover and research Germany’s largely unknown but fascinating post-WWII process of remembrance. So completely different to the British one, the arts once again play a huge and vital role in expressing the apology and atonement that underlies the country’s unique culture of memorials and counter memorials.

Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. 

,Wallpaper is often regarded as the Cinderella of the Decorative Arts – the most ephemeral and least precious of the decorations produced for the home. Yet, the history of wallpaper is a long and fascinating subject that dates back to the 16th century and encompasses a huge range of beautiful patterns created both by anonymous hands and by some of the best-known designers of the 19th and 20th centuries. This lecture explores the history and development of this product from earliest times up to the present day. It includes a discussion of the changing ways in which wallpaper was made and a survey of designs from the first black and white patterns, the creation of elegant flock hangings, the fashion for Chinese hand-painted papers, the introduction of machine-printing, the designs of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the taste for Modernist and Contemporary designs in the 20th century. It also includes a discussion of the ways that wallpapers were used within grand and more ordinary homes, and hopes to justify the claim that they were indeed a truly Decorative Art.

Further Reading on this fascinating subject can be found here.

Jo Banham

Jo is a freelance curator, lecturer and writer. From 2006-2016 she was Head of Adult Learning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and before that Head of Learning and Access at the National Portrait Gallery, and Head of Public Programmes at Tate Britain. She has also been Curator of Leighton House and Assistant Keeper at the Whitworth Art Gallery.

Jo has published on many aspects of Victorian and early 20th century decoration and interiors. She is currently curating an exhibition on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement for the Juan March Fundacion in Madrid and the Museu Nacional d’Art Catalunya in Barcelona. She is also Director of the Victorian Society Summer School.

When the "three wise men" came to do homage to the newly born Jesus, what did they bring as gifts? Gold is perhaps not too difficult to comprehend - a gesture of honour made at great cost, but frankincense and myrrh? These are more exotic items, the purpose of which is less well understood.

This lecture will trace the development of cult worship within the ancient world from earliest times, with its parallel development of religious ritual. For example, in Egypt and Mesopotamia there arose the practice of burning frankincense in front of cult images as a mark of respect. Myrrh was more normally employed in the ritual preservation of the dead, the process of mummification. Both substances were natural crystalline products derived from the sap of trees growing mainly in southern Arabia and in Somalia. The control of this trade led to great wealth, particularly amongst tribes such as the Nabateans, who build Petra on their profits. Thus, these gifts offered to the infant Jesus are entirely within long established local traditions and it is this exciting story that will unfold.

Within the earliest context of the emergence of early Christian art we will also trace the first appearance of this story as a depicted subject in its own right. Sarcophagi, engraved finger rings and other unlikely objects are some of the places where the earliest depictions are found. As the early church emerged from the era of persecution to eventual toleration and eventually to that of total domination of the religious life of the late Empire, the image of the Magi presenting their gifts came to have unusual prominence within the depiction of the Infancy narrative found in the Biblical text of Matthew. How and why this came forms the final part of the lecture.

Tom Duncan

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

A cultivated garden or plot of agricultural land symbolises the control that the human race has learned to exercise over its surroundings. Looking at imagery from diverse centuries and societies, we explore how portrayals of gardens, flora, and agriculture in art, have given us insight into our relationship with the natural world, and helped us to define what it means to be human. We look at a variety of different approaches to the subject, such as the shocking symbolism in Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, the political imagery in Millet’s ‘The Gleaners’, and the beautiful textile designs of William Morris.

Stella Lyons

Stella gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol, and her MA in History of Art at the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence. In 2017, Stella was selected by The Arts Society to lecture at the launch of ‘Drawing Room Discussions’ in association with ROSL ARTS, hosted by Guardian arts correspondent Maev Kennedy.

Stella runs her own art history courses and she is also a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, National Trust, Contemporary Arts Society Wales (CASW), Classical Education Forum, WEA, and several travel companies. Stella also works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

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

Sian Walters

Sian studied at Cambridge University. She is a lecturer at the National Gallery and The Wallace Collection, and has taught at Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish art and architecture, and the relationship between dance and art. Sian also teaches private courses, and organises lectures, study days and art holidays abroad. She has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

There are many illustrious gardens on the shores of Lakes Como and Maggiore in the mountainous far north of Italy. Those included in this lecture include a 16th-century parterre and water staircase, a baroque garden in the middle of a lake, two gardens made by rival Napoleonic grandees, and a garden created by two Edwardian romantics as a theatre for sharing their love of art and nature. These achievements and others are set in a climate ideal for garden-making among some of the world’s noblest scenery, where Wordsworth, Liszt and Bellini found inspiration. It could work for you.

