At the outset of his second period in England, from 1532 until his death in 1543, Hans Holbein the Younger was commissioned by the powerful Hanse League to paint murals for their dining room at the Steelyard on the banks of the Thames. This initial contact with fellow Germans based in London led to a commission to create their street tableau for the coronation of Anne Boleyn, Holbein’s patron, and to a series of individual portraits of the Steelyard merchants, arguably among the best portraiture of any era. Based on extensive research into the Hanse League, the Steelyard and Holbein’s work in England, Justin opens a window onto the everyday life of international traders in the early modern period, and discusses their personal characters from Holbein’s insightful likenesses.

After officer service in the Royal Navy Justin had a long career in business management. He became Chief Executive of a healthcare company and then Director of Studies for a Japanese executive college in Oxford and Washington DC. He was one of the earliest consultants in knowledge management and e-learning, advising the UK Government, until he retired from business in 2000. Justin then studied the History of Art and Architecture at Oxford, and later studied Islamic art at Oxford and classical culture with the university of Athens. While researching for a doctorate in naval history, Justin was invited to join the Bodleian Library as a senior academic manager, advising researchers and graduate students and editing manuscripts in the Bodleian's collections. He is a published historian. A qualified teacher, he is a tutor in the History of Art and Architecture and classical studies for independent colleges at Oxford and for private graduate students. He is a member of the AI & Arts Interest Group at the Alan Turing Institute, and is currently writing a university preparation course on the history of innovation and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on human creativity. A Fellow of two learned societies, and a member of the Walpole Society and the Arts Society West Oxfordshire, Justin is a frequent lecturer for The Arts Society with a wide range of talks and study days on art history, painting, sculpture and architecture across cultures from antiquity to the modern era.

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London’s growth in the nineteenth century created a public-health crisis: its increasing population drawing water and emptying its drainage into the River Thames caused epidemics which only diminished after a controversial campaign to provide clean water-supply and a system of main drainage. The Metropolitan Board of Works’ engineer, Joseph Bazalgette, improved the physical appearance and quality of life in London more than any other individual in his generation. In the process of engineering the healthy sanitary condition which later generations take for granted, the politicians, managers and designers of the nation’s water supply and sewerage systems left a wealth of high-quality buildings, gigantic engineering works and attractive landscapes across the country. Most surprising of these structures are the monumental and elaborately decorated pumping stations, some of which survived the age of steam to be preserved in working order or adapted to fresh uses. This lecture illustrates, among others, the two major London pumping stations, Abbey Mills (1864) and Crossness (1865) and the unusually elaborate installation at Papplewick, Nottinghamshire (1882-6).  

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

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In the year 2000, having been a Curator in the Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum for 13 years, Louise decided to escape. Given a trowel with a diamond and silver casing in the handle as a leaving present, she set off on a series of extraordinary archaeological adventures. In this richly illustrated talk she will take you with her to a mysterious and atmospheric ancient city on the coast of southern Albania, to the banks of the two great rivers of Mesopotamia - the Euphrates and the Tigris - and then to the wild and wonderful mountains of northern Ethiopia.

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

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The Indian subcontinent has been richly endowed with coloured gemstones which the ancient Hindus never failed to attribute to the blessings of the gods. The Sanskrit word for a gem, ratna, means ‘bestowed’ and these beautiful gems have played a significant role in symbolising power, rank and status for the Mughals and the Maharajahs, The Ottoman Empire, European Kings and Queens, Emperors and Empresses to the Tsars of Russia for over 2000 years. We will explore the magical world of coloured gemstones, discovering how nature’s marvels have captivated and inspired many explorers throughout history to travel the four corners of the world to seek out these precious gems. But what is it about gemstones that have captured man’s imagination and what are the qualities one looks for to recognise a prized gemstone? Our journey through time will discover how gemstones have played a pivotal role in the recognition of Royal dominance, as well as discussing the origins and popularity giving an overview of the main gemstones and how they have been used in jewellery. Joanna has written three books on the subject Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire which took 10 years to write and she is one of the few gemmologists and jewellery historians who has visited every significant gemstone mine in the world. Joanna will give a personal account on emerald mining in Zambia and Colombia, the famous Mogok ruby mines in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and the more recently discovered ruby mine in Mozambique. We will travel to the sapphire mines in Madagascar, Myanmar and Sri Lanka where sapphires have been mined for over 2,500 years and explore the highly skilled art of gemstone cutting.

Joanna Hardy is a gemmologist and independent fine jewellery specialist with over 40 years experience working in the jewellery industry. She began her career training as a goldsmith at Sir John Cass College before working as a rough diamond valuer and grader for De Beers. She then became one of the first women to be a polished diamond dealer in Antwerp and then joined Philips the Auctioneers in London. She moved on to Sotheby’s in Bond Street, London and was their senior jewellery specialist and auctioneer for fourteen years and since 2009 has worked independently. Joanna lecturers and writes articles for publications worldwide and is a published author with her books, 'Collect Contemporary Jewelry', ‘Emerald’, ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sapphire’ published by Thames and Hudson and a contributing author to ‘Graff’ published by Rizzoli and ‘Cartier Panthère published by Assouline. She curates contemporary jewellery exhibitions and has a foundation jewellery course with the online platform https://www.learningwithexperts.com/jewellery.

Joanna is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association, Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, a Trustee Board member of Gem-A, a Liveryman, a Court Warden of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a member of the British Hallmarking Council and is a regular jewellery specialist on the UK television show BBC Antiques Roadshow.     

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Mozart, Haydn, Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler, Bruckner, Schoenberg - it reads like a list of the great and good in classical music - but the amazing thing is that every one of these musical geniuses lived and worked in Vienna. With slides showing Viennese art and architecture as well as audio excerpts by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Johann Strauss and Mahler, this talk brings Vienna in its heyday to life. Vienna's proximity to nature, its politics and burgeoning middle classes were all factors in this cultural blossoming, but most important was Vienna's geographical location at the heart of the Habsburg Empire and the 'wine, women and song' philosophy of the Viennese. We find out about the special qualities that enabled one city to foster such a golden age for music. We'll also look at the developments in visual art, architecture, science and politics that formed the backdrop to this unparalleled explosion of musical genius and discuss why it ended so abruptly with the First World War.

With 30 CDs to her name, Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinettists to have performed as a soloist all over the world.

Emma has appeared as a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras in reprtoire which includes all the major clainet works as well as pieces written specially for her by Sir John Dankworth, Will Todd, Patrick Hawes, Matthew Taylor and Sir Michael Berkeley amongst others.

She also enjoys giving talks about music - Woodwind Wizardry and The Poet John Milton were both broadcast by BBC radio and she has lectured about composers Gerald Finzi and Malcolm Arnold for the internet company Tonebase, as well as about Schubert and Brahms for Martin Randall Travel.

Emma Johnson studied Music and English at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, where she was the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow. She was honoured by the Queen with an M.B.E. in 1996.

Her charity, the Emma Johnson Music Foundation, gives workshops in primary schools to introduce children to instrumental music. 

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This lecture is about the role Notre Dame plays in the French psyche, exploring the characters who have shaped it, its key location and some of the events that have made it so important.  In this lecture Carole considers what makes Notre Dame so special. Rather than looking into the fine details of its restoration; she will look instead at its key location, some of its most precious artefacts, and through images consider some of the most significant events to have been staged inside the iconic silhouette. Along the way, she will introduce a much loved fictional character Quasimodo, Hunchback of Notre Dame , who was responsible for the cathedral’s salvation the first time it faced destruction.

