Hieronymus Bosch’s (c.1455-1516) nightmarish monsters and demons, his bizarre allegories, and the amorous exploits in his Garden of Earthly Delights have intrigued viewers for centuries.  Little is known about this remarkable painter, although it has been claimed that he was a member of a heretical sect, a dabbler in alchemy and even a drug-user!  This lecture unravels the meanings of Bosch’s enigmatic paintings in the context of his own time, explaining them in terms of social satire, medieval folklore and pre-Reformation spirituality, while also revealing the beauty and inventiveness of his images.  

Paula Nuttall. Specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely, notably From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500 (Yale, 2004). Has collaborated on major exhibitions including Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution (Ghent, 2020).  Before retiring in 2023 Paula was Director of the V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year Course, and has taught at – among others – the Courtauld Institute and the British Institute of Florence.  She now focuses on the Arts Society, her own online courses, and research.

Agatha Christie is one of the most adapted writers of all time. These adaptations, however, have often been critiqued as nothing more than gentle exercises in period nostalgia. If this is the case, it raises the question of why have they attracted some of the most brilliant actors of all time. This talk goes on a trip through decades of Christie adaptation, exploring how the performances of John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Albert Finney, Angela Lansbury, Charles Laughton, and Peter Ustinov (to name but a few) help to express the uniquely eccentric world of Christie’s work.

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

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

I studied archaeology at Reading University and have since worked as a professional archaeologist, in commercial archaeology, for English Heritage, for the BBC and as an independent. I was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1992 and have an honorary doctorate. I have long been involved in teaching and outreach projects, lecturing widely in continuing education, to schools (with a focus on special needs pupils) and societies. My career in broadcasting involved researching and presenting Meet the Ancestors and Blood of the Vikings for BBC2, and Mapping the Town for Radio 4. I have written a number of English Heritage publications on Stonehenge, including the previous and current guide books to the monument and landscape. Museum work includes curating Stonehenge related exhibitions in the UK and abroad (Germany and Austria) and I have just curated the new permanent ceramics gallery for Salisbury Museum. With no intention of retiring I am still passionate about Stonehenge, pots and old cars.   

This lecture explores an artist whose work, inventiveness, and ability to catch the zeitgeist is still admired a century after her bold 'Bizarre' wares were launched in 1927. These Art Deco masterpieces are the products that most vividly signify Clarice Cliff's legacy. She spent a lifetime innovating. Born in 1899, she was a working professional whose lifespan covered the period in which women broke through the barriers of the art world. While the Royal Academy barred women from accessing the full training and privileges of their male counterparts, the pottery industry was one that had traditionally offered female artists the opportunities to excel. Cliff's talents were recognised when she was still a teenager, and she went on to produce designs that keyed into the cutting-edge trends of the period, setting the bar for ceramics as a commercial art form.  

I am an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market. I teach at several Higher Education institutions, including the University of the Arts London, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the City & Guilds of London Art School, SOAS (University of London) and Imperial College. In January 2021 I received the Geoffrey Bond Bursary for Art, an annual prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Educators to an “outstanding educator” nominated by their institution. 

Outsider art is the name given to work produced by artists from all over the world who are usually untrained and outside the mainstream of twentieth and twenty-first century art. Their output ranges from tiny drawings a few centimetres wide to the world’s tallest wooden house. The artists include at least two postmen, a coal miner, psychics, unskilled labourers, several prisoners, psychiatric patients, a Russian ex-gangster and an Indian roads inspector. The one thing they have in common is a compulsion to make astounding art. Few of them are well known – but they all deserve to be

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published books, articles and exhibition catalogue essays on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. He works as a consultant and associate lecturer for the Open University. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and abc Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate. 

Films, whether classic or contemporary, can inspire fashion trends. Going back in history, there are numerous relationships between fashion designers and famous actors and actresses. For example, Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn, Yves St Laurent and Catherine Deneuve, Colin Firth and Tom Ford. There is no doubt that clothes help to build the characters in film and costume designers help to tell the story. Different genres, such as period dramas, require a range of skills, including extensive research. Colour palettes, textiles and accessories are all part of the layering of a costume.

Susan Bishop is a Chartered Marketer and Senior Lecturer. She has Masters degrees in the History of Design and Material Culture and in Fashion Curation. Susan taught fashion retail marketing and consultancy at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, University of Brighton and Surrey University. Amongst other teaching roles she currently lectures in fashion curation on the BA Costume for Theatre and Screen at Wimbledon School of Arts, UAL.  In 2019 Susan gave a series of talks in London and Sussex on her historical research about Barkers departments store supermodels in the 1920s, based on an historic Press Book. She continues her research with her latest project based on two press albums from 1930s about Captain Edward Molyneux, the British-born Paris couturier.

Thursday 08 January 2026
The Discovery of Paris
Stephen Duffy
 

In the early nineteenth century it was British watercolour artists who painted the most memorable views of Paris. In this talk we'll see a wonderful range of beautiful drawings, prints and watercolours by such artists as Turner, Girtin, Bonington and Thomas Shotter Boys. We'll also look at the reactions of British visitors to a city which was very different to the one we know today. Did you know, for example, that at that time an enormous building in the River Seine pumped water to households in the centre of the city? That an army of women washed clothes in the river near Notre-Dame Cathedral, while others clipped dog's coats on one of the main bridges? No wonder that, as we'll see, some British visitors were delighted, while others were appalled and even horrified.

Formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where Stephen had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups as well as many lectures on its art and other art historical subjects at home and abroad. His most recent publication, The Discovery of Paris, is a book on early nineteenth-century watercolour views of Paris by major British artists such as Girtin, Turner and Bonington. He has written many articles and reviews for art magazines.

2023 marks the 600th anniversary of the death of the fabled Dick Whittington (c1354-1423). For many of us, Dick is simply a fictional character from a Ladybird book or the Christmas pantomime. In fact, Dick was very real, indeed one of the major movers and shakers of medieval London.  In this lecture we separate the man from the myth as we follow in his footsteps through the streets that were not exactly ‘paved with gold…’. Apprenticed to a master mercer, Whittington went on to become one of the wealthiest and most successful textile merchants in the City, bankrolled no fewer than three medieval kings and as a result held the office of Lord Mayor of London no fewer than four times. And what of that famous feline companion; his cat? Well, the church that he built might just provide the answer but the lecture reveals all…

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

In this talk and film screening design historian Dr Atkinson will trace how exhibitions became a potent tool for public communications in early twentieth century Britain.  Harriet will then show her 30 minute documentary film Art on the Streets.  The film focuses on For Liberty, an exhibition mounted in 1943 in the bombed-out John Lewis department store on London's Oxford Street.

Blenheim Palace's social historian and researcher looks at how the Blenheim landscape has developed from the formaility of Henry Wise through to the natural landscape created by Capability Brown.   This talk takes us right up to the present day and examines some of  the decisions and plans made by the Head Gardener.

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

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

Despite his German birth and his Italian musical training, Handel remains one of the most important composers that England ever nurtured. Not only did his music have direct influence on his musical contemporaries, but his largerthan-life personality had a profound effect on the literary, visual and decorative arts as well – both in his lifetime and after his death, in 1759.

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

With over three decades under his belt Marc has gathered a wealth of experience and fascinating tales based on his work in the auction business. This insightful talk will both amaze and amuse as he recounts incredible stories of great discoveries and emotive situations.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He is shortly to begin his 27th year as a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and has appeared on numerous television and radio programmes. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc has his own unique style with interests ranging from pre-history to modern design and is a self-confessed collectaholic. He has a passion and reputation for divining the unusual through ‘a desire to connect with history through the interpretation and pursuit of objects and their origins’. Marc has lectured widely for many years to a number of different organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust, The WI and many literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath, Wells and Petworth. He has also lectured as far afield for the Arts Society in New Zealand, Spain, Germany, Malta and Penang. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in America, explore 25 iconic works including Grant Wood’s ‘American Gothic,’ Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother,’ Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks,’ of American art.

Marie-Anne Mancio, MPhil, DPhil, is an art historian, writer, experienced tour leader and accredited lecturer.  Mancio trained as an artist before gaining a D.Phil from University of Sussex in art and critical theory.  She has written and presented courses for Tate and Dulwich Picture Gallery and is a published author.  

Painting in China today is as rich and diverse as the country is vast. Oil painting and its many developments and changes has been imported from the West and undergone subtle mutations in the very different culture in China. This lecture focuses on painting from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The traditions of Chinese brush and ink painting underwent many re-evaluations, and influences from the West were absorbed and adapted. Many Chinese artists are major players on the international stage of contemporary art. Although part of the global art scene, they are also often distinguished by their subtle social and political critiques.

Oliver Gosling is a painter and was trained at Royal College of Art.  He exhibits  internationally. He has lived and exhibited in Japan 1998-2001 and in China 2007-2015 where he continues to be represented by two galleries. From 1994 to date: Lecturer, BA and MA Fine Art Painting, University of  Brighton. From 2001 to date: Lecturer, Certificate in the History of Art, University of Oxford. Currently represented by the Fanxi Gallery, France.

During the Renaissance, Venice held an important political and artistic position in the Eastern Mediterranean. Through the production of fine glass for the royal courts and aristocracy of Europe, Venice exerted its wide-reaching control and influence. As seen in this well-illustrated lecture, Venetian glass of the Renaissance incorporates forms, styles and techniques which were inspired by the Romans and which surprisingly anticipate modern design.

