John Ruskin, the leading critic and aesthete, wrote in the 1850s that photography could never be Art.   This lecture traces the struggle to overturn that view, beginning with the Pictorialist school of Victorian photographers and closing with the recent emergence of photographic art inspired by digital technology.   Along the way we examine the contested virtues of colour images and the present revival of old-fashioned film cameras.

The Bayeux Tapestry will be on display at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.

In this lively introduction to the tapestry – so much more than the story of Hastings – Rupert unravels some of its mysteries, places it in the context of its age and firmly establishes it as a landmark in the history of Western art.

Commissioned by the Bishop of Bayeux who fought at Hastings, executed by skilled English craftsmen, the Bayeux Tapestry is the last survivor of a vanished art form.  With its lively illustrations of languid, party-loving, moustachioed Englishmen, of the cavalcades of noble huntsmen and of the snorting Norman cavalry poised to charge into battle, the Tapestry is the next best thing to a moving picture from the time. 

Virtuoso orchestras are now commonplace. But how did this facility develop and did they always sound as they do today?
In fact, the history of the modern, virtuoso orchestra is long and fascinating, and is one that often represents the national cultures from which particular orchestras emerged. What was heard in Vienna, for example, might not be what was heard in Berlin, London, Paris or New York. Not only did the type, shape, and size of instruments and orchestras vary markedly from country to country, but the expectations and musical experiences of audiences also differed hugely from city to city.

Using film clips, recorded sound examples and other performance artefacts, this lecture will chart the rise of the modern orchestra and will examine the cultural and social reforms that went hand in hand with its foundation and development. 

Andy Warhol is remembered as the king of pop art who embraced celebrity and consumerism, and would become an American icon.   Yet there is a lesser-known side to him: the shy, gay son of immigrants whose prolific, experimental and inclusive artistic practice enabled a counterculture that would play a part in transforming modern art.

From the early Kosovan silver mines that are mentioned in Dante, through the twentieth century politics over Kosovo's mines which resulted in both a war and a golf course, a silver thread winds through Kosovo's history.  Its most intricate tanglings are in the country's cultural capital, Prizren, where a seventh generation of filigree artisans produce magical lacy creations.

2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford, the civil engineer responsible for the construction of many of the UK's canals.   This lecture examines the unique buildings, bridges and structures associated with the UK's canal network with its vast array of distinctive designs, landmarks and unusual artefacts.  Only the National Trust and the Church of England have more listed structures than our waterways.

The Lecture starts  at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

Go to any ancient building in the Welsh Marches and there will be interesting, exciting, and romantic stories presented to the visitor. They are commonly believed and widely repeated – but are they really true? These stories include those of secret passages linking ancient buildings, spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, ship timbers used in the construction of buildings on land, blocked doors in churches which are thought to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the country.

James Wright will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic, and exciting than the myth itself…

James Wright FSA is a buildings archaeologist, based in Nottingham. With over twenty years of professional experience, he has published a number of books and articles concentrating on mediaeval and early modern architecture. His latest book - Historic Building Mythbusting - investigates and debunks commonly believed and repeated stories about ancient buildings. 

James is interested in how we can use the evidence of physical structures to understand the realities of the everyday existence of ordinary people living in elite buildings. He was part of a team which won Best Project in the British Archaeological Awards for his work at Knole in Kent. 

He has spoken to a wide variety of organisations including Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust, Gresham College, Shakespeare400 and the Museum of London. Lecturing is his favourite part of his job as he firmly believes that there is simply no point in carrying out research unless you actually tell folk what you have been doing!

The Lecture starts  at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

At the heart of this story lies desire - a passion felt by a man of legendary power and matchless physical strength for a fragile, delicate, white ceramic material called porcelain. He was Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670-1773), a self-styled sufferer of ‘La Maladie de Porcelaine’  - the insatiable yearning for the 'white gold' of the Orient.

Porcelain was very costly as it was beautiful, exotic, rare and mysterious. Every piece was unique and hand-crafted and the Elector’s collection, displayed at his court in Dresden, was vast. As a mark of his passion for porcelain, Augustus needed to discover 'the Arcanum' or porcelain's secret formula, a dream finally realised by alchemists, including the hapless Johann Friedrich B?ttger, working in enforced secrecy within the fortress of Albrechtsburg in nearby Meissen. The lecture follows the story from the discovery of the ‘Arcanum’, through the so-called B?ttger years of experimentation and on to the golden years of whimsical painted chinoiseries and vases and tea wares with brilliant jewel-like colours.

We admire the factory’s creativity in sculpture, from the life-like animals of Augustus’s white porcelain menagerie to animated small-scale figures of tea-drinkers, entertainers, freemasons and lovers created by the master modeller Johann Joachim Kändler and his followers, which embodied the spirit of the baroque and rococo periods.

Anne Haworth has been a lecturer and guide at the Victoria and Albert Museum for more than 20 years and has given regular gallery talks at the British Museum. She was a lecturer for the Royal Collection Trust for 14 years, including 10 years guiding private tours of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. She is a visiting lecturer for Sotheby's Institute and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Since 2008, she has been a member of the London faculty of Eckerd College, Florida, teaching Art History. She lectures extensively for private groups, including the Arts Society and has lectured on William Morris for the British Council and British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow.

After studying Modern History at Durham University, she trained and became a senior specialist in ceramics at the head offices in London of Bonhams (1981-1986) and Christie's (1987-1995). From 1995 to 2002, she was resident in Shanghai, China and gave lectures on the history of the China trade and European Chinoiserie to the international community of diplomats and expatriates in Shanghai and Beijing. On returning to London in 2002, she worked on a short project cataloguing Chinese ceramics at Kensington Palace and became Hon Membership Secretary and Treasurer of the French Porcelain Society.

The Lecture starts  at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

A vivid portrait of enigmatic artist Eric Ravilious (1903-42) by the curator of the blockbuster 2015 exhibition Ravilious (Dulwich Picture Gallery), and author of Ravilious in Pictures (Mainstone Press 2009-12).

Eric Ravilious was only 39 when he died on active service as a war artist in 1942, yet he had already achieved amazing things. A brilliant wood engraver and designer, he is best known today for his haunting watercolours in which lighthouses, white horses, empty rooms and downland paths become marvels. Over the past decade I’ve explored many of these paintings in depth, teasing out stories and characters hidden in the wings. This entertaining illustrated talk illuminates the life and work of a playful, enigmatic artist, with plentiful examples of his work in watercolour, wood engraving, lithography and ceramics. The paintings are a delight, the Ravilious story funny, sad and full of surprises. 

Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James Russell enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience that inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th century art. Of his dozen or so books, one was a Sunday Times book of the year, while his writing has been described by critics as 'insightful', 'informative' and 'enjoyably readable'. James has curated major exhibitions at Dulwich Picture Gallery and for museums around the country. He bases his lectures on wide-ranging original research into the subjects that fascinate him.

OF CROWNS AND CORONATIONS
THE REV’D DR. NICHOLAS HENDERSON
Tuesday 13 th May 2025 at 2.15 p.m. Craig y Don Community Centre

King Charles III was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey on
6th May 2023 in a ceremony resonant with ancient tradition. This lecture examines
crowns and coronations from their origins in 9th century BC ancient Egypt, through the
ancient Hebrew biblical narrative and later Anglo-Saxons, the Norman world and into
medieval Europe. Later the development of constitutional monarchy, the British Empire
and to the modern day. A detailed look at the regalia, ceremonies and significance of
crowns and coronations down to our present time.

A graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Nicholas trained for the Anglican ministry at
Ripon Hall, Oxford. Inspired by a period working on the staff of Coventry Cathedral he has
gained a wide experience of international matters. He was formerly Bishop-elect for the
Diocese of Lake Malawi in Central Africa (2005-2009) .   His doctorate from the University
of Wales, Lampeter, is in Anglican Lay Ecclesiology based on studies in Brazil, Japan,
Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nicholas has a particular interest in
the period of the English Reformation and the associated cultural, architectural and
social changes it has produced. He lectures regularly and assists as a priest in London.