Steven Desmond has been an independent landscape consultant specialising in historic gardens and architecture since 1985 as well as a freelance lecturer and specialist tour leader in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy. He is a writer and broadcaster on historic gardens and related topics.

Rebecca covers the origins of the Aboriginal art from ancient ceremonial designs through to the beginnings of the modern Aboriginal art-movement at Papunya in the early 1970s, and its subsequent spread across the indigenous communities of the Western Desert. 

Rebecca Hossack is the Director of three internationally-renowned galleries - two in central London and one in New York. 

Now in its twenty-eighth year, the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery champions originality in contemporary Western and non-Western art. Celebrating and promoting inclusiveness and innovation, Rebecca is credited with introducing Aboriginal art to Europe, and has curated important collections from Papua New Guinea, tribal India and the Bushmen of the Kalahari. The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery also advocates contemporary Western artists who resist the dominant trends of the modern art world, exploring how arts and crafts can collaborate by showcasing a diverse array of media. The gallery is renowned for discovering talent and starting trends in contemporary art.

Following a degree in Law and a BA majoring in the History of Art, Rebecca studied at Christie's and at The Guggenheim in Venice. She served as the Australian cultural attaché in London from 1993-7, initiating literary links between Australian and British writers, and organising a series of ground-breaking exhibitions of Australian art in London. She sits on the board of LAPADA and is a Trustee of Resurgence, the influential periodical of alternative thought.

The beauty of Kenneth Grahame’s prose is widely acknowledged but the story is so full of wonderful imagery that it almost demands to be illustrated. First published in 1908 without illustration, the classic tale of Ratty, Mole, and the incorrigible Mr Toad has been in print ever since. What is less well known is that it has been illustrated by more than ninety artists – making it the most widely illustrated book in the English language.

However, ‘Willows’ is a far more interesting book than its popular and often young audience might appreciate. It deserves recognition as a novel in which adult readers will find not just humour and entertainment but wisdom and meaning. In this engaging presentation we will revisit the story as depicted by numerous well known illustrators such as E H Shepard, Arthur Rackham, Robert Ingpen, Val Biro and Inga Moore. Where appropriate we will compare and contrast the same scene in the book through the eyes of different artists, a study known as ‘comparative illustration'.

We will also explore how the story came to be written for Grahame’s son Alastair and the interesting but ultimately tragic life of Kenneth Grahame.

John was formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath, where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. In 2008 and again in 2011 he undertook extensive lecture tours of Australia and he has been a popular speaker on The Arts Society's circuit for a number of years.

As well as the talks he has developed from his professional background, he offers presentations on an eclectic range of topics that are derived from his diverse interests and enthusiasms such as, pub signs, children’s book illustrations and the Shakers of North America.

Lee Miller was an American photographer who started work as a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris where she became a fashion and fine-art photographer. During the Second Woorld War Lee was a war correspondent for Vogue, covering events such as the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris and that of the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.

Antony gives an overview of the life of Lee Miller, told with reference to those with whom she exchanged creative inspiration – Man Ray, Roland Penrose, Pablo Picasso, David E. Scherman, her father Theodore Miller and her son Antony Penrose. Providing a definitive view by her son and biographer, this presentation has been acclaimed for its ability to embrace many different levels of the history of art and photography, social commentary and emotional connection with the subject.

Antony Penrose has, for the past 30 years, conserved and disseminated the work of his parents, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. He is the director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection at Farley Farm House in Sussex, and has seen his parents' work featured in major exhibitions at the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Whitworth. He has lectured at museums and universities around the world, and made documentaries for television.  

A Passion for Fashion tells the story of 20th century fashion design, tracing how clothes, textiles and accessories were influenced by contemporary history.

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

Britain’s oldest fine arts institution will be celebrating its 250th Anniversary in 2018. The Royal Academy has an illustrious history that spans from the mid 18th century through to the 21st century.  We contemplate its past and review its various homes before settling on its current Mayfair location in Burlington House. 

