This is 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.

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist, historian and an award-winning writer. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her books, lectures and study days focus on political art and heritage in peril. Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2017, has appeared at many literary festivals and on radio and TV. In 2023 she was appointed by the government to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), which considers whether national heritage destined for sale overseas should be saved for the nation.

Before the Normans invaded in the 11th century, Sicily had been colonised by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Visigoths and Islamic groups from North Africa. We look at the island’s historic role as the crossroads between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – and how the different cultural strands were woven together by the Normans during their remarkably enlightened rule, which saw Palermo become one of the most important cities in Europe. 

Richard Whincop is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then became a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions and exhibiting widely throughout the UK. He lives and works in Chichester.

Begun in 1163, Notre Dame, the cathedral church of Paris, ‘the Soul of the City’, has long been considered to be one of the finest examples of spectacular French Gothic architecture, a backdrop to many major events in French national life.

So, when the catastrophic fire engulfed the structure in 2019, why was Notre Dame deemed worth saving?  What is and has been its cultural significance to the French? 

Themes discussed include- how location has always been key; the choice of Notre Dame to house perhaps the most precious relic in Christendom (the presumed Holy Crown of Thorns, deposited in Notre Dame by St. Louis in 1239); the significant cultural events staged inside the building over the centuries (including the Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte, 1804) and much more. Also discussed is the previous risk of demolition and what saved Notre Dame, the first time around.

Carole Petipher

Carole is an experienced guide and lecturer on combined history and art tours in France with 20 years experience. Having lived and worked on a number of bespoke river vessels and converted barges there she has used them as a platform from which to research her lectures. She uses art in all its guises to explore the characters who shaped France and likes to delve behind the scenes to discover hidden truths. She also acts as a guide for a privately owned ancestral home in her native Chilterns

Image credit-

Notre-Dame de Paris, view from the south, as it was in 2009

As his work makes abundantly clear, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) remained deeply loyal to his humble Russian-Jewish origins. Yet he also wished his art to have a universal appeal – which, judging by its popularity, it undoubtedly achieved. This lecture will trace his long, chequered and colourful career, giving particular emphasis to the creative tensions produced by the very different cultural and artistic environments in which he found himself: starting with his hometown of Vitebsk (up to 1906), then St.Petersburg (1906-10), Paris (1910-14), Revolutionary Russia (1914-22), Berlin (1922-3), Paris (again, 1923-40), America during World War Two, and back to France in 1948.   

Monica Bohn-Duchen :

London-based freelance lecturer, writer and exhibition organiser. Has lectured for Tate, the National Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Open University, Sotheby's Institute of Art and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck College since 2005, and has led many tours. Publications include Understanding Modern Art (1991), Chagall (1998/2001), The Private Life of a Masterpiece (2001),The Art and Life of Josef Herman (2009) and Art and the Second World War (2013). She is the initiator and Creative Director of the nationwide Insiders/Outsiders arts festival (see https://insidersoutsidersfestival.org/), and contributing editor of the companion volume, Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their Contribution to British Visual Culture (2019).

'The Night Watch' of 1642 is Rembrandt's greatest painting and the most famous painting in the Netherlands. But why is it so special? It has become an icon of the Golden Age and of the modern Dutch Nation. Why? How was it commissioned and constructed?  How did Rembrandt paint it and where has it been hung throughout its life? Who are the characters represented? Why is there a lone woman and what is meant by the dead chicken trussed up in her waistband? What does this all tell us about changing Dutch society? This work redirected how group portraits were conceived.

Hilary Williams 

Well-known to members as our current Programme Secretary, she was formerly  a curator and Print Room Superintendent at the British Museum, and is now Events Manager: Adult Programmes, at the British Museum. Hilary lectures for BM and Wallace Collection. She is Founding Artistic Director of The Arts Society of North Kent Evening,a specialist in 17th century art and has published on Rembrandt. Hilary has vast experience of giving gallery talks, of lecturing and of leading art history tours in UK, Europe, New York and Boston. For the Royal Collection Trust, she has guided Special Interest Private Tours of the State Apartments at Buckingham Palace.

For over a century, W. Heath Robinson, whom the novelist, Philip Pullman called ‘the immortal contraptioneer’, has been famous for drawing rickety, bizarrely complicated devices that carry out the simplest of tasks like potato peeling, wart removal or pancake making. He became so famous for them that in 1933, he was the obvious person to illustrate Norman Hunter’s Professor Branestawm books and, in 1943, Bletchley Park named one of their code-breaking machines after him.  Much later still, some of the contraptions in Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers are based on a scale model of a gadget filled house that he made for the Ideal Home Show in 1934. But there was more to him than this: he was also a fine painter, an outstanding literary illustrator and a brilliant satirist, who poked gentle fun at modern life in cartoons that are still laugh out loud funny.

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

Many of the greatest and most moving works of art ever created have been inspired by the life of Christ.   This lecture will focus on the art surrounding his birth.

Val Woodgate

Currently Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A, City of London libraries (Barbican and Guildhall), and other organisations. Lectures on Zoom for arts organisations.  Formerly Tate Guide for 39 years; member of Teaching Team at Dulwich Picture Gallery, where as well as lectures she gave 50 Study Days; evening courses for DPG; lectures and courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; on P&O cruises representing the Tate; lectures at University of Cape Town; script-writer for The Living Paintings Trust.

A king's favourite who amassed a great art collection.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you!’ 

He was a discerning patron. Inigo Jones renovated his houses. John Tradescant was his garden designer.  In his great house on the Strand he put together a collection of art works as fine as King Charles’s.  At the age of 35 Buckingham was murdered. His collection was scattered, but contemporary inventories allow us to reconstruct it. 

Lucy Hughes-Hallett will show you some of the magnificent paintings he owned - the Titians, the Tintorettos, the Veroneses. But Buckingham was not just a collector of old masters: he was also a patron, commissioning boldly innovative new work. Most remarkable are the portraits of himself that he commissioned from painters including Van Honthorst, Van Dyck and Rubens – images by great artists of a man known as ‘the handsomest-bodied man in Europe’. 

Lucy’s book , THE SCAPEGOAT, was  published by 4th Estate in 2024. It has been short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is an award-winning author whose book on the 17th century Duke of  Buckingham, The Scapegoat, was published in October 2024 and has been shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize. Her previous biography, The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio was described in The Sunday Times as ‘the biography of the decade’. It won 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 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 and the 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. 

Picture : George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), by M J van Mierevelt, oil, Art Gallery of South Australia.

Many art historians and critics have compared the work of Stubbs to that of Leonardo da Vinci, one even christening him the ‘Leonardo of Liverpool’ to reflect his humble origins as the son of a Liverpool leatherworker. The comparison can seem hubristic until one considers the intense scientific method and investigation that lay behind the production by Stubbs of his world-famous Anatomy of the Horse published in 1766 – a work which revolutionised the understanding and depiction of equine subjects. This lecture looks at the life and work of this country’s greatest animal painter, putting Stubbs in the context of British sporting artists of the eighteenth century more generally. It focuses on his depiction of equestrian subjects such as the National Gallery’s Whistlejacket but also looks at the broader themes he addressed.

Christopher Garibaldi

Independent Researcher. 2010–2019 Director of Palace House, Newmarket (National Horse Racing Museum: www.nhrm.co.uk). 2008–2010 Co-Director of the Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections. 1998–2003 Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum: co-curator of Flower Power – The Meaning of Flowers in Art and Eat, Drink and Be Merry, the British at Table 1600 to 2000. 1994–1997 Catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residence

Picture: ‘The Duke of Richmond’s racehorses exercising at Goodwood’, by George Stubbs, oil, 1759-60, Goodwood

Known to many through her vibrant oil paintings of exotic plants and distant landscapes, Marianne North (1830-1890) led an unconventional life painting rare plants in their native lands.

Living and travelling with the ‘liberty of a wild bird’ but maintaining the dress and manners of a Victorian lady.

Edward Lear, Charles Darwin, and Joseph Hooker all formed part of her literary and botanical life.  The pursuit of plants took her around the world whilst her paintings were destined for Kew. This talk explores Marianne North’s work, her social context and the eventual creation of her fine gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

Twigs Way is a professional researcher, writer and speaker, fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds.  Her work explores themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, and the crossover between plants, gardens, art and literature.

Twigs' original research  was on the history of women in the garden and she retains an active interest in this topic focussing on female botanic artists and gardeners including Marianne North and Mary Delany, as well as inspiring her talk on Female Botanical Artists and is currently working on the life of Frances, Viscountess Wolseley, the founder of Glynde School of Gardening for Ladies in 1902. 

TS Eliot and Art

Toby Faber is the grandson of the founder of renowned publishers Faber & Faber, for whom TS Eliot worked as an editor.

Toby explores the way TS Eliot was indebted to some of the 20th Century's greatest artists, several of whom he inspired.  As a pioneer of literary modernism, TS Eliot inevitably influenced his counterparts in the visual arts. He was friends with several artists. Edward McKnight Kauffer and David Jones illustrated his work; Patrick Heron and Wyndham Lewis painted him; Jacob Epstein sculpted him. There are paintings and compositions inspired by his poems and the reverse is also true; ‘The Waste Land’, (1922), famously employs techniques borrowed from modern art.

Toby Faber is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press. Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius – Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius; Faberge’s Eggs; and Faber & Faber – The Untold Story, as well as a novel, Close to the Edge. Of these, only the obvious one is published by the family firm.

In the early years of the 20th century, a new form of avant-garde art developed that subsequently became known as German Expressionism.

Young German artists were strongly influenced by French Post-Impressionist artists such as Cezanne and Gauguin and the Norwegian Edvard Munch.

We will look at the emergence of Expressionism, leading up to the First World War, through the exuberant and earthy work of the Die Brücke artists: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein and Otto Mueller.

Colin Pink has a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Southampton and a MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London. He specialises in twentieth century and contemporary art in Europe and North America. He lectures at Morley College London. He has also curated exhibitions of contemporary art and has published four books of poetry: Acrobats of Sound, 2016, The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament, 2019, Typicity, 2021 and Wreck of the Jeanne Gougy, 2021.

The pictures of Gainsborough and Zoffany portraying composers or musical scenes, provide a wonderful insight into the world of late Georgian music making. 

Through the eyes of these two remarkable painters, the lecture looks at the lives of the Linley family, Jo Gibbs, JC Bach, CF Abel and WA Mozart to give a vivid account of one of the most engaging periods in the history of English music. Illustrated lecture with images, piano music and songs of the late 18th century.

