Dr Tony Lidington, conjures past glories of pierrots and parties that once sang and danced on the sands.  Tony asks: What is the British seaside? How did it come about? What are the origins of the seaside Pierrot troupe and concert party, and how are modern pop music and comedy rooted in these very British Artforms.

Tony Lidington is associate lecturer of Drama at the University of Exeter, UK. Tony has been a professional showman for 40 years – researching and implementing British popular entertainment forms in a wide variety of contexts throughout the country. He is founder and performer of the last-remaining professional seaside pierrot troupe the "Pierrotters" and has performed at countless resorts and events as his alter ego "Uncle Tacko!"

Although upward of a 100 pleasure gardens are known to have thrived in 18th century London, it was Vauxhall, with its walks, triumphal arches, statues and famous reputation for scandal, that became the firm favourite with Londoners and visitors alike.  For the price of a shilling, patrons could stroll through the treelined avenues accompanied by the voices of nature, or – if they wished – could dine to the popular melodies of the day, played by the famous Orchestra.  Drawing on period newspapers and diaries and music especially composed for the gardens, Peter Medhurst tells the story of London’s first ‘South Bank’.

Peter Medhurst did his musical training at the Royal College of Music in London and his work as a singer, pianist and lecturer has taken him all over the world. He is a familiar face to audiences of music societies, regional theatres, British festivals, as well as art based organisations, and has a number of recordings to his name. Radio work has included Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and 4.

This lecture is an introduction to Francisco de Zurbarán, Spanish contemporary and friend of the brilliant seventeenth century Spanish court artist, Diego Velázquez. 50 of Zurbarán’s works are being celebrated in a major exhibition at the National Gallery, London, from 2 May to 23 August 2026.   Zurbarán’s main patrons were the religious orders of Seville, then a thriving and wealthy maritime city, but he also painted for King Philip IV in Madrid. His naturalistic paintings have a special intensity and meditative power even today. 

Zurbarán’s series Jacob and his Twelve Sons which hangs at Auckland Castle, County Durham, was saved for the nation in 2010 by the hedge fund manager and philanthropist, Jonathan Ruffer.

Gail Turner is an art historian and painter.  She is passionate about Spain and Spanish topics. She has been a long time lecturer for the Arts Society and has led courses at the V and A, The National Gallery and the Art Fund. In 2015 Gail was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Católica (the equivalent of the CBE) by the King of Spain for promoting Spanish culture among British audiences. She is President of The Arts Society Colchester. 

 Artists have always used jokes to make serious statements – about themselves, about the world, about the nature of art. Susie’s talk looks at artists’ jokes through the ages from medieval monks doodling graffiti in the margins of manuscripts to Banksy turning supermarket walls into social satire. Sometimes the joke is very obvious, but sometimes one has to know where to look!

Susie Harries is a writer, editor and lecturer specialising in 20th century culture and the arts. Susie has published eight books on subjects including official war art, opera and the composer Elisabeth Lutyens. The most recent is the biography of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, published in August 2011.

There are so many angels there could almost seem to be an avalanche of them. It’s unusual for there not to be an image of at least one angel, if not many, in our churches and cathedrals. Yet passers-by know very little about them. We hear of tens of thousands in the Bible and other early texts but how many of their names are known to us? Where do they come from and what are they for? We can see a hierarchy in the Nine Orders of Angels but that’s rather general and was devised in the 6th Century. What about the rest of them? Are they male or female? And what do they look like? Angelic beings wearing white nighties and gold wings are more of a Victorian concept and it seems that the biblical ones were originally flightless – so when did they get their wings?

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

The Persian empire exploded into life during the middle of the 6th century BC and was the largest empire in the world for the next two centuries. It stretched from the Mediterranean in the west to the Indus valley in the east, from the Eurasian steppes in the north to Egypt and Arabia in the south. In around 515, its third Great King, Darius I, commissioned the building of a new city, Persepolis, with his palace at its centre. We know a great deal about this palace, and one of its central features, the Apadana Staircase, can be seen in replica in the British Museum. What can this palace and its art tell us about the ideology of this extraordinary and influential empire? 