Tuesday 8 th April 2025 at 2.15 p.m. Craig y Don Community Centre

The Enraged Musician by William Hogarth

Sophie explores the links between the visual and the aural in this one-hour presentation. 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 began playing flute at the age of ten, but she is now more 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. She’s also 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 KENNEDY WHITE HOUSE: the art, architecture and gardens of Camelot
ANDREW HOPKINS
Tuesday 11 th March 2025 at 2.15 p.m. Craig y Don Community Centre

This talk is about the White House’s most celebrated twentieth century residents. Others had
been, perhaps, more intellectual – such as Eleonora Roosevelt – certainly others utterly perfidious,
just to name Nixon for one, but no other couple who inhabited the White House were ever so
glamorous, sophisticated and celebrated. Of course they will never be forgotten given the tragic
end to the Kennedy presidency, but this has tended to overshadow, somewhat, the astounding
aesthetic and artistic changes made during their relatively brief tenure.
The Rose Garden was a fine creation by Mrs Kennedy and her friend, the renowned garden
designer, Bunny Mellon. So too, the interiors were restored seriously, based on historical
research and items belonging to the house throughout its history were purchased and returned.
Take a trip down memory lane and visit Camelot in this richly illustrated talk.
There will be great presidents again… but there will never be another Camelot.

“CARAVAGGIO” : painter extraordinaire, flawed genius and … a murderer!
How I became a Caravaggisti
KEITH BONSER
Tuesday 11 th February 2025

Keith Bonser's presentation is a very personal account of how Caravaggio came into his life. This
journey embraces the story of Caravaggio's life and paintings, and epitomises the ability of Art to
inspire anyone.
No body, no grave, no record of his death. How did Caravaggio die? Caravaggio and his models,
including himself ; Did Caravaggio’s alleged bi-sexuality trigger a sequence of events which
directly led to his premature death?  Malta; A year on the island which promised so much, but
ended in disaster; Caravaggio and Costanza Colonna; A bond that helped him throughout his life
and very nearly saved him….. but not quite.     

Keith Bonser was a teacher and senior manager in education for 38 years. Retirement in 2008
gave him the opportunity to pursue a specific interest that has its origins in 1995. A weekend break
in Dublin introduced him to Caravaggio. He has travelled extensively throughout Europe to see his
paintings in situ, tracing his life story from the town of Caravaggio to the cities of Milan, Rome,
Naples, and the islands of Malta and Sicily. He subsequently wrote a book on these experiences.
Caravaggio came into his life completely by chance; his life has never been quite the same since.

Tuesday 11 th February 2025 at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

“THE LOST CIVILISATION OF CAMBODIA”
HUGH ELLWOOD
Tuesday 14 th January 2025

This is the story of a lost civilisation that disappeared some eight hundred years ago,
leaving behind an incredible array of buildings and sculpture that were only re-discovered
in the 19 th century.

Hugh Ellwood studied philosophy in Rome, followed by a degree in architecture at the
University of Manchester. Previously an architect partner with Building Design Partnership,
the largest multi-discipline design organisation in the UK, and was for some years an
external examiner in architecture at the University of Manchester. For several years he
was a visiting lecturer in the history of art and architecture at the University of Central
Lancashire. He is a watercolourist, and has also lectured extensively on art and
architecture to various societies and organisations, including on cruises.
Tuesday 14 th January 2025 at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community

“GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MYHRR – WHY THOSE GIFTS?”
TOM DUNCAN
Tuesday 10 th December 2024

It was in the fourth century AD that the early Church had to ‘invent’ an appropriate
imagery, such that a sceptical Roman elite could comprehend its message via potent
image as well as gospel text. The story of St Matthew’s wise men, not long afterwards
surprisingly upgraded to kings with related biographies, is remarkable. It encompasses the
ancient spice trade, the expansion of the Roman Empire and the extraordinary journey
made by the early Church from persecution, to toleration and on to total dominance of the
Roman world. The story journeys from the southern Arabian peninsula by way of Egypt,
Petra, ancient Rome, and Ravenna.

Tom Duncan was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied, successively,
Music and then History of Art with Ancient History and Archaeology. He moved to the
United States in 1980 to research Late Antiquity and the Early Church. This formative
experience brought him to Cambridge, England in 1984 to complete a PhD on the
influence of Early Christian Art on Baroque Painting in Rome. A period as a university
lecturer followed, together with many invitations to lecture to organisations such as The Art
Fund and The Arts Society.
Consequently, he began to lead tours over twenty years ago and in 1999 founded Ciceroni
Travel, which is now one of the UK's most respected independent cultural travel
companies. When not lecturing or travelling, he devotes most of his time to gardening,
music and opera, the other great interests in his life.
Tuesday 10 th December 2024 at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

“LOWRY and VALETTE: PAINTERS OF MANCHESTER”
JULIA MARWOOD
Tuesday 12 th November 2024

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Adolphe Valette blew into the Manchester
School of Art like a breath of fresh air, inspiring his students with his French elegance and
his knowledge of all the latest developments in Paris, the centre of the art world. One of
those students was L. S. Lowry, derided by some in his lifetime as little more than a naïve
Sunday painter, but now widely acknowledged as a hugely significant figure in twentieth
century British art.
Until recently his charismatic teacher was largely forgotten, even in the city in which he
made his home for so many years. Now his achievements as both artist and teacher are
finally receiving the attention they so greatly deserve.
This lecture will explore the artistic journeys of the two men and the fascinating insight
their works give us into life in the city.

Julia Marwood

Julia has loved looking at art since discovering the work of Gustav Klimt while teaching
English in Austria as part of her German degree course at the University of Durham. She
spent the first part of her career teaching German, then did a Master’s in Teaching English
at the University of Manchester, and went on to teach international students in the city.
She became a tour guide at Manchester Art Gallery in 2015 and after leaving language
teaching in 2018 she has loved spending all her time sharing her passion for art as a
speaker to many different groups - apart from when she is wild swimming or learning
Scottish Gaelic!
She became an Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society in 2020, specialising in Scottish
art from 1880 and the art of Manchester.

Tuesday 12 th November 2024 at 2.15 p.m.
Craig y Don Community Centre

“A LIFE OF ART AND LOVE” – THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GIACOMO PUCCINI

Lecturer: ROGER ASKEW

The 29th November 2024 marks the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini. He was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas - his most renowned works being La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Turandot.

Puccini is one of the most popular of all operatic composers, though more cherished by the public than the critics. His ability to convey strong emotion through the power of the human voice and his unique handling of the orchestra earned him a place among the most important musical figures of the twentieth century. His own life was as colourful as one of his operatic plots.

This lecture, which is illustrated with recordings of some of the greatest opera singers of the 20th and 21st centuries, explores the life and works of this fascinating man.

Roger Askew was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English. He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. After retiring in 2003 he returned to the south of England. He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society.

Tuesday 8th October 2024 at 2.15 p.m.

Craig y Don Community Centr

DR. TOBIAS ("TOBY") CAPWELL FSA

Tobias-Capwell lecturer 

The discovery of the grave of King Richard III in Leicester in 2012 raised many fascinating new questions. The severe scoliosis exhibited by the skeleton revealed that the twisted physique of Shakespeare’s ‘Black Legend’ was based in fact. But how could a diminutive person, suffering from a significant spinal condition, have become a skilled practitioner of the knightly fighting arts? How could he have worn armour and fought in three major battles? What would his armour have looked like? In the case of a king whose royal legitimacy was questioned by many people, how were the visual trappings of knightly kingship used to solidify his claim?

Dr. Toby Capwell is an American historian and independent scholar who lives and works in the UK. His principal interest is in European arms and armour of the Medieval and Renaissance periods and he is an internationally acknowledged expert on the subject.