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

“1500 eggs, 2496 chickens and small birds, 700 ducks and 120 barrels of wine”……. The shopping list for a wedding feast in Florence in 1466 tells us that marriage was a serious business for wealthy families in the Italian Renaissance.

An advantageous marriage was vital to secure status and the importance of such marriages was reflected in festivities on a scale that would rival today’s celebrity weddings. The occasion was marked by the giving of extravagant gifts and bedrooms for the newly married couple were decorated with luxury goods and paintings. This talk looks at weddings and at the lavish array of objects and paintings made to celebrate marriage in Renaissance Italy.

Dr Lydia Goodson is an art historian and lecturer specialising in the art and material culture of Renaissance Italy. After a career in television production and raising a family Lydia returned to academia and now holds a BA in Renaissance History, an MA in History of Art and was awarded her PhD in 2020 from the Warburg Institute of the University of London, for her thesis on painting and patronage in Renaissance Perugia. This return to study as a mature student has given Lydia a passion for the benefits of life-long learning and she hugely enjoys writing and delivering lectures for audiences of all ages. She is an art history tutor for CityLit and regularly speaks to other adult learning groups. Lydia’s research interests centre on painting production in Central Italy in the Renaissance. Lydia lives in Kent and the Umbrian region of Italy.

 The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world.  We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts and discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be. 

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

This lecture focuses on the design impact of the Great Exhibition and the need for a 'legacy institution' in the form of the South Kensington Museum. We look at the building as a work of art and explore the work of William Morris, Fredrick Lord Leighton and other influential designers of the Victorian Age.

Anna Warrillow

I graduated as a Blue Badge Guide early in 2013.  Since then I have been conducting bespoke private tours for discerning visitors to London. I established my own guiding company Canvas and Stone Tours in 2018 (www.canvasandstonetours.co.uk)

My background and passion is Art & History. I studied for my BA in History of Art & Italian at the University of Sussex and did my MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design at the Royal College of Art. 

I worked for 6 years as a curator in the Sculpture Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as in smaller collections such as the Henry Moore Family Trust. As well as guiding I am an adjunct lecturer at Richmond The American International University in London where I teach undergraduates The History of London.  I lecture regularly for art, history and academic societies.

Illustration credit:  The Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace, 1851, lithograph, Wikipedia Commons

Almost everyone has played Monopoly at some time in their life.  It is one of the world’s most popular and enduring board games.  But, how well do you really know it?

This talk starts with the original Landlord’s Game of 1903 and its evolution into the game as we know it today.  Based on the classic 1936 London version we then take a photographic journey around the locations on that Monopoly board.   Expect some surprises as we explore the relationships between the various properties, look at the ones that don’t actually exist and uncover the story behind the game we all know so well - or do we?

Roger Mendham
A keen and accomplished photographer Roger has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. His artistic taste is predominantly 20th century and he is particularly interested in the visual aspects of art.

He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. An experienced public speaker, his talks are all richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers in history.

When the very first Chinese porcelains found their way to Europe, the beauty and fragility of the material led to their being mounted with precious metal and treasured alongside other rare and exotic objects such as ostrich eggs and rock crystal vessels. They were housed in cabinets of curiosities and exchanged as diplomatic gifts between great European rulers.

Jane Gardiner
MA History of Art, University of London. Trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. 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.

The Gulbenkian Museum is Lisbon's finest museum, yet the man behind this collection, Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955) known as "Mr Five Per Cent" on account of his personal holding of five per cent of Middle East oil production, was an enigmatic and publicity-shy figure, about whom little was known.

This talk, by the author of the definitive biography of Gulbenkian, weaves together the history of a great European collection (featuring Rembrandts bought from The Hermitage, as well as Lalique glass, carpets, Iznik ware and Renaissance paintings) with that of the emergence of the modern oil industry

Dr Jonathan Conlin

Jonathan is a cultural historian of modern Britain and Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton. His books include Tales of Two Cities (2014), a comparative history of Paris and London, and biographies of Adam Smith and the Anglo-Armenian oil baron Calouste Gulbenkian.

Born in New York, he studied History and Modern Languages at Oxford, subsequently moving to the Courtauld Institute and Cambridge for his MA and PhD. In 2023 he was commissioned by the National Gallery to write its bicentenary history.

All his talks draw on his own archival research, allowing him to give audiences insights into how historians approach different kinds of evidence, the gaps and dead-ends as well as the surprise discoveries.

This lecture is in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the birth in 1874 of Gustav Holst. His ashes are interred  in Chichester Cathedral

“The Planets” by Gustav Holst is one of the most popular and most recorded work in English music.  Yet, apart from the tunes for the hymn “I Vow to Thee, My Country” and the carol “In the Bleak Midwinter”, most of Holst’s other music is neglected, unjustly so.  

Holst was an unconventional man who led something of a double life.  He was a vegetarian and spent most of his working life as Director of Music in a girls’ school, but he embraced Hindu philosophy and taught himself Sanskrit.  One holiday he lived in a street of brothels in Algiers and cycled into the Sahara Desert. 

He believed that music should be available for everyone and was appointed conductor of a Socialist choir and Director of Music in Morley College, an institution set up for the educational benefit of working men and women.  He championed the amateur musician and famously said, “If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly”.  In fact he was a talented conductor and produced performances of real quality. 

After the success of “The Planets”, first performed in 1917, he never wrote a similar orchestral work, and dedicated himself mainly to vocal and choral music, much of which was based on Sanskrit texts for which he provided his own translation. He was also working at a time when musicians were beginning to wake up to the huge wealth of English folk music, and many of his compositions are imbued with that folk-song quality which gives them great charm. 

This lecture will examine Holst’s life, the creation of “The Planets” and will explore many of his other works, including his ‘Oriental’ suite “Beni Mora” which was inspired by hearing a flute-player in Algiers, his “Choral Symphony”, a marvellous piece which sets poetry by Keats, and the settings of the Rig Veda, some of the most important Hindu texts. 

His so-called serious orchestral works do not follow convention.  For example, his concerto for oboe and flute suddenly breaks into a nursery rhyme. It will be a surprising and revealing lecture, which is richly illustrated with musical examples.

Roger Askew

Roger was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College,Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English. He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh from which he retired in 2003.

London's Royal Parks are among its most beautiful and beloved spaces: just as much as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace or St Pancras Station, the mere mention of Hyde or Regent's Park is enough to evoke the capital in all its glory for residents and tourists alike.

They have a grand history - some were royally owned as far back as the Norman conquest, others were acquired by Henry VIII during the Reformation - and since being opened to the public during the eighteenth century, they have hosted some of London's great events, including the Great Exhibition and innumerable jubilees and celebrations.

This lecture tells the story of all eight of the parks from the point when they were acquired by the monarchy until the present day, including the major historic moments and events with which they are associated.

Paul Rabbitts

Paul graduated at Sheffield with a BA Honours in Geography followed by a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh.

He is a qualified landscape architect and celebrated park manager and has worked for several local authorities across the UK, currently Head of Parks, Heritage and Culture at Watford. He is a passionate advocate for public parks and in particular, the Victorian and Edwardian bandstand and is a prolific author on the subject.

His first of now 25 books were published in 2011 on the iconic bandstand and was followed rapidly by books on the Royal Parks, Great British Parks and ‘Parkitecture’, Grinling Gibbons and Sir Christopher Wren. He has just completed the first full biography of Decimus Burton, Gentleman Architect, due in late 2021.  Now a UK leading expert on bandstands he has been asked to assist in localised restoration projects nationwide and has been a regular and popular speaker on bandstands and public parks for many years.

The invasion of the Iberian peninsula in 711AD by the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus, aided by Berber tribesmen, quickly overthrew the ruling Christian Visigothic kingdom and began the nearly 800-year Islamic occupation. 

This lecture tells the epic story of the creation of the kingdom of al-Andalus, and the development of its spectacular architecture, beginning with the Great Mosque of Cordoba, as well as introducing other areas of the kingdom’s rich material culture, such as exquisite silk textiles, elaborate carved ivory caskets and rare bronze sculptures. It ends however with the highly symbolic Christian reconquest of the old Visigothic capital of Toledo in 1085.

Ian Cockburn

Ian is an art historian with a BA (Birkbeck College) in art history and an MA (Courtauld Institute of Art) in medieval Spanish art history. He is a specialist in the nearly 800 years of Moorish occupation and Christian reconquest of medieval Iberia. 

He is founder and director of an art tours company, specialising in guided cultural tours in Spain, plus lecturing in London at institutions such as the V&A, SOAS, Christies Education, and the London Art History Society. Formerly a Chartered Accountant and senior manager in multi-national IT companies, with extensive public-speaking experience.

The Nazis looted over 20% of Western Art during World War II, confiscating art from Jewish families and emptying museums throughout Europe. This lecture will provide an overview of Nazi looting by setting the scene in Nazi Germany, discussing Hitler’s obsession with art and how the Monuments Men recovered art after the war. Several landmark cases will be discussed in detail, including Gustav Klimt’s celebrated Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer and the stash of over 1,200 artworks found in possession of the son of a notorious Nazi dealer, and the continuing efforts at restitution

Shauna Isaac

Shauna is a freelance art historian who has lectured throughout Europe, the United States and Australia. She is passionate about art and how its history is a reflection of society. She loves to share her knowledge via lectures and publications.

She is a regular speaker at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Her publications include articles for The Art Newspaper, Times Literary Supplement and Art Quarterly. She is a contributor to the book Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British Visual Culture. 

Shauna has been active in World War II art recovery for several years and has worked with families and various organisations to return Nazi looted art. Her interest in this subject comes from a family member who had art looted by the Nazis.

She set up the Central Registry on Looted Cultural Property, served as a member of the Working Group for the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague, and was on the advisory board for the European Shoah Legacy Institute. She has conducted provenance research for families, government agencies and law firms.

The Maharajahs and Maharanis of India were semi-independent rulers, responsible for governing territories that were outside the direct control of the British Empire. They fascinated the British public, and functioned as powerful symbols of ‘exotic India’.

This lecture draws on an extensive collection of portraits and photographs of Indian Maharanis. These images, and the costumes worn by the women they depict, are stunning works of art in their own right. They are also some of the earliest images of Indian women that portray them as powerful, dignified and educated figures. This lecture brings these beautiful portraits to life with insights into the lives and memoirs of the Maharanis themselves, along with a broader view of the role they played in the British Empire.