Simon Cottle is a leading international specialist, author and lecturer in British and European Glass.  Former Managing Director Bonhams Europe, Director of European Ceramics and Glass at Bonhams Auctioneers (2007-2021) and prior to that Head of European Ceramics and Glass at Sotheby’s.  His earlier career included curator of ceramics, glass and silver for museums in London, Newcastle and Glasgow.  He is the Honorary President of the Glass Circle.  

Whether drawing duchesses or portraying princes, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was high society’s leading portraitist. Flaunting a consummate technique, his luxurious canvases mirrored his subjects’ wealth. Yet beneath the dazzling veneer of works such as Madame X, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit and Lady Agnew of Lochnaw lurks a much rawer world by far. Sargent certainly scandalised Parisian society and the city’s Salon with his frank depictions of human sexuality, yet he was even more modern than they might have feared. This talk charts the artist’s life and his prolific output, showing that, like the era he came to represent, Sargent was always on the cusp of seismic change.

A writer and broadcaster, Gavin Plumley also lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Sandy Burnett’s close relationship with Bach’s music stretches back for decades; between 1997 and 2010 he directed a complete cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas in West London. In this illustrated talk he explores how Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig. An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work which draws on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale, and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses which are infused with the joyous spirit of the dance.

A versatile music commentator, Sandy Burnett enjoys a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing.  After studying at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3.

He devises and leads cultural holidays worldwide, is the author of the “Idler Guide to Classical Music” and is a sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene. 

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, which is a lovely one for Christmas time, I explore five of Bruegel’s most iconic winter scenes and consider how they offered both viewers, collectors and artists something new.  

Dr Amy Orrock is an art historian and curator who has published and lectured widely on Northern European art of the 16th and 17th 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.  She 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). 

For the series and film Downton Abbey, Andrew was commissioned to make many jewels for the main characters and this inspired him to create a talk based on this unique period. Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case. In his talk, Andrew guides you through the extraordinary decades and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great couturiers collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce jewels and clothes of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this, he illustrates the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and shows how they were worn with their sumptuous gowns.

Andrew Prince has had a passion for jewellery from a young age.  Aged 16, he started work in London’s Bond Street working for The Antique Roadshow expert Ian Harris.  Under his guidance, Andrew developed an appreciation for the quality of design and workmanship in jewellery rather than the value of the stones.  He then joined the renowned contemporary jeweller Elizabeth Gage and worked with her on the design and production side.  His taste for and skill in fine costume jewellery resulted in private commissions from clients such as Michael Jackson and Shirley Bassey. In 2002, the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany their resplendent “Tiaras, Past and Present”.  The exposure gained by the show then led to Andrew’s jewellery appearing in film.  

His jewellery has appeared in films such as “Mrs Henderson Presents”, “The Young Victoria” and “Downton Abbey”. 

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

Dr Graham Jones started his professional life as a musician in the British Army and over a glittering career spanning nearly forty years he retired as the Senior Director of Music, Household Division and Director of Music, Coldstream Guards a position unequaled throughout military music in Great Britain. During his illustrious career he has recorded over 40 albums and been responsible for the largest commissioning programme of wind band music in recent history commissioning over 30 new works for wind band. He pioneered a music education programme with the University of Salford for military musicians resulting in a new Master of Music in performance degree. Graham was made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace for outstanding service to military music in 1993.

Having retired, at the start of 2012, from military service Graham is enjoying a second career as a guest conductor, adjudicator, guest speaker, lecturer, clinician, recording consultant and educator. He is also the Artist Director of London International Band Week, music consultant to Henley Music Festival, resident conductor of the British Imperial Orchestra, visiting conductor in residence at Troy University, Alabama, USA and guest lecturer on cruise ships. 

Aunt Sally in Oxfordshire, Toad in the Hole in East Sussex, daddlums in Kent and bagatelle in Chester – they sound like relics of a bygone age, and yet the pub games of Britain live on, in all their infinite variety and eccentric splendour. Some, like darts (whose familiar board is a surprisingly recent creation), have achieved international renown, while tenpin bowling is merely a modern version of skittles. Other games, such as shove ha’penny and quoits, have barely changed in centuries. In this lecture Simon Inglis guides us through winners and losers of pub games, and reveals some of the extraordinary artefacts to be found in the nooks and crannies of Britain’s historic hostelries. 

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

This lecture will consider the artistic output of one of the leading textile designers of the 20th Century; Marion Dorn. Dorothy Todd, the influential journalist, but somewhat flawed Editor of the magazine British Vogue, first brought Dorn to the public attention in 1925 and christened Dorn the ‘architect of floors’. Renowned for her ’sculpted rugs’, this lecture will reveal Dorn’s various commissions from the 1920s to the 19060s, which included amongst others, designs for the Savoy Hotel Group in London, Eltham Palace (the former Tudor royal residence that was transformed by the millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld), the London Underground and the White House in Washington DC. In addition to her designs of wall hangings, carpets and rugs, Dorn also produced wallpaper and graphics, having studied graphic design at Stanford University prior to coming to live and work in London.  We will explore her extraordinary career and position her place as a designer whose name should be for ever enshrined in the history books of British 20th century Art Deco.

MA Hons Art History, St Andrew's University. Over 30 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of the Adult Education Department's programme of events. Also conducted numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. Specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art. Over 12 years' experience at the Royal Academy. Work experience also undertaken at Bonhams, Art Loss Register, National Trust. Now a freelance art consultant and lecturer. Recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club.

In Search of Leokadiya Kashperova - the rescue of a major romantic composer whose find music was almost erased forever by the misfortunes of Twentieth history

For a historian there can be little to match the excitement of discovering a forgotten treasure. Dr Griffiths’s eventful research across Russia to unveil the Romantic figure of Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) offers the perfect example. Kashperova was BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week in December 2022. Her fine music is now published by Boosey & Hawkes and available for the musical world to enjoy. This presentation offers narrative, images and high quality recorded music examples – illustrating ‘what it takes’ to recover the biography and works of a great composer whom History had completely forgotten. Until now.

Graham Griffiths dedicated 20 years to reviving the music and story of Leokadiya and was the key guest on BBC 3 ‘Composer of the Week’ in 2022 which was dedicated to the life and work of Leokadiya. He is a pianist, conductor, composer and author, working in Britain and internationally.

The Elizabethan era saw the transformation of Britain’s medieval dwellings into the basis of modern houses: chimneys, open staircases and glazing became the norm. This talk covers the spectrum, from simple cottages to merchant’s houses and great estates, to explore the residences of Elizabeth herself. Underpinning the story is the social change wrought by the end of monasteries, the growth of cities and the discovery of a world beyond our shores.

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

The musical evolved in two great cities: London and New York, so similar and so different in equal measure. With Soho and Times Square as the ultimate destinations, this lecture explores the metropolitan world from the perspective of the musical theatre stage, taking in ganglands and society haunts, the suburbs and the centres of power. West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd and Oliver are only a few of the familiar shows that have put London and New York centre stage. So what do metropolitan musicals reveal about the real cities and the characters who live in them? Answers are frequently colourful, often unexpected, but always delivered through distinctive characters, striking images and memorable music.

John Snelson has been fascinated by musicals all his life and is now a leading expert in British musical theatre (the subject of his PhD). His publications include Andrew Lloyd Webber (Yale University Press) and chapters in many authoritative reference works. He is especially known for exploring musicals – British and American – in the light of not just the music and the stage, but society and culture to reveal what makes them so appealing, enduring and important. He is well known as a writer and speaker on all aspects of the lyric stage – musicals, opera, ballet – and has written many programme articles for leading companies in the UK and abroad. John has given talks for, among others, the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the Garsington and Glyndebourne festivals and for BBC radio. For 20 years he worked for the Royal Opera House. He currently lectures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is completing a book on British musical theatre for Bloomsbury Publishing.

In the roughly three hundred years during which the British constructed buildings in India there persisted an unresolved dialogue about the creation of an authoritative British style. The Victorians and Edwardians looked with envy at the confident, distinctive and appropriate architectural style of the buildings in India constructed in the time of the Mughal Empire. The questions - as to whether the British should impose a British style, fuse a British style with Indian or even adopt the Mughal style for their own – were never satisfactorily answered in India … That is until Edwin Lutyens penned his designs for New Delhi. This lecture gives consideration to the several styles of Indian architecture – not least the Mughal, before celebrating the masterpiece, and innovative stylistic triumph, that is New Delhi. 

A freelance historic buildings' consultant, educated as an Architectural Historian at Manchester University and trained in building conservation at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, York. After two years with SAVE Britain's Heritage, where he wrote Deserted Bastions, worked with the English Heritage Listing Division on the review of military buildings. In the mid 1990s was employed by the DTI in Bombay, India, setting up and running an innovative project to repair George Gilbert Scott's university buildings and training local architects and craftsmen in conservation techniques and philosophy. From 1998 until 2010, worked as Rodney Melville & Partners' historian, involved with research, analysis, assessment and conservation planning at such sites as The Workhouse, Southwell; Aston Hall, Birmingham; The Royal Institution, London and Cliveden. Published a book on the History of Birmingham Town Hall in 2012, to critical acclaim. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Deputy Chairman of the Ancient Monuments Society.

