Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was one of the leading figures in the fight for the unification of Italy and who attracted almost fanatical devotion. A romantic and heroic figure, he captured the imaginagtion of Italians and British alike and his interests prompted fashions from Staffordshire figurines to the famous red shirts of the Risorgimento. Christopher Garibaldi's lecture traces Garibaldi's amazing life through documents and newspapers and through the paintings of the Risorgimento to trace the reasons for Garibaldi's popularity in this country and why, in 1864, over 500,000 Londoners turned out to see him in Trafalgar Square.

In his talk, Dr Paul Roberts, Research Keeper in the Department of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, will take us to one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. The fabled city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert arose on a trade route bringing silk, spices and luxuries from the east. Palmyra became so powerful during the Roman empire that it's warrior queen, Zenobia, challenged Rome itself. Dr Roberts will describe the city's meteoric rise and dramatic fall yet finishes with a hope that Palmyra will rise again........ 

Charlotte Rostek is a curator, heritage manager and consultant who has worked in the Scottish arts and heritage sector since 1997. She was Curator during the restoration of Dumfries House for the Trust headed by HM The King when he was Prince of Wales and where she remains Curator Emeritus. Charlotte will chart the history of the house from its creation in the 18th century to its renaissance in 2007. The project's origins are every bit as fascinating as its evolution and emergence as a model for heritage-led regeneration. The lecture is richly illustrated and gives a real sense of the energy behind this landmark project. 

A freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America, Chloe Sayer has lectured across the world. She has assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4 and curated exhibitions and collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum. Both Kahlo and Rivera have iconic status in Mexico - Rivera's intricate visual narratives, rich with allegory and symbolism inspired by Aztec and Maya imagery adorn the walls of public buildings. Whereas Kahlo's work is small in format; she made herself the principal of her art and her paintings reflect her experiences and dreams. This lecture surveys the work of both artists, chronicles their turbulent marriage and Mexico's history after the 1910 Revolution. 

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy Walker was director (Horti Praefectus) at the Oxford Botanic Garden when, between 1992 & 2000, the gardens won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, London. In his lecture Timothy will show how mankind has exploited the medicinal properties of plants, yet the role of plants in modern medicine is still considered by many to be peripheral. This talk attempts to 'put the record straight' and to show how plant products are used everyday by all of us to relieve pain and suffering, heal wounds and cure diseases.

 This month's lecturer, Roger Askew was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford before later becoming Director of Music at Daniel Stewart's and Melville College in Edinburgh. Roger will show how our royal families have celebrated Christmas throughout their long history with one, William the Conqueror, holding his coronation in Westminster Abbey on 31 December. Feasting on extraordinary, even outrageous, culinary delicacies in spectactular style characterised the medieval Christmas. We will hear about present giving from the extravagant to the witty and learn about Royal traditions, many of which have become a necessary part of our own Christmases

 In 1925, 16 million visitors witnessed PARIS'S EXPO - The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. What drew in the crowds and what would they have seen? 15,000 exhibits from 20+ nations, including Britain, all with substantial pavillions built to display their exhibits. And yet, why was the USA not represented when the Soviet Union had its own vast pavillion. The answers to these intruiging questions will be given by our lecturer Pamela Campbell-Johnston who will demonstrate just how this seminal exhibition played a fundamental role in promoting a new global style that we know as ART DECO

 Modern graffiti is often seen as transgressive and moronic. However, look closely in the light of a torch at the walls of our historic buildings, tress, caves and rockfaces and you will see a world of graffiti left that illuminates the psychology of our ancestors. In this lecture, Dr James Wright reveals to us how the study of historic graffiti enables us to hear the lost voices of ordinary individuals through their images of daisywheels, ships sailing across the walls, knights drawing their swords, demons stalking the stonework and every animal imaginable...

 Keith Bonser does not claim to be an art historian but was a teacher and senior manager in education for 38 years. Retirement in 2008 gave him the opportunity to pursue a specific interest that has its origins in 1995 when a weekend break in Dublin introduced him to Caravaggio. He has since travelled extensively throughout Europe to see Caravaggio's paintings in situ, tracing his life story from the town of Caravaggio to the cities of Milan, Rome, Naples, and the islands of Malta and Sicily. He subsequently wrote a book on these experiences and says "Caravaggio came into my life completely by chance; life has never been quite the same since."

THE MAKING OF LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHS Our lecturer, Charlie Waite, is firmly established as one of the world’s leading landscape photographers. This fully illustrated talk, with in excess of 60 images, explores the relationship between the making of an image and the way in which it is perceived by the viewer. Charlie also offers further discussion around how the eye and the brain perform an extraordinary double act made up of visual references and intellectual interpretation

MISS SAIGON: THE MAKING OF A MUSICAL

Jamie Hayes has worked at Glyndbourne, Bristol Old Vic and was an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was the Associate Director on the original production of Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway and this lecture charts the journey, the process and the creativity required for a major musical production. Illustrated with unique film clips of the original rehearsals, the lecture will give an insight into what was involved in bringing this highly acclaimed production from 'page to stage'. Jamie examines the intricacies of auditions, script development, set design, costumes, orchestrations, choreography, and even the challenges of landing a helicopter on stage! 

THE LION KING OF SICILY: MANTLES AND MUQUARŃAS

Helen Dejean is a professional artist, iconographer and independent art history lecturer specialising in Byzantine and Late Medieval Italian art. In this perfect summer lecture we explore the extraordinary multicultural intersections of 12th century Norman Sicily with the Byzantine and Islamic Eastern Mediterranean. What does the exotic mash-up of art, architecture and artifacts tell us about the realm of King Roger ll? We head to the popular holiday destinations of Palermo, Cefalu and explore the magical mosaics and gorgeous palaces to find the answers. 

Helen Oakden MA has worked for both the Royal Academy and the National Gallery and this lecture covers the career, style and impact of the renaissance master painter, from his prodigious childhood in Urbino, to the 'Princely' reputation he enjoyed in Rome. the lecture will look at his famous works as well as analyse his lesser-known masterpieces. Discover the truth behind his competition with Michelangelo, his shocking death, and how this artist became the celebrated 'Prince of Painting', honoured with a burial in one of the most remarkable buildings in the world.

Pots first appeared in Britain about 6000 years ago and Julian Richards, a fellow of the Society of Antiquities of London, will chart the evolution of ceramic production up to the present day. From prehistoric hand-formed and bonfire-fired pots to the products of modern industry and individual craft potter, this lecture examines the major forces that have shaped production and distribution. Roman industrialisation, introduction of the potters' wheel and kiln, the effects of the Industrial Revolution on rural potteries and the rise of the art potteries are part of this evolving story. Told through the pots themselves and the potters that made them, this is genuinely 'a potted history'. 