This fully illustrated talk explores a selection of its ground–breaking temporary loan exhibitions, and considers its role and impact on the art scene, both on British soil and overseas. The talk wouldn’t be complete without a behind the scene look at the Summer Exhibition – held without interruption since 1769 – which displays works in a variety of media and genres by emerging and established contemporary artists. We also consider the influence of certain world-renowned Royal Academicians, exemplary artists in their chosen field, and the pivotal role that is played by the RA Schools.  The impressive roll call of RAs over the past 250 years includes household names such as Reynolds, Constable, Turner, Munnings and, more recently, Hockney, Paolozzi, Foster, Craig-Martin and Gormley. By charting its history through intriguing and important archival photographs and considering its place in Britain’s rich artistic heritage, we can mark this significant anniversary and consider its future with much excitement and anticipation. 

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

Since its foundation in 1925, Faber and Faber has built a reputation as one of London’s most important literary publishing houses. Part of that relates to the editorial team that Geoffrey Faber and his successors built around them - TS Eliot was famously an early recruit - but a large part is also due to the firm’s insistence on good design and illustration.

This lecture traces the history of Faber and Faber through its illustrations, covers and designs. Early years brought innovations like the Ariel Poems – single poems, beautifully illustrated, sold in their own envelopes. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an emphasis on typography, led by the firm’s art director Berthold Wolpe; his Albertus font is still used on City of London road signs. In the 1980s, the firm started its association with Pentagram, responsible for the ‘ff’ logo. Along the way, it has employed some of our most celebrated artists as cover illustrators – from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst.

Slides will range from book covers, advertisements and photos of key individuals, to illustrations of the concepts behind the designs. The talk will also be peppered with personal insight and anecdote. Faber and Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent.

Toby Faber has written two works of narrative history, ‘Stradivarius’ and ‘Fabergé's Eggs’, published by Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US. He has given lectures associated with these two subjects at venues including The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Library of Congress and the Huntington Library, as well as at a number of literary festivals.

His career began with reading Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company, Faber and Faber, which was founded by his grandfather, Geoffrey Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music, and is a director of Liverpool University Press and the Copyright Licensing Agency.

In the quietness of an enclosed garden filled with symbolic plants, or glimpsed inside a sturdy house, a young woman reads quietly, blissfully unaware that her life is about to change. Not just her life, but that of the western world and beyond. Approaching her, almost unwilling to interrupt her thoughts, an angel is poised to break the news, to make the great announcement.

Whatever your personal beliefs, it’s hard to deny the impact Christianity would have on the world so the Annunciation by Gabriel to Mary, telling her that she was to bear a son was one of the most popular images of the Middle Ages, more popular indeed than the Nativity itself.

This lecture reveals the key players in the story, dissects the symbolism of Mary and the Annunciation, and examines the world-changing importance of that particular moment. It is richly illustrated with gorgeous images from the fourth to the sixteenth century. 

Imogen Corrigan spent nearly 20 years in the British army and then went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon and Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours. She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours on land.

The story of Expressionism begins as a reaction against Impressionism – an idea first explored by the Post-Impressionists (Gauguin, van Gogh, Cézanne and Seurat) and then taken up by young French and German artists in the turbulent times of the early twentieth century.

By means of bright colour and bold brushwork, the ‘Wild Beasts’ or ‘Fauves’ (Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck) expressed their ideas in a highly aggressive mode. The German Expressionists in Dresden (Kirchner and the ‘Brücke’ group) and in Munich (Kandinsky and the ‘Blue Riders’) also looked to the importance of African/Oceanic ‘primitivism’ and the decorative elements of painting and sculpture to produce a forcefully emotional art which nevertheless was justified by intellectual argument.

Eveline Eaton is a freelance lecturer in Fine Arts and is a tour guide to Berlin, Dresden, Munich. She is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden Trust, an organisation helping with the rebuilding of Dresden.

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

Alexandra Epps is an Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery, Lecturer at Pallant House Gallery Lecturer and a City Lit Institute Art History Tutor. She is a Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Alexandra’s background is in design, having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years.

The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The lecture traces the origins of its design, its site in Agra, how it was built, the craftsmen, the interiors, and its surrounding buildings and gardens.

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

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

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

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

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

Anthony Russell has travelled much of the world, combining painting with tour lecturing - principally to American university students on bespoke tours. He spent six years as a consultant for Luke Hughes and travelled the country advising on the furniture needs of prestigious buildings, including museums, palaces, schools and cathedrals. He is now based in London and spends much of his time lecturing and undertaking research, while assisting at the British Museum with outreach events and visiting lecturers. As an advocate of non-violence, he is the author of the book 'Evolving the Spirit - From Democracy to Peace.', commended by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate recently released from 15 years of house arrest, as meaning a great deal to her.

The Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) was arguably the greatest of all Qing Emperors as he guided China through a period of unquestionable political, economic and cultural prosperity which rivalled any comparable period of high achievement in Chinese history. Territorially Qianlong added more than 30 per cent of landmass to the Empire through successful military campaigns and astute diplomacy. He was passionate about preserving Manchu culture whilst respecting and nurturing other ethnic Chinese cultures. Qianlong travelled his Empire regularly, undertaking lavish expeditions to the South and West designed to forge loyalty to his Imperial rule.

Despite all these successes as a ruler it is in the fields of the sciences, arts and culture that Qianlong made the greatest contribution to China’s heritage. Qianlong was a noted scholar who during his lifetime wrote and published over 43,000 poems, painted on virtually a daily basis and was accomplished in the art of calligraphy. It was perhaps as a Collector of Fine Art that Qianlong created his greatest legacy. He amassed a treasure trove of hundreds of thousands of works of art from previous dynasties or which represented the finest current workmanship. His collection spanned all genres of the arts including paintings, porcelain, jade, textiles, enamelling, ivory carvings and snuff bottles.

This lecture will provide an insight into Qianlong not only as a successful Emperor of China but also as a scholar and ‘ultimate’ collector of fine art. A wide range of items of the highest quality, produced by the Imperial Workshops, will illustrate this lecture.  

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

The course of Gimson’s life was irrevocably changed in January 1884; after meeting William Morris, who gave his talk on ‘Art and Socialism’ at the Secular Hall, Leicester, Gimson was determined to pursue his dream of becoming an architect. He was shortly articled to John Dando Sedding, from whom he acquired an interest in crafts and materials. Ernest Barnsley was also studying with Sedding; his brother Sydney was articled to Richard Norman Shaw. The three men became devotees of Philip Webb, the architect of Morris’ Red House, who promoted traditional building practices and the use of local materials and techniques.

Desiring to ‘live close to nature’, Gimson and the Barnsleys found Pinbury Park, near Cirencester; in return for a pepper-corn rent they restored this lovely old Cotswold house. In 1900, Gimson and Ernest Barnsley set up a small furniture workshop in Cirencester, moving to larger premises at Daneway House, Sapperton. Although this partnership soon dissolved, Gimson and his skilled cabinet makers went on to establish a ‘Cotswold style’. After his death in 1919 Peter van der Waals ensured these traditions were not lost. The library of Bedales School, Petersfield, is Gimson’s masterwork; his beautifully crafted furniture undoubtedly inspired Viscount Linley. 

Anne Anderson graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Leicester University in 1978 and worked as an archaeologist for eight years, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997. Between 1993 and 2007 she was senior lecturer on the Fine Arts Valuation degree courses at Southampton Solent University, specialising in the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism. She is currently Hon. Research Fellow at Exeter University; a Fletcher Jones Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA; a fellow of the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum and Library; Cumming Ceramic Research Foundation Fellow (2007 and 2010) and consultant for Lord Frederic Leighton's Studio-House, Kensington. Her 2008 exhibition ‘Ancient Landscapes, Pastoral Visions Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists’ attracted some 47,000 visitors. She has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne-Jones.

A NADFAS lecturer since 1993, Anne toured Australia in 2000, 2006, 2009 and has lectured on cruises. Her television credits include BBC's Flog It! She is also a tutor at the V&A on the Chardin to Cézanne year course.

In these years of World War II anniversaries the subject of this talk is hugely relevant. Relatively little is known in this country about Germany’s complex post-war process of remembrance and the counter-memorial movement that started there in the 1980s and continues to this day.

Germany’s very specific situation rendered all traditional concepts of monuments and memorials irrelevant and inappropriate. Instead of commemorating their own losses Germany artists looked to creating art forms that would respond to questions of apology and atonement: ‘How does a nation of former persecutors mourn its victims?’

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

With her Anglo-German roots, artistic background and years of research, Angela is in an ideal position to give insights into Germany’s fascinating and on-going efforts to find artistic forms for the remembrance of the victims of one of history’s darkest periods.

Angela Findlay is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long-standing interest in the role that the arts and the creative process can play in bringing about changes, on a personal level or within societies. Her long career of teaching art in prisons and Young Offender Institutions in Germany and England, followed by her role as the former Arts Coordinator of the Koestler Trust in London, gave her many insights into the huge impact the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation.  She is currently advising the Ministry of Justice and presenting the case for the arts to be included in their new rehabilitation and education policies.

In the past decade Angela’s Anglo-German roots led her to discover and research Germany’s largely unknown but fascinating post-WWII process of remembrance. So completely different to the British one, the arts once again play a huge and vital role in expressing the apology and atonement that underlies the country’s unique culture of memorials and counter memorials.

Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. 

Covering almost two hundred years of changing silhouettes, this lecture looks at how both men and women have shaped their style through a range of undergarments. Looking at corsets and crinolines, calf pads and sleeve puffs the range of unusual objects is always a surprise! 

Kate Strasdin has worked as a curator of textiles and dress for over 20 years and is now the Deputy Curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum. She is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory at Falmouth University and a Special Visiting Lecturer for the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai. Her publications include 'An Easy Day for a Lady' (Costume Journal, 2008) and 'Empire Dressing - the Design and Realisation of Queen Alexandra's Coronation Gown' (Journal of Design History, 2012). Kate's book on Queen Alexandra's wardrobe will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2018. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of Honiton lace.

The London Christmas season was invented at Covent Garden. The first theatre on the site was the home of Harlequin and Columbine, and 300 years on Harlequin and Columbine are still dancing in ‘The Nutcracker’. Most of what we now consider to be quintessential Pantomime principal boy, fairy tales, transformation scenes and the dame, can be traced back to the operas and ballets put on at Covent Garden during its first 200 years. Panto has moved on to the Palladium, but you can still see its basic components in the seasonal operas and ballets the Royal Opera House puts on every year: Rossini’s ‘Cenerentola’ (Cinderella) for example or Humperdinck’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ or Ashton’s ‘Cinderella’. The repertoire changes every year, and this lecture is updated to include current ROH Christmas offerings.

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

On Ernest Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914 his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and eventually crushed in the pack ice. After camping for five months on the ice, Shackleton’s men rowed to the remote Elephant Island. From there, Shackleton sailed for help to South Georgia, over 800 miles away. Over three months later he returned to rescue the crew of the Endurance. Frank Hurley, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, was the expedition’s official photographer. His photographs are a visual narrative of an epic journey which capture, with great artistry, new and amazing landscapes within which a remarkable human drama is played out. The aim of the lecture is to capture Hurley’s achievements as a photographer of the Antarctic in the first flush of human contact, when it was still essentially terra incognita.

Mark Cottle was born on the Isles of Scilly and educated at Truro School in Cornwall, and at 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, at St Mark's & St John's University College, Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and medieval England. Currently Mark runs two small companies providing training and study breaks.

This talk is a story of the power and influence of 'Royal Favourites' through the ages, from Fair Rosamond Clifford right through to the 20th Century.

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

Since the 19th century English high society had 'wintered over' on the Côte d'Azur, but always left by April. In the early 1920's, however, an intoxicating mix of artists, writers, musicians and international visitors, inspired by a mythological seascape of luminous colours, created a new summer season. Sun tans and sportswear soon became 'de rigueur' in the chic new coastal resorts, villas and hotels. This liberating playground of ideas across the visual design arts was stimulated by impresarios Serge Diaghilev and Paul Poiret. Traditional boundaries were torn down. Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Cocteau, and Chanel merged the worlds of fashion, theatre and interiors. Cole Porter, Scott Fitzgerald, and the intriguing Gerald and Sara Murphy introduced an American perspective and attracted an influential new set of discerning patrons and collectors.

Mary Alexander

Mary has thirty years' experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History and History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Her experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London and museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume in Manchester. She is now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies.

This lecture looks at the art of cooking purely through its results upon the table. Using paintings, illustrations and photographs, we will go on a culinary journey from the late Tudor period to the mid 20th century, considering both how food presentation was influenced by the wider trends of each era, and how that presentation reflects notions of edibility through time. From delicate, moulded pies, to flamboyant stuffed turkeys with lobster tail wings, we’ll explore the idea of food as the ultimate in ephemeral art. Raw ingredients can be transformed beyond all recognition, their presentation agonised over for weeks with the result presented with an artist’s flourish – but within each dish is the recognition that its destiny is utter destruction. The lecture will be enhanced by the lecturer’s own experience in cooking historic food, and with pictures of her very real creations. 

Annie Gray

Dr Annie Gray is one of Britain’s leading food historians. She has degrees from Oxford, York and Liverpool, and remains connected to academia as a research associate at the University of York. She is also a popular lecturer, writer, consultant and broadcaster. She works as a consultant on historic food for organisations such as The National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces, as well as training staff in live interpretation, having run a team of professional costumed interpreters for many years for English Heritage. She also writes both popular and academic content, including articles for BBC Good Food Magazine, and is currently working on her first book. Increasingly in demand from the media, you may well have heard Annie as the resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s culinary panel show, The Kitchen Cabinet, or you may have seen her on The Great British Bake Off, or in one of her regular slots on James Martin: Home Comforts. She recently advised on, and co-presented, Victorian Bakers, a living history-based documentary for BBC2. 