Christmas spectacles, slapstick, and beanstalks have been drawing crowds to Covent Garden since 1737. John Rich, the first manager of what is now the Royal Opera House, was a fine dancer, mime, and special effects man and he (and his successors) developed all the well known features of the  London Christmas season. Even now principal boys, fairies, and Harlequin are alive and well on  the ROH stage. This lecture pulls together the whole performing tradition and brings it up to date with the latest Christmas offerings at the Royal Opera House.

Sarah Lenton has spent her working Life in the theatre: her principal employers are the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera. She writes programme articles, radio and play scripts, lectures on opera and the ballet and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 3 and 4. 

The earliest cars were purely functional……however progress was rapid and by the mid1920s we entered the golden age of the automobile.  The Art Deco movement influenced designs….this period was followed by the Streamline Moderne influenced cars of the 1930s and 40s.  This lecture covers some of the most beautiful cars ever built, from the horseless carriage to the supercars of the 21st century.

A keen and accomplished photographer, Roger Mendham has gained distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently President of the Surrey Photographic Association. His talks are richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers in history.

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

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

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

Using classic film and TV clips, personal mementos, and rare photos and letters from his family’s collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives.  It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, ‘This is Your Life’ and many other moments in their shared life in the theatre.

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

The Soviet Avant Garde movement contained some of the greatest names of its generation including  Malevich, Chagall, Kandinsky, Exter, Popova, Rozanova, Rodchenko and Tatlin.  With their creativity stunted by the advent of Socialist Realism in 1932, their work largely disappeared. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a flood of newly-discovered works appeared on the Western and domestic markets of which the vast majority had no verifiable authentication.  This scandal reached a crescendo in January 2018 with an exhibition of 24 dubious works of the period at the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts in Belgium.  James Butterwick examines the background behind the mass faking as well as the methods used to create “authenticity “.

James Butterwick began collecting and selling Russian Art in 1985 and has established himself as one of the world’s leading experts. He moved to Moscow in 1994, becoming the only foreign member of the Russian Society of Private Collectors and began forming collections, taking part in museum exhibitions and lecturing on Russian Art, including at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2013 and the Museum of Russian Impressionism in June of this year.

In 2008 James became the only foreign member of International Confederation of Antique and Art Dealers of Russia and the CIS and in 2013 joined the Society of London Art Dealers.

James acts as a source of museum quality paintings with flawless provenance of both the Russian and European School and has access to all the leading experts, private collections and museums in any area of the arts. He travels regularly to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan where, in October 2013, he opened an exhibition of leading Impressionist paintings.

In 2015 James became the first gallery dealing in early 20th century Russian Art to be invited to exhibit at TEFAF, Maastricht – selling four works to the Kröller-Müller Museum. The following year saw a much-heralded personal exhibition of the Ukrainian avant-garde artist, Alexander Bogomazov (1880-1930) with further sales to both Kröller-Müller and subsequently to the Arkansas Art Centre. James also exhibited at the first TEFAF New York fair in 2017.

Despite its superb location, beautiful harbour and quaint buildings having made it one of the most painted spots in Britain, Polperro is the forgotten art centre and the story of Art in Polperro has not been told before.  This lecture draws on David’s new research and books published in 2021 and will be illustrated with a wide range of paintings.  

David read law at Oxford and practised as a solicitor for 20 years. He returned to University in 1996 to read History of Art and now specialises in Cornish Art. His particular interest in St Ives art derives from the fact that his great-grandfather, William Titcomb, was one of the early settlers in the colony. Since 2000, David has curated various exhibitions on Cornish art for Tate St Ives, Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, Nottingham Castle Museum, Cheltenham Art Gallery and various other art galleries around the country. He has also published eight books, of which five have been major, ground-breaking surveys of St Ives art, namely St Ives Art pre-1890 - The Dawn of the Colony, Pioneers of St Ives Art at Home and Abroad 1889-1914, Sea Change - Fine and Decorative Art in St Ives 1914-1930,  Creating A Splash - The St Ives Society of Artists 1927-1952 and the unique social history St Ives (1860-1930) - The Artists and the Community.

David is also Editor of The Flagstaff, the magazine of the Lamorna Society, a group that is interested in the artists, writers and natural beauty of the Lamorna Valley, and as members include descendants of artists, their patrons, their models and their servants, the Society has an extraordinary archive upon which David can draw.  He also has written biographies of Lamorna resident writers, Cecily Sidgwick and Crosbie Garstin.  His lectures now include both artistic and social histories of the Lamorna art colony, as well as a lecture devoted to the author, artist and adventurer, Crosbie Garstin.

David has curated for St Ives Museum their first loan exhibition which will run throughout the 2023 season from April to October. This is called Discovering St Ives - Early Visiting Artists and will feature depictions of the town from 1790 to 1890. A new book, St Ives - The Dawn of the Colony, will accompany this and again David has devised a new lecture in this regard.

The lecture will consider the similarities and differences of these two artists who have both focused on landscape as a way of conveying spirituality and isolation.  Wyeth and Hopper imbued their work with a sense of quiet strength that continued to engage with the legacy of the great 19th century transcendentalist writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

BA from the Courtauld Institute and MA from Bath Spa University; her thesis examined the work of Roger Fry and Roland Penrose. Research posts include work on 150 years of the Bristol School of Art (2003), Peace Gardens of the 1980s (2005) and Stanley Spencer: Journey to Burghclere (2006). Taught in the Art History Department at Bristol University since 2005 and in 2009 won the Teaching and Learning prize for the Faculty of Arts. Has also taught in the Visual Culture Department at the Faculty of Creative Arts at Bristol UWE since 1998, the Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University since 2008, and for American Studies Programmes in London since 1999. In 2019, Tricha won a Best of Bristol Lecturer Award for the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bristol. 

The remarkable way in which Wodehouse, over his phenomenal career of three-quarters of a century, deployed the locale of Mayfair and the West End which he knew well to populate the characters in his fiction.

Richard took a BA Hons in English Language and Literature from the University of Manchester, followed by an acting diploma at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. He combines acting, writing and lecturing. He has lectured in many venues including the National Army Museum and the Museum of London, and is currently presenting a variety of virtual lectures online.

Richard has contributed to, among others, The Journal of Popular Film and Television, The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and the P G Wodehouse journal Wooster Sauce. A specialist in voice work, he has narrated numerous documentaries and 150 audiobooks.

Dogs are man’s most loyal friend.  They are often used in art, as in life, to project our ambitions and anxieties.  From the poignancy of Landseer, Queen Victoria’s favourite animal painter to the whippets of Freud, the lecture explores how dogs have provided inspiration, solace and companionship throughout artistic lives.

Alexandra Epps is an Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015).

Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing.

Some of the most iconic images of the 20th century were created, not for galleries or private patrons, but for record sleeves.  The zebra crossing immortalised on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road is just one example.  This lecture will explore the art of the album cover and reveal the close connection between visual and musical creativity in this vibrant period of popular culture.

Rupert Dickens is an art historian based in south London with a special interest in Dutch and Flemish 16th and 17th century painting. He works at the Wallace Collection as a guide conducting public and private tours and lecturing on aspects of the collection.

Rupert is also a tour director for a Cambridge-based company accompanying groups on art-themed tours to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Italy. He has lectured to large audiences on subjects as diverse as the game of chess in art and Madame de Pompadour’s artistic patronage in 18th century France. He studied art history at Birkbeck College before undertaking a Masters in Dutch Golden Age Studies at University College London. Before that Rupert had a 26-year career as a BBC journalist ending as an editor in radio news. 

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

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3.

Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.

With the establishment of military government in Edo (present day Tokyo) in the early 17th century, Japan enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity.  Artists in Kyoto flourished with a new vigour to satisfy the demand of the newly affluent townspeople. The Rimpa style is considered by some as “the most quintessentially Japanese” art.  This lecture will analyse the masterpieces of the Rimpa artists and discuss what makes them Japanese.

Dr Meri Arichi studied Art History in London and Florence, and worked at Christie’s in Kings Street, London, from 1989 to 1993. She returned to university to study Asian Art at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 1993, and completed a Post-graduate Diploma in Asian Art (1994), MA (1996) in History of East Asian Art, and PhD (2003) for her thesis on Shinto-Buddhist syncretic Art. She has been teaching History of Japanese Art in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS as a Teaching Fellow since 2007. She has also run courses at the Birkbeck College, V&A, British Museum, and the Courtauld Institute of Art Summer School. She has led tours to Japan and lectured on cruises.  

The aim of this lecture is to understand better the films of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks by placing them in the context of Jewish history during their lifetimes.  We start with a look at the cultural landscape of America of the era.

Colin Shindler has been lecturing on American and British social and cultural history for over 20 years. He was awarded his PhD at Cambridge University and subsequently lectured on film for their History Faculty between 1998 and 2019 exploring its relationship to modern British and American social and cultural history. He also teaches a variety of adult education courses at Madingley and Higham Hall in Cumbria and has lectured on cruises.

Between 1975 and 1999 he pursued a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and film. He won a BAFTA award for his production of A Little Princess. His production of Young Charlie Chaplin was nominated for a US Prime Time Emmy. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film Buster and was the producer of various television dramas such as Lovejoy and Wish Me Luck. He has written three novels as well as numerous television scripts and radio plays but regards his greatest cultural contribution as choosing the title music for the police series Juliet Bravo.