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

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Zoom Lecture

Behind the front door of a modest terraced house in Cambridge lies an extraordinary Victorian hand painted interior. Working class decorative artist David Parr (1854-1927) spent many years decorating the finest churches and grandest homes in the country. In his precious spare time, he painted the walls of his own home with designs inspired by those he had worked on professionally, adapting them to create his own palace of art at 186 Gwydir Street. The David Parr House is a unique example of Arts & Crafts workmanship layered with C20th social history. The house was subsequently lived in for 85 years by his granddaughter, and only discovered in 2009. The property is open for guided small group tours, but interior photography on tours is prohibited. However, with the permission of DPH and as a volunteer guide at 186, I have created a talk that will visually take you inside the property. We will learn about the lives of those who lived there, the commissions David worked on and the inspirations behind his wall paintings.  This talk is given in collaboration with the David Parr House charitable trust and a third of my fee will be donated to the charity.

Fiona Rose has been lecturing about topics she feels passionately about since 2010 including William Morris and his artisan and designer daughter May, art worker David Parr, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. She has a BA in Social Psychology and aims to include the human story behind the artistic endeavours of her subjects. After an early career in public health Fiona founded and runs a home interiors business featuring the work of the great C19th designers such as Morris, Dearle, Voysey and Mackintosh. Fiona is a member of the Museum Collections committee for The William Morris Society and a former Trustee serving as Chair of their Communications and Business Development committees. She is also a regular contributor to the Society’s Magazine and a book reviewer for the Journal of William Morris Studies. Fiona is a House Guide and specialist lecturer for the David Parr House in Cambridge.

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In this amusing lecture I will talk about the seemingly happy world of professional, family pantomime - and what it’s really like. I’ll recount the bouquets and the brickbats. I’ll look at the famous names, the greatest Dames and the old routines that we all remember – and I’ll look at when it all works – and when it doesn’t.  And I’ll talk about why this most precious of British traditions will always endure, and why, surprisingly, every actor wants to do it. This is a revealing look at professional panto, from someone who was born into it. 

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries. Now, he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

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Long before cappuccinos and skinny lattes, all the world’s coffee traded through the tiny port of Mokha in Yemen. Popularised in Constantinople, Vienna and Amsterdam, the first English coffee house opened in the 1650’s and by 1700 there were 500 in London alone. Beginning as ‘sobering meeting places’ they were frequented by artists, authors and politicians where the debating of literary and political ideas was encouraged, as seen in early prints and lithographs. The marketing of coffee went through distinctive art nouveau and art deco periods and we see it included in works of the major French Impressionists.

After graduating as a civil engineer in 1976, I worked in Saudi Arabia as an engineering consultn and travelled widely across the country.  I then spent 10 years working as a tour group leader in a full time basis.  I still lead a number of tours each year to a variety of destinations and now have extensive exeperience in designing itineries and specialist tours, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.  To complement this I am also a lecturer to universities and societies, published author, travel photographer and television documentary film-maker.  I am an accredited Art Society lecturer. I have published a number of Berlitz Guides covering areas  from Oman to Cairo.

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A king’s favourite who amassed a great art collection. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as “my sweet child and wife” - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds, that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque, King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting, ”By God, George, I love you”. He was a discerning patron. Inigo Jones renovated his houses. John Tradescant was his garden designer. In his great house on the Strand, he put together a collection of art works as fine as King Charles’. At the age of 35, Buckingham was murdered. His collection was scattered, but contemporary inventories allow us to reconstruct it. I will show you some of the magnificent paintings he owned: the Titians, the Tintorettos, the Veroneses. But Buckingham was not just a collector of old masters. He was a patron commissioning boldly innovative new work. Most remarkable are the portraits of himself that he commissioned from painters including Van Honthorst, Van Dyck and Rubens, and images by great artists of a man known as “the handsomest-bodied man in Europe”. Lucy’s book, ‘The Scapegoat’ about Buckingham is published by Estate.

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

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

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

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The Victorians were inveterate travellers, some for pleasure, some for work, whether in the military or the colonial service, and some from economic necessity, seeking a better life elsewhere in the Empire.  Whatever their motives they all left loved ones at home to whom they wrote letters detailing their experience, often embellished with engraved views of their new countries.  From the steppes of Asia to the battlefields of the American Civil War, this talk brings their stories to life in their own words from unpublished letters in the lecturer's archive.

After graduating in History from the University of Sterling, John moved to work for Morgan Grenfell and subsequently MD of Deutsche Bank.  After retiring from banking in 2002 he formed, with his wife, their own company, Historystore Limited which trades in antique documents and published historically-themed merchandise.  John is currently Chairman of the Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee of the City of London Corporation an an accredited Art Society lecturer.

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Ceramics are hard, lustrous and useful, sometimes rare, costly and beautiful.  They are fragile and disasters can strike in unexpected ways; as a trembling hand wields a duster in the drawing room of a grand country house; as a delicious dessert is prepared in the confectionery kitchen of an Ottoman Palace; or when a revered bowl which has passed through generations of owners falls to the floor during the Japanese tea ceremony.  We can sympathise with the tears of a tired English housemaid when a matching set of treasured plates was reduced from six to five! Yet help for her was at hand in the form of skilled porcelain menders who, in the made-do-and-mend spirit of past eras repaired the damage with tiny metal rivets.  In Japan, gold lacquer repairs are called kintsugi.  When revitalised with intricate repairs and their unique histories of cracks and chips are outlined in gold, these tea ceramics connect with a philosophy known as wabi-sabi in which beauty can be found in the imperfect and incomplete.  In contrast, Imperial China witnessed the deliberate smashing and burial of porcelain wares which emerged flawed from the kilns so they could not be seen by the emperors.  We explore why some people in the 17th century Spain ate fragments of broken pottery!  This talk includes my original photographs taken in China, Japan and Istanbul.

Anne is an Accredited Lecturer for the Arts Society and became senior ceramics specialist in charge of 19th Century European Ceramics at Christie’s head office in King Street, London. In 1995  Anne relocated to Shanghai, China. The new Shanghai Museum, which opened in 1997, was an irresistible magnet and Anne was fortunate to visit several ancient kiln sites around China, including at Jingdezhen.

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From the earliest days of phorography, women have used their cameras to challenge the boundaries of beauty.  This talk begins with the portraits and idylls createdby Cameron and Clementina Hawarden.  It then considers the images of protest made by Olive Edis and Christina Broom during the 'Votes for Women' campaigns.  Finally Suzanne Fagence Cooper  explores the career of Lee Miller, from her role as a fashion model, through her surrealist work, to her uncompromising reportage as a War Correspondent.  This lecture shows us the birth of the Modern in art through a new and refreshing lens.

Dr Suzanne Fagence Cooper is an Honorary Visiting Fellow in the Department of the History of Art York University an an accredited Art Society Lecturer.

Her research is focused on 19th and 20th Century British art and design, with a special interest in the history of women and the photographers, Lee Miller Cameron and Hawarden. She has worked as a consultant for a number of TV and film projects.  In 2012 she was historical consultant to Ralph Fiennes, director of ‘The Invisible Woman’, for a film about Charles Dickens.  She was also an advisor for the BBC drama series, ‘The Living and the Dead’ (2016) set in the 1890s, and for an Agatha Christie film, ‘See How They Run’ (2022).

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In the second half of the nineteenth-century an extraordinary group of purpose-built studio-houses were built on the edge of London's Holland Park.  At their centre was the house built by Frederic Leighton during the mid-1860s.  With its vast studio and exotic Arab Hall it provided an inspiration to other artists who commissioned houses of their own.  Combining domestic accommodation with studio space and space in which to entertain, these houses provide fascinating insights into the wealth, status and taste of successful artists of the period.  This talk explores the houses of the Holland Park Cicle to determine why these artists invested so much in the creation of their homes and the uses they put them to.