English cabinet making reached a near-unrivalled degree of excellence by the mid 18th century largely due to the influence, from the late 17th century onwards, of new styles and methods of construction and decoration from the Netherlands, France and Belgium- and also by the migration to England of craftsmen and designers from those countries. By the mid 18th century English cabinet makers and designers were producing furniture which set a new standard in terms of both design and craftsmanship. Central to this, was the way in which cabinet makers exploited the properties and characteristics of Mahogany, which was to become regarded as the “king” of cabinet making woods. This ‘golden age’ encompasses the work of great designers and cabinetmakers like Kent, Vile, Cobb and, of course, Chippendale.

Janusz Karczewski- Slowikowski

Janusz has lectured on antique furniture since 1975. His interest in antique furniture developed in his days as an undergraduate, when he worked in an antiques shop which he came to take over as proprietor. He has lectured to over 300 NADFAS Societies including those in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, and Spain. 

This lecture will highlight the myriad projects going on around the country which attempt to harness people’s potential, often in a place where they are able to concentrate for the first time. A very high proportion of prisoners will have left school early or fallen out with the education system at a young age. Grim prisons walls provide a back-drop where their physical lives at least are not chaotic. Fine Cell Work teaches inmates to sew; most of them are men as women only make up about 8% of the prison estate. Those on long sentences often prove to be the best students and, in due course, the best stitchers’ work is sold to the smartest drawing rooms in the land through the charity’s events and pop-up shops. There is now a waiting list of prisons wanting the charity to come and train ‘behind bars’.

Magdalen Evans

Magdalen studied history of art at UEA and worked at Agnew's for over ten years; since then has been organising exhibitions and writing articles, concentrating on

19th and 20th century women artists. A contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and to BBC Woman's Hour, she also works for the Longford Trust, a charity that awards degree-level scholarships for ex-offenders. Her book on Marianne Stokes and her English landscape painter husband Adrian, ‘Utmost Fidelity’, was published recently and she has lectured for the Art Fund, National Portrait Gallery, Pre-Raphaelite Society and Art Workers' Guild as well as to the Art Society of Budapest.

In this popular talk John tells the extraordinary story of the Shakers of North America, exploring their beginnings, what they believed in and how they lived their lives, before examining examples of their wonderful buildings and furniture. For it is only with such an understanding of their devout faith and way of life that we can begin to appreciate their intriguing legacy.

John Ericson

John was formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. John has undertaken extensive lecture tours of Australia and he has been a popular speaker on the NADFAS circuit for a number of years.  All of his talks are entertaining, highly informative, very well illustrated and presented with warmth and humour.

The light comes in from the left and a woman reads or writes a letter, or perhaps puts on a necklace. Not much happens in Vermeer’s paintings and yet they hold tremendous appeal for the 21st century viewer. These peaceful scenes will be studied in the context of their times. The customs of the day, paintings of every day life by other 17th Century artists, symbolism and contemporary architecture all add to our understanding of these works. But Vermeer also keeps us guessing. Part of the enduring attraction of his paintings is their elusive quality. They maintain their distance: conjuring up a quiet world but also one of mystery and ambiguity. 

Sarah Kelly

Sarah lectures on Western European art in France, Belgium and the UK. She worked at the National Gallery and the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. She has also lived in France and Belgium, working as a lecturer (French and English) in Toulouse and at the Fine Arts Museum in Brussels. Since her return to the UK, she combines lecturing with teaching art history and working with visually impaired people in art galleries.

There was a very interesting article on Vermeer in The Guardian on 8th February. To read it click here.

There will be an exhibition on Vermeer at The Louvre in Paris, from 22nd February until 22nd May, in case you are planning to visit Paris. Click here for details.

The history of gardening in Ireland broadly reflects the changes in Irish society over the last few hundred years. There are no Irish gardens of note before the late 17th century. The landscape sweep of ‘Capability’ Brown did find enthusiasts but it was the more wild and romantic landscape style of the late 18th and 19th centuries which found a ready welcome. In the 19th century an extraordinary range of plants arrived from all corners of the globe, and in recent years old gardens have been restored and new gardens created.