His most recent radio play Leni Goes to Hollywood, about the German film director Leni Riefenstahl, was broadcast on Radio 4 in August 2021. Other radio plays for R4 included How To Be An Internee (about P.G. Wodehouse) and one on Private Eye & The Profumo Affair (Rumours). Both were selected by the BBC as Drama Podcast of the Week

He is the author of Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches: The Controversial South Africa Cricket Tour of 1970 which was short listed for the MCC/Wisden Cricket Book of the Year in 2021. He is best known for his childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life which was short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.

His other publications include Hollywood Goes To War: Films & American Society 1939-1952 and Hollywood in Crisis: Films & American Society 1929-1939. I'm Sure I speak for Thousands of Others (2017) was a history of unpublished letters written to the BBC and his non-fiction novel Garbo & Gilbert in Love was an imaginative reconstruction of the infamous relationship of the two MGM stars. He is currently working on the television adaptation of his novel Hollywood Nazis. His next book is titled Granada Land: Coronation Street and the Emergence of the North 1960-1970. 

You may know Catherine Tackley who in 2018 curated Rhythm and Reaction: the Age of Jazz in Britain for the Art Society. In this presentation she will examine the links between Art and Jazz.

Professor Catherine Tackley (née Parsonage) is a musicologist specialising in jazz. She is currently Head of the Department of Music at the University of Liverpool, UK. She has written two books – The Evolution of Jazz in Britain: c.1880-1935 and Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert - and co-edited Black British Jazz: Routes, Ownership and Performance.

In 2018, Catherine curated Rhythm and Reaction: The Age of Jazz in Britain for The Arts Society, an acclaimed exhibition in London based on her research. In recognition of this and her work with many other organisations, Catherine won 'Outstanding Contribution to Public Engagement' in the University of Liverpool's Staff Awards in 2019. She is Musical Director of Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Big Band.

From the Edwardian era to the outbreak of WW2, millions of artist drawn humorous postcards were produced not just for entertainment but to bolster morale, to inspire, instruct, motivate and persuade. This lecture covers the popular themes and styles of the artists of the period and the reasons why the popularity of the postcards waned with the British public.

James studied at the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester, and is a former curator of paintings, drawings and prints, and co-ordinator of various exhibitions and galleries, at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, also lecturer and ships' historian on board cruise ships. Publications include illustrated histories of Marine Painting (1995) and yachting art Yachts on Canvas (1998), The Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin’s extraordinary adventure aboard FitzRoy’s famous survey ship (2008), Careless Talk Costs Lives: Fougasse and the Art of Public Information (2010) and Your Country Needs You: the Secret History of the Propaganda Poster (2013), Dazzle: Disguise and Disruption in War and Art (2016) and Picturing the Pacific: Sir Joseph Banks and the Shipboard Artists of Cook and Flinders (2018). Completed his PhD at the University of Sussex in 2015 on the voyager artist William Westall (1781-1850) who sailed with Commander Matthew Flinders aboard HMS 'Investigator' (1801-1803) the first ship to circumnavigate Australia.

This talk surveys the development of wallpaper production and design across the 20th century encompassing its variety from geometric to floral. Decorators like Laura Ashley, Colefax and Fowler and Sandersons created popular new styles and digital design and statement walls have seen a revival of wallpaper today.

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

A persuasive introduction to buying antiques and integrating and using them in today’s homes.  The state of the antiques market and the different meanings of the word value are considered, as are the objects current and future generations of collectors are buying, why they’re buying it and how they are displaying it. 

Mark studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. Became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. Was co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller from 2002-17. Founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts. A Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, and has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. Operations Director of Ronati UK, an internet company offering innovative digital services to the antiques industry. Has lectured across the world, including at the V&A in London, and contributed to many newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

The lecture will look at works as diverse as Botticelli, van Dyck, Aelbert Cuyp from Rubens through to Degas and Gaugin, placing these works in the context of those from national collections; drawing parallels and contrasts. It will look at a hidden aspect of these works which is the appearance and function of black figures in these masterpieces.

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

First published in 1908 without illustration, Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale 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. This presentation will revisit the story as depicted by numerous well-known illustrators comparing and contrasting as appropriate.

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.

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

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

Gustav Klimt and his colleagues broke away from the imperially endorsed art institutions in Vienna in 1897 and founded the Secession.  That was the same year Gustav Mahler arrived to take charge of the Opera House in the city.  This lecture places Klimt and Mahler in context, asking what fundamentally links and divides them.

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

From the cartoonist creator of the long running BBC radio sitcom “Clare in the Community” and the Guardian strip cartoon of same name, we learn the history of cartoons and drawing live to demonstrate creating a story.

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

From early Kosovan silver mines mentioned in Dante, through the 20th century politics over Kosovo’s mines which resulted in both a war and a golf course, a silver thread winds through Kosovo’s history. In the country’s cultural capital, Prizren, a 7th generation of filigree artisans magic lacy creations from dull sticks of raw materials into boxes, buttons, jewellery, ornaments and talismans.

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

In celebration of our Society’s 20th anniversary we have invited Caroline Knight, our very first lecturer, to repeat her lecture given to TASM twenty years ago. Young gentlemen in the 18th century completed their education by travel in Europe. This lecture looks at where they went, what they brought back with them including antique sculpture, paintings and commissioned portraits.

Caroline is an Architectural historian, trained at the Courtauld and specialising in 16th to 18th century English and Scottish architecture. Lecturer at the V&A on year courses and short courses, and lecturer for the Art Fund, and for the Royal Oak Foundation in the US. Researched and wrote a history of Kensington Palace. Contributed to a book on the Cecil family, and has written several articles on architectural and social history and the history of travel. Wrote London's Country Houses (2009). Contributed a chapter to a history of the Royal Academy (Yale, forthcoming).

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

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

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

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

Jane Austen compared the finely-observed sketches of human nature in her novels to the tiny, cherished portraits that her family and friends carried around as tokens of their loved ones. During her lifetime, British artists excelled in this form of intimate portraiture, and, as Austen’s novels show, miniatures and silhouettes were an important symbol in courtship and family life. This lecture will use some of the best examples of this typically Regency art form to show how ‘portraits in little’ expressed affection and changed lives.

Amina Wright is a curator of historic art collections and exhibitions.  She has produced several major exhibitions on eighteenth-century British Art and Old Masters and published and lectured widely in these areas. At the Holburne Museum in Bath she was a key member of the team that delivered the museum’s highly successful redevelopment, and has also worked as a collections and interiors curator for English Heritage and for the National Trust, among others. Amina has recently been awarded an MA in Christianity & the Arts at King's College London and is now Senior Curator for the Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Hans Holbein was the first great mainland painter to spend much time in England and he brought with him a sophistication and skill, with far reaching consequences for this island's artistic development. His Ambassadors is recognised by the National Gallery of London as one of its greatest treasures. It dates from a tradition in the arts when no object was without meaning and symbolism. However, practically all of this meaning has been lost to the modern observer. This lecture considers the tempestuous circumstances of its creation and the hidden messages concealed within it. The painting tells us much about the state of Europe at the time and the hopes and fears of its major players. 

Anthony has travelled much of the world, combining painting with tour lecturing - principally to American university students on bespoke tours. 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. Now based in London, 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.

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

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

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

This lecture examines the unique buildings and structures associated with the UK’s canal network, with a vast array of distinctive designs, landmark features and unusual artefacts: only the National Trust and the Church of England have more listed structures than our canals. 

Look out for lock flights and lighthouses; cottages and clock towers; warehouses and lots of whimsical architecture - our canals delight the eye and refresh the spirit. 

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

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

Throughout history, travel has been used as a way to display wealth, power and status, as well as a useful tool to control mighty subjects.  Today we take a journey as a matter of course, not thinking much of a distance of a hundred miles or more. In the past it was very different as an Aristocrat had to take not only clothes but food, furniture, cooking facilities, tents and the like, not just for himself and family but his household as well.

In this talk, Andrew shows the many lavish and opulent accessories and modes of transport that were used by Monarchs and Aristocracy alike, to ease travel while on their seasonal “progress” to and from each others’ estates, and where diplomatic meetings between Kings turned into a contest of rivals to see who could outdo each other in the finest accommodation, jewels, silks, retinue and luggage train.

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

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

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

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

At the turn of the twentieth century, the British Empire held sway over approximately one quarter of the total population of the world. British imperial power was projected through a variety of artistic mediums, from fine portraiture and grand imperial buildings to more popular forms of imagery. British artists also produced countless images of people from all over the globe who had become subjects of British rule. Through considering a variety of paintings, buildings and objects from across the Empire, this lecture provides a fascinating insight into the ways in which the British viewed themselves and their subjects in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Dr John Stevens is a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a member of academic staff at the SOAS South Asia Institute. His PhD in History is from University College London. He teaches British Imperial history, Indian history and Bengali language, and is a regular visitor to India and Bangladesh. He publishes widely in the fields of British and Indian history. His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. He appears regularly in the Indian media, and was recently a guest on BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time, discussing the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore

The Nutcracker ballet has delighted audiences at Christmas for many decades yet it was deemed a failure at its initial performances. Based upon the current Royal Ballet production by Sir Peter Wright, this lecture takes a close look at how this well-loved ballet now takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky along with story-telling, design, dance and a little bit of stage ingenuity all come together to make the most magical escape for young and old alike. The lecture includes several performance video clips.

Nigel Bates is the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and has been a performer for nearly forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra. He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the ROH.