Daniel Robbins has been Senior Curator, responsible for two of London's most significant house musums; Leighton House and Sambourne House.  He was responsible for leading the award-winning project to restore the historic interiors of Leighton House Museum completed between 2008 and 2010. Daniel is an Art Society accredited lecturer.

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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 designed by Lutyens with a garden designed by Jekyll became an Edwardian ideal.  Their designed gardens had a strong architectural background, softened by luxurient planting in the natural style advocated by William Robinson (1838-1895) Their partnership thrived in the brash new-moneyed Edwardian era, but the First World War ended that golden afternoon and as Lutyens became distracted by the creation of New Delhi and Miss Jekyll, almost blind, became more and more reluctant to leave Munstead Wood, so the gardens they designed together were fewer and further between.

James Bolton, an Art Society Accredited Lecturer, studied at the Inchbald School of Design (1990).  He was Head Gardener at the Old Rectory Farnborough and then Faculty Director, Design History at the Inchbald.  He has been a garden designer since 1992.

If you would like to come along as a visitor to what promises to be a very interesting talk, please book your place by clicking on this link.

The earliest images of art were those of animals drawn on cave walls and carved using antler and bone.  At the same time humans were beginning to see the shapes of animals in the constellations of the night sky.  Animals were the first great subjects of art - but what of their fate in subsequent art, the 'afterlife' of animals?  They resurface as symbols in medieval art (often connected with hunting) and as objects of curiosity in the Age of Enlightenment.  In our own age, following the rediscovery of the first age of animal art in prehistory, we have begun to question our relationship with animals, and are seeing them anew in works of art. 

Dr. Stonard is an author and art historian and an accredited Art Society Lecturer. His book 'Creation. Art Since the Beginning' was published by Bloomsbury in 2021, and has been hailed as the successor to Ernst Gombrich's fabled 'The Story of Art'. This talk is the first of a series of four derived from his book.

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ON LINE ONLY

Overlooked by the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Roman Forum was the social, political, commercial, religious and legal heart of the city of Rome, and by default the entire Roman Empire.  Professional Rome tourist guide Stuart Harvey will lead you on a voyage of discovery through the ruins of the Forum to discover the fascinating stories behind the trimumphal arches, temples, basilicas and other surviving structures, explaining how and why certain parts survived and others did not.  This talk will introduce you to gods, goddesses and demi-gods of the Roman religion; the legal and commercial procedures of the ancient city, and of course, the governmental structure as we visit the Curia or Senate House.  We will also see where Julius Caesar was cremated and discover how his death ultimately brought about the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of Empire.

Stuart Harvey, an Art Society accredited lecturer, has over 30 years experience as a Blue Badge London Guide and is also a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma (qualified in 2010). He has worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe.
Stuart has lived in Rome since 2003, and has developed a great love for the Eternal City

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Join Margaret for a seasonal hour of Christmas bygones and entertainment as she brings to life the joy of music through the ages at this time of the year.  She will be delving into the history of the harp and its incredible pedal mechanism and exploring some of the old Christmas Carols and their origins.  Margaret will play a selection of festive favourites to get you in the mood for Christmas.

Margaret is an accredited Art Society lecturer and has played for royalty, given concerts at National Trust properties, Clarence House, Glyndebourne, Covent Garden and more. She is an active member of the charity ‘Music in Hospitals and Care’ and gives bedside concerts for patients and mentally or physically disabled people.

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

Our lecturer, Dr. James Grant MBE,  was born in Scotland and practised as a GP for many years.  Now an accredited Art Society Lecturer he has linked his interest in medicine with art.  This talk promises to be extremely interesting.  If you would like come along as a visitor to this talk, please click on the link to book your place. 

A guide and lecturer at the National Gallery for 35 years, Lydia will share some of its headline-grabbing stories against the backdrop of some of its most exquisite paintings.

Lydia Bauman was born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry). She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely to adult audiences. She has taught at London's National Gallery for more than 35 years, and intermittently at Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery as well as collections such as Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Hermitage and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the latter as a guest speaker for travel companies. Since the pandemic began in March 2020 Lydia has devised and delivered a programme of upwards of 180 online lectures to her own group Art For The Uninitiated. If you would like to come along to this talk, to book your place please click on the link

This lecture tells Ukraine's story through the shared culture which binds its proud people together. We will explore the sacred art and architecture of Kyiv and its links to Byzantium, as well as the distinctive characters and ethnicities of Odesa and Lviv. Tracing Ukraine's complicated multi-ethnic history also means looking at its rich folk culture traditions. These range from native song and the secret codes embedded in ancient embroidery, which have exerted a surprising impact on modern painting and contemporary haute couture, to Cossack dancing and borshch. 

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.

Worshipped by Aesthetes and cultivated by Impressionists the sunflower casts its golden rays across art and culture. A personification of the divine and the regal, we trace its history from classical myth to twentieth century painting via Van Dyck and Van Gogh, Clytie and Klimt, Monet, Rivera, Wilde and Watts. Green and gold, human and divine, the adoring and the adored, the Sunflower.

Twigs Way is a professional researcher and writer fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds. Her work explores themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, art and literature...and she enjoys following lesser known paths in garden history towards the unexpected. Her original work was on the history of women in the garden and she retains an active research interest in this topic. Recent publications include the art and culture of specific flowers including the carnation and the daffodil and her book on the Chrysanthemum in Art and Culture was published October 2020 by Reaktion Press, and she is currently working on the Daffodil in art and culture.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was the domination of shipping routes to and from America that was the golden prize. Ocean either side of the Great War. We look at the breathtaking interiors as portrayed in the Shipbuilder special supplements of the day and the Sales Brochures. What were the reasons for the tragedy of both the Lusitania and Titanic? What art was lost on Titanic? Was it just plain sailing on the Atlantic? Howard Smith’s lectures have a reputation for stunning graphics - this lecture is no exception and also has vintage film of RMS Olympic with the building and launch as well as a glimpse of the First Class dining experience - these were floating luxury hotels for the seriously rich and below decks a cramped one-way ticket for the 12 million immigrants to the States.

To his contemporaries, Michelangelo was the living embodiment of artistic genius. He was a sculptor, painter, architect and poet, a man of immense energy and fiery temper, dedicated, solitary and single minded, both tormented and possessed by his ambition. In his long life he painted the Sistine Chapel, designed the dome of St Peter’s, created the Medici Chapel and carved Moses, the Pieta, and the towering figure of David. And yet that was only a fraction of what he set out to produce. This lecture looks at this tempestuous genius whose work at first fulfilled the ideal of the High Renaissance and then went on to alter it forever.

Douglas read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Centre, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe.

The Borghese Gallery houses what is arguably one of the greatest collections of art in the world. In the early 1600s Cardinal Scipio Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, amassed an incredible collection of ancient sculptures and renaissance art, including works by Titian, Botticelli and Raphael. Scipio added to this by commissioning statues from Bernini and buying up works by Caravaggio, Domenichino and other contemporary artists of the day. The collection also houses later artworks acquired over the centuries by the Borghese family, all in a magnificent building designed for Cardinal Scipio especially to house his collection. The Borghese Gallery is set in the Villa Borghese gardens, until a century ago the private gardens of the Borghese family, and today one of the most beautiful public parks in Rome.

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

Between about 1890 and 1930, Arts and Crafts designers built and contributed to hundreds of churches across England. Some are famous schemes including the church building and all its interior fittings, such as Brockhampton in Herefordshire; Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London; St. Andrew’s, Roker. Sometimes it’s just one commission – a stained glass window, a screen, a font cover. Discover how these designers, Morris & Co. in churches like Selsley changed the course of church furnishing in England, and how the next generation of Arts and Crafts designers revolutionised church design. With a particular focus on Brockhampton, just over the border in Herefordshire, perhaps the finest Arts and Crafts church in Britain.