Over the last thirty years he has worked with many of the world's great collections, including the Imperial Armoury in Vienna, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Royal Armouries in Leeds, and has served as curator of Glasgow Museums and the Wallace Collection, where he worked for sixteen years until January 2023. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Armourers in London. He is the author of many books on armour, weapons and tournaments, has curated numerous exhibitions, and frequently appears in film, television and online media. He is also a skilled jouster, and has claimed to be the world's only jousting curator. He moved to England in 1996 as a founding member of the Royal Armouries jousting team. In 2002, that team won the Sword of Honour at a competition organised by the Royal Armouries. He has also won the 'Scottish Sword of Chivalry' in a three-week tournament held by the National Trust for Scotland, and in 2006 he became 'Queen's Champion' by winning the Royal Armouries' Queen's Golden Jubilee joust. At the same time, he was pursuing an academic career. In 2004, Leeds University awarded him a PhD for a thesis on early English armour. Few individual pieces, let alone full suits, of such armour, either for warfare or for sport (tournaments), have survived. He therefore based his researches not only on those, but also on Continental armour of the time, documentary sources, illustrations, artworks, and especially English monumental brasses and funerary sculptures, the last of which often have highly accurate detail. In 2012, when archaeologists discovered the burial place of King Richard III, Dr. Capwell was a member of the multidisciplinary academic team which studied the remains. In 2015, he was one of the two mounted men in full armour who escorted the king's coffin to his reburial site in Leicester Cathedral.

Tobias Capwell (left) and Dominic Sewell escorting the coffin of Richard III

Tuesday 14th May 2024 - 2:15 pm

The 10th May 2023 marks the 200th anniversary of the opening to the public of the National Gallery, London.   Looking slowly at an impressionist painting is to engage with the idea of seeing a moment which in lived existence might pass unnoticed, but one which the artist was keen to represent to produce visual pleasure.   In order to appreciate the artist’s work, we need to look slowly.   Touches of paint, punctuation of colour and varied textures come alive with sustained looking.

Since completing an MA at University College London (UCL) in the History of Art: Modernism and the Politics of Representation (1997), Joanne Rhymer has been employed in various roles at the National Gallery including Adult Learning Officer and the Head of Adult Learning Programmes. In a freelance capacity, she has worked in prestigious learning departments in London galleries and museums including Tate, the Hayward Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery as well as leading group excursions in the UK and abroad.

Jo is currently a Panel Tutor for the Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge and teaches for the Wallace Collection and the V&A as well as a range of private institutions. 

Her areas of specialism include 19th century and early 20th century French art, and her interests include the visual skills involved in sustained looking at paintings. 

LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY: A REBEL IN GLASS

Tiffany spent decades exploring in revolutionary new ways the  creative possibilities of this fickle medium, from elegant vases and lampshades to the most elaborate stained glass windows and mosaics. From the remarkable story of his many experiments, to an in-depth exploration of some of the most iconic designs, not least his now lost showcase home of 'Laurelton Hall', this lecture is guaranteed to fascinate and inspire.

Brian Healey :- 

A senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years, Brian Healey has also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s 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. 

Tuesday 12th March 2024 - 2:15 pm

The last two decades of the nineteenth century reverberated with the row amongst gardeners and architects.  At a stroke, the problem was solved by the partnership between Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, so that a house by Lutyens with a garden by Jekyll became an Edwardian ideal.  Together they designed gardens with a strong architectural background, softened by luxuriant planting in the natural style advocated by Robinson.  Their partnership thrived in the brash, new-moneyed Edwardian era, but the First World War ended that golden afternoon and so the gardens they designed together were fewer and further between.

James Bolton set up his garden design business in 1992, following two years as Head Gardener at the Old Rectory, Farnborough. He was Faculty Director of Design History at the Inchbald School of Design and still lectures extensively on garden history. He has written a number of articles on gardens and a book on garden ornaments, called ‘Garden Mania.’James became the fourth proprietor of Border Lines in 2008.  Border Lines is the oldest garden tour company in Britain. James Bolton lectures extensively on gardens and garden history, having been a working gardener in Farnborough and the Palais des Parcs et Jardins in Paris.

Tuesday 13th February 2024 - 2:15 pm

The civilisation of the ancient Maya reached its peak between AD 300-900.  Across much of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, dozens of great cities have been located, many still buried in remote parts of the jungle.  Maya achievements in art and architecture were matched by knowledge of maths, astrology, calendrics and hieroglyphic writing.  Mural paintings, ceramic figurines and intricately carved stone panels provide an insight into the religious rituals, music, warfare, textiles and courtly life of the Maya.   Today some six million Maya carry on many of the traditions of their ancestors.

A freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America, Chloe Sayer has lectured in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. She has curated exhibitions and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4.  Chloe has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture. Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990), Focus on Aztecs and Incas (Watts Books, 1995), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland, 1998), Textiles from Mexico (British Museum Press, 2002), and Mexico: Clothing and Culture (Royal Ontario Museum, 2015). Chloe has also published articles in travel guides, newspapers and magazines.

Tuesday 9th January 2024 - 2:15 pm

This lecture is the concluding part of the story and deals with the years that followed the opening of the town hall and the Ship Canal, which transformed the City of Manchester’s economy.  Architects now flirted with every style from Edwardian baroque to pared-down classicism on the grandest of scales.   From the Byzantine detail of Waterhouse’s Refuge Building to the cathedral-like space of the John Ryland’s Library, everything spoke of wealth and confidence, especially reflected in the rebuilding of the great Cotton Exchange itself.  When it was completed in 1921, the world had changed for ever and the star that was Manchester’s cotton trade was already on the wane.

A senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years, Brian Healey has also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s 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. 

Tuesday 12th December 2023 - 2:15 pm

Although the Russian jeweller Carl Faberge is best known for his magnificent Imperial Easter Eggs, these represent only one aspect of his firm’s great creativity.  This lecture examines the exquisite jewellery, vivid enamelled boxes and trinkets, intricate hard-stone figures and naturalistic flower studies that were the mainstay of his success, and which delighted customers throughout Europe.   The lecture will be a visual feast, in which we escape into the most privileged realms of Edwardian Christmas shopping.

Clare Phillips (M.A. Royal College of Art, London) has been a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1989. As a jewellery historian she is part of the small team dedicated to the V&A’s jewellery collection and is the author of the V&A’s classic book ‘Jewels & Jewellery’. In addition to her work with the permanent collection, she has been responsible for the more focussed jewellery content within many major V&A exhibitions from ‘Art Nouveau: 1890-1914’ in 2000 to ‘Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up’ in 2018. Her books range from Thames & Hudson’s accessible introductory text ‘Jewelry - from Antiquity to the Present’ to ‘Chaumet Tiaras: Divine Jewels’ which she co-authored in 2019. In 2006 she curated the exhibition ‘Bejewelled by Tiffany’ at the Gilbert Collection, Somerset House.

Tuesday 14th November 2023 - 2:15 pm

This lecture will celebrate the inspirational work of one of Britain’s best known artists whose work is instantly recognisable and speaks directly to us of the joys and challenges of being alive.   We will share the journey of his life from Bradford to London; to New York and Los Angeles and back to Yorkshire and then his return to LA.   His art is a sounding board of his vivid and colourful life and a reminder of the joys of looking, making….and living.

Original works by Hockney and other relevant artists will be available for viewing at the lecture.

Michael Howard taught both academic and studio-based students for many years at Manchester School of Art and he has published widely on British and European art of the modern period; including books on Goya, Monet, Cézanne and, most recently, a study of his wife’s work – Ghislaine Howard: the Human Touch. His book, ‘L. S. Lowry: A Visionary Artist’, remains the benchmark for any serious consideration of the artist. He is currently working on the first major publication on Theodore Major.

The year 2023 sees the centenary of the birth of one of the greatest singers of the 20th century.  Her distinctive voice is one of the most instantly recognisable in the operatic catalogue, and the high profile she enjoyed as one of the world’s most glamorous women made her an icon of the 20th century.

But behind the façade of fame and glamour lies the tragic story of a woman who was adored by countless fans, but who never found true love and happiness for herself.

Christopher Newlands

Chris has had a lifelong passion for opera, which he has put into practice translating operas into English, as well as directing operatic performances. 

He will be giving his lecture on Maria Callas on numerous occasions in this, her centenary year, including a lecture on the Viking Venus cruise ship in the Greek Islands on 2 December, the anniversary of her birth in 1923. 

Aunt Sally in Oxfordshire, Toad in the Hole in East Sussex, and bagatelle in Chester – they sound like relics of a bygone age, and yet the pub games of Britain live on, in all their infinite variety and eccentric splendour. In this lecture Simon Inglis guides us through winners and losers of pub games, and reveals some of the extraordinary artefacts to be found in the nooks and crannies of Britain’s historic hostelries. 