 Find out, in this very light-hearted lecture, about the various ceremonial events that take place around Christmastime. Carol services, concerts and even the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor, all play their part. How do the Chelsea Pensioners prepare for and celebrate the festive season? All will be revealed so, come along and feel wrapped in a blanket of Christmas loveliness! Dr Graham Jones began his professional life as a musician in the British Army and over a career spanning nearly 40 years, retired as Senior Director of Music, Household Division & Director of Music, Coldstream Guards

Simon Seligman has lectured extensively about Chatsworth and the devonshire collection. The youngest of the Mitford sisters, Deborah was the wife of the 11th Duke and, together with her husband, imbued Chatsworth with elegance and sense of welcome transforming it from a worn-out survivor of decades of social change into one of the best-loved historic houses in the country. With her additional responsibilities for Lismore Castle and Bolton Abbey, it's no wonder Debo's passport stated her profession as 'housewife'. She became a best-selling author, met Hitler and Churchill, was a trusted confidant of the Prince of Wales and played her part as the steady heart of the Mitford sisters' melodrama.

In his lifetime, Sorolla (1863-1923) was a highly successful artist of international renown, but outside Spain and the United States he is largely forgotten. Whilst Sorolla admired the great Spanish tradition of Velázquez and Goya, his delightful paintings of fishermen and children at the seaside, landscapes and the great series depicting his Vision of Spain, in the Hispanic Society in New York, are full of sunlight and optimism. His former home and studio is now one of Madrid's most popular museums. For those of us who do not know him, his paintings are a real treat. Gail Turner is an art historian and painter who has taught on courses at the V & A and the National Gallery.

One the most prolific architects EVER, Sir George Gilbert Scott designed the Albert Memorial, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, cathedrals, churches, public buildings, and the Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras. However, this is not just about his buildings: as Nigel researched, the architect became more 'human' and the subject expanded to include the Industrial Revolution, workhouses, the Victorian Revival of the Church of England, Political unrest and the Great Reform Act which changed our electoral system!

An IT Consultant in real life, with knowledge of history and architecture & design, Nigel Lowey’s original amateur interest in the madly-Gothic St. Pancras over several years led to closer involvement, and eventually being asked to comment on the planning application for the restoration of the Victorian Gothic buildings.

Walter Sickert was the most charismatic British artist of the early Twentieth Century. Ever conscious of his public image, he cultivated a variety of personae: aesthete; provocateur; sage, painter of modern life. He was drawn to shocking or notorious subjects (those more likely to garner attention), especially the sensational ‘Camden Town Murder’ of 1907. This lecture, by Steven Barrett, a painter and lecturer, examines the series of paintings and prints Sickert produced in response to the crime and its aftermath. These are compelling images, among the most original by any British artist of the period. How was Sickert able to create great art out of murder? Why was he, and much of the British public, so fascinated by the case? What did the Camden Town Murder series do for Sickert’s reputation and career? Come to the lecture and find out! 

The theatre of the 1930s reflected the turbulent, changing society between the wars. While the West End had the wit and escapism of Noël Coward and Ivor Novello and the great public packed variety theatres there was also a new theatre movement created by the legacy of WW1. Malcolm Jones, lecturer and contributor to radio and television programmes on the subject of theatre, will tell us about the working-class theatre movement in England personified by Unity Theatre in London and Joan Littlewood and Ewan McColl’s Theatre Workshop which offered new opportunities for writers and actors and explored new forms of presenting plays and writing about subjects that were unlikely to be seen in the West End. 

This lecture, delivered by Mark Ovenden a broadcaster and author, covers the need to create some graphic unity for the expansion of the underground and the need to create some cohesion between the different operating companies. Mark looks at Leslie Green’s architecture and the Arts and Crafts movement, the Streamline Moderne / Art Deco movement, the post war austerity design through to the more modern schemes including the Elizabeth Line and the Northern Line extension to Battersea. 

Dr Caroline Shenton, an archivist and historian, will share with us the gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during our Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces gathered on the other side of the Channel to threaten these islands, men and women from London’s national museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary plans to evacuate their collections to safety. Utilising country houses from Buckinghamshire to Cumbria, tube tunnels, Welsh mines and Wiltshire quarries, a dedicated team of unlikely heroes packed up their greatest treasures in a race against time during the sweltering summer of 1939, dispatching them throughout the country on a series of secret wartime adventures, retold in this talk. 

The earliest cars were purely functional and lacked even the most basic of passenger comforts, such as doors or even windscreens to protect passengers from the elements. However, progress was rapid and by the mid-1920s we entered a golden age of automobile design. A new generation of stylish cars were influenced by the art deco movement and the ‘Great Gatsby era’ included some of the most famous and fabulous cars ever built. This period was followed by the Streamline Moderne influenced cars of the 1930s and 40s, with aerodynamic shapes and lots of chrome detailing. This talk, given by Roger Mendham, an accomplished photographer, covers some of the most beautiful cars ever built, and focuses on the work of the coachbuilders, who were inspired by the art movements and created ‘mobile works of art’. 

From the early sixties, when he left the Royal College of Art more famous than his teachers, Hockney's paintings have shown a charm and humour that sets them apart from others of his generation. A naturally gifted draftsman, his love of ingenious visual devices has led him to experiment with a whole range of techniques, from stage design to coloured paper making. From the early abstract expressionist images, through his famous Californian scenes of swimming pools to the photo-montages of the mid eighties, this lecture by Douglas Skeggs, an author, a TV presenter and a worldwide lecturer on paintings, follows the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered

The National Gallery's collection begins with works from the early 13th century and finishes with masterpieces by the Impressionists in the 19th century.

Linda Collins, freelance lecturer at Tate Modern and the National Gallery will share with us some of the stories -  interesting, amusing, often unexpected and sometimes surprising - behind the pictures.  Restoration, cleaning and display all change how we view a painting and it is important to remember that none of these pictures were produced to hang on the walls of a London gallery - they have all lived other, often surprising lives.

The first time the word 'cartoon' was used in the sense that we know it today was in 1843 in Punch magazine.  However, the employment of satire, caricature, speech bubbles and the writing of captions had been around long before then.

Ian Keable, a professional magician with a First-Class degree from Oxford University, uses illustrations from the masters of their craft to track the early stages of cartoons and how they gradually evolved.

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 that Gustav Mahler arrived to take charge of the Opera House in the city.  Comparing these two totemic fin de siecle talents this lecture, given by Gavin Plumley, a writer and broadcaster contributing to opera and concert programmes worldwide, places Klimt and Mahler in context, asking what fundamentally links and, indeed, divides them.

An extraordinary personal collection of Edwardian couture clothing lies in the vaults of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, once worn by a debutante named Heather Firbank. When Heather’s maid persuaded the museum to accept her former mistress’s entire wardrobe, the V&A’s Fashion and Textile department was born. So, who was Heather – and what secrets do her clothes yield up?

Tessa Boase, whose interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, will give an intimate portrait of shopping, high society, seduction and ruin in the years leading up to the Great War

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

Lecturer Chris Aslan Alexander also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years.

For a copy of our lecture programme for 2022-2023 please click here

The Regent’s Canal is exactly 200 years old and provides a unique way of looking at the architecture and heritage of London.

This lecture by Roger Butler, a landscape architect and an experienced writer, photographer and lecturer who has worked on some of the UK’s major canal restoration projects, explores the history of the capital’s canal and discovers historic buildings, unusual landmarks and contemporary design work. It’s a different way of looking at London.

Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensembles and imaginative improvisation.

Sandy Burnett, one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing, can shed light on jazz from the inside. Musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very first jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.

The image of The Last Supper is as readily familiar as the boot shape of Italy on a map. However, the history of how this famous mural came to be painted, how precisely Leonardo painted it, and who he painted it for, are much less well-known.

This illustrated lecture by Dr Ross King, recounts how Leonardo received the commission from Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, and how he went about creating his masterpiece through an experimental new style. While the mural is burdened with many myths the true story of its execution is remarkable and even more interesting.

From Greek Mosaics in the second century, through weddings in the Bible, Renaissance allegories of refinement and excess, sixteenth century peasant parties out of doors, eighteenth century harlequins, to the celebratory styles of twentieth century painters, the depiction of parties has always been popular in the history of Western Art.

Alice Foster, a lecturer at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, traces the variety of merrymaking, banqueting, dances and music in a feast of colour.

This is the re-arranged lecture due to be held in December which had to be cancelled due to bad weather.

In the 16th Century all the glamorous and luxurious products of India, the Middle East and the Far East passed through the port of Venice. These goods 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.

Chantal Brotherton- Ratcliffe, a lecturer in Fine and Decorative Arts at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, explores how Veronese deployed his luxury props, and what it was in his style of painting that makes them such a feast for the eye.

In the spring of 1889 the young Edwin Lutyens, later to become the most famous British architect of the 20th century, met the artist-gardenercraftswoman Gertrude Jekyll, someone who empathised with his big ideas regarding design, detailing and distinctiveness. Although Lutyens and Jekyll always maintained their independence from one another, our Lecturer Steve Desmond, an independent landscape consultant and lecturer, will show how their joint creations of house and garden became the talk of Edwardian society. Separately they were interesting, curious, isolated: together they proved irresistible.

From the scandal of the painting of Madame X to the trials, tribulations and triumph of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, discover the rise, the fall and rise again of John Singer Sargent, the leading portrait painter of his age - the age of elegance.

Lecturer, Alexandra Epps, an official guide and lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery, will help us discover an artist who devoted his entire life to the creation of beauty.

For our programme of lectures for 2021 - 2022 click here

For a list of proposed on-line lectures from March to July 2021 please click here

Dame Zaha Hadid DBE has been described as the Queen of the curve and became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.  She also received the UK's most pretigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011.  Dame Zaha Hadid can be counted amongst the most  distinguished architects in the world.

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

Mary has created a new lecture to examine the series of ground-breaking temporary sculpture commissions which have appeared on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square since 1999.  Each of the twelve works so far have been very different, all ambitious and provocative plus raising issues about the nature of congemporary art in our public spaces.

Mary studied art history at Birkbeck College and the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA in 20th Century British Art). Assistant Director and Director of Grants at the Art Fund until 2006.  Has lectured for the Art Fund and Kingston University,and also at the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and Museums Association conferences and study days.  Publications include  A Place for Living Art: The Whitechapel Art Gallery 1952-68 in Artists and Patrons in Post-War Britain (2001) and articles in Art Fund and museum publications.  

This lecture charts the meteoric rise to prominence of the artist Raphael (1483-1520). In 1500, aged seventeen, Raphael entered the workshop of the successful Umbrian artist Pietro Perugino and so began his emergence as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance. While lacking his older rivals Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475- 1564) advantage of being born and trained in Florence, he was generally admitted to be their equal. Raphael’s early work is analysed alongside his commissions in Florence and for the Papacy in Rome which demonstrate the genius of his extraordinary talent.

James was the first Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the V&A. He has convened and presented at international conferences, lectures widely in the UK and overseas and is currently a fine art underwriter in the City. He has written articles on diverse aspects of the Renaissance, and his book entitled The Renaissance Palace in Florence: Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth-Century Italy was published by Ashgate Press in 2007 to widespread critical acclaim.

Like its name, the Roaring Twenties was a loud and boisterous decade, marked by novelty, modernity and huge social, technological, and economic change. Following the dark days of the Great War, it spawned a generation of wealthy and privileged Bright Young Things who were determined to shock and who broke with the conventions of the past to pursue a life of hedonism and promiscuity, fuelled by an endless round of champagne, cocaine, parties and jazz.

Women wore fur coats and cloche hats, donned new boyish fashions and had short, cropped hair. Men drove fast cars, mixed cocktails and smoked American cigarettes. Society ate in new restaurants like The Trocadero, danced the Charleston in ballrooms like the Savoy, and drank in clubs like the Embassy and the Café de Paris. Valentino, Tallulah Bankhead, and Noel Coward emerged as major celebrities through the growing popularity of cinema and the stage.

The Roaring Twenties was also a period of enormous vitality in art and design. Fashionable society was immortalised by portraitists like John Lavery and Cecil Beaton who brilliantly captured the glamour of the age. Leisure, pleasure and the excitement of jazz were portrayed in paintings by Burra and Roberts, while the speed of the city and travel were explored in work by McKnight Kauffer and Nevinson.  Furniture and decoration showed the influence of Cubism, Vorticism and other styles associated with the avant-garde, while events like the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb ushered in an obsession with all things Egyptian and Oriental. This lecture aims to conjure up the energy and originality of the decade and to explore the lives of its leading figures and examples of its most innovative art and design.

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.

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).

John Ruskin loved Venice, the Alps and the Lakes. He made daily studies of the dawn and watched, horrified, as Victorian industrialisation polluted the clouds and rivers captured by his ideal 'Modern Painter', J M W Turner. In 2019, I am celebrating Ruskin's 200th birthday as Research Curator for a major exhibition in York and Kendal. This lecture will open your eyes to the beauty of Ruskin's words and watercolours, and share his delight in the extraordinary visions created by Turner. 

Suzanne studied History at Oxford University and Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and at Christie's Education. She was a Curator and Research Fellow at the V&A Museum for 12 years, and is now a Visiting Fellow at the University of York. She has lectured extensively for museums and on Cunard liners, and undertaken broadcasts and consultancies for the BBC and Channel Four. Historical Consultant to Ralph Fiennes for The Invisible Woman, a film about Charles Dickens, and the BBC drama, The Living and the Dead. Publications include Pre-Raphaelite Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum (2003), The Victorian Woman (2001), and Effie Gray, a biography of the Scottish wife of John Ruskin and John Everett Millais. A film based on her life, starring Emma Thompson, was released in 2014. Currently Research Curator at York Art Gallery, she worked on an exhibition Turner, Ruskin and the Storm Cloud which opened in Spring 2019.

Big Ben is one of the most iconic buildings in the world – it identifies the UK and democracy in the Western world. But there is a lot more to this tower than the beautiful external gothic architecture; and Tim will prove this to you. Using stunning images, he will take you on a virtual tour of the interior, saving you the effort of climbing 334 spiral stairs. He will explain the historical background and discuss the friction between the often controversial personalities involved in the building and designing of the tower. Tim will then take you behind those magnificent clock faces; show and explain the workings of the enormous clock mechanism; before finally taking you into the belfry and presenting before you – Big Ben, the most famous bell in the world!  After all that excitement Tim will ensure you safely descend the stairs.