Kirsty has been the curator of the decorative and fine art at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham since 2008, and prior to that was the curator and manager of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. At Cheltenham she looks after the Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection, which includes the important private press archive, the Emery Walker Library. She’s curated many exhibitions on the Arts and Crafts and Private Press Movements, most recently Ernest Gimson: Observation, Imagination & Making. 

It is not known exactly when Advent was first acknowledged as part of the Church’s calendar, but it appears to be a tradition that was started sometime in the late 5th century.  Etymologically, Advent is derived from the Latin adventus – coming, arrival - and for many people today, as in the past, it is a time for reflection and spiritual preparation for the birth of Christ on 25th December. Over the centuries Advent has attracted many customs and traditions, and has also inspired a wide range of fine prose and poetry, as well as some first class music.  The lecture follows the ever-evolving traditions of Advent and samples a range of inspired poetry and music.

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

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

Steven holds a BA(Hons) in Fine Art; MA in History of Art. He has been a lecturer at the National Gallery since 2004. He has lectured on the history of European art and architecture at Somerset House; taught courses on art and architecture at London colleges (The City Literary Institute and Bishopsgate Institute) and is a regular gallery and museum guide for U3A. Steven is also a painter.

Henry VIII can be considered the founder of the Royal Collection. Sparked by his rivalry with Francois I of France, all his palaces were furnished lavishly with paintings and tapestries. He used the splendour of the arts to enhance his own personal image. This lecture places the pieces into the timescale of Henry's life and lets us understand why certain works were produced when they were and how the king was viewed within his own time.

In the early seventh century a great ship was dragged ashore from the River Deben in Suffolk. It became the burial place of a powerful Anglo-Saxon warlord, buried with a mound of treasures from all over the known world. Fine weaponry, gold coins and exquisitely crafted jewellery revealed levels of sophistication which were a revelation. The aim of the lecture is to examine the finds in turn, partly to appreciate them in their own right and partly to explore what insights they offer and what questions they pose about their world. 

Mark was born on the Isles of Scilly and educated at Truro School, Cornwall, and Birmingham University. His career has been spent in education and training at home and abroad. He has lectured at Exeter College on Medieval and Tudor history, St Mark's & St John's University College, Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and medieval England. Mark currently runs two small companies providing training and study breaks.

The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 was arguably the greatest archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. The name of this boy-king conjures up wonderful imagery and mysterious tales of the pharaohs. Lucia’s lecture explores this unusual tomb and its iconic treasures. It will examine the design and decoration in the most famous tomb in the Valley of the Kings. She will discuss Carter’s discovery of the tomb, and explore what happened to the incredible wealth of funerary goods found inside.

Lucia is an Egyptologist working in museums and on excavations in Egypt, but she mostly lectures. She is an Honorary Research Associate at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology. She has taught Egyptology at several UK universities, and works at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London. She leads tours to Egypt and her publications include Egypt: gods, myths, religion.

Helen’s lecture focusses on Victorian encounters with India and will begin by looking at the Indian portraits decorating the corridors of Queen Victoria’s favourite palace, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Austrian artist Rudolf Swoboda was commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint authentic portraits of her Indian subjects to represent ‘various types of the different nationalities of India. Swoboda produced some extraordinary paintings during his two visits to India and the Queen was thrilled, calling them her ‘Beautiful Things!  If Queen Victoria couldn’t travel to India – India had to come to her.

Dr Helen Rufus-Ward is an art historian with a BA Hons, and MA with distinction, and doctorate (DPhil) in Art History, from the University of Sussex. She has published on Late Antique and Byzantine ivory carvings, plaster casting of art works and 19th century collecting. As well as holding a Higher Education Academy teaching qualification, Helen is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, the Society of Jewellery Historians, and is the Chairman of Eastbourne Arts Circle that has raised significant sums of money for the Towner Art Gallery Eastbourne

There were eight studios in Hollywood during its Golden Age. In this lecture Colin provides a helpful history from their early, tentative beginnings through their full glory in the 1930s and 1940s to their decline and dissolution in the 1950s and 1960s with the deaths of the founding movie moguls. He will move from the silent stars Pickford, Fairbanks, Chaplin and Valentino through the films of the durable stars: Gable, Cooper, Garbo, Dietrich, Flynn and Davis. The lecture concludes with the decline of the studios and their takeover by conglomerates like Sony, Mitsubishi and Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Colin Shindler has been lecturing on American and British social and cultural history for over 20 years. He was awarded his PhD at Cambridge University and subsequently lectured on film for their History Faculty between 1998 and 2019, exploring its relationship to modern British and American social and cultural history. He also teaches a variety of adult education courses. He has pursued a wide ranging career as writer and producer in radio, television and film. 

Inspired by the Australian landscape and the major art galleries in various cities of Australia, a lecture exploring the extraordinary climatic contrasts prompted by Dorothea McKellar’s celebratory poem ‘My Country’. The patterned hands of ancient Aboriginal cave paintings, the dreams of pioneers, the unique botanical treasures, the glorious light captured by the Heidelberg School, Australia’s own Impressionists, and finally the rediscovery of its indigenous art.

Caroline has lectured in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, Japan and on cruises to the Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indian Ocean. She lectures for the University of Cambridge ICE (Course Director for International Summer Programme), the Royal Horticultural Society, museums, and specialist travel companies. She is a consultant designer specializing in evoking historic, artistic and symbolic references. Caroline has published 11 books and is presenter and contributor to television and radio.

The lecture looks at how industrialisation changed the world of architecture, and how the Victorian Gothic revival did so much to define our national landscape in Britain. (1750–1900).  In the richly illustrated lecture John discusses the prevailing styles of architecture to be found in early C19 Britain, with a focus on 'Regency' and 'Neo-classicism'. So why then did the Victorians fall in love with Gothic again? There are a number of different factors and influences, and John picks out Ruskin and Prince Albert as being the key catalysts. It was a time of political and social upheaval, so it is impossible to overlook the politics of the period. John concludes with a celebration of Victorian innovation and engineering. He gives us a timeline of European architectural development to the present day; useful in setting the context of the particular period under discussion.

An engineer by training, educated at Winchester and Oxford, John spent much of his working life in the City of London, and now runs his own business advising the owners of historic houses and landscapes, counting the National Trust and the Crown Estate among clients, as well as several privately owned properties.

Find out about the various ceremonial events that take place around Christmas time in this light-hearted lecture. Carol services, concerts and even Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor all play their part. How do the Chelsea Pensioners prepare and celebrate the festive season? All will be revealed so, come along and feel wrapped in a blanket of Christmas loveliness.

Graham started his professional life as a musician in the British Army and over a glittering career spanning nearly forty years he retired as the Senior Director of Music, Household Division and Director of Music, Coldstream Guards. During his illustrious career he has recorded over 40 albums and been responsible for the largest commissioning programme of wind band music. He pioneered a music education programme with the University of Salford for military musicians resulting in a new Master of Music in performance degree. Graham was made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace for outstanding service to military music in 1993.

The wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman ‘Batavia’ on islands near the west coast of Australia in 1629 is one of the most notorious shipwreck stories of all time though it remains little known in Europe. The catastrophe involved a vicious mutiny that resulted in over one hundred survivors being systematically massacred on the islands off the Australian coast, where Geraldton is now, while they waited for help to arrive. The ship was carrying treasure, 16,000 daalder coins, but also a magnificent late Roman cameo, destined to be sold to the Mogul of India – or that had been the plan. The cameo dates from the fourth century AD and the court of Constantine the Great. Amazingly, the cameo was to survive the ghastly disaster and is today in Holland, while the wreck of the ship that carried it to Australia is now in the Shipwreck Museum at Fremantle. This lecture tells the ship’s story, and traces the cameo’s journey through these epic events looking at why it was there, who took it, why it survived and the events it witnessed.

