Lichfield Cathedral was established in the seventh century, and grew to be one of the country's most distinctive buildings with its three stone spires. But what does its architecture tell us of the experience and ambitions of those who shaped it? The speaker- author of a book on the cathedral- will weave the evidence of wars, kings, martyrs and the concept of paradise into the story, showing how and why Lichfield emulated the wonders of royal Paris in the heart of Staffordshire.

Biography:

Dr Jonathan Foyle is a career communicator, best known for presenting TV series such as BBC2's Broadcast Award-winning 15-part 'Climbing Great Buildings', as well as contributing to Channel 4's 'Time Team' and Channel 5's 'Secrets of the Royal Palaces'. His former roles have encompassed Curator at Hampton Court and Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain, writer for the FT Weekend, and he is now a lecturer at the University of Bath. Jonathan has authored seven volumes on great cathedrals and castles and has spoken across the world about discoveries in British arts. The offered Arts Society talks offer fresh and original analyses of personal fascinations in architecture and the arts and crafts, especially their all-important symbolism, through which we can better understand what their makers were trying to communicate- to anyone who holds the keys to deciphering. The aim of these talks is to share those keys, in friendship and with a sense of humour.

The British Crown Jewels are one of the most famous collections of  regalia in the world and, unlike others in Europe, are still a working  set of jewels, with a large part being used in the coronation of  King Charles III and Queen Camilla. We will explore the origin of the royal  regalia through the geological origins of its materials, from gold, silver and platinum to the jewels themselves, including two of the largest diamonds in the world.

Aaron Hunter is a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and a prize-winning London Blue Badge Guide, a Green Badge Guide for the City of London and Oxford, and a City of Bath Mayor's Guide. As a palaeontologist, he is an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. He have published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic World. After degrees in Geology & Palaeobiology, he gained a PhD from the University of London and went on to pursue an academic career working first as a research fellow in France, Germany and Japan and then as a Senior Lecturer in Malaysia and Western Australia.He has a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and the history of art. He gives lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.

It’s a famous line from a well-known 1970s hit about male vanity written by Carly Simon, but was it inspired by one of her lovers? Who inspired the Beatles classic Something and what is the link between Midnight Train to Georgia and Charlie’s Angels? Songs are often inspired by individuals in the lives of composers and some individuals have inspired more than one composer. All is not always as it seems - in this lecture the identities of the people who inspired some of the world’s best known songs are revealed.

Steve King has spent 35 years working in the radio industry as a Broadcaster, Programmer and Events Director. He has managed some of the biggest radio brands in the UK and has interviewed and worked with many well-known popular music artists including. He has also directed over 50 multi-artist events at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium and Manchester Arena. His work in the broadcasting industry has been recognised on numerous occasions.    Steve is an engaging public speaker and has produced a series of highly entertaining lectures based on his extensive knowledge of popular music, and his experiences in the radio business. He has lectured at various media conferences, industry events and for several cruise lines.

L. S. Lowry is one of Britain’s most popular artists and yet our very familiarity with his work has stopped us looking as closely as we should at this extraordinary artist. Though famous for painting the mills and factories of the industrial north-west of England, he was really a painter of the human condition. In this lecture I suggest that his work is the visual counterpoint of T. S. Eliot’s poetry and further, that we can claim him as our English Van Gogh. Too much? Come to the lecture and decide for yourself!  Original works by Mr. Lowry and other relevant artists will be available for viewing at the lecture.

Michael Howard is a familiar face to The Arts Society. He is President of The Arts Society Bolton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Although retired, he continues to teach at the Manchester School of Art. He has published widely on European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his books include: L. S. Lowry: A Visionary Artist; The Impressionists by Themselves; The Stations of the Cross / The Captive Figure and the award-winning dramatic interpretation and publication of material originally performed by the Zurich-based Dadaists of 1916. A New Order: An Evening at the Cabaret Voltaire. His book on Gauguin, was written in association with the Gauguin Museum, Tahiti, and his book on Monet for the Musée Marmottan, Paris.  One of his most recent books concerns his wife’s life and work: The Human Touch: Ghislaine Howard. (Ghislaine is also an accredited lecturer of The Arts Society).  Michael is a practising artist, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the New York Art Fair and elsewhere. He is represented in Manchester Art Gallery and in many private collections both here and abroad. He has appeared on television and radio many times and in 2004 he and Ghislaine worked the film, Degas and the Dance which has awarded one of the prestigious Peabody awards.

Ealing Studios is often hailed as the most quintessentially English of all film studios. Run by Sir Michael Balcon for decades, the studio reached its zenith in 1949, its annus mirabilis, releasing Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!, and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Now most celebrated for these and the similarly magnificent comedies that followed, Ealing's films have a reputation for cosiness, whimsicality, and an ever-so gentle subversiveness. This talk revisits these films and reads them again, this time in the light of the post-war new waves that were beginning to emerge across Europe.

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

Theatrical scene design is one of the world's most beautiful, varied and lively art forms. In his talk, Bertie looks at the relationship between actor and audience and how this transformed the space and architecture of theatre throughout the ages. Beginning with the Greeks and their remarkable innovations to pageants, masques, liturgical drama, through the science of perspective, to court theatre. A quick glance at Commedia dell'arte before entering the Elizabethan stage of the Globe and the Fortune and arriving at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

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

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. 

The names ‘Florence’ and ‘Medici’ are inextricably linked with each other. From the late 1300s to 1737 the family advised, ruled, were exiled, returned and ruled again in Florence in continuing cycles, eventually stamping their authority on the city with authoritarian firmness. At the same time they were responsible for helping to create one of the most vibrant artistic centres of the Renaissance and beyond. This is a story filled with larger-than-life characters and great art alongside stirring historical events, occasional assassinations, and the eventual decline of a remarkable dynasty. 

Jo Walton has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She is now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, The National Gallery, The Art Fund, and local art societies.

Inspired by the bicentenary of the birth of John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) in 2019, this lecture celebrates the extraordinary life and work of this visionary Victorian. As writer, teacher, artist, collector, patron and critic, Ruskin was perhaps the most complete polymath of the 19th century. He left behind a dazzling range of writing and collections that continue to inspire and generate debate around the world. Perhaps most famous today as a champion of Turner and admirer of Venice, Ruskin’s impact ranged far and wide; his ideas inspired the Arts and Crafts Movement and the founding of the National Trust, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and the Labour Movement.

Having grown up wanting to be an architect, Simon Seligman studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, which included a compulsory term living in Venice, an experience of cultural immersion from which he is still recovering! For 19 years until 2010, he worked at the great treasure house of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, in a variety of roles, starting with a summer job cleaning lavatories and car parking, and ending as Head of Communications. In that time he lectured extensively about Chatsworth, the Devonshire Collection and associated topics, throughout the UK and on several US tours, and he continues to lecture on a growing range of cultural topics. Since then he has fulfilled another passion by training as a Life Coach, working with people one-to-one to support their life and career choices, and he also works part time for John Ruskin’s educational charity the Guild of St George. For more than 30 years he has lived with his family in the heart of Derbyshire's beautiful Peak District.

According to historian Barbara Tuchman, the invention of the ball ranks as highly as the invention of the wheel. Simon Inglis agrees, especially after spending years delving into cubbyholes at pavilions and museums, in workshops and factories, finding out how these apparently simple objects came into being and how their design and manufacture has evolved. He asks, why are marbles glass? Why did the discovery of gutta percha transform golf? Why were games such as lawn tennis and ping pong made possible only in the mid 19th century? Why did some billiard balls explode, and why are rugby balls such an odd shape?

Biography:

Writer and historian Simon Inglis specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. From 2004-22 he edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage. He currently acts as an Ambassdor for the Historic Pools of Britain. Although sport and recreation might seem an unlikely subject for The Arts Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon’s themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture. Since gaining a history degree at University College London, he has freelanced for various publications, been a regular contributor to radio and television, has edited numerous technical guidelines on stadium design and safety, has travelled and lectured extensively, and written a number of books. Two were shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, while another, on British football grounds, was chosen by journalist Frank Keating as the best sports book of the 20th century. One highpoint in his work for English Heritage was the listing of a 1970s skatepark in Essex, a world first that made the 10 o'clock news.

With unprecedented access to family archives, Katherine MacInnes has written the little-known story of the Snow Widows. It tells the story of the race for the South Pole from the perspective of the women whose lives would be changed forever, five women forced into the public eye by tragedy and shaped by the unrelenting culture of empire: Kathleen Scott, the fierce young wife of the expedition leader and gifted sculptor who trained under Rodin in Paris, Oriana Wilson, Emily Bowers, Lois Evans, and the indomitable Caroline Oates.

Katherine MacInnes is an author and artist. She has worked as an arts journalist and commissioning editor. She makes regular appearances on BBC Radio and her journalism has appeared widely, including in the Times, Telegraph and Country Life. She was shortlisted for the Biographers’ Prize for Snow Widows.

The world of opera is full of remarkable contributors, great game changers who leave the stage in a completely different place from the one they found. In the 19th century three such men revolutionised the art form; in three very different ways; Verdi, Wagner and Puccini. From the romantic heart-breakers of La Traviata and Rigoletto via the mystery and magic of the The Ring Cycle to the breath-taking melodramatic tear jerkers of Tosca and La Bohème. Enjoy their remarkable journeys and innovative, dynamic and thrilling theatricality which highlights so much of their work. This illustrated lecture will highlight the great opera productions which have graced the worlds opera houses.

Jamie Hayes trained at RADA, graduating as a Stage Manager and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He became an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and English National Opera and soon began directing productions of his own. He has directed many new opera productions in the UK whilst other new opera productions overseas include Reykjavik, Malta and Melbourne. Jamie was Associate Director on the original production of the hit musical Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and was Director of Productions for British Youth Opera for over a decade, a company devoted to promoting the talents of our finest young opera singers in the UK. He is married to the mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby.

The Tudor age produced some of the earliest English ‘likenesses’, from life-size images of monarchs to intimate portrait miniatures. We delve into the artistic, religious and political world of 16th-century England through a number of striking works from the Wallace Collection and beyond and uncover the meanings contributed by techniques, formats and symbols to reveal the ways that portraits were made and used by people across Tudor society – from the intimacy of the artist’s studio, to the professional setting of the livery company, and on the public stage of the royal court.

Dr Christina Faraday specialises in Tudor and Stuart visual and material culture, with wider interests in the art of Northern Europe in the medieval and early modern periods. She is also an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker (2019), a programme which gives Early Career Researchers the chance to communicate their research to wider audiences on BBC Radio 3 and other platforms. She graduated from St John’s College, Cambridge in 2014 with a First Class BA in History of Art and stayed to complete the MPhil in History of Art and Architecture with Distinction. 

We all know van Gogh. We know the Sunflowers, Starry Night, his self-portraits, the bright prismatic colour applied with energetic strokes of the brush. We know his life was not an easy one. But why is he so famous? What makes him possibly the best-known artist in the world? Why does every gift shop in every gallery have a Vincent gift on display? What makes his paintings instantly recognizable? His failure to find sales or success during his lifetime, his suffering leading to self-mutilation & later to suicide at the age of 37 are all well known. What happened during his short life, and afterwards to transform him into the world’s best-loved artist? 

Lucrezia Walker is a regular lecturer at the National Gallery both in front of the paintings and in the lecture theatre. For the Tate Gallery's Development department she speaks to their corporate sponsors in their offices and at their private receptions in both Tates. She teaches US undergraduates on their Study Abroad semesters in London. She was Lay Canon for the Visual Arts at St Paul's Cathedral 2010-2014.