The City of London is home to no fewer than forty Livery Company Halls, almost as many as existed immediately prior to the Great Fire of London. Many of the Halls succumbed to the fire, others to the Blitz, and several to the property developer, but they all contain a wealth of treasures in art, sculpture, stained glass, silverware and furniture. Collectively the Livery Companies are custodians of an immense array of treasures of national significance including many Royal portraits such as that of HM The Queen during her Golden Jubilee year, commissioned by the Drapers’ Company which, with the Sandringham Branch of the Women’s Institute, is one of only two organisations of which HM is a member.

Paul Jagger is a Court Assistant of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and author of The City of London Freeman’s Guide - the definitive concise guide to the City of London’s customs, ceremonies, officers, institutions, landmarks and traditions. He is also the author of the History of The Worshipful Company of Marketors and the Pitkin guide to the Square Mile.

He has a particular interest in the treasures and heraldry of the City’s Livery Companies. In April 2016, Paul received the City’s prestigious Root and Branch Award from the Lord Mayor of the City of London for his work in promoting awareness and understanding of the City of London and its Livery Companies, particularly their beneficial impact on wider society.

Paul is a member of many heritage and history bodies including The Arts Society, the Cambridge University Heraldic & Genealogical Society, the White Lion Society (supporting HM College of Arms), The Heraldry Society (England and Wales) and he is a life member of London Historians, the National Trust and English Heritage. He is a member of the City Livery Club and a life member of Farringdon Ward Club. 

He formerly served with 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (EOD) - one of the City’s privileged regiments and is a life member of the Victory Services Club and of 101 Engineer Regiment’s regimental association.

This lecture commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain : a well- known story perhaps, but how do the images such as paintings, drawings and photographs match up with reality? The plucky British ‘few’ against the might of the Luftwaffe is the stuff of legends, but what was the contemporary view? Our talk looks at those few months in the summer of 1940 through the images that were produced and examines the men and the myths, from the paintings by Paul Nash to Cuthbert Orde's sensitive portraits of pilots.

Helen is a Fellow of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter, where she gained her PhD. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the ss Great Britain. She has published extensively on 19th century sail, women in the maritime world, and in 2015, in a departure from her usual maritime theme, published a well received biography of a WW2 fighter ace. She is currently working on a series of books on Isambard Brunel's shipping ventures. Her lecturing experience is wide and she is a speaker onboard all three Cunard ships. She has appeared on radio and television, and is a regular maritime expert for programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? She is based in Cornwall and London

Painting:  Battle of Britain by Paul Nash

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

Timothy was director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1988 to 2014 and since 2014 he has been a college lecturer and tutor at Somerville College Oxford.

We sincerely hope that this Lecture will see us back in the Church Hall with its big screen and excellent sound system, seeing and hearing live presentations.   However, if that still proves to be impractical or inappropriate, we will endeavour to carry on with this and subsequent as Zoom presentations

Some of the greatest artists in history – Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Gainsborough – have invoked the world of music into the heart of many of their paintings resulting in a harmonious combination of two much loved disciplines of the arts. However, the viewer of these scenes should always be a little on his guard, since references to music are invariably laced with powerful allusion and complex symbolism. With a musicologist’s eye, Peter Medhurst views, discusses and analyses a range of magnificent paintings that stem from the last medieval period to the end of the Baroque.  At the same time, to add a further dimension to the lecture, he complements the paintings discussed with a selection of period music played by him on the harpsichord, the virginals and the organ. 

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

From the Edwardian era to the outbreak of World War II millions of artistdrawn humorous postcards were produced not just for entertainment but to bolster morale, to inspire, instruct, motivate and persuade. Discover the popular themes and styles of the period by the masters of the medium such as Mabel Lucie Attwell, Dudley Buxton, Donald McGill and Fred Spurgin, and the reasons why their popularity waned with the British public. 

James studied at the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester, and is a former curator of paintings, drawings and prints, and co-ordinator of various exhibitions and galleries, at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, also lecturer and ships' historian on board cruise ships. Publications include illustrated histories of Marine Painting (1995) and yachting art Yachts on Canvas (1998), The Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin’s extraordinary adventure aboard FitzRoy’s famous survey ship (2008), Careless Talk Costs Lives: Fougasse and the Art of Public Information (2010) and Your Country Needs You: the Secret History of the Propaganda Poster (2013). Completed his PhD at the University of Sussex in 2015 on the voyager artist William Westall (1781-1850) who sailed with Commander Matthew Flinders aboard HMS 'Investigator' (1801-1803) the first ship to circumnavigate Australia. Guided tours of the buildings and artworks of the National Maritime Museum can be arranged for groups.

London has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries, but this is a talk about the remarkable range of art outside in the streets. We tour around the capital discovering some of the most interesting works. They range from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, which is sometimes audacious and often playful, but they all have a place in our society. We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many hidden gems. 

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

London has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries, but this is a talk about the remarkable range of art outside in the streets. We tour around the capital discovering some of the most interesting works. They range from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, which is sometimes audacious and often playful, but they all have a place in our society. We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many hidden gems. 

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

NEW ARTS SOCIETY TITLE
RAPHAEL: A MASTER IN THE MAKING
Siân Walters

2020 is an important year marking the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, which will be commemorated by a number of important exhibitions and events worldwide
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 career was short-lived since he died tragically young, aged just 37. Nevertheless in this relatively short space of time he progressed from a series of modest initial commissions in and around his home town of Urbino to the covetous position of one of the leading artists at the court of Pope Julius II. The Pope was without doubt the most important patron of the arts in Italy and commissioned some of the most sublime and influential works of the early 16th century from this young and gifted painter.
We explore how Raphael achieved this extraordinary rise in status, tracing the development of early works under the influence of Perugino and Pinturicchio to encounters with Michelangelo and Leonardo in Florence, and finally an examination of the later masterpieces of painting and drawing created in Rome.

Siân Walters, MA (Cantab)

Lecture Titles and Biography 

Siân Walters is an art historian and lectures for the National Gallery, The Arts Society, The Wallace Collection and many other art societies in the UK and Europe. She was also a lecturer at Surrey University for many years. Siân runs her own company, “Art History in Focus” which organises regular lectures, study days and art holidays abroad and was named a Highly Commended finalist in the World’s Best Guide Awards in 2016. She also leads art and architecture tours abroad for many companies and organisations including the Royal Academy and Kirker. 

Her specialist areas are 15th and 16th century Italian Art, Spanish Art and Architecture, and the relationship between Dance and Art (she is an honorary advisor to the Nonsuch Historical Dance Society). Siân studied at Cambridge University where she was awarded a choral exhibition and a 1st for her dissertation on the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. She has lived in France and Italy where she worked for the eminent Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon and for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

SOME COMMENTS:

 “The best study day that we had ever had”

(The Arts Society North East Essex)

 “The Study Day was brilliant!”

(The Arts Society Blackwater)

 “Thank you so much for such a super lecture last Thursday. It is a long time since our members have been so enthusiastic; they really enjoyed your lecture”

(SWDFAS)

  “Thank you for a simply marvellous lecture. You showed us an absolute feast of paintings and opened our eyes to better understanding them”

(The Arts Society Southampton)

 “Thank you again for coming to Market Harborough the other Wednesday. Everyone loved your wonderful talk and we are very keen to have you again”

(Harborough DFAS)

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

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

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

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

London’s National Gallery is a marvellous place to see how artists have treated the Christmas story through the ages. The most beautiful images ever made are here.

The earliest paintings date from before the Reformation when the richest imagery and fabulous stories of the saints were much admired. Following the Counter Reformation in the middle years of the 16th century, Catholic art was stripped of these colourful stories derived from the Golden Legend, which were regarded often as superstitious fabrications. There was still a big demand for Christmas images for altarpieces, but now earthed in every day life, emphasising Emmanuel – God with us.

By way of contrast the Protestant north stripped churches of art. However there was a market from private patrons, especially in Holland, where artists like Rembrandt painted some of the most tender and moving interpretations the theme.

By choosing images from the 1260s up to the mid 1600s we also see how Western European art developed in Italy and the Netherlands.

Caroline is a Design and Decorative Arts journalist and author. A London Blue Badge Guide, specialising in themed tours for American Museums and Art Galleries. Her specialist subjects include the history of glass and London's history, galleries, museums and architecture. She is a freelance lecturer for Adult Education Groups. Enjoys devising tours, lecturing and study days based in and around London.

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

Louise Schofield 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.

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.

Paul Rabbitts graduated at Sheffield with a BA Honours in Geography followed by a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh. He is a qualified landscape architect and 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.

Mostly identifiable by black and white clothing and the painted whiteface today, this intriguing, silent form of performance art can be found on streets, in film and on stage. One of the most famous mimes, Marcel Marceau made mime popular through his character of Bip the Clown. 

Pauline is an independent lecturer on both eighteenth-century British Freemasonry and Freemasonry in contemporary Japan (including masonic symbolism), as well as certain aspects of Japanese culture such as historical periods, the City of Kyoto, and Machiya (traditional Japanese townhouses). Appointed a Visit Kyoto Ambassador by the Mayor of the City of Kyoto. She holds a BA in English Language & Literature (Whittier), a DipLaw (London) and an MA in Modern French Studies (London). She has given public lectures since 2004. Also offers lectures on more unusual subjects and gave a lecture tour for ADFAS/Australia in 2013.