Tim spent his earlier career as a detective in the Metropolitan Police, working on murder, kidnap and anti-corruption investigations as well as in covert criminal intelligence. He finally retired as a Detective Superintendent and as the first police adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. During his career Tim often gave presentations to large audiences, either for operational briefings or at conferences.

On retirement Tim decided on a complete change of direction, becoming a City of London tour guide and working for a London tour operator, specialising in tours around the UK. He then used the knowledge gained to become a guide within the Palace of Westminster, specialising in tours of Big Ben. His many guests on tours of the clock tower have included people such as Michelle Obama, Bill Gates and members of both houses of parliament. He also appeared in UK and overseas documentaries of the tower. Big Ben is now closed for a lengthy refit but Tim still guides people on tours around parliament and continues to talk on many aspects of history and stories relating to parliament.

Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense has never been out of print, but what isn’t realised often is that he made his living producing topographical watercolours of great delicacy. “A man of original and versatile genius”: ornithologist, diarist, musician, traveller - this warm and delightful human-being expressed his simple philosophy through timeless humour. An illustrated lecture focussing on his biography with quotations from his writings throughout. 

Tim's involvement in art began with the practical; for a number of years he was a professional painter and ceramicist in Scotland and Wales, before returning to university to study literature and the history of art, then training to teach adults. For the last 20 years he has been a freelance cultural art historian, specialising in 17th and 19th century art and society. He now lectures for the universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and Hull; the WEA, the Art Fund and presents residential study courses in Britain and Europe. He has recently completed a month long lecture tour of Western Australia.

An account of the search for, and discovery of, Britain’s first Ice Age cave art at Creswell Crags (Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire) in 2003 - how my 30-year dream was fulfilled in a single morning! The engravings and bas-reliefs discovered have been dated to around 13,000 years ago, and are thus by far the oldest known artistic depictions in the country. 

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

The octagonal dome that was to crown Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral begun in Florence in 1294, presented the most daunting architectural puzzle of the age: how to raise the highest and widest vault ever attempted. The cupola was to have a span greater than the Roman Pantheon—the world’s largest dome—and vaulting higher than any Gothic cathedral. The logistical problems were enormous. How could this enormous octagonal structure be made self-supporting? How could the tons of masonry be raised more than 200 feet in the air and laid into place with micrometric accuracy? This illustrated lecture examines the procedures developed by Filippo Brunelleschi as he worked on the dome between 1420 and 1436, successfully executing what is still the world’s largest masonry dome.

Ross King is the author of eight books on Italian, French and Canadian art and history. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he has won both the Governor General’s Award in Canada and the BookSense Non-Fiction Book of the Year in the United States. Born and raised in Canada, he has lived in England since 1992. He has lectured widely in both North America and Europe, and given lectures and guided tours in Florence, Rome, Milan, Paris and Giverny. 

This lecture celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the births of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were first cousins and born just three months apart in 1819.  Their shared enthusiasm for art and music endured throughout the twenty-two years of their marriage and they demonstrated their love through the works of art and jewellery they gave each other for birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries. Victoria and Albert understood and appreciated sculpture more than any of their predecessors since Charles I. They furnished and extended Buckingham Palace, made significant changes to Windsor Castle and commissioned three other royal residences, Balmoral, Sandringham and Osborne – the single most important example of their shared taste. Theirs was a partnership of patronage by a monarch and her consort which is unique in the history of the British monarchy.

Historian and London Blue Badge Guide since 1988, Barbara is a Lecturer, Examiner and Course Director on Blue Badge Guide Training Courses and an acknowledged expert on Windsor Castle. She is a rota guide for the Albert Memorial, British Museum and Houses of Parliament and has conducted tours for American museums and alumni groups for the past 25 years. 

Plants too are silent witnesses to crimes. Their presence in many crime scenes can help an investigator identify a suspect or locate a victim. Apparently mundane plants such as brambles and nettles can provide valuable insights into when a crime was committed. Fragments of leaves and seeds embedded in soil on the footwear of a suspect can place them at the scene. An understanding of landscape history and land-use helps an investigator discriminate between a clandestine burial and a mediaeval feature in a woodland. Forensic botany is not new science, plants have played a role in solving major cases for decades, including the infamous murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son.

Mark Spencer has been fascinated by plants since he was a small boy. Originally a horticulturist, he studied horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He also studied botany and mycology at university, after which he worked as a field botanist for a regional conservation organisation. After 12 years as a senior botany curator at the Natural History Museum, London Mark is now a consultant forensic botanist, public speaker and occasional radio and TV presenter. He is the honorary curator of Carl Linnaeus’s herbarium at the Linnean Society of London, one of the most significant collections in the history of science, and has a strong interest in the history of botany and botanic gardens, invasive non-native species and the flora of North-West Europe.

Currently the subject of a three year piece of doctoral research, Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire is familiar to many as an iconic Medieval brick tower constructed for Ralph Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England. Surprisingly there has never been a major study of the site, its wider landscape and architectural influence. This lecture relays current interpretations of Tattershall as part of an ongoing research project by the University of Nottingham and the National Trust.

James Wright FSA is an archaeologist and historian based at the University of Nottingham. With over twenty years of professional experience, he has published two books and a string of popular and academic articles concentrating on the British Mediaeval and Early Modern periods. He is a very proficient public speaker and has spoken to a wide variety of organisations including Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust, Lowdham Book Festival, the Fortean Society, Gresham College, Shakespeare 400 and the Museum of London. He presents in a clear and conversational style, without notes or script, and readily uses illustrative slides throughout his lectures. 

Illuminated Manuscript Books of Hours.   Books of Hours are the most famous late medieval manuscripts, made for use by the laity at home, often richly and enchantingly decorated with miniatures and borders.   The lecture looks at what a Book of Hours is, how they were used, what the illustrations show, and how we can tell how old they are and where  they come from and who used them.    It then goes through the stages of making a Book  of Hours in the late Middle Ages, from preparing the parchment to the mixing of colours and the laying of gold leaf.  

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

A gourmet's journey through the origins of festive fare and the traditions that have been passed down from Georgian and Victorian times. From the Christmas turkey to the habit of drinking port with Stilton cheese not to mention the custom of wiping one's mouth on the tablecloth — the origins of these Christmas practices will be revealed.

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

During the thirteenth century, Lincoln Cathedral was amongst the greatest building projects in England and despite a series of disasters, from an earthquake to war and robbery, we have inherited a magnificent and relatively unscathed masterpiece of art and architecture. Through its sheer size and complexity, the cathedral’s beauty can be difficult to understand. But through writing the book ‘Lincoln Cathedral: Biography of a Great Building’ the speaker offers a fresh and coherent analysis of the cathedral’s evolution. This talk shows how this wonderfully inventive structure embodied changing ideas about the Virgin Mary, to whom it was dedicated. To the first builders, Mary would defend the church in an age of hellish turbulence. For later pilgrims, Lincoln Cathedral was her Paradise on Earth.