Guy de la Bédoyère is a historian, well-known for his frequent appearances on Channel 4’s Time Team and his numerous books on Roman history and other topics for Thames and Hudson, Yale University Press, and Little Brown among other publishers. Guy has degrees from the universities of Durham and London, and worked for many years in the BBC. He also taught History and Classical Civilization at a girls’ grammar school. Guy has lectured to societies in Britain, at the Gloucester History Festival, BBC History Magazine weekends, Western Australia and New Zealand. He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

A portrait can be much more than a straightforward likeness of a person. A ‘cryptoportrait’ may at first sight not look like a portrait at all, because it can be ‘disguised’: for example as an Adoration of the Magi with real people playing the parts of the Magi, or as a statue of a prophet or saint with the features of a patron, or the artist’s self-portrait may be hidden amongst a host of other faces. Throughout Western art we may discover such concealed portraits if we look carefully and are prepared to recognise these games that artists and patrons chose to play with the beholder. 

Sophie was born in Gouda (Netherlands). She has an MA and PhD in English Literature (Leiden), an MA in Medieval Studies (York) and a PhD in Art History (Leicester). She has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and organised many study days, tours and visits. She is also a regular lecturer for Cambridge University and travel companies, and Honorary Research Fellow with the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews and author of numerous publications. 

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

Alexandra has a BA from Saint Martin’s School of Art and an MA London College of Printing. Alexandra’s background is in design, having practised as a graphic designer, ran her own design consultancy for many years.

She is an official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the Guildhall Art Gallery and a lecturer at the Pallant House Gallery. She is a qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. She is also a member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015).

The art of Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat. What binds them together is ‘street’ or ‘graffiti’ art. Banksy is from Bristol, and emerged in the 1990s with a stencil-based approach to street art. His work pops up in the most surprising places. Most memorable are large rodents, girls with balloons and flower-throwing freedom fighters. Some see Banksy as a prankster but with increasingly serious cultural or socio-political points to make. The picture that shredded itself at Sotheby’s in 2018 is a good example. Banksy remains, anonymous despite his popularity.

Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960. On the streets, he made graffiti; but once he moved off the streets, and into Andy Warhol’s protective world, he gained a reputation for studio-based neo-expressionist art full of graffiti-like logos and images, with historical and political overtones. While Banksy is very much alive, Basquiat died of a heroin overdose aged 27. The lecture will trace their careers and describe their major artworks.

Over and above the tag of ‘street artist’, and despite their very different backgrounds, the lecture will make connections between them and attempt to evaluate their contribution to contemporary art and their status as art Superstars. The lecture will be jargon-free with audience engagement, backed by high quality images.

 Ray has had a life-long love of art. From 2014 to 2017, he studied art history at the Open University, and then at the University of Buckingham, from where he has an MA in the History of Art. Since 2011, he has been a guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, where he leads public tours of all the permanent displays and also undertakes exhibition tours. In his twenties, Ray studied social sciences at the London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies, from where he was awarded a BSc and a MSc respectively. These degrees led to a career in health and social care, with art being an evening and weekend passion. They also gave Ray a grounding in evidence-based approaches, which he now uses to ensure his art lectures are well-researched and well-informed. Ray is an experienced public speaker who, over many years, has given presentations and lectures on a range of health, art and other themes to diverse audiences in the UK, and abroad from San Diego to Hong Kong. In mid-2020, Ray began organising, hosting and presenting at many on-line art-based seminars for fellow Tate guides and other art lovers. Ray is a member of his local Arts Society in Blackheath.

Norwich was one of the most important sites of 16th and 17th century silver manufacture outside London. It had its own assay office between 1565 and 1702 and a thriving silver trade which flourished in the city and supplied much of the silver for the churches of Norwich and Norfolk, as well as providing secular objects for a domestic market. This lecture examines the development of the silver trade in Norwich and the reasons for the establishment of its assay office and examines the system of hallmarks, exploring the possible reasons for the assay office’s closure at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It also looks at the principal public collections of Norwich-made silver and assesses the ways in which they can be seen to manifest a strong sense of regional identity.

Christopher is an independent Researcher. From 2010–2019 he was Director of Palace House, Newmarket (National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art: www.palacehousenewmarket.co.uk). From 2008–2010 he was Co-Director of the Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections. 1998–2003 he was Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum: co-curator of Flower Power – The Meaning of Flowers in Art and Eat, Drink and Be Merry, the British at Table 1600 to 2000. He has catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residences.

This lecture explores the wide-ranging music chosen by ballet choreographers through the years, proving that the right composition with the addition of the right moves and the right designs can create modern masterpieces and timeless classics. We move from the grandness of Imperial Russia with the creation of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and other established and popular works through to the current modern repertoire of the Royal Ballet, exploring the challenges met by both composers and choreographers. His talk includes several performance video clips.

Nigel Bates has been a performer for more than forty years in and outside the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra and eight years as the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet.

He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the ROH.

He has given lectures for over thirty years, including to many arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.

Landscape photography is a way of life and is an essential method of expression for Waite. In discussing his work, Charlie refers to ‘pre-visualisation’ first used by the great American landscape photographer Ansel Adams from which he draws much inspiration amongst others.  "It is the creative act of the artist-photographer who, in visualising a poetic or revealing image within the scene in front of him, anticipates what the final print must convey to express what he sees and feels”.   Charlie refers to Ansel Adams and other artists and photographers who have inspired him and shaped his work.

Charlie is one of the world's leading landscape photographers. He has lectured for 25 years throughout the UK, Europe and the US. He has held numerous one-man exhibitions in London, exhibited twice in Tokyo, and was awarded the prestigious honorary Fellowship of the British Institute of Professional Photographers, as well as a Direct Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. In 2007, he launched LPOTY - UK Landscape Photographer of the Year. Amongst his many publications, the most recent includes Landscape; the Story of 50 Photographs (2005), and Arc & Line (2011). He was invited by the Royal Academy to exhibit in 2015's summer exhibition.

A mixture of art-historical analysis and scandalous anecdote, this lecture takes a generally light-hearted look at changing attitudes to sexual morality down the ages, by examining the portraits and careers of some of history’s most notorious mistresses and courtesans. It also charts the rather complex and ambiguous attitudes of art and society towards the numerous anonymous working girls at the lower end of the scale, by investigating how they have been represented in art at different times and places from the 17th to the 20th century.

Linda holds two first-class degrees in Art History.  She has a broad knowledge of art historical subjects, but specialises in British Art and twentieth century art. She is and experienced lecturer and guide, especially at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has lectured to a wide variety of audiences in different venues, including school and university students, and independent arts societies in the UK and overseas.

The “Star” of Bethlehem apparently did exist. But what it was exactly and when it shone in the night sky are questions we have taken on trust for 2000 years. Astronomy can now recreate the night sky at any given moment in history; we can see an intense light when looking south from Jerusalem towards Bethlehem one November night in 7BC.  The “Star” signalled a new King for Israel and for the West because of the ancient astrological meanings attached to the planets and signs of the Zodiac. Deep space photos from NASA confirm the wisdom of the Magi who read the night skies accurately, astrologically, so many centuries ago. The question is why would the Magi, if Persian as has always been assumed, set out to find the Saviour? Why would gentiles do this? Would it not make more sense if the wise men were in fact Jewish? 