Dr John Stevens

John is a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a member of academic staff at the SOAS South Asia Institute. His PhD in History is from University College London. He teaches British Imperial history, Indian history and Bengali language, and is a regular visitor to India and Bangladesh. 

He publishes widely in the fields of British and Indian history. His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. He appears regularly in the Indian media, and was a guest on BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time, discussing the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore.

The Impressionist Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries produced some of the finest snow paintings in the history of art. Although the 17th century Dutch masters had painted snow, it was not a common subject amongst landscape painters until its rediscovery by the Impressionists.

Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley all painted snow, often standing for hours in the open air to capture the subtleties of light and colour produced by a recent snow fall. They were helped by a series of cold winters in Europe in 1879-1880 and 1890-1891, but they were by no means the only Impressionists who painted snow and ice.

The Norwegian artist Frits Thaulow, a close friend of the French Impressionists, was a master of depicting snow, while it can be argued that the most impressive snow paintings were actually done by the American Impressionists. Vast in scale and concept, the snow scenes of artists such as Willard Metcalf, Childe Hassam and John Twachtman are a revelation to British audiences who often know little about the achievements of the American Impressionists. They capture the silence, beauty and grandeur of an American winter.

Julian Halsby
Julian studied History of Art at Cambridge. He was formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. His publications include Venice - the Artist's Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon's Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View - David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002).

He interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and appointed Keeper in 2010.

How did a German refugee from Hitler, an internee and a jobbing journalist, become the Grand Old Man of English art history? The answer lies in his extraordinary one-man survey of all the architecturally significant buildings in the country, county by county. This lecture explores what Pevsner said, rightly or wrongly, about the buildings in your society’s area – churches, houses, shops, town halls, tower blocks, factories, cinemas – and sets his pronouncements in the context of The Buildings of England as a whole. The series has both detractors and passionate defenders, but no imitators. Pevsner himself said, ‘There won’t be another madman so soon.’

Susie Harries

Susie is a writer, editor and lecturer, specialising in 20th century culture and the arts. She 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. She lectures to a range of audiences, from the Imperial War Museum and British Museum to the Twentieth Century Society and the RSA, most recently at the Cheltenham and Bridport Literary Festivals and the Victorian Society.

Picture of Chichester Council Chamber by Simon Burchell - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105134945

Alice provides a painter’s perspective on famous artworks from the 17th to the 21st centuries. Rembrandt and Turner are revealed as artistic risk-takers, whose new combinations of glazes, surfaces, pigments and processes re-defined the language of painting. These two forefathers of experimentation lead the way for modern artists. 

Explore the mess and methodology of the creative process: from broken brushes to smudged thumbmarks, raw pigment to secret sketchbooks, slashed canvases to immersive light installations, this lecture uncovers a new way of seeing painting.

Alice White

Alice is a contemporary oil-painter, and a Tutor at the University of the Arts London and University College London.

Alice’s solo show A New Wave documented her year’s residency as Artist for Animals at ZSL London Zoo. Recent projects include The Art of Science (Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge 2021). She regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries
in London. 

Sculpture has the power to stop us in our tracks. It can be awe inspiring, thought provoking or fun and amusing.  Many sculptures are imbued with historical and cultural reference; statues, for example, representing remarkable men and women of the past. Modern sculpture sees the world from different perspectives that may be perplexing or enlightening.

The UK’s national collection of sculpture is arguably the finest in the world and is being catalogued in a unique and ambitious project called Art UK (www.artuk.org). The lecture explores a range of works from across the country and recounts some of the fascinating stories behind them.

 Mary Rose Rivett-Carnac

Mary gained an MA (Distinction) in Victorian Art and Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2007 started working part-time for the Public Catalogue Foundation, now called Art UK. 

As an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, she has given lectures all over the UK and in Europe. In 2020 she presented eight lectures in New Zealand via Zoom webinar. She is a volunteer guide at J.M.W. Turner’s House in Twickenham and Dorich House Museum in Kingston, and is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, one of the City of London’s livery companies.

 Image: Eve by Rodin: Harlow .Courtesy of Art UK

An American artist in London, James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a leading proponent of the idea of "art for art's sake". He signed his paintings with stylized monogram of a butterfly with a long stinger for a tail – as much a symbol of his love of Japanese art as his assertive and sometimes combative nature.

Having lived and worked with the Paris avant-garde he settled in London in 1859, having created a distinctive Post Impressionist style at a time when many of his British contemporaries had yet to come to terms with Impressionism.

Whistler’s art moved painting towards abstraction, sparked a renaissance in printmaking and gave us the Peacock Room, a masterpiece of interior design.

Inspired, influential, and infuriating, his art was full of subtle delicacy, he had a wide social network of friends and family and yet, if crossed, could be a formidable opponent. He mastered the art of making enemies.

Julia Musgrave

Julia Musgrave got her first degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to become a Chartered Information Systems Engineer and IT project manager. In 2008 she decided that life was too short for just one career and decided to become an art historian.

She now has a Graduate Diploma in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MLitt in ‘Art, Style and Design: Renaissance to Modernism, c.1450 – c.1930’ from the University of Glasgow. She gained her PhD at the University of York for her research into the involvement of Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury Group and the social networks of the British art world in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1939.

She teaches Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit) and is Co-Director of The London Art Salon.

Harry Venning has been a professional cartoonist for thirty years, during which time he has provided cartoons for several high profile UK publications (The Guardian, Radio Times) as well as for countless more obscure titles (British Journal Of Wound Care).

He was awarded UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year for his Guardian strip Clare In The Community, which he adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom.

In 'The Art of The Cartoonist' Harry 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 cartoons produced fresh on the page that day!

Yes, Harry will be drawing live. Prepare to hear some tricks of his trade, learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect and discover exactly what the eskimo brothers said in The Funniest Joke Ever (possibly).

Harry Venning

I graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a BA in history, formed a touring theatre company bringing new plays to audiences in rural Wales, was then employed for a year as an actor/writer with the Channel Theatre Company in Ramsgate, Kent, before giving up acting and becoming a cartoonist instead.

I have had work published in the UK and abroad, including the strip Clare in the Community which has been a weekly feature in The Guardian since 1996. In 2016 I was awarded Strip Cartoonist of the Year by the UK Cartoon Trust.

I am also a Sony Award winning writer of radio comedy, including the shows Coach Karen’s Half Time Team Talk and Clare in the Community starring Sally Phillips, currently recording its twelfth series.

For the last ten years I have been performing my cartoon workshop Release Your Inner Cartoonist in its many different guises, to audiences as diverse as schoolchildren, business executives and festival goers.

I can’t draw hands or horses.

Image: Coyright Harry Venning

One of the world’s most popular athletic events commemorates Pheidippides’s epic run from the battlefield of Marathon to his native Athens. Apart from the amazing courage of Pheidippides, why remember a battle that took place over two and a half thousand years ago?

Since the 19th century, historians have argued that it was a crucial event, one that had decided ‘the whole future of human civilisation’. As John Stuart Mill put it, ‘the Battle of Marathon, even as an event in English history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings’.

Rupert re-creates the background and the battle itself in thrilling detail. He looks at the various ways in which ancient Athens has influenced our art and culture, and argues that Marathon was, indeed, the battle that saved ‘Western Civilisation’. Eye-opening, edge-of-your-seat stuff.

 Rupert Willoughby

Rupert is an historian and Classicist, a poet, a father and a wild swimmer with a passion for castles, lakes and uncovering the layers of the past.

A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London (where he immersed himself in the ‘Byzantine’, or medieval Greek Empire), he is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin, and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village, and the whimsical, yet scholarly Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. 

Rupert also contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph. Accredited to the Arts Society since 2011, he is an experienced lecturer, who is known for his light, humorous touch, his love of narrative and his vivid evocations of the past. Rupert’s forefathers were Vikings and his foremothers were Tatars.

Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe.

There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society wine has been ever present.

Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story.

David Wright

I have been a wine retailer, importer and distributor for 30 years. In that time, I have publicly presented tastings and talks on wine to trade and private audiences. These have taken the form of wine ‘tastings’ or charity events where a particular subject is presented and wines tasted.

I have developed a talk, A Brief Story of Wine, a great subject, and full of rich evidence, going back 7,000 years, in the form of paintings, decorated drinking vessels, buildings and literature that contribute to the story.

The history of this enduring and peculiarly British institution, from its origins in 16th century Italian commedia dell’arte through the influence of 19th century music hall, to the family shows that are still much loved today. 

On the way we examine the origins of some of the stories used in pantomime as well as such traditions as the (female) principal boy and the (male) pantomime dame. The talk is interspersed with personal anecdotes from the speaker’s years of working (and appearing) professionally in pantomime.

 Ian Gledhill

Ian Gledhill has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator.

His main interests include architecture, history, transport and classical music, especially opera and operetta, and these are reflected in the wide ranging list of subjects for his lectures. He began giving lectures in 1997, and now gives on average around 140 a year.

© QDOS Entertainment 

Jan van der Heyden’s reputation pales in comparison with the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, but his career at the height of the Dutch Golden Age was no less extraordinary.

He was a brilliant painter and draughtsman, producing wonderful views of Amsterdam and other cities. But he was also an inventor, entrepreneur, administrator and marketing genius. A mechanical fire engine and street lighting were among his innovations. We will take a close look at his career from his meticulous cityscapes, through the detailed drawings of his inventions to the surprising vanitas still-life paintings he produced at the end of his career.

Rupert Dickens
Robert 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.

As the most senior of upper servants, the housekeeper typically carried a family’s secrets with her to the grave. She ran the English country house, controlled its female servants and conserved its many treasures – and yet she has not been remembered history.

Using old letters, secret diaries and neglected archives, Tessa has resurrected a series of fascinating stories from 19th and 20th century domestic service, at some of our most prominent households.

Grace Higgens joined the unconventional Bell household aged 15 – and, for the next fifty years, propped up the ‘Bloomsbury Set’ in London and at Charleston. Vanessa Bell couldn’t live without her housekeeper’s cooking – or her regular posing as an artist's model. Virginia Woolf tried to poach her for her baking. Grace’s candid diaries paint a picture of bohemia rather different to the official narrative.

Tessa Boase
Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She is the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change. 

Her interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics. Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines.

From the early 60's, 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 follows the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered.

Douglas Skeggs

Douglas read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 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 Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe.

He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on Whistler and the exhibition video on William Morris. Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, River of Light, has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

See Visits
Knole House

Much-married Bess of Hardwick was one of the most fascinating women of the 16th century. This lecture tells the story of her climb through society and into the history books, and the architecture, interior and luxurious furnishings of  her  great masterpiece, Hardwick Hall – a fine example of Elizabethan creativity, magnificence and pride.