Art Deco swept across Europe and America in the 1920s, bringing with it a transformation in design. From brightly coloured, geometric patterns on fabrics, wallpapers and in book illustration to the soaring, elegant lines of New York skyscrapers, Art Deco helped to introduce Modernism to a mass audience. Fashion design too was affected by the new style, bringing with it beaded ‘flapper’ dresses, fabulous handbags and bias cut dresses. Hollywood was quick to reflect the new style, perhaps best epitomised in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This lecture gives an overview of Art Deco style and design and also looks at the movement’s legacy today. 

Dr Sally Hoban has lectured extensively on art, design and antiques throughout the UK and at The University of Birmingham. She has broadcast on BBC Antiques Roadshow, BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 4 and her publications include the book Miller’s Collecting Modern Design. She has an Honours level certificate in public speaking from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and is a freelance arts journalist for local, national and international media. Sally has a PhD in the history of art and design from The University of Birmingham and currently runs her own antiques businesses specialising in 19th and 20th century decorative arts and antique and vintage clothing and textiles.

Antony Gormley’s career spans nearly 40 years, during which time he has made sculpture that explores the relationship of the human body to space, often using his own body as his starting point.  His work has been shown throughout the world, in galleries including the Tate in London and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, but is also often on open display, as public art, such as Another Place at Crosby Beach, near Liverpool. As well as works that he is well known for, like the iconic Angel of the North, this lecture will look at some of his earlier and less well-known works, to give an overall view of the development of his work across his whole career, up to the present time.

Rosalind Whyte gained a BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. She is a guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. 

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

Adam Busiakiewicz is an Art Historian, Lecturer and Lutenist. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in History at University College London in 2010 he held the position of Head of Historical Interpretation (curator) at Warwick Castle. He left the castle in 2013 after winning a full AHRC studentship to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine and Decorative Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He completed his doctorate in the History of Art at the University of Warwick in 2022 and became a cataloguer in the Old Master Paintings Department at Sotheby's where he remains a Consultant.

Adam has been a Lecturer / Educator at the National Gallery and Guide Lecturer at the Wallace Collection, where he has organised several events and courses on Music & Art as well as other subjects. He has also given talks and performances at the Royal Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. 

Alongside his publications and scholarly articles, Adam is the co-editor of arthistorynews.com, one of the internet’s most popular art history blogs. 

Apart from the pear tree in which sat the partridge, there are no plants in the 12 days of Christmas according to the folk song. Sadly, even that reference is erroneous, because partridges are ground dwelling birds. And yet at Christmas we are surrounded by plants. This talk puts the record straight and rewrites the zoocentric song replacing partridges with poinsettias, and maids with mistletoe.

Biography:

Timothy Walker read Botany at University College Oxford. After graduation, he worked as a trainee at Oxford Botanic Garden, the Savill Garden Windsor, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. In 1985 he was awarded a Master of Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. From 1988 to 2014 he was director (Horti Praefectus) at the Oxford Botanic Garden. Between 1992 & 2000 the OBGHA won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show London. In 2009 the Botanic Garden was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for providing imaginative educational programmes for adults, students, children, and the general public, thereby breathing new life into education for people of all ages and enriching their lives. In 2010 Timothy was elected as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. In the same year he presented a 3-part series of films on the history of botany on BBC4. Since 2014 he has been a tutor in Plant Biology at Somerville College, Oxford.    

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

Dr James Grant is a retired country doctor with a lifetime of working in the NHS both in hospital and in rural practic. He is passionate about all aspects of medicine, its history and its relationship to art and artists. 

For half a century, from the 1870s to the 1920s, women around the world were in thrall to feathered fashion. Not just feathers, but wings and whole birds – often several birds at a time – were de rigeur on top of hats. The cost to the birds was high. The exploitation of female labour was troubling. But the hats themselves were magnificent objects of art.

Tessa Boase is a freelance journalist, author, lecturer and campaigner with an interest in uncovering the stories of invisible women from the 19th and early 20th-centuries – revealing how they drove industry, propped up society and influenced politics. She’s the author of three books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House (2014); Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds (first published as Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather in 2018), and London’s Lost Department Stores: A Vanished World of Dazzle and Dreams (2022). Since uncovering the feminist origins of the RSPB, Tessa has been campaigning for public recognition of its female founders with plaques, portraits and a statue. 

The British Museum is well known for treasures of Egyptian and Greek antiquity. However, this world-class museum also holds the treasures that tell the story of the British Isles. I will explore the archaeology and antiquities of the British Isles from the Palaeolithic to the early Medieval period. The journey begins far from Britain with the first stone tools from Africa and ancient hominids.  

We will look at the artists development of Stone Age hand axes and explore the people who created Neolithic monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury before we enter the Bronze and Iron Ages to investigate the beautiful objects that could have been offerings to their gods. We will then see the impact of the Romans establishing cities and towns. We explore the treasures that were in the villas of the Romano Britains and the forts on our northern frontier at Hadrian’s Wall. As Romans depart Britain, we will look at the waves of people arriving. From the Anglo Saxon - Sutton Hoo Treasure to the artefacts of the Viking Age. We will finish our journey marvelling at the treasures of the Middle Ages such as the Royal cup of France and the Lewis Chess Pieces.

Aaron Hunter a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and a prize-winning London Blue Badge Guide and City of Bath Honorary Major’s Guide. As a palaeontologist, I am an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. I have published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic world. After degrees in Geology & Palaeobiology I gained my PhD from the University of London and went on to pursue an academic career working first as a research fellow in France, Germany and Japan and then as a Senior Lecturer in Malaysia and Western Australia. I have a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and history of art. I give lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.

Susan’s current research is on the 19th century developments in dyeing and social history. In this lecture she brings a sumptuous feast of colour: beginning with what was available start of the century, and where it came from, looking at the research into colour and colour perception by the head of the Gobelins factory, Michel Chevreul and the impact of the great international exhibitions where new developments were proudly displayed. She examines the changes brought about by the discovery of the first synthetic dyestuff and visits some of the dyers themselves, including David Smith of Halifax, through their published works. This is a vibrant lecture that reveals the pace of change and the impact of the new colours on fashion and society.

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

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

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

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

The lecture includes a brief history of frames, including how they have developed in Europe, influenced often by prevailing architectural styles, and focuses on their design and construction. Julia also discusses the conservation of frames, and how to choose the right one to transform a painting and display it to its best advantage. We are given an insight into their design and selection, gilding techniques over time and the materials used in the workshop. 

Julia Korner is a specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings, sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art. Julia trained in art history and conservation, Cambridge, England. Then, for twenty years, she worked for Christie's as a paintings’ specialist, building extensive knowledge of Old Masters, and of British, European and American paintings from the 1700s onwards. She set up Christie's Maritime Department in 1986, followed by the Frame sales, the Aeronautical, Exploration & Travel and the Polar sales. Julia was elected Huntington Fellow of the Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia, USA, in 1997. A seven-year commitment there saw her catalogue this collection and that of its sister organisation, the South Street Seaport Museum, New York.

Julia has worked independently in her own studio in West London since 1997. Here, she and her small team give specialist conservation work personal and expert attention through restoration, scientific analysis and research. Damaged paintings, polychrome statues, over-mantles, traditional gold leaf & gesso frames, along with unusual and exquisite handmade cabinets all emerge transformed by the conservation work, or created from scratch, under her expertise, knowledge and care.

She acts as an advisor, valuer and exhibition curator for public and private collections, in the UK and abroad. and also gives illustrated talks and lectures. She is an elected member of The British Antique Dealers' Association, The British Association of Paintings Conservator Restorers, The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, and The International Institute for Conservation.  In addition to her role as a lecturer for The Arts Society, Julia also lectures for Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s and Fine Art Societies at home and abroad.

Starting in 1607 with Monteverdi’s astonishing opera Orfeo, and ending in 1759 with the death of that great “English” composer George Frideric Handel, the Baroque era produced music of great brilliance and emotional depth. In helping to navigate us through its choppy waters, Sandy draws on his experience as broadcaster, conductor and hands-on practical musician. His in-depth exploration of this fascinating period of Classical music draws on hand-picked images, autograph scores and recorded musical illustrations, with a special focus on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.

The waters of the Venetian Lagoon have been both saviour and enemy. Their protection enabled the city to become a magnificent Republic, a leader in global trade and a highly successful world power. All of this is reflected in the architecture her citizens created, from the delicate Gothic that so enchanted Ruskin to the elegant classicism of Palladio. Now those same waters challenge the city’s very existence. A related special interest day looks beyond the Renaissance city to the challenges of her later history and the modern race to save Venice from the encroaching sea.

Jo Walton has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, the Art Fund, and Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery and local art societies.

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 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.

A look at the astounding richness of Dutch art in the 17th Century, featuring artists including Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Gerrit Dou and many more.. This was a period of New Liberty and bottomless coffers, as the new Dutch Republic learned to spend its spice money, courtesy of the Dutch East India Company, on art created for an entirely new market. We discover how over-production led to glut, causing artists, even the greatest of them, to seek second jobs to stay solvent.

Adrian Sumner has worked as a lecturer to universities and higher education institutions since 1973. Other positions include Director of Development of the Arts in Northwich, Arts Development Officer for Chester City Council and Arts Development Officer for Cheshire West and Chester Council. He has also worked as a professional artist and illustrator,

An unforgettable journey to explore the highlights of the vast Vatican Museums collection, with a deep focus on the spectacular frescoes by Michelangelo Buonarroti and others in the Sistine Chapel. Professional Rome tourist guide Stuart Harvey takes you on a virtual stroll through the corridors and rooms to see ancient classical statues that influenced renaissance and later artists, and also intricate roman mosaics, magnificent tapestries, and the beautiful frescoes by Raphael that decorate the private rooms of the 16th century Popes. We will end our journey in the Sistine Chapel, where Popes are elected in secret at Conclave. Here we can examine in depth Michelangelo's famous Creation frescoes on the ceiling and the magnificent Last Judgement and its deep symbolism.

Stuart Harvey, who lives in Rome for most of the year, is a “History and Art Communicator” of 30 years experience. He is a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide (qualified in 1998 - awarded “New Guide of the Year”) and
also a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma (qualified in 2010). He has
worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe.
Living in Rome since 2003, Stuart has developed a great love for the Eternal City
and its many treasures. In addition to his primary career as full-time Rome tourist
guide, Stuart’s entertaining and lively lectures and virtual tours bring the rich artistic
and historical wealth of Rome’s 28 centuries to life for people all over the world.

Of all the places to be in the world at the end of the 19th century, it has to be New York. The city enjoyed unprecedented growth as new blood flooded in from all over the world. As gleaming new skyscrapers grew skyward the squalor of teeming tenements and the struggle to survive in this rapidly changing city  became rich pickings for a young group of artists seeking new inspiration. For the artists of the 'Ashcan School' nobility could be found not just in the grandiose buildings of this booming city but in the daily lives of the labourers who built it.

Brian Healey was a senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years. He  also enjoyed a successful parallel career as a professional artist and interior designer. Since 2006 he has been regularly appointed to a number of prestigious ocean and river cruise lines, either as resident artist, guest lecturer on art history or as destination speaker for more than forty countries. Most recently this work has successfully extended to art guiding through important towns and museums in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain. 

When social historian Tessa Boase told the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds she wanted to write their early story, they refused to let her visit their archives. To a former investigative journalist, this was a challenge she could not resist . . . This lecture shines a light on the intriguing story of women’s love affair with plumage ­ – and of the brave eco feminists who fought back on behalf of the birds. Moving from a polite Victorian tea party to an egret hunt in a Florida swamp; from a suffragette ‘monster rally’ to a milliner’s dusty workshop, you’ll be taken back in time to a world where every woman, of every class wore a hat.