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

From the Alhambra to William Morris, patterns can be gorgeous, yet pattern has often been dismissed as “mere ornament” in comparison with painting.  We will discover what a mistaken view that is as we look at the ideas that inspired some of the great pattern inventors and traditions from around the world. We’ll see that whilst some glorious effects depend on very simple patterning procedures, others can be wonderfully clever, as we watch patterns evolving across the screen in beautiful animations

David studied History at Oxford, and from 1968-82 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-98, he was Lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at Manchester University and published a book about museum practice with Manchester University Press, Exhibiting Authenticity (1997). 

It’s how mapmakers used to describe dangerous or unexplored territory, right? Well, except for one instance, the Lenox Globe, where the tag is placed next to Indonesia and could well refer to Komodo dragons - wrong. So it's a myth - as are dragons.

Consider this: way back before the advent of Google and social networking, people in such diverse places as China, Greece, Scandinavia and even Wales, developed their own stories and art relating to dragons totally independent of each other. And they were all winged serpents, although the number of legs varied. From Beowulf to Puff the magic dragon, from Rubens to Picasso, dragons have captivated writers and artists. Is it a psychological metaphor for primal fears? Is it an innate memory of dinosaurs?

Whatever it is, let’s have fun exploring dragon legends in literature, art and films.

Libby is a freelance art historian, curator, film producer, lecturer and writer.  She is the world’s leading authority on the multi-talented Frank Brangwyn and is currently compiling the catalogue raisonné of all his work, estimated to be in excess of 12,000 items.  She has written films about Brangwyn, Fay Godwin, Fiore de Henriques, John Piper, Patrick Reyntiens, Gordon Russell and Pauline Boty.  Her eclectic interests led her to consider dragons in literature, art and films.

In this lecture Tony examines how classical music has recently grown in popularity.  He looks at the way it has enhanced the drama/tension/romance/memorability of many feature films and television commercials.  He discusses how the internet has enabled a composer to assemble and record a choir of singers from 120 countries without any of them ever having had to leave their homes. Classical music has been the  inspiration for a huge number of popular songs. To highlight his point he will get out his guitar to play and sing for us.

Tony has produced many commercials and advertisements over a period of 15 years.  He remains active as a consultant in the industry, but now concentrates on more philanthropic projects - producing a film in the rural villages of Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  More recently he has completed a sanitation project in Haiti after it was devastated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

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

An exceptionally original and innovative artist and designer, Ravilious studied in his home town of Eastbourne and then in London, becoming one of the best-known artists of the 1930s and a leading light in the revival of wood engraving.  Ravilious was killed while serving as an official War Artist.  His work in this sphere was as innovative as his many book illustrations and his commercial designs for Wedgwood.

Dr Patricia Andrew has served as curator of several museums and galleries, after which she was Deputy Director of the Scottish Museums Council.  As Curator of the Towner Art Gallery at Eastbourne some years ago, she became interested in the then-neglected oeuvre of the local artist Eric Ravilious. She catalogued his works in the collection, got to know his three children and his surviving artistic colleagues, and created a touring exhibition which ended at the Crafts Council in London - the catalogue has become a collector’s item. Patricia now lectures widely in the UK and abroad, both on land and at sea, while her art-historical research covers British art and artists at home and abroad, garden history, and war art.

Please note this is a change to the lecture listed in the printed programme.

This lecture traces the soul of Russia through its rich musical heritage – from the unaccompanied choral music of the Orthodox Church to gypsy romances, magical ballets and songs performed by the Red Army Choir.  As well as examining how the diverse sounds of church bells, sacred chant, and folk song inspired masterpieces by composers such as Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, it will also take a fresh look at the many familiar melodies which seem a part of our culture but are in fact Russian, and vice versa’.

Rosamund Bartlett 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.

Please note this is a change to the lecture listed in the printed programme.

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic laboratories in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Looking at these and others figures in the context of the society in which they worked, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900. 

A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Gavin lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks include the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York, as well as for history of art societies and The Art Fund.

The rise in importance of writing furniture from the 16th to 18th centuries reflected economic as well as the social need for greater literacy and numeracy as mercantile trade developed across the globe.  The lecture traces the development of the bureau, bookcases and other writing furniture from the humble “writing stope” or ”Bible Box” through to magnificent symbols of status and power - just think of Louis XV’s in Versailles or its replica at the Wallace Collection.  Computers may have “hidden files” but lack the intrigue but lack the intrigue and mechanical craftsmanship of secret drawers and compartments which the lecture will reveal.

Just think of all the “knicknacks” the various drawers of a desk, bureau or furniture can hold and what collections can be displayed where printed books replaced by e-books once stood.  Have personal computers and laptops made writing furniture redundant?  Definitely not.

Janusz, a favourite lecturer at our Arts Society, has lectured on antique furniture since 1975 and has been an accredited lecturer with the Arts Society since 1982, travelling all over the world. His interest in antique furniture developed during his days as an undergraduate when he worked part time in an antique shop, which he eventually took over as proprietor and became known as the dealer who brought but never sold.  His lectures seek to explain furniture in terms of skills and materials employed in its design and construction and also its socio-economic significance.

Like LS Lowry, oil painter and watercolourist, Edward Seago (1910-74) was immensely popular but overlooked by critics; today the best of his landscapes look fantastic, while his life story is full  of interest.  A prolific author, he overcame childhood illness before running away with the circus.  He mixed in aristocratic circles, making friends among the Royal family; a colourful wartime career and a trip to Antarctica aboard the Royal Yacht add to this fascinating account. Seago is much loved by other artists, and in this lecture James explores a number of his finest oil paintings and watercolours in detail, looking at his choice of subject, design and technique.

James enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fé, New Mexico, which inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th century art.  His writing has been described by critics as 'insightful', 'informative' and 'enjoyably readable'.  James  has curated major exhibitions around the country. He bases his lectures on wide-ranging original research into the subjects that fascinate him.

Working as a housekeeper was one of the most prestigious jobs a 19th and early 20th century woman could want – and also one of the toughest. A far cry from the fiction of Downton Abbey, the real life housekeeper was up against capricious mistresses, low pay, no job security and gruelling physical labour.  Until now, her story has never been told.  Delving into secret diaries, unpublished letters and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa tells the extraordinary stories behind some of Britain’s most prominent households. 

In this lecture, Tessa will focus on: Mrs Sarah Wells who was mother to author H.G. Wells, ‘The Worst Housekeeper” from Uppark, Sussex. Mrs Wells kept a revelatory diary for the 14 years she toiled below stairs at Uppark. She was an elderly, anxious woman working in a notoriously old-fashioned household. But what grated most was that her mistress was born a mere dairy farmer’s daughter…

As well as the Arts Society, Tessa lectures to organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She’s the author of two books on social history, including ‘The Housekeeper’s Tale’. She has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines.

On Ernest Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914, his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and eventually crushed in the pack ice. After camping for five months on the ice, Shackleton’s  men rowed to the remote Elephant Island and from there, Shackleton sailed for help to South Georgia over 800 miles away. Over three  months later he returned to rescue the Endurance’s crew Frank Hurley, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, was the expedition’s  official photographer. His  photographs are a visual narrative of an epic journey which capture,  with great artistry, new and amazing landscapes within which a remarkable human drama is  played out. The lecture captures Hurley’s achievements as a photographer of the Antarctic in the first flush of human contact when it was still essentially terra incognita.

Mark’s career has been spent in Education and Training at home and abroad. He has lectured at Exeter College on Medieval and Tudor history, St Mark's & St John's University College,  Plymouth, and at Bath University on Anglo Saxon and Medieval England.

Leslie Primo is making a welcome return to our Arts Society and this fascinating, in depth, lecture will look at the many aspects involved in the telling of the story of the adoration of the Magi which stretches back as far as the 6th century when it was depicted in Byzantine Ivories.  Over the  years, a vast array of artists including Boticelli, Bruegel the Elder, Dürer and Rubens, were fascinated by the tale and its possibilities when it came to the visual depictions. And these depictions have been anything but consistent.