Gillian White
Dr Gillian White specialises in the history and visual arts of late medieval and sixteenth-century England. After beginning her career at the Warwickshire Museum, she then worked for the National Trust as Curator/Collections Manager at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, about which she wrote her PhD at Warwick University. Since that she taught part-time at Leicester University in the Centre for the Study of the Country House and continues to teach History of Art in the Department of Continuing Education at Oxford University and elsewhere.

See Visits
Salisbury - Arundells & Cathedral

See Special Interest Days
Why Paris? The allure of the City of Light

As part of the Habsburg Empire, Prague was beloved of kings and princes. In the 19th century the Czechs imagined a new future through art; this lecture shows how they reclaimed both country and capital by cultural means.

Gavin Plumley
Gavin Plumley has been described by The Times as a ‘leading cultural historian’. His writing, lecturing and broadcasting projects span various periods and disciplines, though he is well known for his work on Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Gavin also appears frequently on BBC radio and has been the English-language commissioning editor for the Salzburg Festival since 2013.

He lectures widely and has recently given talks for the National Trust, the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the National Theatre, the National Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, the British Museum, Tate, the BBC Proms, the Oxford Lieder Festival, Wigmore Hall (including his Inside the Score series and presenting Live Streams), the Royal Opera House, the Philharmonia and the CBSO, in addition to being an accredited lecturer for The Artts Society and an expert lecturer for Martin Randall Travel.

Gavin was born in Dundee in 1981. He studied music at Keble College, Oxford and began working at Covent Garden immediately after graduating. Gavin then worked in the theatre industry for nine years, before embarking on a freelance career.

This lecture covers the development of the Can Can within the context of popular entertainment and the art of the avante-garde, immortalised in the images of Toulouse Lautrec, his friends and later members of the Fauvist, Cubist and Futurist movements.

Martin Heard
Martin originally studied History of Art at Manchester University and afterwards spent three years in the editorial department of a fine art publishing company. His career later took a decades' long detour into the world of information technology where he was able to work and live in both continental Europe and North America.

He is now ‘retired' from this field of endeavour and for the past ten years has devoted his time to researching Art Historical periods and subjects that have garnered his interest over the years. 

Never taking himself too seriously, he presents lectures and talks in an informal but informative way. His aim is to communicate his enthusiasm for art history and share it with every type of audience.

In the comfort of your own home, enjoy a live video tour at 2pm (UK time) direct from St Mark's Square via Zoom.

We will see St Mark’s Square, its history, and surrounding architecture and art. This will include St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, the iconic Campanile bell tower, the elegant Clock Tower, the nearby Bridge of Sighs, the Marciana National Library, the ancient Mint and the Napoleonic Wing, plus the Olivetti Showroom.

Luisella Romeo, our guide, will give a personal commentary on her iPhone video and offer the chance to chat with us, time allowing. (Her iPhone has a stabiliser for greater comfort and higher video quality)  She has been giving Venetian tours for over 20 years. She lives in Venice.

“I like to meet people from all over the world and deal with different ways of life and perspectives. I think the labyrinth of Venice is a crossroads of human stories to tell. And I love my job: I hope you can feel this passion when we explore Venice together!”  

As with other Zoom events, members will receive an email with a link to click on to join the tour
nearer to the day of the event. The tour will last about 75 minutes. It is free to members.

The son of a middle class provincial jeweller, this talk analyses the mercurial rise of Carl Fabergé in pre-revolution Russia who, by his late 30s, was producing incomparable jewels and objets d’art for the Imperial Court and bourgeois Moscow and St Petersburg. The presentation discusses Fabergé’s early life and influences, includes photographs of the shops and their workers and is comprehensively illustrated with objets d’art including hardstones, flower studies, works of fantasy, jewellery, objects of function and the famous Imperial Easter Eggs. The talk also closely parallels the life of Tsar Nicholas II and the tragedy of the Tsarevich Alexei, Rasputin and the events leading to the Revolution and beyond. Workmasters, maker’s marks and the growing problem of fakes on the market are also explored. 

John Benjamin
After leaving school at 17 John served a four year apprenticeship at Cameo Corner, an antique jewellery shop just 50 yards from the gates of The British Museum.

After qualifying as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association he went on to gain the Association’s Diamond Diploma and joined Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers, ultimately becoming International Director of Jewellery. In 1999 he set up his own independent valuation consultancy and now lectures all over the world on a wide range of jewellery topics - from diamonds to Faberge.

John is a Fellow of the National Association of Jewellers Institute of Registered Valuers, a Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and a Founder Liveryman and Court Assistant of The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars. He is author of 'Starting to Collect Antique Jewellery' and co-author with Paul Atterbury of 'The Jewellery and Silver of H.G.Murphy’.

John relaxes to classical music and enjoys reading and cycling.

This lecture will take place LIVE in the Assembly Rooms.

The High Renaissance saw the seamless integration of art and architecture, the pinnacle of a tradition extending back thousands of years. So how was it that by the mid-20th century, mainstream Modernist architects saw painting and sculpture as anathema to their designs?

This lecture tells the fascinating story of how Art and Architecture went their separate ways, exploring the complex reasons behind their dramatic divorce, including:

• The special status of painting as the product of “Artistic genius”

• The change in form and function of the picture frame

• The emergence of the commercial art market

• The rise of the public “Art Exhibition”

Embracing the likes of Michelangelo, Watteau, Whistler and Matisse, this broad-ranging survey culminates with the Bauhaus and its legacy in the USA – and ends by asking whether the partnership between art and architecture might be revived in the 21st Century.

Richard Whincop
Richard is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University in 1986. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then went on to become a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions, and exhibiting widely throughout the UK. He now lives and works here in Chichester.

The Wallace Collection was brought together by five generations of one family between about 1760 and 1880. All the founders were remarkable men in their own right, but the greatest collectors were the 4th Marquess of Hertford and his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace, who lived most of their lives in Paris.

This lecture tells the fascinating story of the Wallace Collection’s formation, and also presents many of its finest treasures.

Stephen Duffy

Educated at New College, Oxford, and formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where he had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups and many lectures on its art and other related subjects.

His publications include The Wallace Collection, and The Discovery of Paris, a book on early nineteenth-century watercolour views of Paris by major British artists.

This will now be a Zoom Lecture ( see  'News') For a Zoom lecture, please CLICK HERE for detailed instructions.

“Caravaggio is not the only artist:” a study of his contemporaries and their varied response to his revolutionary art.

What misfortune to be an artist born at the same time as a dazzling personality like Michelangelo or Caravaggio. Perhaps we should pay more attention to the artists contemporary with and learning from such overpowering characters?

This lecture repositions Caravaggio’s achievements in the period immediately following his brilliant but short career.

Turning over the page of art history, it presents the splendid achievements of many artists such as Gentileschi, - father and daughter - the Spaniards Ribera and Velázquez, the Dutch Honthorst, French artists Vouet, and de la Tour, and ultimately connecting him to Rembrandt. It also asks “what happened next?” - how was it that Caravaggio’s style came to lose its hold and that fashion in art began to change.

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

Famously, every morning of his adult life, Beethoven measured out exactly 60 coffee beans for his breakfast.  A man who is capable of such discipline over a cup of coffee, can surely apply that exactness elsewhere in his life; and in Beethoven’s case, it was applied to his compositions. In fact, the detail found in his music is often so subtle, that most people don’t even know it’s there. 

The lecture/study day explores Beethoven’s genius as a writer of music, at the same time setting his extraordinary story against the backdrop of 19th century warfare, revolution and dramatic social changes. Beethoven was 250 years old on 17 December 2020.

​Peter Medhurst

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

First, please click here to read this important Notice about:-
Covid-19 Provisions for this lecture and subsequent lectures until otherwise advised.

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Best known for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire, Grayson Perry is now a core part of the art establishment, a Turner Prize winner, Royal Academician, popular broadcaster and colourful character. He’s possibly one of the world’s best-known contemporary artists. His works of ceramics, textiles, tapestries and prints are highly sought after. Often controversial, he tackles difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty way and holds a mirror up to society. This talk will examine Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks.

Ian Swankie

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

The Romans have left us with a remarkable artistic record of their lifestyle, beliefs, achievements and entertainment in the form of beautiful mosaics. From the best sites and museums in the world we see how they built on earlier Greek traditions; the cities in which they lived; the Gods and myths in which they believed; and the exotic lives of the Romans themselves - from Britain to Sicily, from Morocco to Syria.

This lavishly illustrated lecture uses only mosaics from start to finish, bringing the distant world of the Romans gloriously back to life with vibrant images full of action. This is the rise and fall of the Roman Empire as you have never seen it before – through the eyes of the Roman people themselves and the contemporary mosaics they created to reflect and decorate their fascinating, colourful world.

Christopher Bradley

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

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

George VI said that the History of York is the History of England.

Join Sarah as we put that theory to the test, time travelling through 2000 years, from the Roman fort of Eboracum, via the Vikings, through winding medieval streets clustered around the mighty Minster. We will see the homes and playgrounds of elegant Georgians, and the legacy of Victorian ingenuity and industry. York is one of England's most beautiful cities.

Come and uncover the many layers that make up it's fascinating history.

Sarah is a Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and Yorkshire. She returned to her native county 6 years ago having spent 30 years in London.  She loves sharing secret and certainly-not-secret corners with visitors from all over the world as well as close to home. Skills developed in her former careers as Customer Services and Training Manager at Harrods and owner and founder of a Greetings Card Publishing Company have combined with a long held passion for history and natural curiosity about the world around her. Whilst she loved living in the capital, she is a Yorkshire lass at heart and began to yearn for the iconic landscapes, cities, towns and villages of her home county. She is now happily ensconced right in the historic core of York and revels being part of this medieval wonderland.

This Lecture will possibly be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

The magnificent Royal Academy exhibition of 2016 opened the public' eyes to the extent to which artists loved to cultivate their own gardens and how they were in turn inspired by them to create experimental work. We will trace the parallel developments in the history of gardening and the history of modern art from the Impressionism of Monet, Renoir, Pissaro and Morissot in the late 19th century, to the near abstractions of Matisse and Kandinsky in the 20th.

Lydia Bauman

Born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry). Has lectured to diverse adult audiences, notably in London's National Gallery and MFA Boston USA. Her book on Great Themes in Art is being considered for publication by Merrell Books for worldwide distribution.