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

Bhutan, Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon – Zara Fleming

For many people, Kashmir conjures up a beautiful valley surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the HImalayas, for others it is a land of conflict. But what is less well known is that it has been of historic artistic importance for nearly 2000 years. This lecture introduces the astonishing diversity of arts and crafts produced in this tiny area, influenced by Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic cultures. It explores Buddhist sculptures, Hindu temples, great Islamic gardens, paintings, calligraphy, Moghul carpets and Kashmir shawls. Despite its troubled history, Kashmir has fostered a unique environment of artistic diversity and religious co-existence. 

Zara is a freelance lecturer, art consultant and exhibition curator specialising in the art and culture of Tibet, the Himalayan areas and Mongolia. Initially based at the V&A, she has also worked with the Central Asian Department of Bonn University, the Orient Foundation, the Royal Academy, Tibet House, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and Asia House. She lectures for museums, universities, Asian art societies, and private associations. She has also been guest lecturer and tour guide on numerous trips to the Himalayas. She edited the Masterpieces of Mongolian Art: Vol 1 and has published many articles in the field of Buddhist art and culture.

Picturing the Passion – Aliki Braine

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

Doctor what is wrong with me? – James Grant

“What is wrong with me?” is perhaps one of the most common questions put to any physician. The ability of doctors to respond meaningfully has progressed in the last two thousand years from mythology, Galen’s four humours and blood letting to endoscopy and MRI scans. This talk illustrates how artists as varied as Ghirlandio, Holbein and Barbara Hepworth have depicted this diagnostic journey. Through their ability to record faithfully many different pathologies in their art they allow the modern observer to understand better a complex process that we now take for granted.

As a retired country doctor with a lifetime of working in the NHS both in hospital and in rural practice James is passionate about all aspects of medicine, its history and its relationship to art and artists. He feels very strongly that lecturing should be stimulating, informative and entertaining.

Christmas Cards, Valentines,Postcards and Posters – Andrew Davies

Ever since Rowland Hill introduced the penny post in 1840, the card has been a vital form of communication in England. Popular, exuberant, lovely and sometimes a little rude too - cards provide a colourful social history of the last 150 years. Andrew will explore who designed, sent and received them as well as touching upon their twentieth-century successor the poster.

Andrew is an Extra-Mural Tutor for London, Essex and The Open University; Author of 9 books, including The East End Nobody Knows; frequent contributor to radio and television; he has lectured all over the world and organises walks to complement his lectures.

Leonardo da Vinci – Guy Rooker

The utmost fulfilment of Leonardo the scientist is seen in his artistic creations. These reveal the most amazing and inseparable affinity of his scientific and artistic concepts’  - Ludwig Heidenreich 1958. Leonardo would say nature must be his guide and that art was based on a scientific understanding of everything depicted. He used his powers of draughtsmanship and astute sense of observation in his scientific drawings making an incredible contribution to our early understanding of anatomy, aeronautics, warfare, cartography and water engineering to name but a few. It would take centuries of science and technology to catch up with his thoughts. This talk follows Leonardo’s pursuit of these investigations whether they be on his own initiative, his pursuit of remunerative employment or in response to a particular set of circumstances in his life.

Guy comes to The Arts Society not with a background in the arts but from the world of science in general, and surgery in particular. He describes himself as a retired surgeon with a lifelong passion, fascination, and admiration for the work of Leonardo da Vinci. He considers that the contribution Leonardo has made to both the world of art and the investigation of scientific concepts to be quite unique and extraordinary in the way that so many of his pioneering investigations have contributed to the understanding of our world today.

Grandfather Frost and Old New Year – Rosamund Bartlett

Where better to spend yuletide than in snowy Russia? Imagine yourself wrapped in furs, speeding along in a troika, bells ringing, as you come home from church after celebrating the end of the 40 day Christmas fast. This lecture explores the traditional religious and folk customs associated with Christmas in Russia before the Revolution, the secular celebrations introduced to Russia by Peter the Great, the drastic changes introduced in Soviet times by Stalin, and what Christmas means to Russians today.

Rosamund Bartlett is a writer, lecturer and translator whose work as a cultural historian ranges across the arts. She completed her doctorate at Oxford and is the author of several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a study of Wagner's influence in Russia. She is currently writing a history of the Russian avant-garde. Her new translation of Anna Karenina for Oxford World’s Classics was published to acclaim in 2014. She has written on art, music and literature for publications such as The Daily Telegraph and Apollo, and received commissions from institutions including the Royal Opera House, Tate UK, and the Salzburg Festival. Her lecturing work has taken her from the V&A and the National Theatre in London to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and she contributes regularly to Proms events and opera broadcasts on the BBC.

Gone in a Flash? – Timothy Wilcox

The fireworks that mark great events such as the opening of the Olympics, or even the start of a New Year make an enormous impact. Despite their brevity, the displays live on through film and photography. For centuries, the very fact that the fireworks themselves were seen only for seconds and yet cost large amounts of money provoked a strong desire to record them and a large archive of visual evidence remains. When rulers such as Louis XIV or the Russian Emperors began to see the propaganda value of circulating images designed to impress and amaze, fireworks graduated from popular entertainment to become a sophisticated instrument of statecraft. This lecture takes an exhilarating look at one art form that is never likely to gather dust in a museum. 

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

The Young Picasso – Hilary Guise

This lecture attempts to de-mythologize the early years of Picasso in Paris in the first decade of the 20th century.  The impact of Paris – its poverty, its crowds, its artists and performers – that Picasso encountered while living in the leaky old piano factory called ‘Le Bateau Lavoir’ on the hill of Montmartre, transformed him from a precocious and sublimely talented teenager, into a charismatic young chieftain, leader of the young Turks, and darling of Gertrude Stein and her circle. Picasso’s chaotic life with Fernande, their regular hashish and opium-smoking sessions, his habit of carrying a loaded revolver around with him, his now-forgotten relationship with Max Jacob, and his intensely disturbing creation of The Brothel – called Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” – that was locked out of sight for 16 years – are all part of the temper of the times, and the pace of creative invention by which he almost single-handedly unleashed the cultural revolution of the 20th century.

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

Going Potty about Commodes – Januscz Karczewski-Slowikowski

Whilst having a chair with a hinged seat under which a chamber pot resides was at times most “commodus”, the commode this lecture refers to how it served a more decorative purpose and was to be found in the grandest of 18th century rooms.  As Sheraton put it, commodes were “…never intended for use but for ornament” - not an attribute of that other item we call a commode! Tracing their origin in late 17th century France and development through to the end of the 18th century there and in England provides an insight into the fashions and life-styles of this period.  

Januscz is a freelance lecturer and researcher in English furniture history and also an antique dealer.

Born in CopenhagenLars Tharp read archaeology at Cambridge University. At Sotheby's he specialised in Chinese Ceramics and has been curator and museum director of the Foundling Museum, London. He has served on the annual Art Fund Rrize, is a Fellow of Antiquaries of London, he holds an Honorary Doctorateof Arts and serves on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Weavers, London's oldest recorded guild. As a freelance broadcaster, Lars has worked regularly with the BBC on the Antiques Roadshow since 1986. 

Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31st 2016 at the age of 65. Architectural historians of the future will surely recognise her as one of the important architects of the early 21st century.She was born in Iraq and her reputation was global but she made Britain her home. 

This lecture tells the story of her career from the visionary projects of the 1980s, through the years of frustration whe her designs were considered unbuildable, to the prolific crop of successful projects built all over the world in the last decade of her life.

Professor Colin Davies is an architect, a former editor of The Architects' Journal and a regular contributor to architectural magazines world-wide. He was Professor of Architectural Theory at London Metropolitan University. He has made numerous TV and radio appearances. His books include 'Thinking About Architecture', The Prefabricated Home', 'High Tech Architecture', 'Key Houses of the Twentieth Century', 'A New History of Modern Architecture' and several monographs on the work of architects such as Norman Foster, Michael Hopkins and Nicholas Grimshaw. 