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, and although 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 whom are men, as women only make up about 8% of the prison estate. Those on long sentences often prove both the best students and in due course the best stitchers and their 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. Meanwhile the Koestler Trust runs an annual exhibition at the South Bank and highlights the need for more feminine arts and crafts inside what invariably are very male environments. I will show examples of their wonderful soap and matchstick sculptures (for which the raw materials are easy to obtain) as well as paintings and sculpture. I will illustrate the Far Eastern technique of Kintsukuroi whereby broken ceramics are mended using gold to highlight rather than disguise the history of precious pieces of porcelain. This can be an analogy of the best principals of prison education, whereby shame can be replaced by trust through Education and Creativity. There is a move afoot to run partnerships between museums, with so much material in storage, and prison education departments: handing someone something precious to hold and then analyse can precipitate unexpected and authentic conversations. London prisons contain many people whose second let alone first language isn’t English and that is why I take old 35 mm slides, donated by kind art teachers who have all now moved onto Powerpoint, into HMP Wormwood Scrubs as they can reach students in a way that a piece of paper cant. Also any prison visitor taking in a floppy disc or a memory stick is liable to be arrested themselves so slides remain the best way of illustrating the great cannon of art history. 

Magdalen Evans 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 C19th/20th women artists. A contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and to BBC Woman's Hour, also works with charities that help ex-offenders through art and education. Her book on Marianne Stokes and her English landscape painter husband Adrian Stokes 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. 

The famous trial in 1878 between artist and critic became one of the first public debates in Britain about modern art.  This lecture looks at the issues and personalities involved in this famous court-room drama, how their animosity divided the art world and the extent to which it can be argued that the outcome of the trial ruined both Whistler and Ruskin.

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

American glass artist Dale Chihuly (born 1941) is the super-star of the glass world. With his passion for glass, his larger-than-life personality, his skills as a natural leader and educator, and his constant exploration of glass's luminous qualities and colour possibilities, he creates glass sculptures which are extravagant, colourful and spectacular. Following two accidents he is no longer able to hold a blowing iron and now employs two glass teams to blow his visions from his spontaneous drawings, themselves works of art. His glass magic has transformed the studio glass movement and altered our visual perceptions of this extraordinary material forever. 

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

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

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

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

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. As the grandson of its founder, I grew up steeped in its books. I was managing director for four years and I remain on the board. I am passionate about the firm’s success, and intensely proud of my association with it.

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

Sicily has long been a crossroads between East and West. Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spaniards have all ruled over the island and contributed to its rich cultural heritage. Agrigento boasts some remarkable Greek temples, the Phoenicians established a flourishing trading colony at Motya and the villa at Piazza Armerina contains some of the most magnificent mosaics of the late Roman world. The court of the Norman kings of Sicily was one of the most brilliant in Europe: the mosaics of the Palatine chapel in Palermo and the cathedral at Monreale are jewels of 12th century art. 

How do artists convey the intangible immaterial essence of air? What imagery and techniques do they use? They may make studies of clouds such as Constable, or paint whirlwinds like Turner or London fogs like Whistler. They may paint birds in flight, or an angel delivering a message, a hot air balloon gliding across the countryside, or an aeroplane dropping bombs. Abstract artists such as Mark Tobey and Bridget Riley paint expansive spaces that are devoid of matter. Air is related to the intellect and abstract thought. The paintings of Mondrian and Ben Nicholson exemplify this aspect of the air element. Air Angels and Aeroplanes takes you on a flight into the aerial imagination. Come fly with me! 

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was the most influential twentieth-century architect. Being human, he was a mass of contradictions. This essential Parisian (when not at Rocquebrune) was Swiss. A Protestant by formation, his most powerful buildings were for the Catholic Church. His most influential buildings were essays in social engineering. He abstracted universally applicable rules, but could never escape from the power and sense of place. His work is breathtaking; its intellectual power is undeniable, but great architects breed small imitators and his impact has blighted so much of our urban landscape. Or has it? Are you ready to look him in the face? 

The world famous Liberty and Co department store in London opened in 1875 and helped to ate style, as well as sell style, during its 100 year+ history Founded by the entrepreneur Arthur Lasenby Liberty, who was born in Buckinghamshire, the store quickly became known for its Aesthetic Movement Products, including fabrics and oriental china. Liberty also supported designers from the Arts and Crafts Movement. In the 20th century the firm continued to support new British design and became known for its own ranges of beautiful floral fabrics. The lecture looks at aspects of the distinctive style and considers its importance in the history of British design.

Since the 1980s the collector Charles Saatchi has become one of the most powerful figures in contemporary British art. The lecture examines Saatchi’s rise to prominence as an advertising magnate and as a tastemaker, charting the changing shape of his collection and his effect on artistic reputations. Although he is most closely associated with Britart – the label attached in the 1990s to the work of younger British artists such as Gavin Turk, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, the Chapman Brothers and Chris Ofili, his collection has changed considerably over the years because he sells as well as buys work. The lecture ranges widely over Saatchi’s collecting, embracing art from various countries and in many different media. Saatchi’s beautiful gallery, located in the former Duke of York’s Regiment HQ in Sloane Square, is one of the largest galleries of purely contemporary art in Europe and has been the venue for ground-breaking exhibitions of Chinese, American, Indian, Middle Eastern, Russian and German art.

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

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

Despite the fact that Russian icons are widely appreciated for their beauty, they are still little understood. This talk will address the nature of icon painting, exploring how it emerged from the glory of the Byzantine world and became a distinctive expression of the Orthodox spirituality of Russia. It will examine the complex symbolic and sacramental meanings of icons, as well as their fate during the years of westernization under Peter and Catherine the Great and their inspirational role in the development of modern Russian art.

Andrew Spira graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art before completing a MA degree in Museum and Gallery Management at City University, London. He specialises in Russian art, publishing The Avant-Garde Icon: Russian Avant-Garde Art and the Icon Painting Tradition in 2008. 

The discovery of the grave of King Richard III in Leicester raised an army of new, fascinating questions. The severe scoliosis exhibited by the last Plantagenet King’s skeleton revealed that the twisted physique of Shakespeare’s ‘Black Legend’ did have at least some basis in fact. But how could such a diminutive person, suffering from a significant spinal condition, have been skilled in the knightly fighting arts? How could he have worn full armour and fought in three major battles? More importantly for the art enthusiast, what would his armour have looked like, and how might it have been used to disguise the King’s condition and present him as a powerful warrior? And in the case of a king whose royal legitimacy was doubted by many people, how were the visual trappings of knightly kingship used to solidify his claim? Here we encounter the function of princely armour of the late medieval period as an expressive art-form, designed to radiate messages, justifications, proof in fact of the wearer’s right to rule as a king- God’s chosen representative and a wielder of divine power on Earth.

Toby is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and an internationally acknowledged expert on Medieval and Renaissance weapons. His book, Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection (2011) was named Book of the Year by Apollo Magazine in 2012. He appears regularly on television, most recently as presenter and armour advisor on Richard III: The New Evidence (2014), and as the writer and presenter of Metalworks: The Knight's Tale (2012). His publications include The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe 1520 1630, ex. cat. (2012) and 'The Arming of an English Man at Arms, c.1415', appendix, in Sir Ranulph Fiennes' new book Agincourt: My Family, The Battle, and the Fight for France (2014). After fifteen years of research, Toby's groundbreaking book Armour of the English Knight: 1400-1450 was published in September 2015; the second part, dealing with the second half of the 15th century, will be released in 2017

This lecture looks at one of the 20th century’s most enduring husband and wife design partnerships – that of Robin and Lucienne Day. They launched their careers at The Festival of Britain in 1951. Lucienne showed fabric designs at the Festival whilst Robin designed the seating for the newly built Royal Festival Hall. The Days were at the forefront of the introduction of affordable ‘modern design’ to the mass market in the post-war period. By the 1960s the couple were working independently, with commissions including Lucienne’s fabric designs for Heals in London and Robin’s famous ‘Polyprop’ plastic chair (which sold in millions across the world) and other furniture for Hille. 

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 has an Honours certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design from The University of Birmingham.

To mark the centenary of women first getting the vote which falls in 2018, this lecture will explore the story of the suffragettes through portrayals in art and their own artistic productions, and will look at how contemporary artists choose to portray female politicians in our own time and the controversies surrounding these depictions. 

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

Hieronymus Bosch’s (c.1455-1516) nightmarish monsters and demons, his bizarre allegories, and the amorous exploits in his Garden of Earthly Delights have intrigued viewers for centuries.  Little is known about this remarkable painter, although it has been claimed that he was a member of a heretical sect, a dabbler in alchemy and even a drug-user!  This lecture unravels the meanings of Bosch’s enigmatic paintings in the context of his own time, explaining them in terms of social satire, medieval folklore and pre-Reformation spirituality, while also revealing the beauty and inventiveness of his images.

Paula Nuttall is a Director of V&A Medieval & Renaissance Year course. Author of 'From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500' (Yale, 2004). Also lectures for the Courtauld Institute, Christie's Education, the Art Fund and the National Gallery. Formerly lecturer at the British Institute of Florence.

One of the most magical and evocative ideas in the Christmas Story is that of an extremely bright light in the darkest night,  a light that travels through the night for weeks on end and guides three exotic strangers from a distant land towards an unknown and very special destination.