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

The 'poor little rich girl' who changed the face of twentieth century art. Not only was Peggy Guggenheim ahead of her time but she was the woman who helped define it. She discovered and nurtured a new generation of artists producing a new kind of art. Through collecting not only art but the artists themselves, her life was as radical as her collection.

Alexander Epps

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

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

Enjoy a virtual tour by our Blue Bage guide Pepe Martinez. Places, such as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and Royal London Hospital and some history, covering the Victorian philanthropists such as Dr Barnardo, the beginnings of the Salvation Army and even the Kray brothers. 

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

William Morris (1834 – 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role proliferating the early socialist movement in Britain.

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

The reputation of Japan as a country fabulously rich in silver and gold reached the west in the 14th century through the writings of the Venetian merchant and explorer, Marco Polo. Gold was used generously to adorn Buddhist icons in Japan from the sixth century when Buddhism was introduced from Korea, and for centuries gold was considered to be the most appropriate precious material for decorating Buddhist halls and statues. The perception of gold as a sacred material underwent a radical change in the sixteenth century when newly powerful warrior rulers began to decorate their castles with magnificent screens and wall paintings with gold-leaf. This lecture examines the significance of gold in Japanese Art as the symbol of the sacred on one hand and the symbol of wealth and power on the other.

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

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

When Augustus John died in 1961 he was described in The New York Times as ‘the grand old man of British painting and one of the greatest in British history.’ He was only in his mid twenties when, in the early 1900s, he was widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and promising young British artists – a Welsh rival, perhaps, to Gauguin or Picasso. This lecture explores John’s extraordinary life, including his early achievements, his position as one of the most exciting and outrageous young British artists before the Great War, his slow decline after it, and his troubled status as ‘the last Bohemian’.

Haycock David
Read Modern History at the University of Oxford, and has an MA in the History of Art and a PhD in British History. He is the author of a number of books, including Paul Nash (2002), A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War (2009) and Augustus John: Drawn from Life(2018); he has lectured widely at galleries and museums in the UK, including Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Watercolour Society and Pallant House. He was formerly a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, and at UCLA, and was Curator of Maritime and Imperial History at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is now a freelance writer and lecturer  

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".

In the year marking the 500th anniversary of Raphael's death, this lecture will explore his extraordinary rise in status from modest early commissions to a coveted position as one of the leading artists at the court of Pope Julius II, for whom he created some of the most sublime and influential frescoes of the early 16th century.

Siân Walters
An art historian who lectures for the National Gallery, The Arts Society, The Wallace Collection, Friends of the Royal Academy, The London Art History Society, The Art Fund and many other art societies and colleges in the UK and Europe. She was also a lecturer at Surrey University for many years. Having graduated from Cambridge University, Siân spent four years in Italy and France where she worked for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and the eminent scholar H.C. Robbins Landon.

This Zoom double bill will be available from 1.30 for a 2pm start. (for up to 2 hours)
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents".  

Whilst Covid restrictions are in place and a usual annual visit to the local panto is not going to happen, we decided to bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to you from the comfort of your own homes.  This special Christmas extravaganza will be in two parts:-

Part 1 "The Spirit of Christmas" will explore the history of all those Christmas traditions we now take for granted such as Christmas crackers, mince pies, Christmas cards and the Christmas tree.

A short interval

Part 2 will be a virtual version of Charles Dickens'  "A Christmas Carol"  presented by Simon and Pepe. Not wanting to give the game away, Pepe and Simon are keeping the contents of Part 2 a secret, so you'll just have to tune in and find out!

Pepe Martinez was born in the East End and has lived there all his life.  He is an accredited Institute of Tourist Guiding Trainer and is currently tutoring on the London Blue Badge training course. 

Simon is a freelance actor, tour guide and teacher of the Alexander Technique. He has performed in theatre, film and television and in the corporate world. He is a tour guide for the Royal Opera House, BBC and Thomas Cook Tours. 

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents"

This Venetian Rococo painter specialised in portrait miniatures for the Grand Tourist and established a successful career in portraiture, painting for royal, wealthy and important patrons. Carriera would later become known for her pastel work, a medium appealing to Rococo styles for its soft edges and flattering surfaces. She is remembered as one of the most successful women artists of any era. 

Lucrezia Walker studied in Venice and Perugia, and has lived and worked in Rome. She is a lecturer at the National Gallery and teaches the London Art History Programme for the University of North Carolina, and has 20 years’ experience of leading cultural tours in major European cities.

This Lecture will be delivered by Zoom, 1.30 for 2pm
Please see Zoom instructions, under "Our Society"/"Documents"
"I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works." Giles Ramsay in this lecture will examine the public and private life of one of the world's most original and controversial artists. Born into a moderately respectable Dublin family Oscar Wilde recreated himself as an international celebrity and wrote a series of short stories and plays that charmed the world. In 1900 Wilde, devoured by his his fame, his demons and his decadence was dead.

This Lecture will be live at Chichester Festival Theatre at 10am

Please note that everyone who applied for a seat, including those on the waiting list, have been allocated seats.

The theatre has sent 3 emails, 2 on 6 October (Notice of allocation and the e-ticket), and 1 on 7th October (Important information about The Arts Society Lecture at Chichester Festival Theatre).
The second two are important. If you have not received both of them please call the box office on 01243 781312.

You will need to bring your e-ticket on Tuesday at your allotted arrival time.
Note this is an e-ticket designed to be displayed on a smart phone or tablet to minimise handling.
If you cannot display it this way then you will need a printed version.

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

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

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

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

Join us for a virtual tour of the Old East End of London with Blue Badge Guide Pepe Martinez.

The East End is one of London’s most fascinating and dynamic districts.  Discover the story of immigration, wave after wave of people coming to London to seek refuge, looking for a better life. Using powerful images, video and google street view, our journey takes us from the arrival of French Huguenots in the 1680’s through to the arrival of the 10,000 Jewish children of the Kindertransport at Liverpool Street station in 1939. 

There is no need to brave Southern Railways or the tube to enjoy this virtual visit to London via Zoom.

Click here for ZOOM INSTRUCTIONS

Members will receive an email a few days before the talk/tour giving instructions on when to log in in readiness for the 2PM start  

Pepe Martinez is an award winning London Blue Badge Tourist Guide.  He was born in the East End and has lived there all his life.  He is an accredited Institute of Tourist Guiding Trainer and is currently tutoring on the London Blue Badge training course. 

To be made available on Zoom at 1.45 for 2pm. 
As a guide, click Zoom Lecture Instructions

A look at spirituality in the work of various 20th century artists. Taking as a definition “being dedicated to spiritual things or values, as contrasted with material or temporal ones”. This covers the overtly religious work of artists such as Eric Gill, as well as the more generally spiritual element of works by artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, in their appreciation of nature and ‘truth to materials’. This lecture looks at Kandinsky’s work, both practical and theoretical in his ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ and also at the spiritual element of Mondrian’s work. Continuing on, to explore the work of artists throughout the 20th century, with a postscript on the work of contemporary artists whose work also contains an element of spirituality. 
 

Rosalind Whyte

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

With its huge variety of cultural influences from southern Italy, Northern Europe and from the East, Venice was designed by its inhabitants to be an exceptional place.  It’s music is exceptional too, and from 1550 to 1750 Venice was at the forefront of musical ideas in Europe.

  The lecture explores the music making at St Marks, the music of Venice's 17th century opera houses, and the important role played by the four Ospedali, which gave rise to the great concertos of Vivaldi and his contemporaries.  The lecture also looks at 19th and 20th century compositions that were premiered in Venice.

Peter Medhurst did his musical training at the Royal College of Music where he studied singing with Redvers Llewellyn and Edgar Evans, organ with Richard Popplewell, composition with Justin Connolly and music history with Else Mayer-Lismann, Christopher Grier and Joseph Horowitz.  In 1978, a scholarship from the Austrian government gave him the opportunity to have coaching with the accompanist Erik Werba at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.  On his return to England he took harpsichord lessons with Ruth Dyson, who became his accompanist and fellow keyboard duettist in a professional partnership that lasted until her death nearly 20 years later.

His particular interests are centred on the music, art and history of Vienna, Salzburg (with its strong Mozart link), Berlin, Halle (Handel’s birthplace), Dresden, Venice (Vivaldi’s birthplace), Rome, Madrid, and Delft (with its Vermeer and 17th century Dutch School connections) 

Joanna Banham is scheduled to present a lecture entitled "The Many Faces of William Morris" on 9th March 2021

As part of the Habsburg Empire, Prague was beloved of kings and princes.  During the 19th Century the Czechs sought to reclaim the city for their own.  Looking back at ancient mythology, they imagined a new future of art, architecture, literature and music.

From painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha, artist Karel Svododa and composers Bedfich Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, this lecture shows how the Czechs created a capital that was fit for a new nation.

                                                                                                                                  Alfons Mucha – Salome    

When Augustus John died in 1961 he was described in the New York Times as “the grand old man of British painting and one of the greatest in British history”. He studied at the Slade School in the 1890s and by the early 1900s he was widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and promising young British artists - a Welsh rival, perhaps, to Gauguin or Picasso.  This lecture explores his extraordinary life and his slow decline after the Great War and his troubled status as “the last Bohemian”

The first half of the 20th Century was a golden age for figurative painters in North America.  Many of the most reproduced images from American Art History were created during this time - Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”,  Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World” as well as paintings by Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper and the Ashcan School of painting.  This lecture will explore the most iconic images to come out of America, all of which are firmly etched in the public consciousness.

 This lecture shows how the rise of Cinema and Hollywood had such an impact on fashion and  jewellery design. We see the various screen goddesses, how they were portrayed and what they wore to such dazzling effect. The Belle Epoque and Art Deco styles did not end with the Second World War but combined to flower again with Dior’s “New Look”. 

 Calcutta was the second city of the British Empire and a hub of cultural and artistic production throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This lecture provides an overview of the arts and architecture of this extraordinary city and explores the fascinating ways in which Indian artists viewed the British in India.

Even in ancient Rome people made complaints about the mid-winter Saturnalia celebrations remarkably like the ones we hear today about our commercialised Christmas. In a light-hearted historical review we discover some wonderful and some gloriously awful Christmas imagery, from Giotto's painting of the first Christmas crib until Dickens meets Coca Cola amongst the movers and shakers who sometimes seem to have turned Christmas into Kitchmas.

Explore the life and times of the most famous novelist in the world: a complex man driven by a vivid imagination and the need to succeed in his chosen career.