Tessa Boase is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She’s 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. 

When Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1953, she inherited a collection of paintings that rival any collection in the world. The Royal Collection of Art contains paintings from the Early Renaissance period to the Victorian era and beyond and is an important reflection of both the taste of the Monarch and of the social and economic thinking of the country at the time. There are less than 2,700 pictures hanging in the National Gallery in London – there are more than 7,000 paintings in the Royal Collection. 

Linda Collins lectures for Historic Royal Palaces & the National Trust. She is a freelance lecturer at  Tate Modern & the National Gallery, London. She is a member of the Association of Art Historians. 

Her publications include The Tudors: The Crown, The Dynasty, the Golden Age.  Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke;  King & Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke, and Gloriana: The Art of Elizabeth I, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke.

Modern art is often considered difficult, but it is much less so when seen through the eyes of some of the greatest cartoonists of the last one hundred and fifty years, who provide a humorous and sceptical but instructive guide to modern art from Courbet to the Britart of the 1990s. 

A chance to enjoy the insights and cartoons of (among others) Daumier, Larry, Thelwell, Matt, the wise guys at the New Yorker magazine and, of course, the immortal Giles. Collectively, they provide an absorbing, illuminating and, above all, a funny, revealing and sidelong view of 150 years of modern art. 

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

As one of the great painters of the Victorian era Atkinson Grimshaw created some of its most beautiful atmospheric paintings. In rain and mist, moonlight and gaslight, the River Thames, city streets, winding lanes and grimy docks all appear as if clothed in poetry and mystery. Discover the unique vision of the ‘master of moonlight’ - an artist who transformed the humdrum of everyday Victorian life time and time again into a magical ‘Grimshaw’.

Alexandra Epps is an official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. She ia a member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and 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 examines a series of iconic photographs that are embedded in our collective memory. They range from records of historic events, to fabulous portraits and scenes of emotional release and joy. The talk analyses the power of these images, traces the fascinating stories of how they came to be produced, and places them in the context of our appreciation of art.

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography. He therefore offers lectures to The Arts Society on each of these subjects.

He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. He is a member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography and he works with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

Two hundred and fifty years after Antonio Stradivari’s death, his violins and cellos remain the most highly prized instruments in the world. Loved by great musicians and capable of fetching fabulous sums when sold, their tone and beauty are legendary. Every subsequent violin-maker has tried to match them. Not one has succeeded. How can that be? This lecture explores that central mystery by following some of Stradivari’s instruments from his workshop to the present day. It is a story that travels from the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, and from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings. Toby Faber’s book Stradivarius: Five violins, one cello and a genius, was described in The New York Times as ‘more enthralling, earthy and illuminating than any fiction could be.’ The lecture is illustrated with pictures of violins and of key individuals and locations, as well as with some short musical recordings. 

TobyFaber 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.

From the late 1850s to the mid-1870s a new craze gripped the world. Photography had just begun to be popularised, and suddenly nearly everyone could afford a portrait of themselves to share with others. These small photographic portraits mounted on card were shot professionally in studios and handed out like business or greetings cards – just like we share ‘selfies’ on today’s social media. Across nearly two decades, over 400 million cards were estimated to have been printed and shared with friends, family, and fans. We think we invented the ‘selfie’, but we didn’t – welcome to the Victorian carte de visite.

In this highly visual and relevant lecture, we’ll look at the rise and fall of the fashion, learn how these cards were used, and find ways of dating cards from clothing and hairstyles. We’ll examine in detail the hidden meanings behind the poses, facial expressions, backgrounds, and choice of clothes to reveal the fascinating histories behind these cards that were used by everyone from royalty to the man in the street.

Mark Hill studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. He became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. He was co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller from 2002-17. He founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts. He has been a Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, and has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

DUE TO THE FUNERAL OF HM THE QUEEN, THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN RE-SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY 19TH DECEMBER AT 2.00PM

For Lee Miller a woman at war was any woman caught up in World War 2. She shot faultless images for Vogue’s haute couture in London’s bombed out streets. She documented the magnificent work of the WRNS, ATS, the Land Girls, the WRVS and the nurses. She shows us the refugees in Europe, girls accused of collaboration and women forced into slave labour or prostitution and concentration camp victims. Their roles range from bravery to stupidity and from enforced involvement to volunteering.

This is a documentation of one of the biggest social changes in British and European history, as three million women left their normal housewife roles and entered industry and the armed forces discovering careers and undreamed of freedom. It is told against the background of Lee Miller’s own life story which takes her from being a fashion supermodel via life as a surrealist artist to a combat photographer and finally a gourmet cook.

A film, 'Lee', is currently being made about the life of Lee Miller starring Kate Winslett

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

Wool, cotton and silk have each played a crucial role in the fortunes of Central Asia. Wool created the clothing and housing needed by the great nomadic cultures that were to dominate Middle Asia. Silk was more valuable than gold and used as currency, creating a network of trading routes that led to the first outbreak of globalisation. Cotton was the cause of Russian and then Soviet Colonisation and continues to cause controversy today as well as human misery and environmental catastrophe The felts, carpets, embroideries, robes and veils of the Silk Road stratified wealth, displayed religious and political entrenchments and changed the fortunes of this fascinating part of the world; a meeting place between Mohammed and Marx.

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

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

In so many country houses open to the public both stables and carriage houses have been converted into either the restaurant or gift shop. Whilst completely understandable from an economic perspective, this change in function sometimes serves to divert attention from their original purpose and significance. Often the focus of important architectural commissions, they were fundamental elements to the house and estate without which neither could function effectively.

This lecture aims to redress the balance by looking at the architectural history of the British stable through a wealth of artistic sources, examining their design and evolution from the late medieval period to the end of the 19th century when literal ‘horsepower’ started to give way to its mechanical alternatives.

Christopher Garibaldi was Director of Palace House, Newmarket (National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art) from 2010 - 2019. He has worked as Co-Director of the Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections and as Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum. He catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residences.

As the funeral of HM The Queen will take place on Monday 19th September it has been necessary to re-schedule the lecture due to take place on that day.

The lecture will now take place on Monday, 19th December at the usual time of 2.00pm.

Although close to Christmas, it is hoped that, by giving members plenty of notice, many of you will be able to take a welcome break from cooking and shopping to enjoy a relaxing hour at Cosford.

Louise was Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities in the British Museum for 13 years. In this very personal take on her adventures working in the British Museum she will take you down to haunted basements and tell you of secret exorcisms carried out there. Several fabulous artefacts in the Museum have curses attached to them. ‘The Unlucky Mummy’ (on display in one of the Egyptian galleries) has a reputation for causing death and destruction – including the sinking of the Titanic…!

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

From an Indian river bed thousands of years ago to the Tower of London – the fascinating story of the ‘Mountain of Light’. The story of this celebrated diamond is not only intriguing but also full of surprises; it has been the subject of desire, jealousy, intrigue, passion and political chicanery. This lecture follows the journey of this fabulous diamond from the depths of early Indian history through the bloody history of the Mughals to the power and politics of the British Empire, illustrated by extraordinary artists who were committed to describing the events and emotions of their time. 

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

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

Georgina holds a BA in Art History from Southampton University, an MA in Arts Management and Policy from City, University of London and an MA in Art History from SOAS, University of London. Georgina is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society.

The Maya created one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the ancient world.  Their achievements in the arts and sciences, along with their complex social, political and economic systems, make them one of the most remarkable culture groups in the Precolumbian Americas. These people brought us an intricate calendar system, complex hieroglyphic writing, some of the largest pyramids in the world, a form of ballgame that was like no other and most importantly chocolate! This lecture will discuss the major achievements of the Maya as well as pointing out the common misunderstandings we have of this remarkable civilization.

Dr Diane Davies is a Maya archaeologist and honorary research associate of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She completed her PhD at Tulane University, New Orleans. Little is known about the Maya in the UK and so aside from carrying out research in Guatemala and teaching, Diane is an educational consultant for schools giving workshops to both teachers and children on the Maya. She has created award-winning resources, organizes trips to the Maya area and is also the Chair of Chok Education, a charity supporting the education of Maya children. Diane organises conferences on the Maya as well as lecturing to a variety of organisations, including the City Literary Institute, London and the Historical Association.

Why were policemen hired to protect Manet’s painting ‘Olympia’ from being attacked?  The work was greeted with shock and disgust when it was exhibited at the 1865 Salon of Paris: ’Such indecency!’, ‘It recalls the horror of the morgue!’, ‘dirty hands and wrinkled feet!’. Instead of painting an idealised view of feminine beauty, Manet depicted a realistic and provocative French courtesan. He rebelled against all the ‘rules’ and sent shockwaves through the Paris art world. What Manet didn’t realise was that his scandalous painting would mark the start of Modern Art.

This talk considers Manet’s most celebrated works including ‘Olympia’, ‘Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ and ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’. It looks at how his paintings of ‘truth’ changed the entire course of Art History.

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

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

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

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

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

The 14th century artist Cennino Cennini recommended using “the chicken bones that you will find under the dining table” for making charcoaled bone black to paint with. His treatise, The Craftsman's Handbook, gives us an understanding of some of the surprising materials which any artist had to master before he could begin to paint, such as the tail of a squirrel to make his paintbrushes. But many of these materials were difficult to use and have an effect on the finished look of paintings from the centuries before industrial processes changed the artist’s world. This lecture will explain the techniques and the reasons for some of the features of 15th and 16th century paintings which may seem odd to our modern eyes.

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe holds an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, she 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.

It is Valentine’s Day 1895, and sitting in your seat at the elegant St James Theatre in the heart of London’s West End, you are about witness one of the most important opening nights in theatrical history: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde; one of the most famous and brilliant plays ever written.

Described as  ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’, it was of its time and yet ahead of its time.

In this lecture, we imagine what it was like to attend that opening night. We explore the social & cultural context of the play and some of the hidden elements which the audience then (and perhaps now) were not aware of.

We dicover that for the author, this glittering triumph heralded the beginning of his own fateful, final act...

In conclusion, we examine subsequent stage and film versions of the play and why it still continues to delight audiences all over the world.

Simon Whitehouse is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique & voice teacher and award winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in-house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public & private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts & English literature. As a Blue Badge Guide, he regularly guides The Arts Society’s groups on their visits programmes.

In 2024 the National Gallery celebrates its 200th birthday. In the run up to this special anniversary, we explore some of the nation’s best-loved paintings in a new light, revealing details which cannot be seen with the naked eye and discussing what goes on behind the scenes in the conservation, framing and scientific departments. The lecture will result in a greater understanding of not only the art itself, but also of the work the National Gallery does to care for it, present it and interpret it.

Few of the gallery’s works retain their original frames but an expert team will often source and adapt examples which complement the paintings historically, or indeed hand-carve new ones from scratch. We will also look at the technical challenges involved in hanging, displaying, moving and framing the collection and the various solutions devised by the Art Handling Team. Many of the paintings in the gallery were designed for a very specific function, an altarpiece such as Piero’s Baptism of Christ for example, so how do the curators allow us to interpret and view these within a museum context? Finally, we’ll talk about restoration and conservation, exploring extraordinary details from works such as the Wilton Diptych, which have only been discovered recently thanks to scientific analysis.

Siân Walters is an art historian and the director of Art History in Focus. She has been a lecturer at the National Gallery for 20 years and taught their first online course, Stories of Art, in September 2020. She also lectures for The Wallace Collection, The Art Fund and many art societies and colleges throughout Europe, and taught at Surrey University for many years.