Dr Jonathan Foyle was Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain for eight years, and a Curator of Historic Buildings at Hampton Court for as long, during which time he took his 2002 PhD on reconstructing Wolsey's palace. He is a frequent feature writer for the Financial Times on issues of architecture, history and craft, and is approaching his fourth published cathedral monograph: Canterbury, Lincoln, Lichfield - now Peterborough. A presenter of numerous television series including BBC4's Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? and BBC2's Climbing Great Buildings, he lectures frequently on a range of art-historical topics. He brings teaching experience as a former Course Director for the University of Cambridge Summer Schools and is an Honorary Professor in Conservation at the University of Lincoln.

From earliest times man has linked the lustre of gold with the warm, life giving light of the sun. This talk illustrates four thousand years of the history of gold in medicine. The ancient Egyptians used it for its magico-religious properties. Mediaeval alchemists strived to produce it as a source of eternal youth. Today it is a substance used in medical instrumentation, investigation and cutting edge therapies. This lecture illustrates how artists such as Rogier Van Der Weyden, Joseph Wright and Gustav Klimt, as well as numerous goldsmiths and instrument makers, have defined medicine’s relationship with the most coveted of all the elements. The lecture ends by describing how the ultimate “medical gold”, the Nobel Prize, has acknowledged some of the fundamental advances in medical science.

As a retired country doctor with a lifetime of working in the NHS both in hospital and in rural practice Dr James Grant is passionate about all aspects of medicine, its history and its relationship to art and artists. He feels very strongly that lecturing should be stimulating, informative and entertaining and that he has been very privileged to be able to share his interests with others by lecturing to a variety of different groups and now as a lecturer for The Arts Society.

The painting conservator tells the story of discovering paintings connected with John Constable: four members of the family and Constable’s right hand man are reunited on her studio workbench.

Two portraits by the famous artist had recently changed their identity, and a clever client with a good eye had managed to snap up pictures at country auctions without knowing of their precise Constable connections.

Using many images of work in progress, the talk also gives a detailed description of the public cleaning of Constable’s Millstream, the same scene as that of the famous Haywain, which also entailed a small but beautiful revelation.  

Microscopic analysis gave insight into the structure of the paint layers, showing that the artist followed the prescriptions of an authoritative painters’ manual of the day.

The work took place at Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, under the public gaze.

Rosalind has an MA (Honours) degree in Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh which was followed by training on the Government Conservation and Restoration scheme at the National Gallery, in London. Later, as a Fellow of the British Association of Painting Conservator-Restorers, she contributed articles to The Picture Restorer and as an accredited member of ICON, served on the Professional Development Committee. A research interest in early work of Sir Alfred Munnings led to a conference presentation From Munnings to Mondrian, a study of degradation of cadmium yellow paints, in collaboration with Dr Nicholas Eastaugh (2001), and in 2016 she presented a paper to the conference A Changing Art: Nineteenth Centry Painting Practice and Conservation, at the Wallace Collection. Working freelance in East Anglia, Rosalind's studio works for Churches, public bodies and private collections. A recent project was the cleaning and restoration in public of Constable's The Millstream at Christchurch Mansion,

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

Barry 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.

Medical practitioners, their treatments and the diseases they were tackling were all portrayed in caricatures of the 18th and 19th century. Taking some of the best examples from British collections, created by artists including William Hogarth, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson, this lecture examines the depiction of apothecaries, pharmacists, quack medicines and illnesses in the period. Come prepared to laugh and wince in equal measure.

Briony studied History at Cambridge University, and Museums Studies at Leicester University. Having worked at museums as diverse as Hereford Cider Museum, the V&A, and Wakefield Museum, Briony was Keeper of the Museum Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society from 2002 to 2010. Publications include English Delftware Drug Jars: The collection of the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Jacob Bell: a useful and honourable life. She is a past President of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, and lectures to audiences on wide-ranging topics relating to pharmacy history.

Silver and Social Custom

In order to fully appreciate any pieces of silver, it is essential to look at them in the context of the social customs and ways of life of the periods in which they were made. Only then can the reasons for such things as silver chamber pots, elaborate dressing-table sets and lids on cups, be properly understood.

Why for example were such extraordinary objects as Clock Salts produced in the Tudor period, and, what was mustard served in before 1760?

All will be revealed during this talk, which will use slides of contemporary paintings and of objects to illustrate the evolution of social custom from 1066 through to the early 19th Century.

Ian Pickford entered the antiques silver trade straight from school. Six years after Ian was in the antiques silver trade, he became lecturer for the University of London and the University of Surrey, for NADFAS and for the National Trust.

His writings include the now-standard reference book on silver flatware and he is the Editor of Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks. In 1981, he was made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and a Freeman of the City of London.

In an age of discovery where science and industry went hand-in-hand, 18th century England saw not only the flowering of the Industrial Revolution, but also that of the self-made man; who came not from money but from industry. It was a time of gentlemen’s clubs, in their true original meaning rather that the corruption of this term we unfortunately experience today, and one of these clubs would become synonymous with investigation and discovery characterised by the individuals that were associated with it. But this age of discovery also witnessed the end of an era with the rise of the AntiSlavery movement, and those who were on the periphery of this club who were also achieving great things. Such as the voyages of Captain Cook, the work of Joseph Banks, the work of Sir Hans Sloane, and the inception of the Royal Academy under its first President, Sir Joshua Reynolds. In this lecture I shall, through the paintings of Reynolds and others, explore the lives, achievements, common interests and connections between a unique group of individuals from this period who either attended this club or were associated with it; men such as, James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley, Joseph Wright of Derby and others. The industrialists amongst these men would be, in their time, referred to as philosophers practising what we would now call joined-up thinking, eventually we would invent a new name for them - scientists however, they would call themselves the Lunar Society.

Short reading list: Egerton, Judy (Ed), Wright of Derby, (Tate Gallery Publications, 1990) Egerton, Judy, The British Paintings, (National Gallery Company, 2000) Holmes, Richard, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, (Harper Press, 2008) The Lunar Society Exhibition handbook, (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1966) Uglow, Jenny, The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future, (Faber and Faber, 2002) Vaughan, William, British Painting: The Golden Age, (Thames and Hudson, 1999)

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

To many people Chinese art is slightly strange, so very different in style and shape and very far away from European designs. But look carefully behind the scenes: Did not Hepplewhite incorporate Chinese design styles into cabinets and chairs, as did the potters on plates in Staffordshire? The aim of the lecture is to show how the Chinese nation has for centuries inherited from their ancestors, a unique strong and positive genius for design. They have produced from ancient times the fine bronze vessels with surface designs that take our breath away – large, positive rhythmic scrolls on jades, paintings and on textiles as well. Chinese architecture embodies the double roofs and extraordinary decorative pillars, ceilings and walls as did their tombs. Huge stone animals line the spirit roads leading to these tombs. This lecture is a spectacular and enjoyable way to ‘Lift the Veil’ on China’s superb art heritage. The dynamic designs are full of spirit and a testimony to China’s centuries old history. 