Following a degree in Classics from Oxford University, James taught Classics at secondary school level, most recently at the Godolphin and Latymer in London; here he ran the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, which has an ethos similar to that of The Arts Society.  Since 1998, James has published a number of textbooks related to the classical world, including: In Search of the Greeks and In Search of the Romans.

In addition to school teaching, James has lectured for the V&A Academy, most recently on its Art and the City: Antiquity to Renaissance course. He is currently working on a book on the history of the marathon race - The Marathon: an Epic History. 

This is not a monthly lecture but a Special Interest Event listed here for admin purposes in order to enable Lecture Feedback

When Diaghilev created ballet in the west the early twentieth century, he brought extraordinary revolutionary energy from Russia. By bringing together talented artists of different disciplines Diaghilev fused the latest in art, music and dance in spectacles that dazzled and astonished audiences around the world. The dream Diaghilev created of dance joining hands with the other creative disciplines to create a total work of art changed the course of ballet forever. The Ballets Russes dominated the ballet stages of the world from its explosion in Paris in 1909 until Diaghilev’s death in 1929.

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

This Christmas lecture, by Christopher Bradley will tell us about the Zoroastrian priest-sages, anonymous wise men who were specialists in medicine, religion and astronomy and who travelled from “The East” to worship the Christ child. Tradition has placed the number as three but earlier versions have other numbers – between 2 and 30! The Adoration of the Magi is one of the most popular religious subjects for great artists and we follow their work over five centuries starting in 12th Century Pisa.

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

As a film producer and cameraman Christopher has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4. 

This exhibition is timed to coincide with an exhibition of Spencer's wotk at Gainsborough's House.

Few artists are as rooted in a place as Stanley Spencer and his beloved home village of Cookham. This Thames-side village was not only his birthplace, his home for most of his life, but it dominated his imagination and was the inspiration and location for many of his greatest paintings, including biblical scenes using local villagers as their Gospel counterparts.  His work is also influenced by his service in Macedonia during the First World War, whilst his work for the War Artists Advisory Committee during the Second World War resulted in a number of fine painting of industrial work, particularly ship building.

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. She is also an exhibition researcher at Tate, contributing to British Baroque: Power and Illusion (2020) and  'Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920' to be held at Tate Britain, 16 May-30 October 2024. Amy has degrees in History and Literature & Arts from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. She runs an online art dealership, and has published articles and essays on a variety of art-related topics from gothic garden monuments to female patronage.

In the early 1860s Japanese prints started to pour into Europe; in Paris young radical painters, seeking fresh pictorial ideas appropriate to modern subjects, collected them (they were very cheap).  These prints by Japanese artists such as Hiroshige, Hokusai, Utamaro and Kunisada became hugely influential on the direction painting was to take. We focus on the works of Manet and Van Gogh, two major artists of the latter half of the 19th century, and look at the way Japanese prints had a powerful impact on ideas about composition, space, colour, form and expression of line.  

Oliver Gosling is a painter who trained at the Royal College of Art. He exhibits internationally and in collections around the world. He lived and exhibited in Japan for two years (1998-2001), China for eight years (2007-2015), where he continues to be represented by two galleries. He has lectured widely in China on contemporary art in Britain and for Christie’s in Hong Kong. He is currently a lecturer, in Fine Art at the University of Brighton; as well as being a lecturer, in the Certificate in the History of Art, University of Oxford (Materials and Techniques of Western Painting). He is currently represented by the Fanxi Delarue Gallery, France.

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe joins us once again to present:

Venice: the Serenissma, but also the Luxurissima. Venice was the port for Europe through which all the glamorous and luxurious products of India, the Middle East and the Far East passed, and she certainly made sure that the best pieces remained in Venice. Indian jewellery, silks and porcelains were given a starring role in the paintings produced by any Venetian artist from the 15th of 16th century - Bellini and Cima through to the trio of great Venetian artists, Titian Tintoretto and Veronese. But of all of these, it is Veronese who delighted most in depicting the textures and colour effects of luxury goods. This lecture explores how he deployed his luxury props, and what it was in his style of painting that makes them such a feast for the eye.

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

Expansion of the British Empire, extensive plant collecting and technical innovation during the industrial revolution fuelled garden development and extended design possibilities during the 19th Century.  This talk examines the passion for garden making at this time, the quest for the unusual and the amazing diversity that resulted.