In his talk, Lesley seeks to unravel the myth and the iconography behind the proliferation of the story of the adoration of the Magi from its Eastern and pagan roots to its current Christian interpretation. To aid his examination and  to trace the complex changes, he illustrates his talk  with a variety of beautiful works of art, and images made across many centuries that  will  illuminate this fascinating subject as never before.

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

In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll wrote: “Remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”.

Timothy looks at how to apply these principles to designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting. However, he goes further than this and looks at how contemporary work by painters like Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Hockney  evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

Timothy Walker was director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1986 to 2014 and is now a lecturer and tutor at Somerville College, Oxford.

This is an 'online' lecture.  Commencing at 2.00pm.  

You will be provided with the access details in the morning of the talk.

Have you ever looked at a painting from the past and wondered about the wealth of symbolism it contains - symbols which are mostly obscure to us today but were Instantly recognisable to the work’s contemporaries.

In this lecture, Shirley aims to peel back the layers of Renaissance art by deciphering the meaning of some of these symbols - spiritual and secular, virginal and vulgar – and so enable us to read these paintings like those people, for whom they were intended, could.

Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part time lecturer for the University of East Anglia and the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of her specialist period in the context of the society for which it was produced.

This is an 'online' lecture.  

Please note the earlier time of 11.30am. 

Members will be sent an email the morning of the talk with a link to the relevant website.

For those who love beautiful glass and jewellery, this lavishly illustrated lecture provides an insight into three of the 19th and 20th centuries most renowned and innovative designers and glassmakers, placing them in context with one another and with the Arts Nouveau and Deco Movements.

Anne Anderson is currently a tutor for the V&A Learning Academy. She specialises in the Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. Her career as an international speaker has taken her all over the world.

Due to the COVID 19 restrictions the AGM has ben postponed. The new date will be determined as soon as we are in a position to recomence meetings.

Covid19

Our members safety is our highest priority and it is with regret that we have had to cancel this lecture.

Janusz is returning to the Arts Society North West Norfolk for another of his fascinating talks on furniture, its design and construction and also its socio-economic significance. In this lecture he talks about the rise in importance of writing furniture from the 16thto the 18thcenturies reflecting the economic as well as social need for greater literacy and numeracy as mercantile trade developed across the globe.  He traces the development of the bureau-bookcase and other writing furniture from the humble “writing slope” or “Bible-box” through to magnificent symbols of status and power – just think of Louise XV’s desk at Versailles.  Computers may have “hidden files” but lack the intrigue and mechanical craftsmanship of secret drawers and compartments, which the lecture will reveal.

Have personal computers and laptops made writing furniture redundant? Definitely not!

Covid19

Our members safety is our highest priority and it is with regret that we have had to cancel this lecture.  If Government guidlines allow it is possible this lecture will take place on Monday 28th September. 

Our canals are now 250 years old but they remain a master class in art, design and craftsmanship – clever engineers and daring architects built bold lock flights, soaring aqueducts, decorative bridges and quirky landmarks.  Only the Church of England and the National Trust have more listed buildings than our canals.  In this talk Roger Butler explains how everything on the waterways was built with a purpose – “the functional tradition” and explores why this remarkable working heritage has been called the “poor man’s sculpture.”

Sadly we have had to cancel this lecture due to the Coronavirus.

Iconoclasm defined as the destruction of images and items for religious reasons, has affected the English Church over a long period – just take a look at any of Norfolk’s 600+ churches. In his talk Nicholas explains how this came about. He describes four major periods of destruction and change.   

First the demise of the Romano-British Church in the 5th Century and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, which is followed by the immense changes associated with 1066 and the Norman invasion.  

Some centuries later the churches suffered the early stages of Henry VIII’s destruction of shrines and monastic foundations.  Under his son, Edward VI, swinging ecclesiastical changes continued to be made.  

Then came the establishment of a new type of Christianity up to and including the 17thCentury period of the English Civil War with its associated destructive tendencies, which led to the emergence of new styles of building and theology in the Christian church. Finally, a surprising iconoclastic candidate is the wholesale Victorian programme of rebuilding and alteration.

Sadly we have had to cancel this lecture due to the Coronavirus.

Dukes, Popes or Doges?  What about thewomenwho commissioned and collected art, often in a pattern quite distinct from that of men?  Lucrezia Borgia confounded her image as a murderous and promiscuous woman by commissioning church buildings and artefacts; Alfonsina Orsini used architecture and sculpture to negotiate for power.

Most formidable of all was Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua.  “Hungry for art”, as she described herself; unscrupulously building a collection which was one of the wonders of Italy.  She commissioned Leonard, Titian and Mantegna; she assembled classical gems and statuary.  Unhesitatingly she stolewhat she coveted.  Who were these women and how did they overcome social constraints and restricted means to contribute so much to the creativity of the age.

Occupying a pair of early Georgian townhouses nestled in historic Greenwich, the story of how the Fan Museum came to fruition is interwoven with the fascinating biography of its founder, whose personal collection forms the basis of the Museum’s holdings of five thousand plus fans dated from the tenth Century to the present day.  

The talk will be richly illustrated and emphasise the rise and fall of fans in Europe from the Sixteenth Century to contemporary examples decorated by street artists. Jacob will introduce a diverse array of treasures from the Museum’s collection, including recent major acquisitions like its astonishing Elizabethan period folding fan – a miraculous survival from a time when folding fans were carried only by the wealthiest, most image conscious women! 

Prof. Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures at the British Museum and a world-famous specialist on Ancient Sumeria, Babylon and Assyria. It was he who deciphered a 4000 year-old clay tablet about the Flood Story that provided the blueprint for the original Noah’s Ark. But this lecture focuses on one of Irving’s favourite subjects - how Board Games came into the world in about 10 000BC.  

The illustrated talk will investigate the most successful games of Egypt and Babylonia and Greece and Rome between 2500 BC and the First Century AD.  Irving traces their extraordinary individual histories with the help of archaeology, examines why they should have lasted for millennia and considers the implications of their study with regard to board games in our own time, where they somehow manage to endure despite the relentless incursions of commerce and computers.

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns. This lecture describes some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of Leonard da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo have been a particularly rich source. From the Renaissance, through to the present day, fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance Brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony. In this entertaining and informative talk, Tony Rawlins uses a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and (not always entirely successful) advertisements that are the end results.

This lecture explores the way in which artists over the centuries have included transparent glass objects in their paintings, taking huge delight in capturing the shadows and reflections seen within the glass as well as displaying their skill in portraying what lies behind and beyond.  It will include the remarkable depiction of glass objects in Roman wall paintings, works by artists such as Titian, Veronese and Caravaggio – where both the Gods of Olympus and the disciples are seen drinking out of fragile Venetian cristallo – and the proliferation of glass drinking vessels in Dutch still- life paintings.

Russia’s great 19th century representational painters (virtually unknown in the West) presented Russian history with a drama and intensity comparable to that of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. They tell deeply human stories and teach deeply political lessons. Tony Brenton (former British Ambassador in Moscow) looks at these paintings and explores the world they set out to illuminate.

Back by popular request! In this talk Douglas Skeggs turns his attention to the American artist, James Whistler.  Self-assured, affected and irreverent, the owner of a razor sharp wit, Whistler scandalized London society during the 1870’s.  The lecture explores the paradox of this man whose flamboyant and eccentric ways made him both admired and detested in equal measure and yet whose quiet, meditative paintings, in which more is suggested than actually seen, ultimately assured him a place alongside Oscar Wilde as one of the high priests of the Aesthetic Movement. 