Hanne lectures extensively to museums, art and historical societies, and the Art Fund. She has been a guide, lecturer and researcher on sixteen tours to China and her lecture tours include: twice to Australia (AADFAS), South Africa, and the USA. She has lectured in Europe and on cruise liners in the Far East, and is an extra-mural lecturer at Leeds University and Harrogate College. She has published a book on Chinese Ceramics at Lotherton Hall and is a Council Member of Oriental Ceramics Society.

Christmas, as a time of celebrations, has a very long pedigree. The great midwinter festival, known to the Romans as Saturnalia, is still greeted with feasting and drinking throughout the 12 days of Christmas. Wassail bowls and bobs, boars’ heads stuck with apples, carolling, mumming, riotous games in hall – all presided over by the Lord of Misrule. Twelfth Night signalled an end to the merry anarchy with great pies and rich fruit cakes concealing a bean and a pea. Using contemporary illustrations, this lecture explores the sources and significance of these ancient customs and traditions. 

David is a lecturer and consultant in the Cultural History of the Medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods and a specialist in medieval imagery and interior furnishings and decoration 1400-1700. Davidis a tour leader and a former Keeper of the Social History Collections, Sheffield City Museums. He undertakes lecture tours to USA and Australia and is a consultant on historic buildings and their interpretation to the National Trust, English Heritage and Historic Scotland.

Historic buildings are often not what they seem, or how we confidently and wrongly believe they ought to look. Were old houses ever built with reused ships’ timbers? Are black and white ‘Tudor’ buildings mainly a 19th century fashion? Is the appearance of many familiar historic castles as much the product of the restorers? How many of the claimed ‘secret tunnels’ from the basement to the docks or church actually exist? As well as examining some of the popular myths about old buildings the lecture will discuss the tricky philosophical issues of authenticity, and the point at which a genuine historic building is so renewed that it effectively becomes a replica. Drawing on examples from throughout the country the lecture will challenge some received wisdom, and offer some surprises. 

In 2012 Philip retired after 28 years as fulltime Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). Previously he was a journalist, latterly as Assistant Editor of the Times Educational Supplement. He has been a member of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission since 1998; and is a former Council member of the National Trust, former Vice President of the National Churches Trust, and former member of the Expert Panel of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He was a founder trustee of Heritage Link (now Heritage Alliance) and was an adviser to the BBC2 series Restoration. In 2011, he was awarded the Queen Mother Memorial Medal for contribution to building craftsmanship, and in 2012 accepted on behalf of SPAB an EU Cultural Heritage Prize Europa Nostra Award. He has lectured extensively in the UK, and to a lesser extent abroad, to a wide range of audiences. He is currently a member of the East of England Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) and the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). He was awarded an OBE 2003.

In this lecture Dominic tells the story of fine bindings in Britain over the last hundred years. The journey begins with William Morris and the Kelmscott Chaucer, possibly the last great book of the printed age. He will then show some of the amazing bindings from Sangorski and Sutcliffe, the finest bookbinders in the twentieth century, as well as work from their contemporaries. Dominic will then discuss the new world of Design Binding which emerged after the second world war, as modern design entered this ancient craft, and finish with examples from some of the best artistic bookbinders working today. 

A bookbinder, artist and teacher, Dominic first learned bookbinding at 16 from Benedictine Monks at Douai Abbey in Berkshire and later at the London College of Printing. He has worked at the V&A, and for various binderies in London, New York and San Francisco, and spends part of the year teaching across the USA. He has his bindery in the Lake District, from where he travels across the UK teaching master classes and lecturing. Dominic is Vice President of the Society of Bookbinders and was elected a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in 2008. His binding work is mostly the restoration of antiquarian books and Design Bindings. He has won many prizes in the Designer Bookbinders competition, including both first prizes and the Mansfield Silver Medal in 2007. His bindings are in collections worldwide, including the British Library and the John Rylands Library in Manchester. In 2010 he bound a special copy of the winner of the Booker Prize which was presented to the author. In June 2013 he won first prize in the prestigious Sir Paul Getty International Bookbinding Competition. His winning binding was acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

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

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

Accomplished botanical painter and inveterate traveller, Marianne North (1830-1890) led an unconventional life capturing the essence of rare plants. Born in Hastings, the daughter of an MP, she initially contented herself with the wild flowers of England, but after the death of first her mother and then her father her pursuit of plants took her round the world. Japan, Java, Ceylon, Canada, India, Brazil and Jamaica were just some of the countries she penetrated into the remote regions in search of rarities. Discovering and being honoured with the naming of such plants as Crinum northianum, Nepenthes northiana. This talk will explore both the life and social context of Marianne North, including an examination of why her paintings troubled deeply conservative Victorian society and the eventual creation of her gallery. 

Garden historian, author, researcher and lecturer, Twigs Way presented Lost Gardens for Channel 4 and has appeared on Gardeners' World as well as making media appearances on a wide range of garden history related topics. She carries out freelance research in the history of specific gardens and parks for bodies such as English Heritage, the National Trust and various private clients, and has a specific interest in the portrayal of plants and gardens in art and literature and the social aspects of garden history. Her publications include A History of Women in the Garden, the highly illustrated A Nation of Gardeners, and a short biography of Gertrude Jekyll, as well as the quirky History of Garden Gnomes! Currently working on the Eighteenth Century Diaries of the Marchioness Grey of Wrest Park and is also involved in the 2016 tercentenary celebrations of one of our greatest landscape designers Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.

It is impossible to understand nineteenth-century England without an appreciation of the Victorian attitude to death. In a sense, the nineteenth century celebrated death as a part of human experience, in the same way that the twentieth century celebrated sex. The most distinctive memorials to this fascinating aspect of Victorian culture are the great company cemeteries of the 1830s and 1840s, laid out at great expense in London and the major industrial cities, thickly populated with extravagant monuments, intended as a solution to an ecological crisis, and now themselves a significant environmental problem. At last recognised as repositories not only of human remains but of some of the most evocative and moving examples of Victorian architecture, landscaping, statuary and other monumental art, the great necropoles of British cities document beliefs, attitudes and taste as well as lives. Visiting the surviving company cemeteries vividly captures the pride, ostentation, peace and certainty with which our forefathers faced the most inevitable fact of life. 

Formerly part-time lecturer in architectural and social history for the Nottingham University Centre for Continuing Education, and also for the Universities of Birmingham, Liverpool, Keele and Sheffield and for the WEA East Midlands and West Mercia Districts. Freelance lecturer to local societies in South and West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Formerly broadcaster for BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Derby.

Now you See it - Now you Don’t

The Art of Visual Deception

William Hogarth “Perspective Absurdities”  Engraving 1754 

This is an in depth look at the profound mystery of perception. There is an eternal fascination with the unfathomable, the weird ambiguous state of seeing things which are not there – yet are there. It carries us back into that long gone deeply missed period of our childhood when magic was common place and when the boundary between the possible and the impossible was very blurred. In the same way as a magic trick surprises and delights us there is a primal enjoyment in being deceived by optical illusions.  Since Roman times illusions have been used in art. The stretching and distorting of perspective has been highly developed by artists to create a range of effects on the viewer.