Her specialist areas include 15th and 16th century Italian Art, Spanish Art and Architecture, Dutch and Flemish painting and the relationship between Dance and Art (she is an honorary advisor to the Nonsuch Historical Dance Society). Siân studied at Cambridge University where she was awarded a choral exhibition and a 1st for her dissertation on the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. She has lived in France and Italy where she worked for the eminent Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon and for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. She spends much of the year organising and leading specialist art tours abroad, including bespoke trips for The Arts Society.

In recent years Siân has been asked to represent the National Gallery at the international Hay Festival and was named a Highly Commended finalist in the World’s Best Guide Awards. In 2018 she was invited to be the guest lecturer on the inaugural BRAVO Cruise of Performing Arts alongside Katherine Jenkins, Julian Lloyd Webber and Ruthie Henshall. In 2020 Siân presented the first online courses for both The Wallace Collection and The National Gallery.

The Norman invasion of England in 1066 is often represented as the stage on which the medieval knight made his spectacular debut. In this lecture, we delve deeper into the realities of war at the time of the Conquest to better appreciate the ways in which the Bayeux Tapestry was intended to be 'read' and understood.

Dr Tobias Capwell is Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London and an internationally-acknowledged authority on Medieval and Renaissance weapons. In 2015 he had the unusual honour of serving as one of the two fully armoured horsemen escorting the remains of King Richard III to their final resting place in Leicester Cathedral.

Described by a prominent art critic as 'the best artist you've never heard of'. From safe, traditional, beginnings in East Sussex, Edward Burra's life and art sallied forth, encountering Parisian nightlife, the jazz clubs of prohibition-era New York and the war-torn landscapes of the Spanish Civil. His paintings have been described as ‘vividly idiosyncratic and memorable’ and became increasingly disturbing and surreal. This lecture looks at the life and work of this highly unusual British artist and the reasons his art took the form it did.

Rosalind Whyte holds a BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich and lectures at Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises.

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 1200 artworks found in possession of the son of a notorious Nazi dealer.

Shauna Isaac has been active in World War II art restitution for several years and has worked with families and government organisations to recover Nazi looted art. She set up the Central Registry on Looted Cultural Property and served as a member of the Working Group for the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague. Shauna studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art in the UK and Smith College in the USA. She is a regular lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Her publications include articles for The Art Newspaper, The Times Literary Supplement and Art Quarterly. She is a contributor to the book Insiders/Outsiders: Refuges from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British Visual Culture.

In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. This talk looks at how to apply these principles in designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting. However, it goes further than this and looks at how contemporary work of the likes of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

Timothy Walker 

Since 1986 Timothy has given 1,500 public lectures. This was originally part of his work as director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1988 to 2014. Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Since 2014 he has been a college lecturer and tutor at Somerville College Oxford. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms. My lectures investigate this relationship.

This is the story of the epic rivalry between the two giants of British art, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. As unlike in background and temperament as their paintings were in style, these two creative geniuses transformed the art of landscape. This lecture/study day sets them head-to-head and examines their differences, their similarities, their battles and their shared triumphs. But who will ultimately be crowned star painter? As well as giving an overview of Turner and Constable, the subject provides an enjoyable overview of the British art world during the nineteenth century.  

Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She studied at the University of York and Birkbeck College, London. Formerly a curator at Tate Britain, she has curated a number of exhibitions and has published widely on J.M.W. Turner, including contributions to the online catalogue of the Turner Bequest. She is also co-editor and author of How to Paint Like Turner (Tate Publishing, 2010). In addition, she has published on Walter Richard Sickert and is co-author of Tate's catalogue of works by the Camden Town Group.

Caravaggio’s paintings inspired many artists during his lifetime and would go on to influence many more, from Orazio Gentileschi to Peter Paul Rubens, Gerard van Honthorst and Rembrandt. Each absorbed a different aspect of his work. His style spread across Europe and gave rise to the international movement known as ‘Caravaggism’. Yet for many, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is famed as much for his art as for his criminal record. Was it the violence of his times or his own violent spirit that inspired the dramatic lighting and intense naturalism of his work? This lecture follows the dramatic incidents of the artist’s life and looks at why and how his influence spread so far.

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 is currently working towards her Ph.D. at the University of York on the involvement of Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury Group in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1937. She is a lecturer in Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit).

Bosch’s world of devils, demons and deadly sins are truly unforgettable. At the same time, his extraordinary treatment of religious themes can be deeply moving. His works are among the most mysterious in the whole of European art, yet if we examine them in the context of contemporary politics and cultural sources we find that not only are they perfectly understandable, but they also provide an amazing insight into the society in which the artist lived. 

Val Woodgate is a lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and also at many other London galleries. She is a former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery. She lectures and runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

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

Alexandra Epps BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing

Alexandra is an official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery.She is a Pallant House Gallery Lecturer and qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. She is a member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and 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. .

One hundred years ago a group of American musicians docked in London, bringing with them for the very first time one of the twentieth century’s most important musical genres: jazz, a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensemble work and improvisation. Drawing on his practical experience both as musicologist and gigging musician, Sandy is able to shed light on jazz from the inside. His talk touches on the disparate influences which lay behind the emergence of jazz, and his musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very earliest jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.

Tamara de Lempicka dazzled Paris’ artistic circles in the 1920s and 30s and seduced with her stylish portraits. These heady years saw her immortalise the atmosphere of wealth and decadence of Paris. Other painters oscillated between Cubism and Fauvism, but deLempicka was one of the few to be able to embody the decorative style of Art Deco in her paintings. Stunningly beautiful, she engaged in the world of fashion and photography, as well as presenting herself as the quintessential modern, independent young woman. She was glamorous and notorious, but her extraordinary talent confirmed her reputation as one of the most iconic painters of her generation.

Claire Walsh 

MA V&A and RCA; PhD European University Institute, Florence. Having previously worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum and lectured for the University of Warwick, Claire Walsh now teaches at the Open University. She has  lectured widely in Britain, including at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum and Museum of London and to specialist groups including the NACF, the Ceramics Society, the Costume Society and the Ancient Monuments Society. She has also lectured in Europe, the USA (including Yale and the Huntington) and Canada and has written numerous publications.

Years of working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in England and Germany have given Angela unique insights into the destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. In this thought-provoking talk she offers a deeper understanding of the minds, lives and challenges of offenders. With extraordinary slides of art projects and prisoner’s art, she demonstrates how within the process of creating art of any discipline, there are vital opportunities for offenders to confront their crimes and develop the key life skills so essential in leading a positive and productive life. A frequent response to this talk has been “I had no idea!” and indeed it casts light onto areas of our society where the Arts not only are visual, decorative or commercial, but absolutely vital, hugely relevant and potentially life-changing. This talk is moving, informative and very original. Interspersed with personal accounts of humorous or slightly horrifying situations, these talks have kept audiences across the country engrossed. 

Angela Findlay is a professional artist, writer and freelance lecturer with a long career of teaching art in prisons in Germany and England. Her time ‘behind bars’ and later as Arts Coordinator of the London-based Koestler Trust, gave her many insights into the huge impact the arts can have in terms of rehabilitation. Her ideas were novel but effective and in 2016 she was invited to the Ministry of Justice to present the case for the arts to be included in their new rehabilitation and education policies. Since Brexit, the direction of prison policy has reversed. In the past decade Angela’s Anglo-German roots led her to research Germany’s largely unknown post-WWII process of remembrance. So completely different to the British one, the arts once again play a huge and vital role, this time in expressing the apology that underlies the country’s unique culture of counter memorials.  Angela has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, a Diploma in Artistic Therapy (specialising in colour) and her paintings are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. 

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

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

Neil Faulkner was educated at King's College Cambridge and Institute of Archaeology UCL. He works as lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster and is a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. He edits Military History Monthly and is Director of Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project and of the Great Arab Revolt Project.

He is author of The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse, Hidden Treasure, Rome: Empire of the Eagles, and The Ancient Greek Olympics: a visitor's guide. He is also author of forthcoming Lawrence of Arabia's War.

Major TV appearances include Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

Warwick Castle remains one of Britain’s best preserved and most popular medieval castles. The imposing stone walls and towers were raised by the powerful Earls of Warwick, who took a leading role in the most important events of Medieval England. From 1604, the castle was transformed from a fortification and into a luxurious stately home. The treasures of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Earls filled the castle with arguably one of Britain’s most undiscovered collections of Old Master Painting, Furniture, Arms and Armour and objet d’art. The sale of Warwick Castle to an entertainments company in 1978, by Lord Brooke, meant that the castle’s history, collection and interiors remains one of the country’s best kept secrets.

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

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

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

We’re heading for a thousand years since a royal family first settled in Westminster. In that time the place has been littered with palaces. Reigning monarchs have lived in six within walking distance of each other, and this is a journey through them all. From the Palace of Westminster, to the largest palace in the Europe of its time – Whitehall. The Banqueting House - jewel in its crown - is still with us. After a century of the House of Hanover in St James’s Palace, the 1820s saw three palaces emerge on the Mall for three brothers - even though it already sported three perfectly good ones. This was palace profligacy, led by spendthrift-in-chief King George IV. With gems from five – including Buckingham Palace - surviving, this lecture brings to life a millennium of royal house hopping.

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 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 will be 250 years old on 17 December 2020.

DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, THIS LECTURE IS CANCELLED.

IT IS HOPED TO RE-BOOK AT A LATER DATE

From safe, traditional, beginnings in East Sussex, Edward Burra's life and art sallied forth, encountering Parisian nightlife, the jazz clubs of prohibition-era New York and the war-torn landscapes of the Spanish Civil. His paintings have been described as ‘vividly idiosyncratic and memorable’ and became increasingly disturbing and surreal. This lecture looks at the life and work of this highly unusual British artist and the reasons his art took the form it did.

Rosalind Whyte gained a BA and an MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. She lectures at Tate, Dulwich Picture Gallery, to independent art societies and on cruises. 

DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, THIS LECTURE IS CANCELLED.

IT IS HOPED TO RE-BOOK AT A LATER DATE

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 1200 artworks found in possession of the son of a notorious Nazi dealer.

Shauna Isaac has been active in World War II art restitution for several years and has worked with families and government organisations to recover Nazi looted art. She set up the Central Registry on Looted Cultural Property and served as a member of the Working Group for the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague. Shauna studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art in the UK and Smith College in the USA. She is a regular lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Her publications include articles for The Art Newspaper, The Times Literary Supplement and Art Quarterly. She is a contributor to the book Insiders/Outsiders: Refuges from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British Visual Culture.

Artists have always commented on the social issues of the day and there is no lack of subject matter in the 20th and 21stcentury. In dealing with the two World Wars, the horror of war rather than the glory is courageously addressed. Interesting are works on other social issues such as the rise of communism, the Spanish Civil War (Branson) and debate about Nuclear Energy (Moore). We remember British and Irish views of Northern Ireland, Racism in Britain (Offili) and the Aids epidemic (Derek Jarman), all subjects where the art is beautiful and the subject matter challenging. We now have global politics to confront with the challenging work of Ai WeiWei as well as graffiti from our own Bansky which has spread to war torn Syria and back. The emergence of Trump and his wall, immigration and refugees. These confront us daily. Whatever one’s political view point, there is much to admire and also many ideas to agree – or disagree - with.                                               

Elizabeth Strang attained a humanities degree through the Open University, with art as a main subject, specifically modern art. She was recruited as a Guide when Tate Modern opened in 2000 and has since worked at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain, covering all aspects of art. She now lectures widely, specialising in 20th century art. 