The “Star” of Bethlehem did exist. But what it was exactly and when it shone in the night are questions that for two thousand years people have taken on trust.   A mythic star as it was simply not provable.  Astronomy can now recreate the night sky at any given moment historically, and we can actually see an extraordinary light, when looking south from Jerusalem towards Bethlehem one night in the winter of 7 to 6 BC– the year Jesus is thought to have been born. What we will actually see in the lecture aligns perfectly with the prophecies in the Old Testament and the astrological readings of the magi. The origin of the Magi themselves is another challenge to be resolved and can be found via the origin of the three gifts; Gold, Frankincense and myrrh, all from the ancient Kingdom of Sheba.  

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.  The Magi had studied the sky and were so convinced of the truth of its message that they set out to find the new “Little King” – traveling with their camel caravan  at night by astral navigation, and putting their trust in the guidance of  a mere star – but a very special and very bright one. Finally, in the annals of Christian art, the star comes down and settles on the shoulder of the Virgin Mary where it remains forever.

This lecture contains spectacular imagery sent back by the Apollo Space probe in 1979 when 19,000 photos were taken of Jupiter, coupled with more recent photos of Saturn and other stars and star maps. 

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

Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) came to England from the Netherlands, and developed a virtuoso style of carving, well suited to the Baroque interiors of late 17th century England. His limewood carvings with their festoons of fruit, flowers, fish and game embellished Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and Kensington Palace, as well as country houses such as Petworth and Belton. His work was commissioned for public buildings and churches, and he also worked in marble, making church monuments. Two superb wood carvings are in the Victoria & Albert Museum: his Lace Cravat and the relief panel of The Stoning of Stephen.

Caroline Knight is an architectural historian, trained at the Courtauld and specialising in 16th to 18th century English and Scottish architecture. Lecturer at the V&A on year courses and short courses, and lecturer for the Art Fund, and for the Royal Oak Foundation in the US. Researched and wrote a history of Kensington Palace. Contributed to a book on the Cecil family, and has written several articles on architectural and social history and the history of travel. Wrote London's Country Houses (2009). Contributed a chapter to a history of the Royal Academy (Yale, forthcoming). 

Augustus and Gwen John were brother and sister, born in the west of Wales in the 1870s. Both studied at the Slade School of Art in London. His work has been called brash and shallow, and hers dismissed as fussy and spinsterish. These assessments are not really fair to either artist, and this lecture takes a careful look at their lives, up to the point of Gwen’s death in 1939. At that time, she had no public reputation whatsoever, and her brother was enjoying enormous professional and critical success. By the time he died, however, the positions had been reversed

Linda Smith is a well-qualified art historian with a broad range of knowledge, and a special interest in British art, and the art of the twentieth century.She delivers illustrated talks, presentations and study days on a variety of art-historical topics, and has taken on various types of assignment at a wide range of venues, including public galleries, secondary schools, universities, cruise liners, and private arts societies in the UK and overseas.  She is an accredited NADFAS lecturer, and an experienced gallery guide, especially at Tate Britain and the Tate Modern in London, where she works as a Guide and Lecturer.

We end the lecture season on an entertaining note! Bertie Pearce is a member of the Inner Magic Circle and performs alongside his lectures. The lecture is subtitled ‘ A Subversive Symbol from the Commedia dell’ Arte to the Present Day’ and it will explore the history and meaning of this traditional, popular, and usually very violent puppet show.

Bertie Pearch has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. A member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. Past experience includes lecturing to cruise ship audiences, the Women’s Institute, theatre clubs and the Sussex Magic Circle, as well as NADFAS. In addition, has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard. Has written an article on entertainment for the Guardian newspaper.

In recent years Marlow DFAS  travellers have visited the Angel of the North and Crosby beach to see the work of Anthony Gormley in situ. Gormley’s career began with a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1981. Almost all his work takes the human body as its subject, with his own body used in many works as the basis for metal casts. His work attempts to treat the body not as an object but a place and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body to identify a condition common to all human beings.

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

The Garden City Movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the UK. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self contained communities surrounded by ‘greenbelts’, containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture.  In 1904, Raymond Unwin, a noted architect and town planner, won a competition run by First Garden City Ltd to plan Letchworth, an area 34 miles outside London. The concept of garden cities is to produce relatively economically independent communities with short commute times and preservation of the country side; garden suburbs arguably do the opposite as they are built on the outskirts of large cities with no sections for industry or commerce.

Mervyn Miller is an architect, town planner, historian; Life President of Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, Life President of Letchworth Garden City Society, Architectural Adviser to Lutyens Trust (1985-2011) and a Trustee. Vice President RIBA (1993-5), Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects City of London Livery Company (2012-3). Prolific author and authority on the Garden City movement and its international influence, presenting at International conferences worldwide. Lectured to ADFAS 1998 and has given frequent lectures to NADFAS societies in Mainland Europe. 

The life of photographer 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 – and today’s lecturer – Antony Penrose.  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 to the subject.

*Contains some war time images which may be disturbing.

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

MacDonald 'Max' Gill, younger brother of the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, was an architect, graphic designer and letterer, best known for his pictorial maps, especially those for the London Underground. He also created painted maps for Arts & Crafts houses including Lindisfarne Castle, magnificent murals for Cunard liners, and eye-catching publicity posters for organisations such as the Empire Marketing Board. An enduring legacy is his alphabet for the Imperial War Graves Commission used on all British military headstones since the First World War. This illustrated talk by Max Gill’s great-niece presents a colourful overview of this versatile artist's personal life and artistic achievements.

Caroline Walker

After embarking on family history research in 2006, I became fascinated in the life and work of my great-uncle MacDonald 'Max' Gill (1884-1947), an architect and graphic artist, best known for his decorative maps. Although well-known in his time, he was all but forgotten after his death unlike his brother Eric Gill, the controversial sculptor. Recently there has been a massive resurgence of interest in Max's work - much the result of exhibitions I have co-curated including Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill (2011) hosted by the University of Brighton and articles I have written for publications including Country Life, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the Journal for the International Map Collectors Society. I've also given talks for the National Archives, the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, Friends of Kettle's Yard and the National Trust. I'm currently writing a biography and I run the MacDonald Gill website.

Trained to be a potter in Japan, and with a deep intellectual desire to bring the East and West together, the forms and glazes often reflect Leach’s love of Asia. However his research into British ceramics was evident, particularly in the early years when he was at St Ives. The importance of craftsmanship and the individual was vital to his teaching; his students and family continued spreading the word. His hectic exhibition schedule in the 1950s and 1960s was enormously important to the development of the ‘Studio Potter’.

The Leach Pottery was established in St. Ives in the early 1920s. The lecture begins with Bernard's childhood in Japan and his training there as a potter and continues with looking at early earthenware and stonewares as well as fine porcelain - often with celadon glazes.

His students helped to spread his influence and the potter Lucie Rie's friendship will be covered. His numerous exhibitions around the world, and his famous book will complete the story.

Diana Lloyd is a freelance lecturer in ceramic, glass and the history of interior decoration in Europe. She lectures at the Inchbald School of Design and guides groups through museum collections.

This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville-Wests and the Rothschilds and their family histories with the stories of the gardens they have all created, despite their differing backgrounds, here in the English countryside. Several of the gardens will be familiar to us  as we are local to Cliveden, Sissinghurst and Waddesdon.

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 and the other lectures listed above.

This Christmas themed lecture looks at the mid-Victorian Christmas through the gaze of Isabella Beeton. Her Book of Household Management, published in 1861, contains a number of Christmas recipes, without going into the depth on what the festival really meant. This reflects the mid-Victorian turmoil over Christmas: was it an excuse for drunken revelry, better off banned or at least forgotten? Or, could it be an occasion on which to celebrate family, and friends or, to think of those less fortunate than the middle classes to whom Beeton addressed her writing?  The lecture uses recipe books and depictions of dinners to think about the Christmas dinner, and cards, etchings and book illustrations to show the development of Christmas as we know it.

Dr Annie Gray is one of Britian’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. 

This thought provoking lecture reveals how jewellery has been worn and used, across time and across place. Everyone decorated the body, but there are different notions of how to do so and which parts to decorate. In many societies jewellery serves as vital protection against evil spirits. It can be a powerful vehicle of communication, indicating the wearer’s preoccupations, their religion or ethnic group. It can be a keepsake of a loved one, or a memorial to the dead. And it can be a work of art in its own right harnessing all the skills of the goldsmith, gem setter or enameller. Based on the collection of the British Museum where the speaker works, this lecture takes you from ancient burial ornaments by anonymous masters to the big names of the modern world.

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

With her privileged background and a successful 10 year career as an exhibitor at the official Paris Salon, Morisot was an unlikely recruit to the revolutionary Impressionists. Yet she was at the heart of the new painting of the 1870s and 1880s, exhibiting at seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions. Although precluded by her sex from the study of street and cafe life, she developed her own, parallel, subject matter – the world of well heeled domesticity which she depicted with breathtaking bravura. A lecture that provides a visual feast!

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

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) have iconic status in Mexico.

Rivera's intricate visual narratives, rich with allegory and symbolism, adorn the walls of public buildings. Inspired by Aztec and Maya imagery, and by early Italian fresco painting, his vast murals combine social criticism with faith in human progress.

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

This lecture surveys the work of both artists; it chronicles their turbulent marriage and Mexico's history after the 1910 Revolution.

Chloe Sayer

Chloe is a specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. She has lectured extensively all over the world, and as a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute has carried out fieldwork, curated several exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4.

Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland, 1998) and Textiles from Mexico (British Museum Press, 2002).

She is the co-author of Skeleton at the Feast, Mexican Day of the Dead (British Museum Press, 1991), Traditional Mexican Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 1993) and Masks Arts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1994).