Tom Duncan

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

The Silk Road extended for over 8,000 km, acting as a highway for beliefs, ideas, inventions and art, whilst silk was just one of the many products traded for 1,400 years. Buddhism spread throughout Central Asia and there are wonderful paintings from the Magao Caves at Dunhuang and the 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas' at Bezeklik. Samarkand and Bukhara are the beginning of the great Islamic buildings that continue through Persia and Syria. Along the way we see traditional murals, ceramics, statues, carpets, architecture, mosaics, tile-work, rock carvings and of course, silk itself. 

Christopher Bradley

He is an expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. Has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. He has a broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and cameraman he has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

What possessed people to trudge hundreds of miles, often in appalling conditions and sometimes perishing on the way? This lecture considers the question and also how there was a shift from spiritual wandering in the Anglo Saxon period to religious tourism in the days of Chaucer’s pilgrims. It also looks closely at travel in general and the hazards of the journey: how did people organise themselves for long journeys and how safe was it? How should they provide for themselves and where might they find help? From maps and motivation to souvenirs and shrines, this lecture discusses travel in the round as well as specifically for spiritual reasons. 

Imogen Corrigan

After nearly 20 years in the British army Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon, and Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours. She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours on land.

From the late 17th 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’. 

Christopher Garibaldi

Director of the National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket, Christopher has been Senior Curator and Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum. He has catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Speaker's Residence at The House of Commons.

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.

Lecturer: Briony Hudson studied History at Cambridge University and Museum Studies at Leicester University. Having worked at museums as diverse as Hereford Cider Museum, the V&A, and the Wakefield Museum, Briony became Keeper of the Museums Collection at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 2002.

Publications include 'English Delftware Drug Jars: the collection of the Museum of the Royal Pharmeceutical Society' and 'Jacob Bell: a useful and honourable life'.

She is Current President of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy and lectures to wide-ranging audiences on wide-ranging topics relating to pharmacy history.

It is somewhat ironic that it was the American, Nancy Lancaster ( co- founder of Colefax and Fowler), who formed what we now consider to be the English Country House Style.

This lecture will use specific case examples to discuss how interiors have altered in line with changing tastes. A consideration of neoclassical interiors will be contrasted against the more eclectic tastes of the Victorian period and conclude with a consideration of our expectations regarding country house interiors today.

Melissa Gallimore has worked with country house collections for over ten years, specialising in 18th and 19th century interiors, furniture and ceramics.

She has worked as Senior Curator of Decorative Arts at Harewood House, project- managed the restoration of the East Bedroom, including the conservation of the 18th century Chinese wallpaper and curated the accompanying exhibition entitled 'Chinoiserie at Harewood.'

Melissa has talked regularly for a variety of arts organisations and recently started lecturing on a Country House Studies Course at Hull University.

To find out about the many houses mentioned in this lecture click here.

Illuminated manuscripts are some of the most numerous and beautiful artefacts that survive from the Middle Ages, providing fascinating insights into the practices of Medieval scribes, artists and patrons.

The lecture will chart the production of an illuminated book: the transformation of animal skins into parchment; the copying of texts; the painting of miniatures, initials and borders; and the binding of the pages into book form. It will then explore the world of the 12th century monastic library, considering what sort of books were made for and by the Benedictine monks at the abbeys of, amongst others, Christ Church, Canterbury, Winchester and St. Albans.

Sally Dormer is a lecturer and tutor for the Early Medieval Year Course at the V&A. She is also Dean of European Studies for two US Universities and is a freelance lecturer for the Art Fund. She has conducted Study Tours for NADFAS, cruises and other tour groups.

This look at the life of Barbara Hepworth starts with her childhood in Yorkshire, and her attachment to its landscape. We look at artistic influences too: those of Moore and other artists of the 30s, such as Skeaping, Nicholson, Gabo, and Mondrian.

Motherhood surprisingly strengthened her move to abstraction and was later responsible for her move to Cornwall, where her work was further influenced by the land and sea. The inspiration she received from nature, together with her work ethic,helped her face a life alone and cope with the worry of an ill child. It also resulted in the wonderful works in stone wood and bronze that we can see in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, St. Ives and the Hepworth Museum.

Lecturer: Elizabeth Strang attained a Humanities Degree through the Open University, with art as a main subject, specifically Modern Art.

She was recruited as a Guide when Tate Modern opened in 2000 and has since worked at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Through the Tate she has lectured on cruises for three years, specialising in 20th century art, and now lectures locally on this subject.

Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) is often described as England's greatest architect since Sir Christopher Wren.   He was influenced early on by the Arts and Crafts movement and later by what he called the “High Game” of classicism.