For centuries tea has occupied a remarkable position in British society. The first recorded cup of tea was taken by Samuel Pepys on the 25th September 1660 and duly noted in his diary.

Tea was regarded as an exotic and fashionable commodity, commanding high prices and enjoyed only by the fortunate few.

However, over the years tea drinking gradually spread to all levels of society. This lecture will cover the social history of tea and the wares manufactured especially for this beverage.

Gaye Blake-Roberts is a design historian and the curator of the Museum at Wedgwood, where she has worked for more than 40 years. She has been Director since 2011. She is  co-author of the definitive book on Wedgwood china, Wedgwood - a Story of Creation and Innovation.

This lecture is based on Colin Davies’s book ‘A New History of Modern Architecture’ published in August 2017. Major themes in 20th and 21st century architecture, such as the rise of Modernism, the Postmodernist reaction, the survival of Classicism, and the effects of digital culture on the architecture of the new century, are introduced and explained in jargon-free terms.

The aim is to foster a fuller understanding Modern architecture and thereby encourage the enjoyment of its rich variety.

Colin Davies is Professor of Architectural Theory. Former editor Architects Journal and contributer to magazines worldwide. His books include Thinking About Architecture, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century,The Prefab Home, High Tech Architecture, A New History of Modern Architecture  and monographs on the work of Foster, Hopkins and Grimshaw.

These sumptuous paintings are now among the highlights of nineteenth century British art, but in their day they caused public outrage. In 1848 seven young artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, formed a secret society, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Taking their inspiration from early Renaissance painting, they set out to challenge the artistic establishment with a heady mix that combined rebellion, beauty, scientific precision and imaginative grandeur and constituted Britain’s first modern art movement. The Pre-Raphaelite environment was broad, stretching across the fine and decorative arts, responding to a fast-changing religious and political climate, and in its relationship to women practitioners. 

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

Charles John Huffam Dickens brought into the world a staggering array of wonderful characters with orphans, starving children, misers, murderers and abusive school teachers among them. People such as Mr Micawber, Fagin and Abel Magwitch remain in one’s literary psyche long after the books are put down. Largely self-educated, Dickens possessed the genius to become the greatest writer of his age with 15 major novels and countless short stories and articles. In his lecture Bertie Pearce looks at the life and places of Dickens through his characters. The talk is interspersed with readings of this works. A truly Dickensian experience. 

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

This lecture takes us on a fascinating journey from wheat fields and vineyards to markets and temples, from household tables to toilets and finally the tomb.

We see the influence of the Greeks and Etruscans and visit the fertile fields around Mount Vesuvius where food and drink was produced.

The remains of sacrifices in the villa gardens remind us of the vital role of food and drink in religion.

We explore the fine dining which wealthy Romans enjoyed surrounded by beautiful mosaics and frescoes and thence to the kitchens and cess pits below. From these come amazing new evidence on diet and disease.

Finally, from the remains of those who died at Pompeii, new research means that even in death they tell us of the feasts they enjoyed in life. 

Dr Paul Roberts is the newly appointed Sackler Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University. From 1994 to 2014 he was Senior Roman Curator in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, where he was the driving force behind the major exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum. At the Ashmolean he worked on an exhibition for 2016 Storms, War and Shipwrecks: Sicily and the Sea- telling the history of Sicily through shipwreck finds around the island. He studied at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield and Oxford and lived in Italy for several years, in Milan, Rome and Naples. He has excavated in Britain, Greece, Libya, Turkey and in particular Italy, where he directs excavations in the Sabine hills near Rome. His research focuses on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people in the Greek and Roman worlds. He has accompanied tours to Sicily, the Bay of Naples and Rome and has written books on Roman daily life, Roman Emperors, mummy portraits and Roman glass. He is currently writing a walking tour of Ancient Rome.

King Charles I was a spectacular collector of art. In the words of Francis Haskell, Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University for 28 years until 1995, Charles I owned “the finest collection of pictures ever assembled in this country”. Of the 140 items in the Charles I exhibition at the Royal Academy in 2017-18, 89 were from the Royal Collection, for which I worked for 18 years. My lecture shows many of his best acquisitions, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Van Dyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Holbein and many others. But then alas there was a hiccup - Charles I was executed and Oliver Cromwell sold a lot of his collection in what today might be called two huge car boot sales.

The restored King Charles II managed to retrieve a lot of his father’s collection and was a great collector in his own right. He added, for example, 600 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and 80 by Holbein; and paintings by Titian, Veronese and Bruegel; and ravishing portraits by Sir Peter Lely of the royal family and mistresses. He commissioned Antonio Verrio to produce superb murals and ceiling paintings at Windsor Castle. And he also had made dazzling new Crown Jewels.

Oliver Everett was educated at Cambridge University and did post graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA; and at the London School of Economics. Following service in the Foreign Office, including postings in India and Spain, he was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales,1978-80; and then Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, 1981-3. He was Librarian in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1984 2002. He is now Librarian Emeritus following his retirement in 2002. He wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle, taught a course on its history and advised on a television programme about it. He wrote articles on the Royal Library and helped with two books on aspects of the Royal Collection. He is advising on a possible history series for television. He lectures widely in Britain and abroad and also on cruise ships.

Birmingham Town Hall was built (in 1832-4) to serve both as an emblem for the town and as a venue in which to hold its great public events. Constructed with funds raised by a public rate, from the outset the people of Birmingham regarded this ‘built by the people for the people’ building as their own. As it occupies a central place in Birmingham and its story, study of this focal landmark provides ample opportunity for extrapolative consideration of the broader history of this the ‘city of a thousand trades’. The Town Hall’s design was selected by the town commissioners by means of an architectural competition: Based on the design of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum, Rome, the presence of this grand edifice at the heart of the town would, they hoped, encourage inhabitants and visitors alike to think of ancient Rome - the great centre of classical civilisation – and reflect on the comparative achievements of modern day Birmingham. Regarded as Britain’s first truly civic building, Birmingham Town Hall was also the country’s first great purpose built concert hall. Over the course of its history it has played host to many noteworthy events. For instance it was here, in 1846, that Mendelssohn conducted the premier performance of The Elijah. In addition to discussing the building’s architectural form and matters such as pre-Victorian concert hall design and civic pride (as reflected in this and other historic buildings in Birmingham), the lecture also engages with the colourful story of the Town Hall’s construction: With challenges at the stone quarries in Anglesey, strikes by the labour force, a fatal accident on site and delay upon delay, this was a far from straight forward building project: Indeed the architects as well as the contractors eventually succumbed to bankruptcy. When it was finally completed the Town Hall was lauded as being both ‘by far the cheapest building of its magnitude perhaps ever erected’ as well as ‘the pride of Birmingham and an ornament to England’. The narrative will be rounded off with an account of the £35 Million scheme to repair and revitalise the Town Hall, including an explanation of several intriguing discoveries made by the lecturer on site. 

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

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

“After God, we owed the victory to the horse.” So said the Spanish Conquistadores, and they were right. Human history would have been very different without the help of the animal which has served Mankind more than any other. In art the horse appears in many guises, all of which reflect human actions and concerns in one way or another – status symbol, war machine, beast of burden, sporting animal, emblem of injustice and fear, of peace and pleasure, and much more.

Val Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at many London galleries, incuding Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She is a former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery and runs courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

This lecture examines Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode other ‘modern moral subjects’. It looks at how the artist used his work to wage war against London’s sex trade and child poverty as part of his personal crusade to establish modern urban life as an appropriate subject for high art. Insights into the darker side of life in 18th century London are blended with the story of how Hogarth worked his way up from an apprenticed engraver to successful painter and philanthropist.

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 is currently working towards her Ph.D. at the University of York on the involvement of Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury Group in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1937. She is a lecturer in Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit).

J.M.W. Turner was arguably the greatest practitioner in watercolour the world has ever seen and his achievements still represent the benchmark for artists working today. Yet he left frustratingly few written records of his processes and was notoriously reticent about his methods. One brave soul apparently once asked him the key to being a successful artist and it is recorded that he rather grumpily replied ‘The only secret I have is damned hard work’! This lecture examines Turner’s watercolour practice in detail, unlocking the mysteries behind his exceptional effects. In addition to showcasing the diversity and richness of his achievements in the medium, we will look at his experimental approach to techniques and some of his tools and materials. 

Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She studied at the University of York and Birkbeck College, London. Formerly a curator at Tate Britain she has curated a number of exhibitions and has published widely on J.M.W. Turner, including contributions to the forthcoming online catalogue of the Turner Bequest. She is also co-editor and author of How to Paint Like Turner (Tate Publishing, 2010). In addition, she has published on Walter Richard Sickert and is co-author of Tate's catalogue of works by the Camden Town Group.

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

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

Marc Allum gives an insight into the organisation of the BBC Antiques Roadshow. and shares some of the highlights of his 20 years’ experience as a specialist on the programme.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire.He is shortly to begin his 20th year as a specialist on the BBC Antiques  Roadshow and has appeared on numerous television and radio rogrammes. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc has his own unique style with interests ranging from pre-history to modern design and is a self-confessed collectaholic. He has a passion and reputation for divining the unusual through ‘a desire to connect with history through the interpretation and pursuit of objects and their origins’. Marc has lectured widely for many years to a number of different organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust, The WI and many literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath, Wells and Petworth.

Many composers and choreographers find inspiration in the plays of Shakespeare, but only the greatest have adapted his works successfully. Verdi, of course, in Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff; Berlioz and Kenneth MacMillan in Romeo and Juliet; Frederick Ashton in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Most recently, Christopher Wheelan joined this august band with his ballet The Winter’s Tale.

This lecture explores why these particular works come up to the measure of their great originals, even when not a word of Shakespeare makes it to the stage.

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

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns.

This lecture describes some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo have been a particularly rich source. From the Renaissance through to the present day, fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance Brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony.

In an entertaining and informative lecture Tony uses a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and the (not always entirely successful) advertisements that are the end result.

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

It is sometimes difficult for us to understand the full meaning of a painting from the past due to the wealth of symbolism it contains, much of it obscure to us today but instantly recognizable to contemporaries. This lecture aims to peel back the layers of Renaissance art by deciphering the meaning of some of these symbols - spiritual and secular, virginal and vulgar – and so enable us to read these paintings as had the people for whom they were intended. 

Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part-time lecturer for the University of East Anglia and for the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She runs study days and certificate courses as well as residential weekend courses  and lectures to the Art Fund and individual clubs and societies. She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced.

Dame Laura Knight RA (1877-1970) is generally regarded as the greatest female British artist of the 20th century. Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960) is far less known, but is coming into her own, following the latest Exhibition of her work at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, in the winter of 2015-16. It was well covered in three pages of the Winter issue of the last NADFAS Review.

Laura Knight was the only female artist to become a Full Member of the Royal Academy in the 20th century, and the only one to be made a Dame. Yet her subjects were wide-ranging, from the ballet to circuses, from portraits of gypsies to Lords and Ladies. She also painted the Nuremburg War Trials. Evelyn Dunbar was the only official female War Artist, and she specialised in views of the Women’s Land Army, and the unusual tasks, such as milking or baling hay, which the War compelled them to take. But which was the greater artist? It is for you to decide.

Nicholas Reed is an art historian and archaeologist. In the 1980s he became Founder- Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe. In 2005 he was one of two Lecturer Representatives on the The Arts Society Advisory Council and also Vice-Chairman of Folkestone. He is the author of four books on the Impressionists in England, and one on the Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames. 