In January 2016 Kate Strasdin was given a pink silk covered volume that contained a secret world of past lives, of a community in the mid-19th century and stories told through samples of fabric pasted carefully into the pages of a book. Kept for many years, this diary is gradually revealing its secrets and the lives lived, of Anne Sykes and her friends and family in Lancashire from the 1830s. This lecture looks at how textiles can tell us about the lives of our ancestors and the textile manufacturing of a nation

Dr Kate Strasdin has worked as a curator of textiles and dress for over 20 years and is now the Deputy Curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University and a Special Visiting Lecturer for the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai. Her publications include An Easy Day for a Lady (Costume Journal, 2008) and Empire Dressing - the Design and Realisation of Queen Alexandra's Coronation Gown (Journal of Design History, 2012). Her book Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra was published in 2017 and she is working on her next book, The Secrets of a 19th Century Dress Diary. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of Honiton lace.

In this thought-provoking talk Angela offers a deep understanding of the minds, lives and challenges of offenders. And, with extraordinary slides of art projects and prisoners’ 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.

Angela  Findlay has spent years working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in England and Germany gaining unique insights into the destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. Through extraordinary slides of prisoners’ art, interspersed with personal stories from art projects, she demonstrates how within the process of creating art there are vital opportunities for offenders to develop key life skills. In the context of prisons it is clear that the arts are not simply decorative or commercial pastimes, but absolutely vital, hugely relevant and potentially life-changing. Her talk is moving, informative and original and has kept audiences across the country engrossed.

Friendships with Landseer, Winterhalter, Albert & Osborne House.

Karin Fernald is an actor, writer and speaker, having been an Arts Society lecturer for 25 years. She researches and creates a spell-binding picture of a character and a historical period. She has appeared at festivals in England and on tour in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and at the University of Cape Town Summer School. She is known for her entertaining lectures on writers and diarists from the late 18th and early-mid 19th centuries connected with the arts. Karin began in theatre, working as an actress with Sir Ralph Richardson and Robert Morley.  On television she played Anne Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga.  She has published a children’s book on Queen Victoria’s fraught childhood, The Dumpy Princess, which was short-listed for a Young Quills literary award.

Cottonopolis’ as it became known, was the world’s first industrialised city that enjoyed unstoppable growth for much of the last century. With it came grand commercial and civic buildings on a scale and of a quality never witnessed in the city before. This lecture examines the extraordinary variety of such buildings and shows how their architects and stonemasons brought directly into the streets of Manchester the golden age of Pericles, the architecture of Renaissance Italy and the gothic of the Grand Canal.

It goes into a detailed study of the allegorical sculpture and decoration of many of these buildings, many of which have fascinating stories to tell and which were designed by eminent architects such as Charles Barry and Alfred Waterhouse even before they went to the capital.

Brian Healey has been a senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years. He has also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s 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 40 countries. Most recently this work has successfully extended to art guiding through important towns and museums in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain.

Fun and games down at the local.

Simon Inglis (born 1955) is an author, editor, architectural historian and lecturer. He specialises in the history, heritage and architecture of sport and recreation. Inglis is best known for his work on football history and stadiums, and as editor of the Played in Britain series for English Heritage (later Historic England). After a history degree at University College London, he freelanced for various publications including the Guardian, Observer and Radio Times. 

He has curated exhibitions for the Building Centre and the British Council, been a regular contributor to radio and television and written a number of books, one of which on British football grounds was chosen as the best sports book of the 20th century.  

CANCELLED but Lars Tharp is back on 12th July 2022!

From here to China and back – a spicy seasonal punch with a dash of gin from William Hogarth.

Lars Tharp

An independent lecturer to numerous societies, including The Arts Society, National Trust, Royal Institution and the Harvelan Society, as well as universities.  A regular member of the BBC’s Antique Roadshow, in addition to conducting tours overseas.  He is also an auctioneer and ambassador for the Foundling Museum.  Publications include Hogarth’s China and An A-Z of 20th Century Antiques. Born in Copenhagen, he studied Archaeology at Cambridge and joined Sothebys where, as a director and auctioneer (1977-1993), he specialized in Chinese and European Ceramics. Many of his most popular talks concern the vast Universe of Clay and Ceramics as well as the World and Works of William Hogarth.  

CANCELLED

Widely known for his appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire Grayson, Perry RA is now a core part of the art establishment. Ten years after winning the Turner Prize he gave the brilliant BBC Reith Lecture in 2013. His works of ceramics, textiles, tapestries and prints are highly sought after. Often controversial, he is able to tackle difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty way. This talk will examine Grayson Perry’s works, his exciting and thought provoking exhibitions, and we’ll look at the character inside the flamboyant frocks.

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

POSTPONED - until 14th June

Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31st 2016 at age of 65. Architectural historians of the future will surely recognise her as one of the most important architects of the early 21st century. She was born in Iraq and her reputation was global, but she made Britain her home. This lecture tells the story of her career from the visionary projects of the 1980s, through the years of frustration when her designs were considered unbuildable, to the prolific crop of successful projects built all over the world in the last decade of her life.

Professor Colin Davies

An architect who was until recently Professor of Architectural Theory at London Metropolitan University, Colin is a former editor Architects Journal and contributor 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 (published by Laurence King) and monographs on the work of Norman Foster, Michael Hopkins, and Nicholas Grimshaw. Colin is currently writing a history of modern architecture.

CANCELLED

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.

Bonnard and Vuillard are normally often considered as painters of the simple pleasures of life - but their works offer so much more: when they began painting in the 1890s, Impressionism seemed to be a thing of the past - young radical artists wanted an art that spoke to the spirit, to the imagination, looking at the work of Gauguin, Seurat van Gogh and at Japanese prints Bonnard and Vuillard were inspired to create a modern art that would spring from a powerful engagement in modern life - that would suggest not just how things look, but how things feel. Their art reaches deep into the psychological aspects of our shared experience - its joys and its anxieties in paintings that rank with those of Chardin and Vermeer as objects of sheer visual seduction.

Michael 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. 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.

(Image: Edouard Vuillard - Madame Hessel en robe rouge - 1905 - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

“What is wrong with me?” is perhaps one of the most common questions put to any physician. The ability of doctors to respond meaningfully has progressed in the last two thousand years from mythology, Galen’s four humours and blood lettering to endoscopy and MRI scans.  This talk illustrates how artists as varied as Ghirlandio, Holbein and Barbara Hepworth have depicted this diagnostic journey.  Through their ability to record faithfully many different pathologies in their art they allow the modern observer to understand better a complex process that we now take for granted.

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

 (Image: Galen’s illustration of the four Humours/elements - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Where better to spend yuletide than in snowy Russia?  Imagine yourself wrapped in furs, speeding along in a troika, bells ringing, as you come home from church after celebrating the end of the 40 day Christmas fast. This lecture explores the traditional religious and folk customs associated with Christmas in Russia before the Revolution, the secular celebrations introduced to Russia by Peter the Great, the drastic changes introduced in Soviet times by Stalin, and what Christmas means to Russians today.

Dr Bartlett has a Doctorate from Oxford and has held senior university posts, most recently at the European University Institute in Florence. She specialises in comparative study of art, music and literature, and currently writing a book on the Russian Avant-Garde and European Modernism.

(Image: Grandfather Frost image - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The fireworks that mark great events such as the opening of the Olympics, or even the start of a New Year make an enormous impact. Despite their brevity, the displays live on through film and photography. For centuries, the very fact that the fireworks themselves were seen only for seconds and yet cost large amounts of money provoked a strong desire to record them and a large archive of visual evidence remains. When rulers such as Louis XIV or the Russian Emperors began to see the propaganda value of circulating images designed to impress and amaze, fireworks graduated from popular entertainment to become a sophisticated instrument of statecraft. This lecture takes an exhilarating look at one art form that is never likely to gather dust in a museum. 

Timothy Wilcox is a writer, lecturer and exhibition curator with special interests in British art, in landscape and in watercolour painting. He was a museum curator in the British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings following positions at the V&A, in Liverpool and Hove.

(Image: Fireworks display circa Louis XIV’s reign - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leonardo da Vinci, painter and draughtsman of the High Renaissance was an artist whose works were informed by scientific investigation. Leonardo observed the world closely, describing nature as his teacher, studying anatomy and physiology in order to create convincing images of the human form.  He believed the moral and ethical meanings of his narrative art would emerge through the accurate representation of human gesture and expression.

Science and art are different paths that lead to the same destination.