Andrea Pozzo’s Vault in the Nave of The Church of Saint Ignazio, Rome, 1691-1694

This includes Trompe L’eoil   and the closely related Anamorphic art.  From the 16th to the 19th C anamorphosis became extremely popular and supplied an ideal means of camouflaging dangerous political statements, heretical ideas, and even erotic pictures.  It was later revitalised by Salvador Dali who was always fascinated by optical tricks and hidden imagery.

"The Ambassadors" by Hans Holbein the younger, 1533

Along with  Composite Portraiture and Impossible Figures, the 18th – 20th C saw the immense popularity of Double Imagery, widely distributed on puzzle cards and popular advertisements. We then move on to Ambiguous Imagery as used by the masterful Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte.

Rene Magritte “Human Condition 1”  1934

In the 1960’s the term Optical Art or Op Art was coined to describe the growing movement of abstract painters led by Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley. Op art is a mathematically oriented form, usually abstract, which uses repetition of simple forms and colours to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns , an exaggerated sense of depth, foreground-background confusion, and other visual phenomena.

Camouflage, born out of war, and taking its influence from nature with a little help from the surrealists gave birth to ‘disruptive pattern’ and  ‘razzle dazzle’. As well as a form of disguise it has also become a means of distinguishing friend from foe. Camouflage has also flourished during peace both as a means for protest, statement and modern design.

Finally, the ultimate illusion of using perspective, colour and design in Theatre Magic  to conceal, shrink and ultimately disappear.

Reading List

Masters of Deception  Escher, Dali & The Artists of Optical Illusion  by Al Seckel

Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing  by Margaret Livingstone

Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite by M.C. Escher

Illusion in Nature and Art by Richard Gregory and E.H. Gombrich.

Bertie Pearce 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, he has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard, and has written an article on entertainment for the Guardian newspaper.

The tragedy of Pompeii’s burial by Vesuvius’ eruption on 24 August AD 79 provided an archaeological miracle that enables us to see how Roman villas were richly decorated with stunningly beautiful frescoes. It also gave us a glimpse into how luxury villas reflected their owners’ aspirations.  They were also used as working estates for business and industry – yet even here there is art in abundance.  Their preserved remains and contents show us aspects of Roman life that archaeologists could never have guessed at without these remarkable discoveries.

Gillian Hovell has excavated at Oplontis, one of the great locations in the Pompeii complex of sites.  Sharing her experience of digging at this stunning site, we visit a rich, opulent villa, commercial storerooms and nearby shops as she brings to life the aspects of Roman Pompeii that we rarely see. 

Even here there were tragedies – 54 bodies were found clustered in one room, huddled together and buried for 2,000 years by Vesuvius’ eruption.  These Romans are now brought to life for us by the very powers that killed so many.

Gillian gained a BA (Hons) in Latin and Ancient History at Exeter University, and then branched out into archaeology. Ex-BBC, she is an award winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives, in person, in the field, on line and in the media (most recently on Radio 4). Her publications include Visiting the Past: A guide to finding and understanding Britain's Archaeology and Roman Britain. Forthcoming: Latin Yesterday, Today and For Ever, and A Mediterranean Tour: Not just a Load of Old Stones. Gillian teaches adult education courses in Latin, archaeology and ancient history and has publicly lectured widely and passionately, on cruises and tours and to the national press, universities, literary festivals, and diverse societies including Classical Associations, the U3A and the National Trust. 

Here is an architect whose work, over a period of half a century, spanned the globe and the British Empire in particular. Born the tenth child of the erstwhile soldier, turned sporting artist, Charles Lutyens, Edwin was a godson of the famous Victorian artist, Edwin Landseer. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that with this background he should show from an early age an artistic bent. In his case this manifest itself in architecture. After a somewhat rickety start in the offices of Ernest George, Edwin set up on his own at the age of twenty. His friendship and encouragement by the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll was of immeasurable benefit and one sees when one looks at the list of Lutyens’ works that by 1897 (when he was 28) that his order book was full with commissions from the great and the good of those halcyon days before the first war. So it was to continue throughout his career. Aided by his marriage to Lady Emily Lytton and his friendship with Edward Hudson, owner of Country Life magazine, Lutyens’ career continued to prosper. The overtly Arts and Crafts style of his early years was transformed into ever more aristocratic mode culminating in his building of Imperial Delhi. Notwithstanding this Lutyens’ work always displayed a lightness of touch, enhanced by his mastery of architectural principles and his meticulous attention to detail. Above all he displayed a most uncommon trait in the architect, a sense of humour. All these attributes have given us some of the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century be it his country house like The Salutation, or his Dolls’ House for Queen Mary. This is the man who designed the dome of the Viceroy’s House in Delhi and the whimsical lights in the nursery of the same building. 

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

It was during the Middle Ages that many of the familiar images associated with the Christmas story were devised and popularized: including the stable in Bethlehem inhabited by the ox and ass. What were the sources for these images? Are they always of biblical origin? This lecture, illustrated by images taken from sources as diverse as illuminated manuscripts, church portals, liturgical vestments, stained glass windows and goldsmiths’ work, will tell the stories surrounding Christ’s birth and investigate the often surprising sources for certain aspects of this well-known narrative. 

Sally Dormer is a lecturer and tutor for the Early Medieval Year Course at V&A and Dean of 'European Studies' for 2 US Universities. She is a freelance lecturer for The Art Fund and undertakes study tours for NADFAS, cruises and other tour groups. She has a BA (History) from the University of Durham; PhD (Medieval Manuscript illumination) and MA (Medieval History of Art) Courtauld Institute.

The question of fake decorative art has been in vogue for hundreds of years, however increasingly sophisticated methods are being used by criminals to generate vast profits.

This lecture reveals actual case studies, demonstrating the lengths forgers will go to in passing off works as legitimate. Skilled forgers capable of imitating well known artists have provided the ability to dupe many at the highest level within the art market. Experts have estimated that a high percentage of all works within the art market are fake. These scams ultimately inflict considerable damage to collectors and the trade.

Malcolm Kenwod is an experienced retired specialist police and private detective, investigating art and antique crime. He was formerly the Recoveries Director for the Art Loss Register which operates an international commercial database of stolen cultural property. He formed his own company and developed training programmes designed to educate law enforcement officers in all aspects of this area of criminal activity, undertaken in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Unit at New Scotland Yard, London. Malcolm has lectured to police conferences, customs officers, auction house staff, museum employees, Interpol and FBI.

Alfred Sisley, with his gentle eyes and rather subdued English personality, was the only one of the Impressionist group to paint only landscapes. Being half French and half English he was never quite accepted by either side. His love of the River Seine, and its changing moods, drew him back year after year to the same places and there is a warm familiarity about his work that the other Impressionists fail to offer. He was close to Pissarro and Monet, and stayed as true to the Impressionists path as he did to his life-long mistress. He was loyal to his birthplace and country, France, even though she refused him citizenship even on his death bed. And his unquestioning commitment to his Impressionists brothers was, it seems, never tainted by envy of their huge financial success. He was born to wealth, but fate decreed that poverty would mark his life, followed only by success - too late. The floods and the snow around Louveciennes and Moret-sur-Loing, the tranquil tow paths along the Seine, and the scudding clouds over Henley regatta, will enchant us as we follow his modest path as perhaps the least sung, but often most loved, and quietest Impressionist.