For more than 5000 years artists have been attempting to depict illness and healing in their art.  From Egyptian wall paintings, medieval manuscripts, Renaissance masterpieces, and 19th and 20th century realism, the mysteries of medicine have inspired artworks around the world.  In this lecture we will look at some of the bizarre, amusing and often startling realistic depictions of medicine in art throughout the ages.

Geri Parlby is a former Fleet Street journalist and film publicist. She has a first class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate from Roehampton University in London. She has been lecturing for the past eleven years both in the UK and internationally. She is also principal lecturer on the The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and is an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

 It is 950 years since the Normans invaded England. The roughest of company, they came not to civilise, but to seize. A mere eleven men in Duke William’s inner circle enjoyed an unprecedented bonanza, receiving almost half the land of the conquered kingdom. There followed an orgy of building in what was described as ‘a new manner’ – castles, churches, monasteries and cathedrals – that all but effaced the fabric of Saxon England. It was their way of showing us who was in charge. In describing the mass of post-Conquest masonry, Rupert focuses on individuals, like the deeply unpleasant Baldwin de Redvers, lord of the Isle of Wight, where his legacy endures. He offers an insight into their lives – and the disgusting details of William the Conqueror’s funeral.

Rupert Willoughby is a prize-winning historian who specialises in the domestic and social life of the past. A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London, he is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin, of guides to castles owned by English Heritage and Hampshire County Council, and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village and Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. He contributes regular obituaries to The Times and The Daily Telegraph, writes privately-commissioned histories of houses, and is an experienced lecturer - and occasional broadcaster - on a broad range of topics, with a particular interest in architecture, interior decoration and costume.

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

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

Born in the years between the Wars, Romantic Modernism continues to inspire 21st century designers and painters. This lecture offers a vision of Modernist art from an English perspective, through the work of painter, war artist and wood engraver Eric Ravilious and printmaker, painter and designer of stained glass windows, John Piper.                                             

Suzanne Fagence Cooper studied History at Oxford University and Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and at Christie's Education. She was a Curator and Research Fellow at the V&A Museum for 12 years, and is now a Visiting Fellow at the University of York. She has lectured extensively for museums and on Cunard liners, and undertaken broadcasts and consultancies for the BBC and Channel Four. She also worked as Historical Consultant to Ralph Fiennes for The Invisible Woman, a film about Charles Dickens, and the BBC drama, The Living and the Dead. Her publications include Pre-Raphaelite Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum (2003), The Victorian Woman (2001), and Effie Gray, a biography of the Scottish wife of John Ruskin and John Everett Millais. 

Can a single year adequately encapsulate an artistic environment in British art history? This lecture, The Art of 1935, explores that year’s many aspects of decorative and fine art, demonstrating how these artistic forms reflected the period in a fitting and cohesive manner. Set against the backdrop of the 1935 Silver Jubilee Celebrations of King George V and Queen Mary, audiences are transported back to this fabulous time and learn about this pivotal year. The fully illustrated talk examines the range of contemporaneous art forms; including the work of the celebrated British portrait photographer, Cecil Beaton; magazine, poster and Penguin paperback book design; architecture; Silver Jubilee memorabilia; commemorative stamps; locomotive design and fashion. An exploration of the year 1935 would not be complete without a study of certain significant works by the Polish-born artist Tamara de Lempicka which have come to personify the age of Art Deco. We also review Art Deco interiors on stylish cruise liners and film sets, as well as acknowledging the importance of The Lansdowne Club which opened its doors for the first time on 1 May 1935. Sporting and motoring trivia are also revealed.

Pamela Campbell-Johnston holds an MA Hons degree in Art History, St Andrew's University. She has over 20 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of the Adult Education Department's programme of events. She has also conducted numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art specialising in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art. She recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club.

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. 

Madeline Goold, LLB; B.A; M.Phil; SWLA, originally read Law at the London School of Economics, and later Fine Art and Art History at the Barber Institute, Birmingham.  She teaches stone carving at her studio and exhibits with the Society of Wildlife Artists to which she was elected in 2009.  She is a LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) gold medallist with Distinction in public speaking. 

Great artists are like buses: you wait years for one to turn up and then two come at once. It happened with Reynolds and Gainsborough in the 18th century, with Turner and Constable in the 19th century and now, thrillingly, in our day with Freud and Hockney. The sell-out success of the two exhibitions in London this spring testifies to the excitement that both artists engender. Hockney said that when Freud painted him it took 130 hours and that when he painted Freud it took him 3 hours! On the other hand Hockney’s range of subject matter, experiment and challenge is far greater, almost akin to that of his hero Picasso. This talk will look at the careers of both men from Freud’s legacy of being brought up in the Berlin of the Weimar Republic and as the grandson of Sigmund, and of Hockney’s journey from Bradford to Swinging 1960s London and then to hedonistic California and finally back to Bridlington and his ambitious and extraordinary recent paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds. The nearly impossible question will be addressed: who is the greater artist? 

 John Iddon is a lecturer and guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. He ran an MA course in Heritage Interpretation at St Mary's University College. He has lectured freelance to numerous art societies, to the National Trust and the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice. Lectures on art for cruises. In 2012, he wrote the guidebook to the newly opened Strawberry Hill.

During the 1880s the city of Glasgow emerged as a major cultural centre rivalling the nation’s capital, Edinburgh. New money and a determination to collect modern art provided great opportunities for a generation of up and coming artists. Now known as the Glasgow Boys this group included James Guthrie, Atkinson Hornel, George Henry, and the Irish Glasgow Boy, John Lavery. Influenced by Japan, and contemporary French and Dutch painting these, artists brought a breath of fresh air to Glasgow. They adopted en plein air painting and escaped to the countryside to find scenes of everyday life. They paved the way for the city’s renaissance during the 1890s, exemplified by the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Four. The Four, who included Mackintosh’s talented wife Margaret Macdonald and her sister, Francis, produced art that was at the cutting edge - their influence in Europe was to be profound, forging a new design ethos. The Colourists, on the other hand looked to France, especially Matisse and the bright colours of the Fauves-Peploe, Fergusson, Hunter and Cadell. 

Anne Anderson graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Leicester University in 1978 and worked as an archaeologist for 8 years, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997. From 1993-2007 she worked as senior lecturer on the Fine Arts Valuation degree courses at Southampton Solent University, specialising in the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism. She is currently Hon. Research Fellow at Exeter University; a Fletcher Jones Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA; a fellow of the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum and Library; Cumming Ceramic Research Foundation Fellow (2007 and 2010) and consultant for Lord Frederic Leighton's Studio-House, Kensington. Her 2008 exhibition Ancient Landscapes, Pastoral Visions Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists attracted some 47,000 visitors. She has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne-Jones.She has  lectured for The Arts Society since 1993. Her television credits include BBC's Flog It! Anne is also a tutor at the V&A on the Chardin to Cézanne year course.

This lecture looks at the seven most important women in Picasso's life and examines the way in which his emotional life influenced what he painted and how he painted it. When Picasso fell out of love, that fact would be revealed first of all in his paintings. 

Val Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. She lectures on religious art in churches and cathedrals, and is a script-writer for the Living Painting Trust (art for the blind and partially-sighted).

The question of fake decorative art has troubled the art world for hundreds of years. Increasingly sophisticated methods are being used by criminals to dupe experts at the highest level and generate vast profits.

This lecture reveals actual case studies, demonstrating the lengths to which forgers will go in passing off works as legitimate. It is estimated that a high percentage of all works within the art market are fake.

Malcolm Kenwood is a retired specialist police detective who investigated crime involving art and antiques. He was also the Recoveries Director for the Art Loss Register. He has lectured to police conferences, customs officers, auction house staff, museum employees and the FBI.

Should we accept that the very best photographs can be regarded as Fine Art? This question is at the heart of a lecture which argues that photography can equal, not to say exceed, more traditional disciplines in the key genres of portraiture, landscape and still life.

Brian Stater has taught at University College London since 1997. 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. He now works with a pre-war Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Two tombs, a couple of statues, one temple, a garden and a lighthouse have become celebrated as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But how much do we know about them? Why and how were they chosen? This talk will try to make the vestigial traces of their grandeur come to life once again.

Dr Steve Kershaw is a classics tutor for Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education and a Professor of History of Art at Rhodes College and The University of the South, both in Tennessee. He has published several guides to the classical world.

Titanic: a name we all know. It's associated with luxury, poverty and death. This lecture delves more deeply, looking at life on the great ship specifically through the one subject everyone has a view on - food! It covers the very different eating experiences of third, second and first class passengers on a luxury liner in the Edwardian period, looking at decor and dining style as well as the food itself.

Dr Annie Gray is one of Britain's leading food historians. She works as a consultant on historic food for organisations such as The National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces. She appears regularly on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet and has appeared on The Great British Bake Off. She recently advised on, and co-presented, Victorian Bakers on BBC 2.

The story behind this gorgeous piece of jewellery goes back as far as the 6th century BC when the wives of the rich and powerful enhanced their position (and indeed that of their husbands) by appearing in this sumptuous adornment. So it has continued through the centuries. Unfortunately in our own day, with the demise of Court Life, tiaras are rarely worn except by brides in Country Life magazine, but in this lecture we look back over the years and marvel at some of the stupendous creations that ladies have placed on their heads: the staggering kokoschniks of Imperial Russia, the ancestral jewels of European royalty and aristocracy, and even the creations made in the 1920s and 30s when fashion dictated a complete revision of previous styles. There is no doubt about it, if you want to be noticed a tiara is essential! 

Nicholas Merchant 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 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 societies including NADFAS. 

Now one of Verdi's best loved operas, the first performance of La Traviata in 1853 at Venice's La Fenice opera house was described by Verdi himself as 'a fiasco'. This lecture will explain why.            

 Sarah Lenton read Theology at King's College London and has spent most of her working life in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for Royal Opera House programmes and gives pre-performance talks for both the ROH and ENO. She has written and directed more than twenty shows for the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, and gives tours at the London Coliseum. She does live commentary for BBC Radio 3 Opera braodcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio 4. She is also a cartoonist.

 Instead of Rio 2016, how about Olympia 388 BC?

Would a modern visitor to the ancient Olympics find it all very familiar, or would he (yes he - virtually no women were admitted) be overwhelmed by culture shock? How would he cope with animal sacrifices, chariot races, naked athletes and the no-holds-barred pankration - the crowd's favourite because it was virtually all blood and pain? Not to mention the philosophy lectures and the exotic night life! 

Welcome to the Ancient Greek Olympics! A stranger in a foreign land, a time-traveller visiting another age, a sports fan and a pilgrim at a once-in-a-lifetime extravaganza - you’re going to need a guide book. This is it.

Dr Neil Faulkner was educated at King's College Cambridge and the Institute of Archaeology UCL. He works as a lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster. TV appearances include Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

Have any other buildings brought such pleasure to so many?

We follow the arrival of moving pictures in the 1890s, looking at early venues such as converted shops and fairground booths. Then the architecture becomes increasingly lavish and we marvel at the plush inter-war picture palaces.  Odeons, Astorias, Gaumonts, Alhambras and Granadas abound.

We look too at the decline of the cinema-going habit but end on a high with a vibrant celebration of the movie poster (Fred Astaire, 'Third Man', Hitchcock and all).

Andrew Davies is Extra-Mural Tutor for London, Essex and The Open University. He is also author of nine books, including The Est End Nobody Knows. He is a frequent contributor to radio and television.

Traditional Art History has regarded the painted female as an ‘object’. She is to be gazed at, admired and owned.