This talk reviews Leonardo’s approach to linear perspective, human proportion, emotion, light and shade together with the fashion in which his scientific studies influenced his art.

Guy Rooker comes to The Arts Society not with a background in the arts but from the world of science in general, and surgery in particular. He describes himself as a retired surgeon with a lifelong passion, fascination, and admiration for the work of Leonardo da Vinci.

 (Image: Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The multi-talented Frank Brangwyn was born in Bruges in 1867 and died in Ditchling in 1956. He was arguably the first British artist to gain an international reputation and certainly the first living artist to be honoured with a retrospective at the Royal Academy. This lecture provides a brief history of the artist and an overview of all the disciplines with which Brangwyn was involved - he was a muralist, oil painter, watercolourist, etcher, lithographer, and designer of interiors, furniture, carpets, ceramics and stained glass. Reference will be made to works in the vicinity of the particular Society.

Dr Libby Horner is a freelance art historian, curator, film producer, lecturer and writer. Libby is the world's leading authority on the multi-talented artist Frank Brangwyn and is compiling the catalogue raisonne of all his work - both fine and decorative art - estimated to be in excess of 12,000 items! 

(Image: St Aidan’s Mosaic by Brangwyn - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Please note:

Following advice from Arts Society HQ and the Government the Committee has decided to close all activities until September in the best interest of members. This includes the lectures for April and May and the Special Interest Day in June.

The Lecture is a general introduction to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, known by its inhabitants as Druk Yul or land of the Thunder Dragon. This is a reference to the Drukpa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism that permeates every aspect of Bhutanese life. This lecture explores the history, art and culture of this extraordinary country, which for centuries has preserved its traditional Buddhist values. Over the last few decades there have been many changes; such as the introduction of roads, television and tourism. Will Bhutan be able to maintain the fine balance between tradition and modernity without diminishing its unique culture.

Zara is a freelance lecturer, art consultant and exhibition curator specialising in the art and culture of Tibet, the Himalayan areas and Mongolia. Initially based at the V&A, but also worked with the Central Asian Department of Bonn University, the Orient Foundation, the Royal Academy, Tibet House, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and Asia House.

 (Image: Bhutan “Thunder Dragon” Emblem - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Please note:

Following advice from Arts Society HQ and the Government the Committee has decided to close all activities until September in the best interest of members. This includes the lectures for April and May and the Special Interest Day in June.

This lecture will describe the “rediscovery” of a series of Tudor wall paintings in Bramall Hall, Cheshire. David is a lecturer and consultant in the Cultural History of the Medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods. He is a specialist in medieval imagery and interior furnishings and decoration 1400-1700.

 (Image: Bramall Hall [interior Tudor wall painting] - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This lecture examines the work of one of the outstanding figures of 20th century sculpture, an artist who achieved an international reputation for her monumental works depicting the human figure, birds and other animals. Sadly she died in her early 60s but, from the first small sculpture acquired by the Tate Gallery (when she was a student of 21) until her death, she produced an astonishing body of work. Her bronzes varied in scale and feeling, from small, threatening birds to the life-size, tranquil Walking Madonna in Salisbury Cathedral Close. Frink’s work will be examined in the context of great British and European predecessors such as Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti, as well as her contemporaries, including Reg Butler, Jean Fautrier and Germaine Richier.

Frank is a lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, lecturer for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A and other organisations.

 (Image: Elisabeth Frink ‘Paternoster’ [bronze] - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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? In 1853 the ingredients of one manufacturer's cricket balls were listed as cork, worsted, hemp, brown oats, suet, lard, alum, stale ale and dragon's blood. Can this really be true, or is it, perhaps, just a load of old balls?

Writer and historian Simon Inglis specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Since 2004 he has edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage. Although sport and recreation might seem an unlikely subject for The Arts Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon’s themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture.

 (Image: David Gallagher with ball [photograph] - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Please note that due to a double booking at Craig y Don Community Centre the next lecture of The Arts Society Llandudno, ‘Ruling From Behind the Yellow Silk Screen’ with David Rosier, will be held at the Madog Suite in Llandrillo College on Tuesday 14th January 2020 at 2:15pm.

Address: Llandrillo College, Llandudno Road, Rhos on Sea, LL28 4HZ

This change of venue is for one meeting only.

This lecture seeks to provide a balanced insight into the life and achievements of one of the most important women in Chinese Imperial history. From relative obscurity as a low-ranking consort we explore the events that led to her confirmation as Dowager Empress Cixi in 1861 and her strategy to preserve, then revitalise, imperial rule after a series of humiliating military defeats by Western Colonial Powers plus several brutal ethnic uprisings. We will trace the distinct cycles of Cixi’s power, as Emperors came and went, whilst the Dowager Empress moved periodically from a position of influence to full authority and then into times of enforced retirement. Looking beyond Cixi’s desire to force China into the modern world we will gain an insight into her life within her beloved Summer Palace with a focus on her passion for painting, embroidery, fashion design and the extensive gardens. A location where Cixi forged some extraordinarily close relationships with leading western women. 

 (Image: Empress Dowager Cixi [Photograph]- courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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

 (Image: Nativity Scene by Lorenzo Mantova - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Virginia Woolf never painted or drew.  But her writing was much influenced by artists of her day, in particular her beloved sister, Vanessa Bell. In her novel ‘To The Lighthouse’ Woolf vividly describes the thoughts and feelings of a young artist as she works. She obviously enjoyed walking in London as according to her heroine Mrs Dalloway “Really it’s better than walking in the country!”

The talk is illustrated with paintings by Vanessa Bell, Walter Sickert, Spencer Gore, Robert Bevan, Malcolm Drummond and other members of the Camden Group of artists.

 (Image: Virginia Woolf & Vanessa Bell as children [photograph] - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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.

After studying music 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 music presenters on BBC Radio 3.

 (Image: Johann Sebastian Bach [portrait] - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Who is the bare-breasted lady wearing an elaborate head-dress and grasping a snake in each hand? The answer lies in the culture of the Minoans.

Michael’s RAF career involved twenty years flying duties worldwide as an anti-submarine warfare specialist followed by staff appointments, including nine years in a NATO post in Italy as a political adviser on Greek-Turkish issues. He was a founder member of the International Archaeological Society in Naples, lecturing, leading tours of Graeco-Roman sites and participating in excavations.

 (Image: Snake Goddess from Crete circa 1600BC - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

'Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion' is a whistle stop tour of the history of mystery from 3000 BC to the 21st century.

From the beginning of time the fascination with magic and the impossible has been widespread. Egypt was the cradle of magic with Sorcerer Priests creating illusions for the edification of worship and to hold power over the people. Then there is the age-old skill of sleight of hand, which proves that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye’. Magicians were known as ‘Jongleurs’ lest they be sentenced to death for ‘witchraft and conjuration’ under the edicts of Henry VIII. With the emergence of the Music Hall, Magic gained a new respectability and audiences flocked in their thousands to watch the extraordinary feats of The Great Illusionists. And if magicians guarded their secrets with their lives, how was the Magic Circle formed? – Home to 10,000 secrets.

Be careful! – You might be amazed and bewitched.

Bertie has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. He is member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star and his past experiences includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges.

 (Image: Zan-Zig Poster - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The Plutocrats of America’s Gilded Age were probably the richest individuals in the history of the world and their houses reflect this. Like many rich people before them, families like the Astors, the Vanderbilts and the Morgans built to impress. Our journey takes us from the ‘cottages’ of Newport, Rhode Island to the great houses of Biltmore and Viscaya via the more modest charms of Jekyll Island and reaches an appropriate conclusion at Hearst Castle on the Californian Coast in the 1920s. Architects like Stanford White, Richard Morris Hunt and Julia Morgan ensured that they got quality as well as glamour.

Roger studied History at Oxford and Fine Art at Leeds. He organises and leads country house study tours, and tries to find time to do research on British and American Country Houses.