Follow his career path from political reportage to his ultimate place as novelist supreme.  Hear about his reading tours and how his incredible popularity hastened his early demise

Music was a constant theme in Edouard Manet's life and art.  His wife was a gifted pianist and regular soirees were held in the family home.  His pictures of musicians and their audiences range from major early canvases depicting itinerant gypsy musicians and Spanish dancers through to paintings of the full range of Parisian musical culture, from private performances to street entertainment, cafe concerts and the Paris Opera.  This lecture brings together Manet's art and the rich range of music that inspired him, from Spanish flamenco to Haydn string quartets, from Wagner piano transcriptions to cafe songs.

Leonardo’s images of women, whether Madonnas, mistresses or wealthy members of society are amongst the most renowned works of art of the Italian Renaissance.  
This lecture, designed to celebrate the 500th anniversary of his death, will study his revolutionary rendering of the female figure and how he harnessed the interplay of light and shadow to produce images that combine the spiritual with the sensual, the mystical with the mysterious

 Britain’s oldest fine arts institution will be celebrating its 250th Anniversary in 2018. The Royal Academy has an illustrious history that spans from the mid 18th century through to the 21st century.  We contemplate its past and review its various homes before settling on its current Mayfair location in Burlington House. This fully illustrated talk explores a selection of its ground–breaking temporary loan exhibitions and considers its role and impact on the art scene, both on British soil and overseas.  The talk wouldn’t be complete without a behind the scene look at the Summer Exhibition – held without interruption since 1769 – which displays works in a variety of media and genres by emerging and established contemporary artists. In addition, anecdotal stories will also be revealed by the lecturer based on her twelve year career with the institution. We also consider the influence of certain world-renowned Royal Academicians, exemplary artists in their chosen field, and the pivotal role that is played by the RA Schools.  The impressive roll call of RAs over the past 250 years includes household names such as Reynolds, Constable, Turner, Munnings and, more recently, Hockney, Paolozzi, Foster, Craig-Martin and Gormley. By charting its history through intriguing and important archival photographs and considering its place in Britain’s rich artistic heritage, we can mark this significant anniversary and consider its future with much excitement and anticipation. 

The reign of Queen Victoria witnessed a spectacular rise in the visibility, wealth, and prestige of English artists and designers. Leading this resurgence was a group of artists who established their studios in and around the new, fashionable district of London's Holland Park.
The circle was formed around G.F. Watts,  the handsome and accomplished Frederic Leighton; and Valentine Prinsep.
The artists who followed included Luke Fildes, Hamo Thornycroft, William Burges, Marcus Stone and William Holman Hunt. Their studio-houses, designed by prominent architects of the era were featured in architectural journals and society magazines and several of them still stand today.
This lecture tells the fascinating story of their lives, works, and influence on society.

A comprehensive survey of his life and the development of his art, from his early struggles as an artist up to his final recognition as RSA, RSW. The people he met -Gauguin, Vuillard, Hornel- and the places he painted - Kirkcudbright, Normandy, Venice - form the core of the talk.
The illustrations cover all aspects of his oeuvre - watercolour, oil, tooled leatherwork woodblock prints and sculpture. A journey with this "forgotten man" of Scottish art will provide evidence of his skill as a colourist and reclaim his place in art's pantheon

Before her untimely death in 2016, Dame Zaha Hadid was one of the most distinguished architects in the world. She was also a talented designer. As well as receiving numerous awards and honours, she received the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2004; the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the RIBA Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011; and the Royal Gold Medal in 2015. In 2012 she was made a Dame for services to architecture. 
Zaha Hadid’s work is exciting because she developed a new form of architecture: she set architecture free by rejecting 90 degree angles. Her early abstract paintings are of particular interest because in them she began to create her visionary world where there is no definition, lines converge, and gravity disappears – all conceived before the advent of advanced computer software.  From her early sharp-angled buildings she developed a fluid architecture, where floors, ceilings, walls - and even furniture - all form part of the overall design. Thus many of her later structures are extruded to the most extreme organic shapes in what she called a “seemless fluidity”.  
The lecture tells the story of this pre-eminent architect. We move around the world to look at some of her completed works, including her most famous building in the UK, the Aquatics Centre for the London Olympics in 2012, as well as unexecuted designs.
Members who have a keen interest in cutting-edge design will be mesmerised by the daring yet brilliant structures of Dame Zaha Hadid.

Music lovers generally regard JS Bach as the greatest of early 18th century composers. In fact, he is so important in the history of music that we close down the Baroque period with his death in 1750.  However, Bach is also one of the most challenging of composers and rarely reveals the subtleties of his music on first or even second hearing, causing some of his listeners to feel distanced from many of the finer moments in his output.  This lecture goes beneath the surface of Bach’s music to decode some of his musical symbolism, to reveal some of his working methods and to highlight some of his aesthetic goals.

George IV was the single greatest Royal collector of art and instigator of architectural projects. He was passionately fond of lavish decoration and display. As Prince of Wales, he refurbished Carlton House in London; and built Brighton Pavilion. As King, he converted Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace; and made huge changes to Windsor Castle. He furnished his palaces magnificently with French furniture, clocks, porcelain and sculpture. He was an avid collector of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and van Dyck. He also patronised contemporary artists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Stubbs; and sculptors Canova and Chantrey. He assembled the greatest collection of Sèvres porcelain in the world and a huge amount of historic and contemporary silver and gold objects. 

The working collaboration between Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein in 1910 altered the course of sculpture in England. Rejecting both the Beaux Arts tradition of preparatory, modelled maquettes, and the mason’s rigid craft practice, they did their carving themselves, ‘…uniting what should never have been separated: the artist as a man of imagination and the artist as workman.’ (Gill, Autobiography). The lecturer, a professional stone carver, describes the ancient and Romanesque carving techniques and the Beaux Arts tradition and, using archive photographs, reveals Gill and Epstein’s methods. Examples of today’s direct carving in stone (of which the lecturer is an exponent) are shown. 

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Madeline Goold holds a first degree in Law from the London School of Economics, a Fine Art degree and M.Phil in Art History from the Barber Institute, Birmingham University. A professional sculptor for the past twenty-two years, she continues stone carving, drawing and printmaking; working to commission, exhibiting and teaching. Exhibits annually in London as an elected member of the Society of Wildlife Artists, and runs own studio classes. After an acclaimed exhibition lecture as the Gerald Finzi Centenary artist, she has since spoken to many different audiences about the fine and decorative arts. A lifelong pianist, the purchase of an historic piano led to her first book, Mr Langshaw's Square Piano, published in the UK and United States, and associated articles in academic journals. She is in the final year of PhD study at Birmingham University, researching the socio-cultural impact of the early piano, 1720-1820, illustrated by the fine and decorative arts of the period. 

What did it feel like to be a woman living in Paris from 1939 to 1949? These were years of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets until - finally - renewal retribution. Even at the darkest moments of Occupation, with the Swastika flying from the Eiffel Tower and pet dogs abandoned howling on the streets, glamour was ever present. French women wore lipstick. Why?

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Anna Sebba is a Biographer, historian and author of nine books who lectures to a variety of audiences in the US and UK, including the English Speaking Union, Royal Overseas League, National Trust, British Library and Imperial War Museum. A broadcaster - she presented a Radio 3 documentary about the pianist Harriet Cohen and for Radio 4 the documentary 'Who was Joyce Hatto?' - she regularly appears on television talking about her books, mostly biographies including Jennie Churchill, William Bankes, Laura Ashley and Wallis Simpson. The latter, published as That Woman, was an international bestseller and she is currently working on a history of Paris between 1939-49 through women's eyes to be published in 2016. Anne is currently chair of Britain's 9,000 strong Society of Authors.

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 excelled in documentary images and Annie Leibovitz, who continues to both surprise and delight her audience. 

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Brian Stater's chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history and he combines all three in his lecturing career. He taught at University College London from 1997 to 2014 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.

Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. Cubism has been considered the most influential art movement of the 20th century. The term is broadly used in association with a wide variety of art produced in Paris during the 1910s and extending through the 1920s.

In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.

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Douglas Skeggs: Read Fine Art at Magdalene College and has lectured on paintings since 1980. He was Director of the New Academy of Arts for 3 years and is a regular lecturer at the Study Centre, to Christies and to other London Fine Arts courses. He helped to set up the Abercrombie and Kent ‘Private Label tours’ and is the cultural adviser to Ultimate Travel. He has written and presented TV documentaries, notably on Whistler and William Morris. There have been 3 one man exhibitions of his paintings and his 6 novels have been translated into 8 foreign languages. His book on Monet “River of light” has sold more than 30,000 copies.

Over 4.6 Billion years ago a star was born and our sun started to shine. Soon after this the Earth and our other planets were formed and light began its eight minute flight to Earth. Science and art have moved forward together in the quest to understand light as can be seen in representations of rainbows or contemporary Black Holes.

For artists light can express emotions, from El Greco’s light of spiritual ecstasy to the dangerous darkness of Caravaggio, from Turner’s sublime sunlight to Samuel Palmer’s melancholy moonlight. Australian Impressionism uses a different colour palette to European Impressionism. 

Stonehenge was built to worship the sun, and today James Turrell makes light temples in art galleries and Dan Flavin makes altarpieces from fluorescent tubes.

Let me enlighten you as to how artists have painted temporal and spiritual light through the Ages. 

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Our lecturer is Alexandra Drysdale, a graduate of Chelsea College of Art where she gained a 1st Class BA (Hons) in Fine Art, and an MFA from the Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University. In 2007 she lectured for the Australian DFAS and more recently, in 2012, undertook an artist’s residency in Australia following on from her previous ADFAS Tour.

Lexa is a professional artist specialising in sculpture and performance.  She is currently developing a collaborative piece with another artist which is inspired by Nicholas Poussin’s painting “Dance in the Music of Time” in the Wallace Collection, London.  The project will involve sculpture, film and live performance.

Her lectures combine art historical knowledge with personal aesthetics and artistic techniques. It is this combination that makes her lectures so original and dynamic.  Her lectures aim to open people’s eyes to the language of painting in a practical and imaginative way.

Lexa lives in Cambridge and is an active studio artist at the Wysing Arts Centre.

As adults we carry in our heads huge numbers of images from childhood, and some of those most deeply etched come from illustrations in books that we read as children. Images of ‘Tigger’ and ‘Toad’ or even ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ will probably remain with us for ever! In addition to a wide range of examples John will examine how illustrations contribute to the development of understanding and how the interaction of image and narrative creates such powerful memories. 