This can easily be explained: most artists have been men, most collectors of Art have been men, and the academic subject of Art History has been dominated by men. An unbalanced view is hardly surprising!

In the early 1970’s feminist historians began to explore how Fine Art has reflected, and even contributed to, a patriarchal ideology. Art and Art History have undergone massive changes.

We will explore some ideals of womanhood: the Virgin, the pure wife and loving mother. Also some warnings: Venus, Eve and the ‘fallen’ woman!

This lecture will explore how we can re-interpret a wide range of images of women from the Renaissance through to the present century.

Lynne Gibson MA  BEd lectured for many years for the universities of Sussex and Bristol. She gives lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations and institutions including the National Trust, the National Gallery and ARCA Colleges. She also works as a professional artist.

Today textiles are taken for granted, but it was not always so. This lecture looks at how cloth and yarn were coloured and how the different colours represented power, achievement and desire. It shows how important textiles have been in history, not just as a matter of fashion but also with regard to politics, money, war, trade, laws, the church, agriculture, exploration and science.

Susan Kay-Williams is Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She published her first book, The Story of Colour in Textiles, in 2013.

In April 1937 a massive air raid by the German Luftwaffe on the Basque town of Guernica in Northern Spain shocked the world. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the raid which became a major incident of the Spanish Civil War. The bombing prompted Picasso to paint his masterpiece, Guernica.

Barry Venning has an MA in the History of Art (Courtauld). He became an Associate Lecturer for the Open University, teaching advanced courses on Modern and Italian Renaissance Art. He has worked as Visiting Lecturer at Kent University, and part-time lecturer at the Chelsea College of Art. Since 1992 he has lectured in Art History at Brooklands College He has published many books and was the BBC's script consultant on Turner's Fighting Temeraire. He has recently taken part in a BBC documentary called 'The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution’.

This lecture explores the rich collection of paintings held in The Barber Institute, looking at works as diverse as Botticelli, van Dyck, Rubens and Gauguin. It will place these works in the context of those from national collections, drawing parallels and contrasts, not only giving detailed explanations of the meanings, but also looking at a hidden aspect of these works - the appearance and function of black figures in these Masterpieces.

Leslie Primo holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies. He was Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading and gives lectures and guided tours at the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. He has lectured at the National Maritime Museum and the Courtauld Institute.

With the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, the nations of Europe were set on a collision course. Newly mechanised armies, with undreamed of power to maim and destroy, transformed the world’s notions about war. This lecture looks at the work of a group of young British War Artists and considers the ways in which they recorded this new and terrifying form of war in a body of work still remarkable for its ability to move and shock.

Jo Walton has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She is now a freelance lecturer for NADFAS, the Art Fund, and Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery.

The fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 is described and illustrated, together with the remarkable restoration which was completed five years later. Many of the watercolour paintings commissioned by the Queen after the fire and again after the restoration are shown. The way in which HM Queen and Prince Philip use Windsor Castle is illustrated, including Garter Day processions and the visits of foreign Heads of State. Oliver Everett graduated from Cambridge. Following service in the Foreign Office, including postings in India and Spain he became Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales and later Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales. He was Librarian in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle and is now Librarian Emeritus. He wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle, taught a course on its history and advised on a television programme about it.

Appearing in England in 1662, Punch is descended from the Italian Clown Pulcinella of the C15th Commedia Del Arte tradition. His comic irreverence gave Punch magazine its title. He has inspired opera, ballet and punk rock and his likeness is seen on goods ranging from Victorian silverware to computer video games. Even today he uses his slapstick to dispense with oppressive authority and political correctness while proclaiming his notorious refrain; “That’s the way to do it!” Bertie Pearce is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. His awards include the Carlton Comedy Award by the Magic Circle and, twice, the award for Originality from The International Brotherhood of Magicians. After gaining a BA (Hons) in drama from Manchester University, Bertie went on to the Ecole Internationale du Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

A look at a material that we take for granted - the history, use and development of the brick from Roman times through the flowering of English brickwork in the Tudor period and its growing sophistication in the 18th and 19th centuries. This lecture celebrates the versatility and delight of good brickwork. Lt Col Dick Bolton is a Canterbury Cathedral Guide and a Registered Blue Badge Guide for SE England and the City of Canterbury. He is Accredited to Rochester Cathedral and York Minster and is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass. He is a member of the British Brick Society and is known in NADFAS as the Brickman!

Six wives, phantom pregnancies and a Virgin Queen - the upstart Tudor dynasty virtually invented the art of propaganda through portraits by such artists as Holbein and palaces which outshone the finest of its European rivals. Throughout an age of intense religious conflict, monarchs imposed their changing allegiances on the people, using the arts to herald the virtues of their chosen Faiths. Nicole Mezey studied Art History at the Universities of Sussex, York and Paris. She was Senior Lecturer at Queen's University until 2009, and conducted annual international study tours. She now works as a freelance lecturer for organisations such as National Museums, the National Trust and Queen's University.

This lecture sets the work of Midland Artists such as the Gaskins, Florence Camm and the Ruskin Pottery in the context of the national Arts and Crafts Movement. Designers at the Bromsgrove Guild of Handicrafts, for example, produced the exquisite wrought iron gates for Buckingham Palace. The lecture also reveals the best locations in the region to see examples of local Arts and Crafts design. Dr Sally Hoban is Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and lectures extensively throughout the UK. She has Broadcast on BBC2 and BBC4 and presents regular history programmes in the Midlands. 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.

Throughout history man has developed an extraordinary variety of devices to tell the time, using the stars, sundials, shadows, clepsydra (water clocks), mechanical clocks, burning timers, sand glasses, bells and electronics. Craftsmen have always found commissions to create beautiful objects to tell the time. This lecture charts the rise and fall of these devices through history as fashion and technology have changed. Kevin Karney studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. He worked as a VSO teacher in Borneo, and then across the world as an underground engineer. He has had a life-long interest in the history of timekeeping and cosmology, and in sundials in particular, as objects of art, craft and science.

‘A View from the Plinth’: a review of public sculpture today (D) This lecture gives an overview of contemporary public sculpture in Britain and looks at what makes a successful public sculpture commission. The lecture discusses some of the most memorable examples – among others, Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North in Gateshead, the Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square and Anish Kapoor’s Orbit Tower at the Olympic Park Mary studied art history at Birkbeck College and the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA in 20th Century British Art). She was Assistant Director and Director of Grants at the Art Fund until 2006. She has lectured for the Art Fund and Kingston University, and also at the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and Museums Association conferences and study days. Her publications include 'A Place for Living Art: The Whitechapel Art Gallery 1952-68' in Artists and Patrons in Post-War Britain (2001) and articles in Art Fund and museum publications. Mary took part in Antony Gormley’s ‘One and Other’ project on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2009 and attempted to be a public sculpture for a very long hour.

‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’. Bess of Hardwick is one of the most fascinating women of the sixteenth century and her most famous building, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, survives as a fine example of Elizabethan creativity, magnificence and pride. During this lecture we examine Bess’s story, her rising social status, her association with Mary, Queen of Scots, her many husbands, her royal aspirations. We also look at the architecture, interior and luxurious furnishings of her surviving masterpiece, Hardwick Hall. Dr White 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.

Opera is an exuberant art form, full of grand emotions, big gestures and seemingly ridiculous plots. This lecture looks at the disconcerting side of opera: the huge voices, the acting styles and the story lines and reveals how its gripping theatricality is achieved by the singers, the orchestra, the director, and the hordes of technicians and craftsmen. The lecture includes hi-fi extracts from the opera repertory. Sarah Lenton has spent most of her working life in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for Royal Opera House programmes, lectures at study days, and gives pre-performance talks for both the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. She has written and directed more than 20 shows for the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre, and gives tours at the London Coliseum. She does live commentary for BBC Radio 3 Opera broadcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio 4. She is also a cartoonist.

If this question gives you food for thought you have plenty in common with artists, thinkers and educators, not just in our present time but throughout Western Art History. Plato was one of the first to agonise over the question! The question can seem particularly pressing now that anything, and everything, seems to go! We agree that a Raphael Madonna is art, but argue about Tracy Emin’s My Bed. Can they both be art, and, if so, what do they have in common? Is My Bed Conceptual Art or just a ‘con’? Can we agree on a definition of art, or are we at the mercy of Nicholas Penny, Nick Serota and Charles Saatchi? Join me to shake up some preconceptions and face up to some prejudices; to ask: But…is it art? Lynne Gibson now works as a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, Critical and Contextual Studies, as well as in practical Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. For many years she lectured for the universities of Sussex and Bristol where she introduced 'Understanding Art' to the Lifelong Learning programme and residential summer schools. Shegives talks, lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations and institutions including ARCA colleges, the National Trust, National Gallery, art museums and art societies. Also, when time permits, she works as a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching.

This lecture explores the major events in London’s history from the Norman invasion of 1066, the Great Fire of 1666, the role of the River Thames and the impact of the railway, to the recent transformation of Docklands to discover why this vibrant and sometimes infuriating city has delighted such diverse characters as Samuel Pepys and Sir John Betjeman. Andrew Davies is Extra-Mural Tutor for London, Essex and The Open Universities. He is the author of 9 books, including "The East End Nobody Knows" and is a frequent contributor to radio and television. He has lectured all over the world and organises walks to complement his lectures.

A chance to meet some of the world's most important art patrons, and one of the most colourful dynasties in Renaissance Italy. The names 'Florence' and 'Medici' are inextricably linked with each other. From the late 1300s to 1737 the family 'advised', ruled, were exiled, returned and ruled again in Florence in continuing cycles, eventually stamping their authority on the city with authoritarian firmness. At the same time they were responsible for helping to create one of the most vibrant artistic centres of the Renaissance and beyond. This is a story filled with larger-than-life characters and great art alongside stirring historical events, occasional assassinations, and the eventual decline of a remarkable dynasty. Jo Walton has combined teaching and lecturing with art bookselling. She works as a guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and lectures for the Art Fund and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

This lecture, which is delivered in costume, and starts in character, explores the context in which the Book of Household Management was published. It covers food, dining styles, and the functioning of the kitchen in the mid-Victorian era. Dr Gray writes: "I’m often to be found in the guise of a somewhat mischievous kitchenmaid at Audley End house in Essex, and I’ve appeared on The Great British Bake Off, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, and The One Show a number of times. I’m a panellist on Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet and I’m also the author of a number of academic articles. My PhD was in historical archaeology, and I have degrees from Oxford (BA), York (MA) and Liverpool. These days, I crop up regularly at heritage sites across England, both in costume and behind the scenes as a consultant, as well as lecturing for history societies, NADFAS and organisations such as Historic Royal Palaces and English Heritage. I specialise in the Georgian and Victorian periods, largely because tea wasn’t introduced until the 1650s, and life is so much more interesting with caffeine (the fashions are more flattering as well).

Inns and public houses are a rich part of Britain’s heritage and their often idiosyncratic names and signs provide us with some fascinating stories and wonderful artwork. Why are there so many ‘Red Lions' and ‘White Harts'? Who could fail to be intrigued by stories behind ‘The Jolly Taxpayer', 'The Blazing Donkey' or even ‘I am the Only Running Footman’ (the longest pub name in London)? In this light hearted and sometimes amusing lecture John shows some of the most distinctive signs and explores the intriguing stories behind their origins. John Ericson has had a wide-ranging career in education and training. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant, giving lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world.