(Image: Hearst Castle - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The current art collection at the Lansdowne Club highlights the fascinating architectural, social and political history of Lansdowne House, now home to this private members' Club. Through 18th century prints, oils, photography, modern silkscreens, lithographs and mixed media works, the image and history of this Grade II building comes to life. Located in Mayfair, central London, the internal fabric of this important building beautifully fuses 18th century neo-classical architecture with the highly fashionable Art Deco style and serves as an eye-catching home for the current modern British art collection. The talk will examine the original floor plan as designed by the celebrated Scottish architect, Robert Adam and the changes thereafter by renowned architects George Dance the Younger, Sir Robert Smirke and TH Wyatt.

 Pamela has over 20 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts. She is now a freelance art consultant and lecturer. Pamela has also recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club

This lecture is preceded by the AGM at 2.00pm

(Image: Lansdowne Club Interior - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

With the advent of the Arts and Crafts movement book-bindings became works of art in themselves. Dominic is one of a small number of bookbinders working today who create these unique Design Bindings. This lecture shows a range of these contemporary bindings, made variously for collectors, exhibitions, competitions, libraries and the occasional Booker shortlisted author. He will show how each design grows from a response to the text and illustrations of the printed book, and explain the technical aspects of their execution. He will also bring some of his Design Bindings for people to view.

Dominic is a bookbinder, artist and teacher and he first learned bookbinding at 16 from Benedictine Monks at Douai Abbey in Berkshire and later at the London College of Printing. His current bindery is situated in the Lake District, from where he travels across the UK teaching master classes and lecturing.

(Image: Book-Binding - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The Battle for the Blue Riband dominated Atlantic travel for many decades and the rivalry between the major shipping lines to build the biggest and best leviathons of ocean travel was intense. Ships such as French Line’s Ile de France and Hapag Lloyd’s Imperator rapidly became not just floating works of art but ships of state with stunning décor to match.  The lecture shows how they were adapted to match changing tastes; from the elegance of the French château and the heaviness of the Dutch renaissance to the dazzling sophistication of what became known as 'streamline moderne'.

Brian is a senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years, I have also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s as a professional artist and interior designer.

ADDENDUM. Brian graciously replied to the thanks expressed by Mark and our members for his fascinating lecture:-

"Thank you Mark, for your kind words of appreciation, we all need encouragement! It was a real pleasure to be so generously entertained and to have such a lovely audience.  Brian."

 (Image: Mauretania - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Christopher leads an “illuminating” tour of medieval manuscripts.

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

(Image: Amphisbene - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Whilst the Arts and Crafts garden remained a strong tradition, particularly in this country, a new force in art and design was emerging in Europe and America during the twentieth century. This was to revolutionize the whole approach to garden design. It touched these shores briefly in the thirties but was to re-emerge through the Festival of Britain. This talk explores the catalysts for the ‘modernist’ style that has found expression in garden making ever since.

As a qualified landscape architect and interior designer, Marilyn has been involved with art and design for over thirty years. She is passionate about promoting garden history.

(Image: Julien Osley Sculpture - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This lecture looks at the enormous changes in our homes over a hundred year period, encompassing aspects of household taste from Victorian clutter to the psychedelic ‘throw away’ furnishings of the 1970s. Although in many ways light-hearted, the lecture examines how social upheaval, War and technological advances transformed our houses. From the 1880s, when each interior was governed by strict convention and the home was regarded as a shrine to family life, we look at how change gradually came about. The coming of electricity and central heating altered appearance and comfort and other major developments in design all changed our interiors. 

 (Image: Globe Chair - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This is the fascinating tale of how an obelisk travelled from Egypt to the banks of the River Thames in London. It now goes by the name of “Cleopatra’s Needle”.

Clive Studied Egyptology at Cambridge and has lectured to Probus, the Rotary Club, U3A, the City Literary Institute and the Guildford Institute of the University of Surrey. He has for thirty years been a teacher in secondary education. Clive is a member of the Egypt Exploration Society, being awarded an EES Scholarship to the Saqqara Expedition of 1964-5.

 (Image: Cleopatra’s Needle - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

After short surveys of the beautiful geography of both countries, we turn to their historic architecture and its foundations in Buddhism. The ancient temples of Sri Lanka are to be found in the cities of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigirya and finally, Kandy for the Temple of the Tooth. Rangoon, Pagan and Mandalay on the mighty river Irrawaddy, provide the settings in Burma. We view the fabulous gold covered pagodas and the magnificent temples with their fine wall paintings and teak furnishings - as well as their huge bronze bells.

(Image: Sri Lanka Temple - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The ancient Egyptians began making glass in the Eighteenth Dynasty (c1450 BC) following the introduction of the technique from Syria - a result of the great warrior pharaoh Thutmose III’s military campaigns in that part of the ancient world. The Egyptians were soon masterful at producing a range of object types in coloured glass. In this lecture I shall explore how the ancient Egyptians produced glass objects and the wonderful range of object types, including vessels, inlay, beads, amulets, figures and even headrests. I shall examine the developments in glass manufacture from the New Kingdom (15th century BC) through to the Roman Period in Egypt (1st century AD), and will show slides of many of the vibrantly coloured glass objects surviving from this great civilisation.

(Image: Egyptian Glass - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Throughout history, mankind has been absorbed with understanding the concept of Time. A extraordinary variety of devices has been developed, either to tell when something should happen (its 10 o’clock), or how long it should take (you’ve got 20 minutes), or to alert us to do something now (wake up, it’s time to go). So we have developed all kinds of device to tell the time - using the Stars, Sundials, our Shadows, Clepsydra (water clocks), Mechanical Clocks and Watches, Burning Timers, Sand Glasses, Bells, Electronics and our fundamental Biological Clocks. But the ‘tick’ of all of these is the rhythms of the universe - the daily and yearly movement of the Sun, the monthly movement of the Moon and, more recently, by the buzz of the quartz and caesium atom. Such is our interest in the subject that craftsmen have always found commissions to create beautiful time telling things. The single lecture or three-part study day looks at all these devices and many more. It charts how their use has risen and fallen as history, fashion and technology have progressed.

(Image: Pocket Watch - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Gold in South America had a spiritual importance. Its brilliance evoked the Sun — the golden disk that nourished the Earth. In Peru and Colombia, goldsmiths made some of the most spectacular treasures of the ancient world. Cast and hammered, gold was transformed into sacred offerings for tombs and temples. Europeans, by contrast, saw gold as a commodity — the ultimate symbol of wealth. For decades, Europeans searched in vain for El Dorado, the legendary Golden One. Although many golden treasures were melted down for bullion, magnificent works of art are preserved in the museums of Peru and Colombia.

(Image: Peruvian Head-dress - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Les Parisiennes is a story about women’s lives during the dark years of Nazi occupation and beyond and includes British and American women caught in Paris as well as native born resisters who were eventually sent to camps, couturiers and jewelers, some of whom flourished in wartime, as well as actors, singers, night club dancers and housewives.

The lecture opens with a magnificent circus ball held by Elsie de Wolfe at the magnificent Villa Trianon, a chateau in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles; many of the guests could not believe that war was imminent and ends with Christian Dior’s lavish new look in 1947 as well as a perfume, Miss Dior, named after his sister Catherine, a resister, who had only just survived a prison camp and never wanted to talk about her experiences.

(Image: Windmill - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Ever since Rowland Hill introduced the penny post in 1840, the card has been a vital form of communication in England. Popular, exuberant, lovely and sometimes a little rude too - cards provide a colourful social history of the last 150 years.

We will explore who designed, sent and received them as well as touching upon their twentieth-century successor the poster.

(Image: Valentinecard - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is acknowledged by many people as America's greatest architect. The lecture examines his long career, sampling the sheer variety of his work and versatility of his designs. It is astonishing to note that he was trained in the Arts & Crafts tradition in the late 19th century, and yet by the end of his career in the 1950s he was able to envisage a One-Mile-High skyscraper. Such was the breadth of his work. Wright’s greatest achievement was to “break the box”, supporting the roof with cantilevered beams at a certain distance from the corner of a building. This system of blurring the distinction between the inside and outside gave his work a highly modern appearance and was influential on European architects in the second decade of the 20th century. Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, New York's Guggenheim Museum and the Robie House in Chicago are all well known. But we shall also look at some of Wright’s less known projects, such as his visionary ideas for The Living City (1958), unbuilt, yet an encapsulation of Wright's ideas for a modern utopia. 