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

A pictorial history of drinking glasses through the ages, studied through images of actual objects and through paintings.  

The lecture will focus particularly on the development of the wine glass, but will also look at glasses designed for other beverages, such as: beer, cider, ale, cordial etc. It will consider the drinking habits of different countries and the types of glass associated with those countries, e.g. the Venetian wing-stemmed glass, the German roemer, the Dutch flute and the English baluster-stemmed glass; and will discuss the association of fine glass drinking vessels with feasting and conviviality.

Jane Gardiner:

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

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

Artists  often talk about their art in terms of cooking and when we look at a beautiful painting we often do too! “Delectable!”, “Delicious!”

This lecture will be a feast for the eyes and the taste buds and will be a veritable inspiration for your cooking!  It will feature anecdotes and recipes of artists who loved their food.

Ghislaine will discuss Toulouse Lautrec, famous in his day for his truly fabulous meals and infamous cookbook, Renoir who introduced Paris to the pleasures of Provencal peasant cooking as well as Monet, Cezanne, Picasso and many others. Recipes will be posted on the internet – or bring a pen! 

Ghislaine Howard

Ghislaine is a painter of national reputation named as a Woman of The Year 2008 for her contribution to art and society. She has published and exhibited widely, has had work in the Royal Collection and has had solo exhibitions at many prestigious venues including Manchester Art Gallery, Canterbury Cathedral and Imperial War Museum North.

An associate lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, she has lectured to a broad spectrum of people at her studio gallery or at more public venues such as cathedrals, art galleries and other institutions.

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

During the late 1970s a group of British sculptors emerged who made artworks out by altering natural elements of the landscape rather than by representing them as images in the studio.

Andy Goldsworthy created small poetic configurations of leaves and stones that sometimes resemble miniature bird-nests.

David Nash used a chain-saw to transform whole trees into sculptures in ways that seem a half-way house between natural and man-made forms.

Richard Long undertook long walks that he punctuated by carrying out pre-programmed actions such as moving a heap of stones into a line or creating a circle in the landscape.

This lecture will place the three sculptors in the context of other international artists such as Robert Smithson, Walter de Maria, Giuseppe Penone and James Turrell.

Gerald will also explain the artists’ debt to the earlier traditions of romantic landscape art, and talk about the sculptors’ links to other artists using performance and installations as a way of circumventing the physical and commercial constraints of galleries.

As a former curator, he has shown the work of all three sculptors whose work will be the focus of this talk.

Suggested Reading:

H. N. Abrahams: Andy Goldsworthy, a Collaboration with Nature 1990

Joslyn Art Museum: David Nash: Voyage and Vessels 1996

Dieter Roelstrate: Richard Long, a Line made by Walking 2010

Gerald Deslandes

Gerald studied Art History from both Cambridge University and at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

He has worked for nearly 20 years as a curator in publicly funded galleries organising exhibitions of sculpture by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Antony Gormley, Cornelia Parker and Damien Hirst.

He is a teacher of Art History and Visual Studies and is a consultant to museums and galleries throughout the UK.

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

Victoria’s Empire spanned the world and so do Victorian Houses, especially as “Victorian” is used in the USA to define an architectural period. In this lecture we travel from the British Isles to North America and the Caribbean, then on to Australasia and home via South Africa.

The House we see could hardly be more different or more varied.  Styles range from Gothic to Italianate, from “Queen Anne” in America to “Federation” in Australia.

Decorative interest is also provided by “Carpenter’s Gothic” or “Iron Lace”.

Roger Mitchell

Roger studied History at Oxford and Fine Arts at Leeds.

He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel and study in the USA.

He now lectures for the University of Liverpool and for various Adult Education Colleges.

He organizes and leads country house study tours, and tries to find time for research at Chatsworth.

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

From Artemisia Gentileschi in the 17thcentury to Laura Knight in the early 20th century there have been many excellent female artists, who overcame extraordinary obstacles in order to pursue their careers. Even today, their works are often hidden in gallery vaults or in private collections and too little is known of their lives and their art.

This lecture seeks to re-discover some of these artists, many of whom would have been well known in their lifetimes.

For example, Judith Leyster, whose work was often misattributed to Frans Hals and celebrity painter, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, whose friendship with Marie Antoinette forced the Académie Royale to accept her.

In the 19th century the battle-painter, Lady Butler, created a sensation and the French animal painter, Rosa Bonheur, received the Légion d’Honneur. In 1768 two women were founding members of the Royal Academy, yet no more were admitted until Laura Knight in 1936!

Bernard Allan

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

In addition to teaching, he is currently researching artists working in Sussex in the 19th century, with a view to publication.

If you wish to print off lecture notes please use the following link:

http://www.marlowdfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx

Laura Knight, born in Nottingham in 1877, died in London in 1970 at the age of 93. From a difficult and impoverished background she rose to become the first woman ever elected to the Royal Academy and the first painter made a Dame. She was a War Artist in both world wars and wrote two volumes of autobiography. Knight belonged to a generation which saw women vote, sit in Parliament, and gain entry to formerly male professions such as medicine and law. By her determination and ceaseless hard work, she became something of a spokesperson for the self-made woman of the age. The lecture traces her long and highly varied career from the artist communities of Staithes and Newlyn to affluent St John’s Wood in London and her wartime refuge in Malvern. Sustained by her great long-lasting friendships with many of the leading artists, performers and writers of her time, Alfred Munnings, George Bernard Shaw, Tamara Karsavina and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, she was one of the great figures of twentieth-century British culture.

Tim Wilcox read Modern Languages at Cambridge, then History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. He was a curator at the V&A, in Liverpool and in Hove; from 2001-2003 he was Acting Assistant Keeper in the British Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings. As a freelance curator and lecturer since 1997, he has taught at the Universities of Brighton and Surrey and the Cambridge Summer School. He has curated numerous exhibitions including for Tate, The Lowry, Dulwich Picture Gallery and elsewhere.

The first part of this lecture gives a thumbnail sketch of how the City has grown through the centuries. The second concentrates on the 20th century and looks at how new tall buildings are set to change the skyline even further. Anthea begins with the thriving Roman Port when the forum and city wall would have dominated the skyline, and notes how the medieval cathedral of St. Paul’s towered over 100 parish churches. Dramatic pictures of the Great Fire in the mid 17th century indicate how London would change from a timber medieval city, with its famous London Bridge to a brick-built city dominated by Sir Christopher Wren’s classical St. Paul’s and its great Baroque dome. Victorian icons such as the picturesque Palace of Westminster upriver and the famous Tower Bridge, seen under construction from early photographs, bring the first part of the lecture to a close. In the second section we see how the growing scale of buildings at the turn of the 20th century was limited in height by restrictions based on how high a fireman’s ladder could reach, 100 ft, and the challenge which this presented to architects. We consider the many changes to the London skyine as a result of wartime damage, and how Richard Seifert’s designs in the 1960s and ‘70s, particularly his prominent NatWest Tower (now Tower 42), altered the skyline. Finally, we look at the new generation of London skyscrapers, the first of which has been Foster Associates’ ‘Gherkin’, and how London’s skyline is set to become even more striking with such 21st century icons as the ‘Shard of Glass’, now complete, and the ‘Cheese Grater’ and the ‘Walkie-Talkie’, both under construction.

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

The Wallace Collection, a national museum containing an outstanding array of paintings, furniture, porcelain, arms and armour, and other works of art including sculpture, glass, miniatures, gold boxes and enamels, was brought together by five generations of one family between about 1760 and 1880. All the Founders, the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, were remarkable men, but the greatest collectors were unquestionably the 4th Marquess of Hertford and his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace, who lived most of their lives in Paris. It is their French upbringing which largely explains the strong, but by no means overwhelming, French emphasis to much of the collection. It was Lady Wallace, the widow of Sir Richard, who bequeathed the Collection to the British Nation in 1997. This lecture tells the fascinating story of the Wallace Collection’s formation, and also presents some of its finest treasurers.

Stephen Duffy Is Senior Curator at the Wallace Collection with particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth century paintings. He has written and co-written a number of books and catalogues on the Wallace Collection in general and the specialist collections such as the Miniatures.

In the spring of 1536 England possessed an architectural heritage that included nearly 850 Abbeys, Priories, Friaries & Nunneries. Collectively they commanded an income 50% greater than that of the King. A contemporary described them as the “beauties of our land”. By the spring of 1540, thanks to the administrative genius of Thomas Cromwell, all had been swept away in an orgy of destruction, unparalleled in English history, in order to sate the greed & avarice of King Henry VIII. This lecture will attempt to recall & evaluate what was lost in terms of architecture & religious art during this cataclysmic event. Nine centuries of artistic endeavour were swept away in four years of nihilistic madness, leaving an indelible scar on the English landscape. Few, if any of these lost treasures, will ever be recovered.

Mark Corby is a freelance lecturer in history and architecture, and has been a tour leader on numerous “adventures” in Spain, Sicily, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, Libya and Ireland. He has been involved in a number of historical documentaries on TV: The Real Spartacus, Roman London, Vespasian, the man who saved Rome, and The defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 5000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the Director of the “New Academy of Art Studies” for three years and is currently a regular lecturer at the “Study Centre”, Christie’s’ course “The history of Art Studies”, and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain’s Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on Whistler and the Exhibition video on William Morris. Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, “River of Light”, has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.