In 1889 the young Edwin Lutyens, later to become the most famous British architect of the C20th, first met artist-gardener, and well-known eccentric, Gertrude Jekyll. Their joint creations of house and garden became the talk of Edwardian Society and set a standard of excellence which has been admired ever since. Steven Desmond is a landscape consultant specialising in the conservation and management of historic parks and gardens. He lectures at the Universities of Buckingham and Oxford. He also broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and writes for Country Life.

The art of the three main ‘Bloomsbury’ artists (Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry) cannot be separated from their extraordinary lives. They, along with their literary and other intellectual companions (Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey and John Maynard Keynes, amongst others) were part of a movement, the popular name for which became widely used only after the death of around half its members. Frank Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and for Dulwich Picture Gallery. He also lectures for Tate on cruises and is a scriptwriter for the Living Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially-sighted).

This lecture traces the development of the chair in terms of its construction and style from ancient times through to the 19th century, and will surprise with just how much there is to reveal about such a common item of furniture. The role of the chair as a symbol of power and authority in both religious and courtly ritual will be examined, as well as its social significance. Janus Karczewski-Slowiskowski is a freelance lecturer and researcher in English furniture history and also an antique dealer. His lectures seek to explain furniture in terms of the skills and materials employed in its design and construction, as well as its socio-economic significance. He has lectured to over half of the British NADFAS Societies, as well as those in Australia and many other European countries.

This is an in depth look at the profound mystery of perception. There is an eternal fascination with the unfathomable, the weird ambiguous state of seeing things which are not there – yet are there. It carries us back into that long gone deeply missed period of our childhood when magic was common place and when the boundary between the possible and the impossible was very blurred. In the same way as a magic trick surprises and delights us there is a primal enjoyment in being deceived by optical illusions. Since Roman times illusions have been used in art. The stretching and distorting of perspective has been highly developed by artists to create a range of effects on the viewer. This includes Trompe L’eoil and the closely related Anamorphic art. From the 16th to the 19th C anamorphosis became extremely popular and supplied an ideal means of camouflaging dangerous political statements, heretical ideas, and even erotic pictures. It was later revitalised by Salvador Dali who was always fascinated by optical tricks and hidden imagery. In the 1960‟s the term Optical Art or Op Art was coined to describe the growing movement of abstract painters led by Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley. Op art is a mathematically oriented form, usually abstract, which uses repetition of simple forms and colours to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns , an exaggerated sense of depth, foreground-background confusion, and other visual phenomena. Camouflage, born out of war, and taking its influence from nature with a little help from the surrealists gave birth to "disruptive pattern‟ and "razzle dazzle‟. As well as a form of disguise it has also become a means of distinguishing friend from foe. Finally, the ultimate illusion of using perspective, colour and design in Theatre Magic to conceal, shrink and ultimately disappear. Bertie Pearce is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and has performed all over the world. He is widely sought after for close up magic and cabarets for private parties and fundraisers. In 2003 he was awarded the Carlton Comedy Award by the Magic Circle and twice won the award for Originality from The International Brotherhood of Magicians which won’t surprise anyone who has seen his act. In 2009 Bertie became an accredited Nadfas Lecturer and has toured extensively sharing his passion for Magic, Punch and Judy, Victorian Pastimes and Charles Dickens. Further reading recommended by the lecturer: Masters of Deception Escher, Dali & The Artists of Optical Illusion by Al Seckel Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing by Margaret Livingstone Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite by M.C. Escher Illusion in Nature and Art by Richard Gregory and E.H. Gombrich.

Ellen Terry's home for the last thirty years of her life was Smallhythe Place, a timber-framed, 16th century farmhouse situated just outside Tenterden in Kent. Now a National Trust museum, Smallhythe is a shrine to the life and career of arguably our greatest stage actress yet it is her jewellery which is an absolute revelation. Intimate, passionate and curious, this is not a mass of pretty jewels and baubles, purchased for mere vanity or display but is instead a highly personal route map of a tangled and unconventional life spent within the rigid confines of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. John Benjamin's new talk explores the social and chronological backdrop of "The Queen of Theatre" illustrated through her amazing jewellery - surely the hidden gem in the National Trust crown. After qualifying as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association, John Benjamin gained the Association’s Diamond Diploma with distinction and joined Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers as a cataloguer and valuer. He remained at Phillips for 23 years ultimately becoming International Director of Jewellery with responsibility for the sale programme in London and Geneva. In 1999 he established his own independent jewellery consultancy. John Benjamin is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and Freeman of the City of London. He is a Fellow of the National Association of Goldsmiths' Institute of Registered Valuers and lectures on a wide range of jewellery related topics in the UK and overseas. He is also a long-standing contributor to BBC Television's ever-popular Antiques Roadshow.

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This lecture, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Martinu with the frescoes of Piero della Francesca, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons. Peter 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. Over the years he has lectured for the universities of Kent and Surrey, directed a wide range of choirs, vocal ensembles and instrumental groups, and adjudicated and given masterclasses for the British Federation of Music Festivals. On the radio, his appearances include Classic FM’s Susanna Simons’ Show, Radio 3′s In Tune, Radio 4′s Arts Programme, and Midweek with Libby Purves. His recordings number For Two to Play, Schubert Songs, Handel and His Satellites and a recently released CD of 16th and 17th century keyboard music entitled Tyme at the Virginalls. A recording of 19th and 20th century English songs is scheduled for release in Winter 2013, as well as a new Christmas CD.

It is possible to see a shift in artistic tastes following the plague years which began in the mid C14th. This is understandable considering that we now know that certainly 50% and perhaps 60% of the population of Europe and beyond perished in the first wave and that the disease recurred over the next 130 years. There is a distinct increase in interest in the macabre, but also in explorations of what will happen in the next life; some of it surprisingly optimistic and amusing. We see more interest in ex-pagan images and specific demands for spiritual protection and so what might be seen as a dust-to-dust mentality also becomes one of no tragedy, no triumph. After spending 20 years in the army, Imogen Corrigan then graduated from the University of Kent with a 1st class honours degree in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval History. She has recently returned to studying and is researching The Development and Function of the Foliate Head in English Medieval Churches for a Ph.D. at Birmingham. She has been lecturing and running study tours on Anglo-Saxon and Medieval history for some years, using art – usually church art - as the evidence in her research as much as possible. Of her work Imogen says, "However lovely or bizarre the images might be, it fascinates me to try to get at the people who made them and to hear their voices speaking. Sometimes, I may say, they speak to us directly and write things such as the Anglo-Saxon scribe who complained at the end of his manuscript that: “three fingers write, but my whole body labours.”

A mixture of art-historical analysisand scandalous anecdote, this lecture takes a light-hearted look at changing attitudes to sexual morality down the ages by examining the portraits and careers of some of history's most notorious mistresses and courtesans. Linda Smith is an art historian, with a particular knowledge of British art and the art of the 20th Century. Her MA is from Birkbeck, specializing in Postmodernism. She delivers illustrated talks, presentations and study days on a variety of art-historical topics, and has taken on various types of assignment at a wide range of venues, including public galleries, secondary schools, universities, cruise liners, and private arts societies in the UK and overseas. She is an accredited NADFAS lecturer, and an experienced gallery guide, especially at Tate Britain and the Tate Modern in London, where she has worked as a Guide and Lecturer for the past eleven years.

This lecture examines icons of prehistoric art such as the Paleolithic cave paintings found in Lascaux and the most famous early image of a human, the Willendorf Venus, considering the purpose and significance of such work to Stone age man. Dr Neil Faulkner is a freelance archaeologist and historian. He works as a writer, lecturer, excavator, and occasional broadcaster. Educated at King’s College, Cambridge, and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, he is now a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Editor of Military History Monthly, and a Lecturer for NADFAS. He co-directs the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (in Norfolk), the Great Arab Revolt Project (in Jordan), and the Great War Archaeology Group (a field unit specialising in First World War archaeology).

This lecture looks at the development of London over the centuries. It includes rivers which are now underground, Roman London, Victorian tunnels and Joseph Bazalgette's sewer system. A retired member of Royalty and Diplomatic Protection at Scotland Yard, Peter Lawrence is president of Woodford Historical Society and Chairman of Woodford Green National Trust Centre. He lectures on local history, residential architecture and environmental studies with adult colleges, including Denman College, Oxfordshire.

The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork ever found, anywhere in the world. Discovered in a field near Lichfield on the 5th July 2009, the Hoard consists of more than 3,500 items, remarkable for being almost exclusively martial or war-like in character. There is nothing comparable in terms of content and quantity in the UK or mainland Europe. What did the art work mean, and how did such a hoard come to lie in a distant corner of the barely formed C.7th kingdom of Mercia? To date, experts have theorised about why the hoard was deposited where it was, and whether it was left by Christians or pagans. Every passing day reveals more facts about the Hoard, its history and its heritage. Stephen Dean is Staffordshire's County Archaeologist. He has been involved in the discovery of the Hoard since the outset.

This lecture looks at the way in which symbols used by artists in their work may be interpreted and understood. What hidden meanings were the artists trying to convey? Christian art, Greek myths, C.17th Dutch painting, Hogarth's moralities, Victorian art and modern artists' use of both traditional and personal symbols are all considered in this wide-ranging study. Valerie Woodgate works as a lecturer and guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and other major galleries, and also lectures on religious art in churches and cathedrals. She is a member of the teaching team at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and is a script-writer for the Living Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially sighted). She also runs courses at colleges of further education.

Matthew Williams lectures widely on the subject of design, and is especially interested in that of the 19th and 20th centuries. A recognised expert on the work of William Burges, he has been Curator of Cardiff Castle for over 20 years. He has published widely in art and architectural journals.

Martin Ellis is a curator, lecturer and broadcaster. He holds a Master’s Degree in mediaeval literature and a post graduate diploma in Art gallery and Museum Studies. He is Principal Curator and Head of Collections, Research & Development at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Martin was closely involved in the ground breaking series ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’. He co-presented The Culture Show’s ‘History of the World Special’ and is a regular presenter for Radio 4’s ‘Making History’.

John White holds an Honours Degree in History and War Studies, and a Masters Degree in Heritage Management. He is a Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society and a Fulbright Fellow at the University of South Carolina. He is a member of Equity and has achieved considerable experience as a performance historian.

Vivien Heffernan is a History of Art tutor for the further education departments of Essex and Cambridge Universities. She is a lecturer with the Open University on History of Art and is a practising artist.

Lexa Drysdale gained a First in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art in 1985 and has been painting and exhibiting work since then. She has recently undertaken an artist's residency in Australia following on from a NADFAS tour. Her lectures aim to open people's eyes to the language of painting in a practical and imaginative way.

Anthea Streeter 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. Her special interest lies in the architecture and design of 20th century.

David Phillips studied History at Oxford, and from 1968-82 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-98, he was a lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at the University of Manchester. He has published articles and books and lectured to university audiences and community groups at the British and Ashmolean museums.

Dr Roberts is Senior Curator of Roman Archaeology in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum. He has Degrees in Classics (Cambridge) and Classical Archaeology (Sheffield). He has excavated in Britain, Libya, Turkey, andGreece, and has recently returned from co-directing excavations in the Sabine Hills in Italy. He has written books on Roman daily life, Roman Emperors, mummy portraits and Roman cameo glass. He is currently writing a walking tour of Ancient Rome.

Sarah Lenton has spent most of her life working in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for ROH programmes and gives pre-performance talks for ROH & ENO. She does live commentary on BBC Radio3 opera broadcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio 4.

Nicholas Bagshawe trained at Sotheby's. All his working life has been spent as an art dealer. He currently deals in 18th, 19th and 20th century pictures from gallery premises in London. He lectures regularly at Sotheby's Institute, the V&A, the Southampton Institute and Tate Britain