Marilyn Elm is an experienced course leader in garden and landscape design and history, and freelance lecturer for a variety of organisations, universities and specialist groups, including the National Trust, the Royal Horticultural Society, WEA, U3A and ADFAS. She has run study days, courses and summer schools and conducted garden tours in the UK. As a qualified landscape architect and interior designer, she has been involved with art and design for over thirty years. Passionate about promoting garden history, she has published articles, and broadcast for BBC television and radio, and the Discovery Channel. Member of the Garden Media Guild.

In this talk Alexandra will examine ten iconic dresses within ten famous portraits from the 19th and 20th centuries that have shocked and delighted in equal measure. From Whistler and Sargent, to Leighton and Klimt, every picture tells a story, as does every dress!

Alexandra Epps is an Accredited Lecturer for The Arts Society and Guide and Lecturer for Tate Modern, Tate Britain and The Guildhall Art Gallery. She is also an official Guide to the City of London offering walks and talks based on many aspects of the arts. Her background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years.

In the 16th century, Henry Vlll invited the Italian Renaissance artist, Pietro Torrigiano, to England to create a maginificent tomb for his father.  In this lecture Alison Barker will examine the differences between English and Italian styles at that time, and will reconstruct the experience of a pilgrim visiting the masterpiece that Torrigiano crafted.

Dr Alison Barker taught History and Art History at further and higher education for 18 years before her current role as a Frontline Support Assistant at the University of Essex, Albert Sloman Library.

She speaks widely to diverse groups on many historical and art historical topics, and has led guided tours at the British Museum and the National Gallery.

Alison wrote her PhD thesis on the depiction of Saint George in art and has published work on his image in both England and Italy. cHer forthcoming book, The Dissemination of Saint George in Early Modern Art will be published by Routledge in 2025.

The Maya lived in Central America for 2500 years before being conquered by the Spaniards in 1528. In addition to vast monuments, they produced many items of great beauty and developed a sophisticated calendar. Recent advances in deciphering their hieroglyphic script mean that we now understand their achievements more fully.

Duncan Pring graduated from Oxford and completed a PhD at London university on the ceramics of Northern Belize. After graduating he worked as an archeologist then became a teacher in East Sussex. After retirement he is on a mission to improve our knowledge of the Mayan civilisation.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James 1 and chief minister to Charles 1. This lecture throws light on the life and possessions of a beautiful man who surrounded himself with beautiful things.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is a cultural historian and biographer. Her book on Gabriele d’Annunzio, The Pike, was described in The Sunday Times as ‘the biography of the decade’. It won all three of the UK’s most prestigious prizes for non-fiction - the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography Award. Her other non-fiction books include Cleopatra and Heroes. 

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

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

Theatrical scene design is one of the world’s most beautiful, varied and lively art forms.  In his talk, Bertie looks at the relationship between actor and audience and shows how this has transformed the space and architecture of theatre from the world of Ancient Greece to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

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

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

By way of contrast the Protestant north stripped churches of art. However there was a market from private patrons, especially in Holland, where artists like Rembrandt painted some of the most tender and moving interpretations of the Christmas 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 has a background in history of fine art, architecture, design & decorative arts. She writes & lectures on the history of art, incuding. modern art. She holds a Diploma in the History of Fine & Decorative Arts.

The royal connections of the Royal Society of Needlework were established at an early date.  Princess Helena became its first President, and in 1875, Queen Victoria its Patron. This lecture looks at these royal connections, and in particular focusses on the society’s work for the coronations of Edward Vll, George V, George Vl, Elizabeth ll and Charles lll, and other notable occasions.

DR SUSAN KAY-WILLIAMS

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

A survey of the most important Spanish artists of the 16th and 17th Century, focusing on the unique style of  El Greco, Velazquez’s portraits of the family of Philip lV, the monks and saints of Zurbaran, and the beggar boys and triumphant Virgins of Murillo.

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

When in January 1839 the new process of photography was introduced in Paris, the history painter Delaroche exclaimed ‘from today painting is dead!’ But in fact photography gave rise to a fascinating dialogue between both art forms. This lecture discusses how the invention of photography transformed and influenced the use, purpose and aesthetic of painting.