This lecture will consider Lutyens’s prolific career of over half a century, demonstrating the sheer variety and extent of his work:  his country houses, which were beautifully featured from 1897 in the new Country Life magazine;   the London Cenotaph and other work for the Imperial War Graves Commission, which brought him international recognition;   commercial buildings built during the inter-war years; and perhaps Lutyens’s greatest achievement of all:  his contribution to the laying out of New Delhi and his much-admired, palatial Viceroy's House there.

Alongside all the honours and commissions which were showered upon this pre-eminent architect, we shall also touch on Lutyens’s private life.    His passionate and prolific correspondence with his wife Emily, written during his extensive travels away from home, gives a detailed account of his day-to-day work, emphasises his surprising yet ever-present fear of financial instability, and reveals a  difficult marriage on account of Emily’s heavy involvement with Theosophy, and yet one which endured throughout his long and dazzling career.

2016 will mark the 200th anniversary of the purchase of the so- called 'Elgin Marbles' from Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, by the British Parliament. This lecture, beautifully illustrated with specifically taken slides and video, explores the aesthetics, the back story, and the heated debates surrounding these fascinating and controversial works of Ancient Greek art: What do we mean by the Elgin Marbles? How and why were they originally created? What happened to them between their creation and Elgin's time? How did he acquire them? Why were they so highly regarded? Why are they now in the British Museum? And why are there such passionately held views both for and against their repatriation to Greece?
 

Dr Stephen Kershaw

As a Classics Tutor for Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, Professor of History of Art for the European Studies Program of Rhodes College and the University of the South, a lecturer for the V&A, and as a guest speaker for Swan Hellenic Cruises, Steve has spent much of the mast 30 years travelling extensively in the world of the Greeks and Romans both physically and intellectually. He has recently published 'A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths', 'A Brief Guide to Classical Civilisation' and 'A Brief History of the Roman Empire'. He gave his first NADFAS talks in 2011.

The lecture traces the extraordinary stylistic development of El Greco, concentrating in particular on the latter half of his career which was spent in his adopted city of Toledo.

We examine many paintings which are still in
their original locations, such as The Burial of Count Orgaz and The Disrobing of Christ, explaining how their mystical and avant-garde appearance belies a wide variety of sometimes surprising influences, and to what extent these works can be seen as reflections of the cultural, religious and socio-economic climate of the city in the early 17th century.

Sian Walters

Sian Walters is a lecturer at the National Gallery and Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish art and architecture and the relationship between dance and art. She has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. She teaches private courses and organises lectures, study days and art holidays abroad.

Three Great Families and their Gardens is the story of three very different, but hugely successful families: the Sackville Wests, the Astors and the Rothschilds.  

The Sackville Wests have been part of the establishment since the Conqueror, and the other two families are wealthy immigrants who came to England in the l9th century. 

The talk traces the history of the families, discusses their contribution to life in England and celebrates the splendid gardens that they have created.

Akhenaten (c1352 – c1336 BC) is probably the most controversial of all the Egyptian pharaohs. He made extraordinary changes to the religion and art, all the more striking when we consider how conventional the ancient Egyptians tended to be in these respects. He replaced the traditional polytheistic religion with the worship of one solar deity, and the art is unlike that of any other pharaoh’s reign.

His wife was Nefertiti arguably the most famous queen of pharaonic Egypt. Her bust displayed in Berlin is iconic. Together they continue to fascinate.

Dante famously wrote in his Divine Comedy: "Once Cimabue thought to hold the field as painter; Giotto now is all the rage, dimming the lustre of the other’s fame.” The idea that Florentine art in the period before the Black Death was dominated first by Cimabue, then by Giotto and his immediate followers, such as Taddeo Gaddi and Maso di Banco (dubbed the ‘Giotteschi’) is still a dominant idea in art history.

As you will see in this lecture, Giotto’s dramatic style revolutionised the art of monumental narrative painting, although the frescoes today considered the touchstone of his style were not painted in Florence at all, but in the Arena Chapel in Padua. However, not every significant work of art in the city was created by Giotto and the Giotteschi - or even by Florentines.

Some patrons preferred a quite different style, choosing Sienese artists to paint altarpieces, and Pisan sculptors to work on prestigious projects for the Cathedral and Baptistery. The picture that emerges is complex and exciting. Florentine art developed rapidly through a dynamic interchange of ideas between Florentines, Sienese and Pisans, competing to outdo each other.

To find out what lectures you might have missed in previous years, or to just refresh your memory, look at the Documents page.