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John Ericson Formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. In 2008 and again in 2011 he undertook extensive lecture tours of Australia and he has been a popular speaker on the NADFAS circuit for a number of years. In his professional life he has developed a particular interest in presentation skills including the role of pictures in learning and the appropriate use of PowerPoint. This coupled with his ability to relate well to people of all ages and backgrounds makes him an impressive and confident public speaker.As well as the talks he has developed from his professional background, he offers presentations on an eclectic range of topics that are derived from his diverse interestsand enthusiasms such as, Pub Signs, Children’s Book Illustrations and the Shakers of North America. All his talks, are entertaining, highly informative, very well illustrated and presented with warmth and humour.

The Academie Royale de peinture et de Sculpture was founded in 1648 under Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King", and placed the visual arts under direct royal control. This lecture looks at the Academy's origins, its philosophy under court painter Charles le Brun, and its development into the most influential art institution in Europe. It follows how the Academy reinvented itself after the Revolution, and how artists rebelled against its official proscriptions for "great art" – culminating in the Impressionists' attempts to break the monopoly of the official, state-sanctioned Salon exhibitions.

Richard Whincop is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University in 1986. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then went on to become a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions, and exhibiting widely throughout the UK. He now lives and works in Chichester, West Sussex.

Covent Garden was the first great square in London: an Italianate ‘piazza’ with colonnaded arcades and a Palladian church by Inigo Jones.  Pepys visited Covent Garden in the 17th century, and in the 18th Handel, Hogarth and Garrick were celebrated here.  Voltaire lived in Covent Garden yards from where Boswell first met Dr Johnson and where J.M.W. Turner was born.  In the 19th century, the famous opera house burned down (twice!) and Dickens had the Artful Dodger tried in Bow Street.  Over the centuries, Covent Garden has embodied all that is most characteristic of British cultural life: a state of grace which - as Bernard Shaw's Eliza Doolittle might have put it - must at times have seemed ‘not bloody likely!' 

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Daniel Snowman Biography

Writer, broadcaster and professional lecturer; author of a dozen books on social and cultural history. Degrees from Cambridge and Cornell. Lectured at University of Sussex, and later Chief Producer, BBC Radio (Features) and now a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London). Recent books include 'The Hitler Emigrés: The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism' and 'The Gilded Stage: a Social History of Opera'. Leads frequent music tours to many of the world's great cultural capitals.

Why were foreigner painters preferred by the aristocracy in London to native-born English painters, why did foreigners come in the first place, what was their motivation, and what was the impact of foreigners in London on English art and art practise?
The lecture will look at the various formats and uses of art, tracing foreign artists from the Tudor period through to the Renaissance and Baroque, looking at their origins and how they came to work in England. It will examine the contributions of artists such as Holbein, Gerrit van Honthorst, Marcus Gheeraerts the younger, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout, Isaac Oliver, Paulus van Somer, van Dyck, Peter Lely, and Rubens. This lecture will look at how these artists influenced the British School of painting and assess their legacy.

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

The fame of the Queen of Sheba has lasted across the many intervening centuries since she made her epic journey from her distant land to the court of King Solomon. A passage in the Bible’s Book of Kings has immortalised this Queen and the journey that she made, her camel caravan laden with gold and incense as gifts for the king of Jerusalem.  In this talk Louise looks at how the Queen of Sheba has captured the imagination of great artists, inspired epic films and has led archaeologists to go in search of her land – a search that has led to discoveries of great temples, tombs and treasures.

Louise Schofield

Having been Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities in the British Museum for thirteen years, Louise now works on international archaeological projects, principally in Turkey and Albania. She lectures for a number of universities and institutions, including Florida State University, Christie's Education and cruise companies.

This lecture presents the true story behind the name Shake-speare and paints a picture of the court intrigue and treachery that led to the biggest cover-up of English history. It tells the poignant tale of the buried author Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, poet, playwright, musician, composer, and patron of artists, a real-life Hamlet who sacrificed his name and reputation for the sake of his art, and whose love for the Queen weathered all storms. In addition, it demonstrates that the semi-literate man from Stratford, known as Gulielmus Shaxpere, lacked the education and experience (as well as the inside knowledge of court affairs) evinced by the author, and could not have lampooned the ruling elite without forfeiting his life. Finally it shows how an understanding of Shakespeare’s true identity adds new depth to his works. 

Charles Beauclerk holds an MA from Oxford. Has lectured extensively across Canada and the United States and widely at schools in the UK; has also lectured to heritage societies and historical groups. He is a vice-president of the Royal Stuart Society. Publications include Nell Gwyn: A Biography, Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom and Piano Man: A Life of John Ogdon, as well as various articles.

This lecture explores the history of jade, its carving, uses and symbolistic significance to the ancient Chinese regime. The history traces the use of jade from archaic funerary offering through to objects of daily use in Ming and Qing dynasties.
The technology of the mining of the stone combined with advances in carving techniques are discussed, highlighting the rivalry  between workshops in Suzhou and Yangzhou, where carvers competed to produce the finest and most intricate designs.
These and other fascinating insights combine for an interesting and informative lecture.

Dr Peter Le Rossignol Biography:

Degrees in Decorative Arts & Historic Interiors and Fine Art Valuation; also holds a DPhil in Art History. Forty years' lecturing experience, including to the Art Fund in Jersey and Guernsey, the Ringwood Antiques Club Hampshire, the Jersey College for Adult Education, and various after-dinner engagements. Has given talks on local radio, and held antique road shows for various organisations. Interests include eighteenth century fine & decorative art, the Grand Tour, Oriental decorative arts, and silver and jewellery. Is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

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For centuries tapestries were the most expensive wall decoration.  Commissioned in sets to decorate large rooms, they were also rolled up and travelled with the European courts around their palaces. This lecture introduces some of the most iconic tapestries including those commissioned by the House of Burgundy, Pope Leo X, Henry VIII, Louis XIV and the current Queen of Denmark.

• Susan Kay-Williams Biography:

  Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Has a longstanding interest in textiles, especially colour, and published her first book, The Story of Colour in Textiles (Bloomsbury) in 2013. Has extensive lecturing experience on a variety of topics and has been invited to lecture in the USA, Japan and Taiwan as well as across the UK. 

Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère of 1882 is one if the most treasured possessions of the Courtauld Collection. This lecture explores the many different facets of this iconic painting and guarantees that you will never look at it in the same way again.

Biography:
A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Lizzie has wide experience as a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, working with fine arts societies and art galleries throughout Britain, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Lizzie is particularly interested in placing works of art within their wider social and economic context, exploring the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ behind the paintings. Lizzie is a Past Chairman and now President of Hambleton DFAS.

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed. Listen to a Vivaldi concerto and hey presto you are transported directly to the heart of 18th century Venice. The reasons for this are many – Vivaldi’s passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music; the unusual way in which Venice solved its problems with the poor and the homeless; Vivaldi’s health problems and his eccentricities as a man and a priest. Against the luxurious backdrop of 18th century Venice, and with live musical performances, this lecture explores the amazing world of Vivaldi’s music - music that is as intrinsically Venetian as the canvasses of Canaletto. 

Peter Medhurst 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. His lectures include live music sung and played on piano.

The new Cumberland Art Gallery occupies a restored suite of rooms designed by William Kent for a Georgian prince. After two years of meticulous research Kent's Cumberland Suite has been returned as closely as possible to his original scheme. This new Royal Gallery houses a changing display of artworks from the Royal Collection which continues the Palace's long history as a destination for the work of renowned artists. Through this lecture we shall discover a selection of the Royal Collection's finest paintings: masterpieces by Holbein, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Bassano, Gainsborough and other artists who worked for, or were collected by, four centuries of Royal patrons

Linda Collins Biography:
Lecturer Historic Royal Palaces & National Trust. Freelance lecturer Tate Modern & National Gallery, London. Independent lecture organiser. 

• Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Terrry Farrel, Richard Rogers, Jean Nouvel: all these are Starchitects. Starchitects are stratospheric. Their buildings straddle the world. Their practices are vast and vastly cosmopolitan. Their creations are hailed as iconic and cutting-edge. Cities have been energised by them. Design has been stamped by them. Perhaps ........ but what about the quality? And whence came they? Who was the first starchitect? Le Corbusier? Frank Lloyd-Wright? In this lecture Clyde offers the opportunity for due reflection on a Galaxy of Starchitects. 

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Biography:
Man of Kent, Cambridge graduate, cruise lecturer, Professor Emeritus in History at University of Sheffield, Clyde is a straight-up-and-down historian returning to some first and last loves - buildings, their creators and their settings.

John Singer Sargent's extraordinary range of inventiveness, modernity, and psychological insight as well as his technical brilliance, will be examined across a range of iconic portraits, landscapes and personal studies. These will include many of his favourite themes and preoccupations and also less well known projects and innovations. We will also expose the hidden agendas and prejudices held against this popular, unconventional and cosmopolitan artist who was equally at home in England, Europe or the USA

Mary Alexander has thirty years experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History and History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London, museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume, Manchester. Now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies. She also worked in Pentagram design consultancy in London and New York, organising conferences and special events. Author of various articles on design and visual awareness issues, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills. Lectured for ADFAS Australia and New Zealand in 2011 and 2013.

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

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

This lecture examines the materials, techniques and history of enamelling in the decorative arts from Ancient Egypt to the present day, including jewellery and metalwork. There is particular focus on enamelling in the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. 

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Biography:
Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham Sally has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques throughout the UK. Has broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four, presents regular history programmes in the Midlands and her publications include Miller's Collecting Modern Design (2001). She has an Honours certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. 

Between 1720 and 1850 one of Britain's most successful exports was the Georgian House. It was elegant and versatile, particularly suitable for hot climates and a wide variety of building materials. British or local architects might provide plans, but a carpenter or bricklayer equipped with a pattern book could produce a satisfactory result.

Roger Mitchell studied History at Oxford and Fine Art at Leeds. Awarded Churchill Fellowship to travel and study in USA. Former College Vice-Principal who now lectures for University of Liverpool and for Adult Residential Colleges. Organises and leads country house study tours, and tries to find time for research at Chatsworth.

British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960's. Young, talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy, Tony Ray-Jones and Jane Brown. 

Brian Stater's chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history and he combines all three in his lecturing career. He taught at University College London from 1997 to 2014 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.