MISS ALIKI BRAINE

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.

Caroline Rayman talks about the Astors, the Sackville-Wests and the Rothschilds, their family histories and the gardens they have created, despite their very different backgrounds.

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.

Although unknown to most people, the work of Margaret Calvert working with Jock Kinneir, is recognised by us all. They transformed Britain with their road sign system from typeface to colours and shapes; created the look of British Rail; the NHS and airports.

Mark Ovenden is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit.

His first book Metro Maps of the World published in 2003 is a guide to the diagrams, plans and maps of underground rapid transit system including images ranging from photos of the systems to rare and historical maps. Paris Metro Style in map and station design was published November 2008. Railway Maps of the World was published in May 2011 in the USA, a British edition was produced in September 2011. London Underground by Design was published by Penguin Books in January 2013. A celebration of the Johnston typeface centenary and 90th Anniversary of Gill Sans was published in 2016, and in July 2017 Mark fronted a television documentary for BBC Four on the subject of Johnston and Gill and in November 2018 he presented a documentary for BBC Radio 4 on skyscrapers. Others works on graphic design and transport systems are in preparation.

Rupert Dickens will talk about this series, explaining the many jokes and revealing some themes with surprising topical relevance, from voter identification to the politics of immigration. Hogarth’s ruthless exposure of electoral corruption and hypocrisy sets the stage for later generations of satirists including James Gillray, Private Eye and digital artist, Cold War Steve.

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. 

Max Gill’s great-niece, Caroline Walker, presents a colourful overview of this versatile artist's personal life and artistic achievements. He was best known for his pictorial maps for the London Underground, magnificent murals for Cunard liners, and eye-catching publicity posters for Empire Marketing Board. An enduring legacy is his alphabet for Imperial War Graves Commission used on all British military headstones since WW1.

Caroline Walker has always been aware of her close family ties to the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, a fascinating but controversial character. In 2006, however, a family history project drew her into an exploration of the life and work of his younger brother. MacDonald 'Max' Gill was an architect, mural painter and graphic artist, famed for his humorous pictorial map posters for London Underground and the alphabet he designed for the British military headstone.

Her main profession has been English teaching, but Caroline now spends much of her time researching the Gill brothers and championing the work of the lesser known of the pair. She has co-curated numerous exhibitions including Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill at the University of Brighton and Max Gill: Wonderground Man at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. In 2016 she co-organised a series of events in the capital to celebrate the centenary of the author Eleanor Farjeon's delightful collection of verses entitled Nursery Rhymes of London Town and illustrated by Max Gill.

Caroline has contributed articles to a range of publications such as Country Life, the TAS journal and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  She has given talks for organisations including the National Archives, the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, Friends of Kettle's Yard and the National Trust and was thrilled in 2016 to become an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society. She runs the MacDonald Gill website and is the author of MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life.

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns. In an entertaining and informative lecture, Tony Rawlins uses a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and the advertisements that are the end result.

Tony Rawlins was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J.Walter Thompson. He graduated through the training system there to become an account director and subsequently worked in a number of agencies before setting up on his own in 1985. There he handled primarily Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean, where he produced many commercials and print ads for them over a period of 15 years. He remains active as a consultant in the industry, but now concentrates on more philanthropic projects - producing a film in the rural villages of Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. More recently he has completed a sanitation project in Haiti after it was devastated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  

He has been a member of The Arts Society for many years. His earlier lecturing experience includes presenting to client groups, sales conferences and students of creative advertising in the UK and overseas. More recently he has been lecturing to Arts Societies in the UK and Europe.

Leslie Primo will talk about the ever changing attitude towards the nude as a subject.  He will look at the treatment of nudes by collectors and museums in the 19th century as he sets the scene and charts the many and varied approaches that have become synonymous with the very idea of art itself, indeed finally asking ourselves: if this is art, how did it become so and why?

Leslie Primo is a graduate with a degree in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck, University College, London. During his studies he specialised in early Medieval and Renaissance studies, including, Italian Renaissance Drawing, Art and Architecture in Europe 1250-1400 Art and Architecture in Europe 1400-1500, Medici and Patronage, Narrative Painting in the Age of Giotto, the work of Peter Paul Rubens focusing on his paintings of the Judgement of Paris, and Greek Myth in paintings.