(Image: 'Frank Lloyd Wright' style residence - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, famously said that "the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman nor an Empire". In this he was right; it could be described as a ‘federation’ of European principalities and kingdoms with constantly shifting allegiances and boundaries, which were only linked by a nominal loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor. Between 962 and 1806 there were 34 Emperors, including the great Habsburg dynasty. Early manuscripts and later portraits, for example Titian’s Henry V, give us a glimpse into the lives of these Emperors, as do the crown jewels now in Vienna. This talk traces the history of the empire, which expanded largely through dynastic marriages, through to its fall at the hands of Napoleon.

(Image: Manuscript - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This lecture looks at style and design in decorative plasterwork as seen in Tudor & Stuart town and country houses. It also explains how fretwork ceilings, hung with pendants or festooned with wreaths of plaster flowers, and fireplace overmantels, graced with figure sculpture and Mannerist strapwork, were created. It was certainly not simple and definitely very messy! Today, modern repair techniques are rescuing fragile friezes and saving sagging ceilings.

(Image: Plasterwork - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Pubs and their signs are a fundamental part of our history and cultural heritage. In this colourful and entertaining lecture John shows some of the most interesting and distinctive signs before exploring the fascinating stories behind the origin of some of their peculiar names. Who could fail to be intrigued by ‘The Bucket of Blood’, the ‘Cow and Snuffers’ or even the ‘Eager Poet’ – and who on earth was ‘Blind Jack’? 

(Image: Blind Jack’s - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The audience is taken on a journey beginning in Outer Mongolia in the 5th century BC and follows the 11th century migrations from Turkmenistan, the cradle of weaving, into the Caucasus, Persia and Afghanistan. They will be introduced to the nomadic tribes of these countries and their woven rugs, carpets and dowry bags, with particular emphasis on those of the 19th century and earlier. These tribal weavings illustrate the skill of the women who produced exquisite works of woven art, using vegetable colours and age-old designs whilst living and travelling in primitive conditions and hostile landscapes.  

The tribal weavings of the 19th century and earlier represent the pinnacle of achievement and wonderful free expression of the art of the weaver.

Today, these weavings are highly desirable and collectable works of woven art.

(Image: Persian Rug - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (published 1865) transformed children’s literature with its fantastic originality and brilliant use of nonsense. Since then it has never been out of print, has been translated into many languages and has spawned not only imitators but also a huge amount of analytical commentary. We start with the origins of the book and its first illustrators – the writer himself and then Sir John Tenniel. So iconic was the book that as soon as it came out of copyright a host of artists produced their own versions – including Arthur Rackham, Mabel Lucie Attwell and Charles Robinson (brother of Thomas Heath Robinson). Throughout the 20th century we see how illustrators reflect different aspects of the book as well as the preoccupations of their own times. We look further at some of the most interesting artistic portrayals including those by Willy Pogany, Mervyn Peake, Jonathan Miller, and Salvador Dali, and will end with one or two current interpretations.

(This lecture will be preceded by our AGM at 2:00pm)

(Image: Mad Hatter - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This lecture’s narrative revolves around my experience of having masterminded a British Government backed project to restore the magnificent George Gilbert Scott designed university buildings in Mumbai (Bombay), India. The chapters of this building’s story- its design (in England), construction, history and, of course, its restoration – provide useful startpoints from which to consider the broader historical, cultural and architectural context. For instance the lecture looks into Bombay’s economic boom of the 1860s. This coincided with the high point of the Gothic Revival: Nowhere else in the world can claim to have as magnificent an assemblage of Gothic Revival buildings. The story of the award winning project to restore the University of Mumbai’s Gothic Revival buildings provides an opportunity to touch upon philosophical approaches to conservation as well as traditional repair techniques. The scope of the lecture broadens to examine evolving attitudes in India and beyond (as well as in the UK) towards the British empire and also towards the buildings which survive as testament to its achievements. 

(Image: Bombay Municipal Building - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Tyntesfield, the one of the last great Victorian Country houses still intact with its original contents, was to be broken-up until being saved for the Nation at the eleventh hour a few years ago. Now owned by The National Trust, the story of the house, the family who created it and its dramatic rescue make this an entertaining, informative and very popular lecture. 

(Image: Tyntesfield - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Using illustrations from illuminated manuscripts, readings from literature and contemporary accounts, and the haunting songs and lively dance tunes of medieval England, Sarah brings alive the spirit of a Medieval Christmas, a time of joy and celebration for some, but hardship and suffering for others. With extracts from literature and manorial household accounts, she pieces together life in a medieval manor house at Yuletide. In addition to her reproduction medieval harps, she adds the plucked psaltery, hurdy-gurdy, hammered dulcimer, and gemshorn to the musical mix, performing carols, music and readings for an atmospheric and musical seasonal celebration. 

(Image: Illuminated Manuscript - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Port Sunlight Village was begun in 1883 and was much influenced by the Garden City movement. This beautifully landscaped village was the creation of William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers, to house workers from his soap factory. Lever was a man of great social conscience and an exceptionally generous employer who provided many amenities including the Lady Lever Art Gallery, named in memory of his beloved wife. The gallery contains many outstanding collections which include Decorative Wedgwood, sculpture, Chinese ceramics, 18th century English furniture, Period Rooms and Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The lecture begins with the background to the village which explains why the finest private collection outside London is situated in a small Merseyside village. The gallery is indeed a treasure trove! 

(Image: Lady Lever Art Gallery - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Miniature likenesses of full-size artefacts have been found, usually connected with childrens’ play, throughout cultures world-wide and for hundreds of years. But certainly by the fifteenth century in Europe a phenomenon had emerged of creating a miniaturized representation of a princely household to illustrate success and sophistication. With hundreds of scaled-down items carefully placed in gabled, merchant-style ‘baby houses’ they soon became educational aids in the teaching of household skills.

For the social historian the baby house – and then the dolls house – is a treasure trove for examples of ordinary household objects that have fallen out of use and disappeared.

Amanda Herries read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge.

(Image: of Furniture - courtesy of “Pixabay”)

From Henry VIII to the Duchess of Cambridge this lecture will focus on a variety of Royal Jewels which have caused gasps of shock or amazement over the last 500 years. From the powerful jewels of Henry VIII, the scandalous jewels surrounding Charles II, George IV and of course the Duchess of Windsor, to the romantic stories behind the jewels belonging to Victoria there really is a Royal Jewel for every occasion.

Susan Rumfitt is an independent jewellery advisor, auction consultant and lecturer. She studied for postgraduate degree at Glasgow University and, among other roles, is a specialist on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow.

(Image: Royal Crown - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Used for many centuries in games, illusions, cardistry, card structures, cartomancy and memory sports, playing cards are much more than just palm sized pieces of card or plastic.

Surprisingly today’s playing cards date back to 1377. Decks from 1475 still survive. The English deck is of French origin and the Company of Makers of Playing Cards was founded in 1628 to protect English makers from French importations. Cards were used as a medium of communication, propaganda or education: the 1678 Titus Oates plot is illustrated on a 52 card deck published at the time and known as The Horrid Popish Plot. Francis Barlow illustrated the cards depicting Marlborough's Victories in 1707. Modern cards follow in these old traditions with some wonderful collectors’ decks of today.  

What do we mean by jewellery? What does it mean to different societies across time and across the world?

This lecture takes a number of themes in order to expand the concept of jewellery and examine the different reasons why people wear it. Everyone decorates the body, but there are different notions of how to do so and which parts to decorate. In many societies jewellery serves as vital protection against evil spirits. It can be a powerful vehicle of communication, indicating the wearer’s preoccupations, their religion or ethnic group. It can be a keepsake of a loved one, or a memorial to the dead. And it can also be a work of art in its own right harnessing all the .skills of the goldsmith, gem-setter, or enameller. Based on the collections of the British Museum, where the speaker has worked for 40 years, this new thought-provoking lecture reveals how jewellery has been worn and used, and takes you from ancient burial ornaments by anonymous masters to the big names of the modern world. 

Roberto Burle Marx left a flamboyant and colourful legacy, from Rio de Janeiro to the iconic Brasilia.

(This lecture will be preceded by our AGM at 2:00pm)

The development of chair construction and style from ancient times through the 19th century and its use as a symbol of power and authority in courtly ritual.