Born in the small village of Kirkharle, Northumberland, Lancelot Brown rose to become the most famous landscape designer in England. Working
with contours, water and trees, he created landscapes so breathtakingly natural the poet Whitehead commented that only Dame Nature could distinguish between his work and hers. At sites such as Stowe, Blenheim, Bowood, Luton Hoo, and Croome Court, Brown’s style gently echoed the Italian artists of the previous centuries, and was itself further popularised in contemporary paintings of landscape as fashions in late 18th century art turned from artifice to nature, or more correctly to artificial nature.

In the 300th year anniversary of his birth this talk will consider the life and work of Brown, and examine the accolades and the charges laid at his feet - genius or vandal, artist or copyist? The talk is illustrated with images of Brownian landscapes both in reality and in painting  

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Twigs Way Garden historian, author, researcher and lecturer. She 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. 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.

For two and a half weeks in June 1520, a meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I of France occurred near Calais that was to become known to history as the Field of Cloth of Gold. Although the political purpose of the meeting didn’t amount to much in the over-all scheme of things in early 16th century Europe, the glamour and extravagance of the meeting give us a picture of two Renaissance princes and their times.

Gillian specialises in the visual arts of late medieval and sixteenth-century England. She formerly worked for the National Trust as Curator/Collections Manager at Hardwick Hall, about which she then wrote her PhD at Warwick University. She now teaches part-time at Leicester University, predominantly in The Centre for the Study of the Country House, and is involved with the Continuing Education Department at Oxford University, as well as freelance lecturing.

Douglas Skeggs: Read Fine Art at Magdalene College and has lectured on paintings since 1980. He was Director of the New Academy of Arts for 3 years and is a regular lecturer at the Study Centre, to Christies and to other London Fine Arts courses. He helped to set up the Abercrombie and Kent ‘Private Label tours’ and is the cultural adviser to Ultimate Travel. He has written and presented TV documentaries, notably on Whistler and William Morris. There have been 3 one man exhibitions of his paintings and his 6 novels have been translated into 8 foreign languages. His book on Monet “River of light” has sold more than 30,000 copies.

Charles Beauclerk holds an MA from Oxford. He has lectured extensively across Canada and the United States and in the UK. He is a vice-president of the Royal Stuart Society and founder of the De Vere Society. Publications include a biography of Nell Gwyn, Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom: The True History of Shakespeare and Elizabeth and, in 2014,Piano Man: A Life of John Ogdon.

Philip Venning spent 28 years as full-time Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). Previously a journalist, latterly as Assistant Editor of the Times Educational Supplement. Has been a member of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission since 1998 and is a former Council member of the National Trust, Vice President of the National Churches Trust, and member of the Expert Panel of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He was a founder trustee of Heritage Link (now Heritage Alliance) and also an adviser to the BBC2 series Restoration. In 2011, 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, a Europa Nostra Award, at the heritage equivalent of the Oscars. Has lectured extensively in the UK, and to a lesser extent abroad, to a wide range of audiences. He recently joined the East of England Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society of Arts. OBE 2003.

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

& REPLACED WITH 'PAINTING IN CALABRIA' BY

Richard Whincop

It is somewhat ironic that it was an American Nancy Lancaster (co-founder of Colefax and Fowler) who formed what we now consider to be the English Country House style. This lecture will use specific case examples to discuss how interiors have altered in line with changing tastes. A consideration of neo-classical interiors will be contrasted against the more eclectic tastes of the Victorian period and conclude with consideration of our expectations regarding country house interiors today.

Melissa Gallimore has worked with country house collections for over ten years, specialising in eighteenth and nineteenth century interiors, furniture and ceramics. She worked as Senior Curator of Decorative Arts at Harewood House, and project-managed the restoration of the East Bedroom, including the conservation of the eighteenth century Chinese wallpaper. Also curated the accompanying exhibition entitled 'Chinoiserie at Harewood'. Melissa received a BA (Hons) and MA from the University of York in the History of Art, and became an Associate of the Museums Association in 2005. She has talked regularly for a variety of arts organisations and recently started lecturing on a Country House Studies Course at Hull University.

Focusing on the role of posters and poster artists in the history of advertising, global-award winning Creative Director of international advertising agencies Charles Harris has lectured extensively on design, illustration and photographic styles as they have influenced the building of brands. He has himself created posters for major brands including British Airways, Nestlé, Sony, General Motors and Shell. His travel writing and photography has appeared in various airline magazines as well as Time. He has also written and produced several hundred TV and Radio commercials and corporate video programmes.

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.

Thomas Heatherwick has won many awards and honours: in 2004 he was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry; he won a Gold Medal for his British Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010, and in the same year he was designer of the year in Japan. His work received world-wide coverage in 2012 when he designed the Olympic Cauldron at the London Olympics. The giant ring of fire rising up from the centre of the Olympic Stadium was a memorable sight, and in the lecture we shall look at how he achieved that spectacular moment. Heatherwick’s approach is multi-disciplinary, and with his team he blends architecture, sculpture and engineering to produce brilliant results.

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.

Marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, this lecture complements events and displays taking place throughout the country in 2015. The decisive allied victory over Napoleon brought to an end a series of wars that had convulsed Europe. Most people of the time experienced these conflicts not on the battlefield but through art. This lecture explores the contrasting views presented by British and French artists, including such masters as J. M. W. Turner and J.-L. David. We also consider the insatiable public appetite for rather less elevated art forms, ranging from ladies’ fans illustrated with the latest military news, to full re-enactments of naval battles played out on real water at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Related Exhibitions and Events:

• Waterloo at Windsor (Windsor Castle, 31 Jan 2015-13 Jan 2016);

• Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions (National Portrait Gallery, 12 Mar-7 Jun 2015)

• Bonaparte and the British (British Museum, 5 Feb-16 Aug 2015)

• Fighting History (Tate Britain, 9 Jun-13 Sep 2015)

Society members might also enjoy a visit to Apsley House, Stratfield Saye, the National Maritime Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and other venues related to Wellington and Nelson, both in the UK and in Belgium. For a more complete list of special events marking the 2015 Waterloo bicentenary, see www.waterloo200.org

Dr Lois Oliver studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and writing her doctoral thesis on The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855. She worked at the Harvard University Art Museums before joining the curatorial team at the V&A and then the National Gallery, where she curated the major exhibition ‘Rebels and Martyrs’ (2006) and a series of three touring exhibitions. Currently Assistant Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, she lectures for arts organisations throughout the UK, writes audio and multimedia tours for clients including Tate, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy, and has appeared on TV programmes for the BBC and Channel 5.

Mark studied at the Slade School of Art and at the universities of Birmingham and Manchester. Was Curator at the Watts Gallery, now Curator of the Gainsborough Museum and lectures regularly at the Tate, Russell-Cotes Gallery, Museum of London, Guildhall Art Gallery, Bristol University and Mercer Art Gallery. Has also presented talks in New York and Finland. Publications include George Frederic Watts: Victorian Visionary (2008), The Art of Satire: London in Caricature (2006) and William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age (2006).

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. Takes groups to Europe (please enquire). All lectures are presented digitally. Lectures include live music sung and played on piano, virginals or clavichord. Musical programmes devised for special or larger scale events.

David Evans was born and brought up at Lamorna Cove in Cornwall, he knew some of the Newlyn and Lamorna artists in their final years. His father, Major C Gilbert Evans was closely involved with the colony from 1909-1914. Lectures on Newlyn artists to the Art Fund and The National Trust.

Pamela has lectured variously to the English Speaking Union, National Trust, Art & Historical societies, Festivals, The National Gallery and Bath University's Department of Continuing Education. President (Past Chairman) Bristol DFAS. Previously lecturer and researcher/scriptwriter/director (BBC).

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

Caroline is a Design and Decorative Arts journalist and author, and London Blue Badge Guide, specialising in themed tours for American Museums and Art Galleries. Specialist subjects: history of glass and London's history, galleries, museums and architecture. Freelance lecturer for Adult Education Groups. Delighted to devise tours, lecturing and study days based in and around London.

William has an MA from Oxford University, a Diploma in Art History (with distinction) and is a qualified teacher (PGCE from Reading University). Lectures for the National Portrait Gallery (where he worked in the Education Department), the British Museum, the National Gallery and the National Trust. Organised and led study and orientation programmes for the Universities of New York, Illinois and New Jersey (Rutgers. An Adult Education tutor for the Universities of Surrey and Warwick. Publications include The Collins Guide to the Lake District and Access in London (latest edition 2014) and he is a contributor to The Time Out Book of London Walks and Time Out's Open London (2012). Wrote and presented programmes for Central TV, Thames TV and BBC Radio 4. Blue Badge Guide/Lecturer for London and Cumbria, particular expertise in guiding at the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum. Awards from the Lord Mayor of London, the Evening Standard and the British Tourist Authority for his work and was made Man of the Year in 1990 and Guide/Lecturer of the year in the inaugural year of the award, sponsored by the British Museum.

Helen McCabe read French at university and studied history of art and architecture at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, where she lived for three years. She has always particularly loved those regions of France with close historic links with England, hence her decision to lecture on Normandy and then Aquitaine. She grew up in Cornwall and has now returned to live in her childhood home. She wrote a book on Houses and Gardens of Cornwall and then lectured on the same subject. She now lectures on both the English and the French country house for NADFAS and she returns to France as often as she can. When not lecturing, she works in her garden and has planted a woodland stream garden between her home and the sea.

Nicholas Reed's father Ronnie Reed, as an MI5 Officer, knew Blunt and you will hear some of the interesting remarks he made about him, without having to sign the Official Secrets Act.

The Roman city of Zeugma, well preserved beneath thick layers of hill-wash, is often referred to as the "Turkish Pompeii". In 2000, the construction of the massive Birecik Dam on the Euphrates began to flood the entire area. The water, which soon would engulf the archaeological remains, also brought increasing urgency to salvage efforts that had already been taking place at the site. Of particular concern was the removal of Zeugma's mosaics, some of the most extraordinary examples to survive from the ancient world. Soon the world's top restorers arrived from Italy to rescue them from the floodwaters.

This lecture is based on the Islamic manuscript, the Padshahnama (chronicle of the King of the World) which is the unique official history of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, who ruled India from 1628 to 1658. He is best remembered for the building of the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Padshahnama is illustrated with 44 of the finest Mughal paintings in the world.

The Waldorf Astoria hotel, New York was home to the stars, international celebrities and world leaders. Built at the height of the Depression and famous before the hotel opened, its glittering Jazz Age interiors were created by leading European designers, artists and sculptors. This lecture recreates the stunning interiors of The Waldorf and its predecessor on Fifth Avenue, the personalities who created them, and the stars who met, feasted and lived there.