Leslie Primo has worked as an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society since 2009, and formerly taught outreach courses at the Courtauld Institute, a variety of art history courses as a visiting lecturer at Reading University in 2005 and 2007, and worked at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery for a period of 18 years.

Please note change of date and day to THURSDAY 7 December

Cartoonist Harry Venning, will be tracing the history of his profession with examples from early practitioners like Cruickshank and Hogarth, to more contemporary artists such as Giles and Schulz, bringing events right up to date with his own cartoons produced live for you during his talk.

Jane Gardiner will introduce us to the sumptuous state apartments, the vast gardens and pleasure pavilions, the spectacular entertainments which took place both inside and out, the collections of King Louis XIV and the whole etiquette of life at one of the greatest courts in Europe.

Jane Gardiner has an MA History of Art, University of London, 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.

Dr Tom Flynn looks at the history of auctions from the Roman period up to the present day.  Are high-end art auctions really public sales or is something else going on behind the scenes? This talk tells the inside story of why the world’s most expensive paintings sell for such staggering sums of money.

Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer and art consultant. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex. His interests include contemporary art; sculpture history; museology and the history of  museums; art crime; issues in cultural heritage; and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets.  

He is Senior Lecturer at Christie’s Education, Adjunct Professor at Richmond, the American International University in London, visiting Senior Lecturer at Kingston School of Art, and teaches at a number of other UK and European universities. He has taught for many years on the summer Post-Graduate Certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies at the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA) in Amelia, Umbria, Italy.

Recognised as one of the most important architects of all time, he designed over 800 buildings including revolutionary structures e.g. The Guggenheim Museum, Fallingwater and Johnson Wax HQ. Fiona Rose provides an overview of his work, colourful personal life and iconic buildings.

Fiona Rose has been lecturing about topics she feels passionately about since 2010 including William Morris and his circle, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Frida Kahlo and Frank Lloyd Wright. She has a BA in Social Psychology and aims to include the human story behind the artistic endeavours of her subjects. After an early career in public health Fiona founded and runs a home interiors business featuring the work of the great C19th designers such as Morris, Dearle, Voysey and Mackintosh. Fiona is a member of the museum Collections committee for The William Morris Society where she served as a Trustee. She is also a contributor to the Society’s Magazine and Journal of William Morris Studies. Fiona is a volunteer Tour Guide with the Arts & Crafts gem The David Parr House.

These delightful and intriguing buildings offer insights into tastes and interests of the day. Barbara Peacock will look at follies in C18 and C19 landscape gardens, with a variety of styles and building types. The follies often had hidden meanings and the gardens could be enjoyed visually while also appealing to the intellect and arousing emotions.

Barbara Peacock MA FRSA is founder and director of the long-established Wessex Fine Art Study Tours and has led numerous successful tours in Britain and overseas. Her particular interest is the country house and its associated historic landscape. She lectures internationally for organisations such as the National Trust, the Art Fund and the Arts Society.

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp.

The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. 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. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is published in June 2022. 

The Bayeux Tapestry is instantly recognisable and one of the most outstanding cultural objects to survive from the early Middle Ages. Long admired for its vivid narrative, today it is the unanswered questions that most intrigue modern audiences: Was it made in England or France? Was it stitched by men or women? This sparkling lecture looks not only at its creation, but also at its more amazing afterlife. Displayed by Napoleon to bolster French ambitions for a new cross-channel invasion; cherished by Victorian embroiderers as an icon of women’s heroic joint efforts; hunted down by Hitler, who was outwitted by bureaucratic obfuscation. 

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

In this lecture Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe will consider some of the reasons for a good artist’s obscurity - from a short life to the misfortune of working in the shadow of a larger reputation such as Leonardo or Rembrandt.