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

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This lecture, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Martinu with the frescoes of Piero della Francesca, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons. 

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He takes groups to Europe. All lectures are presented digitally. Lectures include live music sung and played on piano, virginals or clavichord.

This richly illustrated lecture traces the history of stained glass in churches from Anglo-Saxon England until the present day.  It explains evolving styles and techniques and discusses how some of Europe’s greatest painters created these masterpieces of colour and storytelling.  It explores the lives of the artists who made them, and the relationships between stained glass windows and other works of art.  Foreign glass imported into Britain, Victorian windows and the output of modern artists, such as John Piper and Marc Chagall are also considered.  The lecture will include examples of important stained glass in a variety of Lincolnshire churches.

Roger Rosewell is a professional lecturer, award-winning author and widely published photographer. Since 2006 he has been the Features Editor of Vidimus, the online magazine published by the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (GB committee) and the author of Medieval Wall Paintings in English and Welsh Churches (2008); a history of Stained Glass (2012), The Medieval Monastery (2012) and Medieval Wall Paintings (2014). Forthcoming books include Medieval Saints, Shrines and Pilgrimages and a guide to medieval and renaissance stained glass in France. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.  He is a former Leader writer for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.

The Victorians adored nature.  Qeen Victoria and Prince Albert designed and owned many pieces of jewellery which were influenced by flora and fauna. This lecture will look at how romance could be expressed through not only the subject matter of the piece of jewellery from a simple bouquet of flowers to a snake necklace, but how the incorporation of various gemstones could spell out a message or represent an emotion.

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

At the age of ten Turner travelled out to Brentford to stay with his uncle. It was the first time he’d seen the open countryside. Born in 1775, the son of a barber, he was brought up in the bustling market place of Covent Garden; the only landscape he knew as a child was the misty reaches of the Thames. That first, momentous vision of nature set the course of his career and, as a young man, he walked hundreds of miles across southern England, the Lake District and Scotland, recording his observations in rapid drawings and watercolours that he worked up later into full scale paintings. At the turn of the century he became the youngest member of the Royal Academy and his romantic interpretations of stately homes and sweeping parkland became the cherished possessions of the English aristocracy. His love of travel took him to Europe and, at the age of 44, he made his first trip to Italy in search of the clear light he’d seen in paintings by Claude Lorrain. It made a powerful impression on him and from then on the mountain passes of the Alps, the pines of Rome, the canals of Venice became part of his mythical world of mist and vapour, shimmering light and deep shadow. At the time of his death in 1851, Turner stood alone in English painting; a master of technique, colour theory and perspective with a near spiritual comprehension of nature - the giant of Romantic Art.

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

William Morris and Burne-Jones’ Dream of an Earthly Paradise : Intoxicated by that most medieval of towns, Oxford, reading Chaucer, Mallory, Tennyson and Ruskin they dedicated themselves, “to a crusade and holy warfare against the age”. Morris’s determination that beauty in everyday objects should be the norm rather than the exception, though impractical, was part of a Utopian idealism that touched all his creative endeavours. Burne Jones’ philosophy “only this is true, that beauty softens and comforts, inspires and rouses and lifts up… and never fails” was his shield against the harsh realities of Victorian life. Theirs’ was a fight that neither of them won, but their stand against materialism, ugliness, industrialisation and philistinism, can still inspire today.

Tim's involvement in art began with the practical; for a number of years he was a professional painter/ ceramicist in Scotland and Wales, before returning to university to study literature and the history of art, then training to teach adults. For the last 20 years he has been a freelance cultural/art historian, specialising in 17th and 19th century art and society. He now lectures for the universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and Hull; the WEA, the Art Fund and NADFAS, and presents residential study courses in Britain and Europe. He has recently completed a month long lecture tour of Western Australia.

A walk through Garden History with reference to Capability Brown by Caroline Holmes

The lecture will outline the evolution in design and planting of gardens from the Romans to the present day.  Ten key stages can be identified – Roman, Medieval, Tudor, Stuart, Georgian, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, Interwar and post War.  To celebrate the tricentenary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, the lecture will make special reference to his landscapes.

Caroline Holmes has lectured in the UK, USA, Europe and Japan, and was invited to lecture to NADFAS in 2012. She lectures for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, the Royal Horticultural Society, travel companies and the English Gardening School, and is a consultant designer specializing in evoking historical, artistic and symbolic references. Author of 9 books including Impressionists in their Gardens: living light and colour, Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas and Monet at Giverny, she has also worked on theatre productions: How does your garden grow Mr. Shakespeare and Impressionists in their Gardens: living light and colour, and is a presenter and contributor on television and BBC Radio 4.

The Green Man in Art and Myth by Dr David Bostwick

In the 20th century, medieval images of the human face surrounded by and disgorging leaves became popularly known as ‘The Green Man’.  Believed by many to represent pre-Christian nature gods, it is found painted in manuscripts and stained glass and carved in wood and stone, in churches and houses across Europe. After nearly 20 years’ research into medieval imagery it is now possible to reveal the revolutionary truth about the Green Man: an entirely Christian image, which accounts for its huge popularity in the Art of the Middle Ages.

Dr David Bostwick is a lecturer and consultant in the cultural history of the Medieval, Tudor and Stuart Collections at Sheffield City Museums, Consultant to the National Trust, English Heritage and Historic Scotland and a visiting lecturer at the University of Glasgow.  David established the Bishops’ House Museum, which contains a selection of fine regional furniture from the 17th century.

The Art of Christmas

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

The theme of Christmas, taking us from the Annunciation to the Adoration of the Shepherds and of the three Kings, has inspired some of the greatest and most moving works of art ever created.

Valerie Woodgate is a Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London Galleries, for the National Trust and other organisations, and a Lecturer for Tate on P&O Cruises.

She is a former member of the teaching team at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and script-writer for the Living Paintings Trust, which brings art to the blind and partially-sighted.

Lecturer to NADFAS (the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies) throughout Britain, and to related organisations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

John Singer Sargent - Much more than a modern van Dyck
Sargent was the great society portraitist of the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, but he was much more than that. His art was extremely varied and the breadth of his work can still surprise people. As well as his wonderful portraits, the lecture includes examples of his landscape paintings, inspired by the Impressionists, his work as an official War Artist in Word War I and his extremely beautiful and delicate watercolours.

Frank Woodgate is a guide and lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, lecturer at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, for the National Trust, the Art Fund and other organisations. Lecturer for Tate on P&O Cruises.

Lecturer to NADFAS (the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies) throughout Britain, and to related organisations in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Script-writer for the Living Paintings Trust, which brings art to the blind and partially-sighted.