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

Painted Illusionistic architecture has been used to enrich private and public interiors since ancient Rome. Inspired by a variety of Roman originals, Renaissance Italians developed decorative schemes that influenced the courts of Europe for generations - with results that can still be seen in today’s homes. Panelling, fixtures and fittings were integrated within architectural designs, and the introduction of movable oil paintings into these schemes shaped the evolution of picture hanging.
Artists and Houses include : Fresco styles at Pompeii; Nero’s Golden House; Palladio and Veronese at the Villa Maser;  Mantegna & Giulio Romano at the court of Mantua; Inigo Jones at Wilton House & a selection of modern trompe l’oeil artists.

Stephen Taylor is an Artist and art historian: studied John Constable as a post graduate at Essex and Yale, taught art at Felsted School and went on to became Head of Painting at The Open College of the Arts and course director for the Inchbald School of Design. In 2000, Stephen turned to landscape painting with early shows at King's College Cambridge, Meisel’s New York and Vertigo in London. Now has pictures in private collections world-wide and his book Oak: One tree, three years, fifty paintings was featured in The Guardian, The New Statesman and on Oprah Winfrey’s website.

From wax seal to microchip, man has used the skill of artists and artisans in his attempt to make an unforgetable document. Taking us through three centuries of passport design, Martin Lloyd explains the overt and reveals the covert, to illustrate the defences built into a passport and shows the tricks forgers use to defeat them. You will never look at your passport in the same light again.

Martin Lloyd Has been lecturing to various groups, including U3A, National Trust, historical societies, Gresham College and business groups since 2008. Previously he worked for HM Immigration Service, and has broadcast on local and national television and radio.

Most of what we now consider to be quintessential pantomime can be traced back to the operas and ballets put on at Covent Garden during its first 200 years. Panto has moved to the Palladium but you can still see its components every Christmas in the operas and ballets at the Royal Opera House. Sarah Lenton always brings a great sense of drama and enthusiasm to her talks.

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, gives lectures on the operas and ballets in the rep. and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She is also a cartoonist.

The Impressionists were an innovative and radical group of artists whose took Paris by storm in the 1870s. Using new colours and techniques, they created paintings of modern life which shocked and horrified the art establishment. From the start the group included women artists but their contribution to Impressionism has often been overshadowed by their male contemporaries. Marie Bracquemond, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt all exhibited regularly at the Impressionist exhibitions alongside artists such as Monet, Renoir and Degas. In 1894 they were given the title “Les Trois Grandes Dames d’Impressionisme” by the art critic Gustave Geffroy. This lecture will discuss the lives of each of these artists and their work, revealing their skill and originality as well as their willingness to take risks, despite the additional obstacles they faced as women.

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

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

Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, kilims that store kitchenware – with everything ready to be packed and carried on a yak or camel at a moment’s notice.

The little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak will be explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world.

Our speaker will share his own experience of working for three years with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs.

MR CHRIS ASLAN ALEXANDER

Chris Aslan was born in Turkey (hence the name Aslan) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut. After school, Chris spent two years at sea before studying Media and journalism at Leicester University. He then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, and becoming the largest non-government employer in town. He was kicked out as part of an anti-Western purge, and took a year in Cambridge to write A Carpet Ride to Khiva. Chris then spent three years in the Pamirs mountains of Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down. Next came two years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Since then, Chris has studied and rowed at Oxford, and is now based in Cambridge and focussed on writing fiction, including Alabaster, Manacle and Mosaic, and The Broken Hexapus. He is currently working on a new book on the Silk Road that marries travel and textiles, and lectures for The Art Society. He also leads tours to Central Asia, returning whenever he can having left a large chunk of his heart out there. 

"He was the most spiteful, sly and vindictive and wicked man I have ever met." Written by his nephew, this brutally honest inscription begins one volume of the lost private journals of John Margesson Esq (1794-1866) which was discovered by chance in a quantity of books bought on eBay in 2010.

Covering two years of Margesson's life, from summer 1831 to summer 1833, the journal begins with his return from exile in France to the Sussex country house where he grew up, before moving to London, and ending in Rome via France. Written in beautiful copperplate, he gives an intimate and intensely personal glimpse into his world - his wanderings and his musings as he goes about his daily life. Each element will be put into the context of the age and will be illustrated with etchings, drawings and, where possible, photographs. Mark Hill will examine the current affairs and notable characters mentioned and how they were received and perceived by a wealthy, well-connected, and often very opinionated ‘gentleman’.