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

Without Carl Linnaeus, many aspects of the modern world would be poorer.  Of his many innovations, the establishment of the binomial system is considered the greatest – thus, we humans are known as Homo sapiens or the common lawn daisy as Bellis perennis; this scientific lingua franca has enabled communication across the centuries and between societies.  Linnaeus’s legacy was far wider than this, he was the first person in Europe to flower and fruit a banana and he developed a technique for growing seed pearls.  His plant collection (herbarium or hortus siccus), library and archives are now housed at the Linnean Society of London and attest to his achievements.

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE FROM NORMAL DATE 

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

This is the story of one of the greatest creative collaborations of all between composer Igor Stravinsky and Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The Ballets Russes’s team of dancers, choreographers and costume and set designers, all at the forefront of their several fields, transformed expectations of what a night in the theatre could be. The lecture explores the circumstances behind the most notorious stage work of all, The Rite of Spring and the build-up to its premiere in Paris, and takes a look at the original costumes, plays excerpts from Stravinsky’s fascinating inventive score, and explores what it was that divided opinions and scandalized that first night audience quite so dramatically, causing the riot at the Rite in 1913.

In Japan the Way of Tea, often translated as “Tea Ceremony” is considered to be the embodiment of the nation’s culture. The architecture of the tea hut in its garden setting, special ceramics and other utensils were designed to reflect the ideals of Tea Ceremony which was heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism.  The aesthetic concepts wabi (simplicity, frugality) and sabi (tranquillity, patina of age) are most prominently expressed in the art of rustic ceramics used in Tea Ceremony, and their humble look overturns the conventional standard of beauty.  This lecture will consider the intriguing nature of wabi and sabi that challenges our very idea of art.

Early Christians celebrated Christmas at the same time as the ancient Romans were feasting and partying for their pagan Saturnalia festival.

Many of the pagan habits were therefore absorbed into our Christmas traditions.  Present giving, holly and even party hats all have their origins in the two thousand year old party.

Gillian has compiled a collection of fascinating ancient and modern artworks, which will surprise and delight as she unwraps for us the images and stories behind our festive season.

This talk is timed to mark the end of the First World War on Nov 11th 1918.

 Many soldiers, especially from WWI, returned with loss of limbs, disfigurement and shell shock. ‘Healing Stitches’ tells how ordinary people responded to these badly wounded soldiers, wanting to help at the most challenging time in a person’s life.  A wounded man could become absorbed in needlecraft and, for a time, forget his injury, providing ‘hope’ for the future.  Similarly, those who had lost loved ones were able to engage in needlecraft as personal therapy.  This lecture explores the supportive help of needlecraft suppliers and practitioners.  Therapeutic needlecraft began during the Crimean War, and continues to the present day where it is now seen as a recognized form of occupational therapy, with remarkable benefits. 

Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonial administrator of Java, Indonesia.  In 1804 he discovered the 8th century temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash.  He went on to acquire wondrous artifacts in Java which are now in the British Museum, and founded Singapore, the most important trading post in the East.  This lecture tells the story of Raffles, a scholar and polymath, looks at the art objects he collected, reveals the mystical temple and its radiant carvings and shows the architectural heritage of Singapore inspired by his vision.

For the first time in history, the garden is able to accommodate elements and approaches from previous generations while ensuring that wider considerations such as ecology, sustainability and the encouragement of wildlife are placed at the forefront of any design decision-making process.

This talk illustrates and discusses, through examples of best practice, the integration of contemporary garden considerations within traditional garden contexts and how both approaches are elevated by association.

Sofonisba Anguissola was a talented and successful Italian Renaissance painter.  Her lengthy career included fifteen years painting portraits at the court of King Philip II of Spain.  Anguissola was celebrated in her lifetime: her work was admired and discussed by Vasari and when she was in her nineties, Anthony van Dyck sought her advice on art.  This lecture presents Anguissola’s life and career in its historical context and explains how her oeuvre is growing as she is now recognized as the author of paintings hitherto attributed to male artists.  Be prepared to be surprised!

Frank Matcham (1854-1920) was a British theatre architect whose surviving theatres include the London Coliseum, Cheltenham Everyman Theatre, Buxton Opera House, the Hackney Empire and the London Palladium.  His theatres used the latest architectural techniques to ensure good sight lines and acoustics, but are particularly valued for the exuberant Victorian and Edwardian Baroque architecture, blending a number of architectural styles into a satisfying and impressive whole.  Simon Rees’s talk illustrates these historic theatres with photographs of their present condition and postcards and architectural drawing dating back to the time when they were built.  As a former dramaturge for Welsh National Opera and a regular participant in the Buxton Opera Festival, he has nearly 30 years of working in many of these theatres, and enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for their flamboyant decorations and their thoroughly practical design.

David returns to give us another exhilarating lecture on the peculiarities of the art world.  It’s almost taboo to mention money in the labels on art gallery walls, yet in reality even other worldly artists like Blake or Van Gogh were as pre-occupied with cash as the rest of us.  Many were downright commercial and if they weren’t, the dealers were.  We watch the tug of war between creativity and credit in financial vignettes from five centuries.  Poverty waited some who insisted on highly detailed finish in the C17th when sketchier painters delivered faster and cheaper.  Sir Godfrey Kneller in the reign of Queen Anne had a production line that put factories to shame.  We eavesdrop on Charles Dickens as a virtuoso financial advisor solving a little local difficulty for William Holman Hunt.  We look at prices for new art in relation to the cost of living for both artists and patrons in the past and conclude by wondering whether today’s colossal world art market is to the benefit or at a cost for creativity.

2016 marks the 200th anniversary of Parliament’s purchase of the so-called ‘Elgin Marbles’ from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin.  This lecture, beautifully illustrated with specifically taken slides and video, explores the aesthetics, the back-story, and the heated debates surrounding these fascinating and controversial works of ancient Greek art:  How and why were they originally created?  What happened to them between their creation and Elgin’s time?  How did he acquire them? And why are there such passionately held views both for and against their repatriation to Greece?

This lecture is specially packaged for the Festive Season.  In it Pamela unwraps some of the many layers of history, custom and myth that make up Christmas:  the Nativity, decking the hall, cards, food, presents and much more.  The lecture is beautifully illustrated by well-known paintings, and lesser-known extraordinary works sources by the lecturer.  Poetry and prose abound—including words written by the speaker to bring joy, pathos and humour.

Raynham, Houghton, Wolterton and Holkham were specifically built to display their owners’ power or ambitions to power and were all linked in their conception, construction and intentions.  The same key national characters were engaged in their building and the houses all pay reference to classical Rome and to Italian precedents.  The talk concentrates on the background out of which these houses grew and explains some of the thinking behind their creation.  This lecture will expand your knowledge and give you a wider and deeper understanding of these exceptional buildings.

Tim is the Curator of Archaeology at the Castle Museum and we have been fortunate enough to get him to talk to us about discoveries that have been made in the region more specifically Norfolk. He will explain how these finds are deepening our knowledge of the area’s past and sometimes leading archaeologists off in new and exciting directions of discovery. With over 15,000 finds recorded in Norfolk alone each year, the array of information can be bewildering so Tim plans to contextualise these discoveries and show how even humble finds can be important.

The AGM will follow today's lecture.  There will be a short pause after the lecture allowing time for those not wishing to stay for the AGM to leave.

Douglas Skeggs is well known to our local society having delivered two outstanding lectures here previously: 'Whistler' (2011) and 'Klimt and the Viennese Succession' (2013). He originally studied fine arts at Cambridge,and has lectured widely. He is a writer, artist, TV Presenter, Director of the New Academy of Arts and has published six novels.

Art experts have often been lampooned for their pretensions. We review some notorious episodes when critics and connoisseurs have found themselves in the public eye - or even in court. Focusing on the mysterious Polish Rider in the Frick Collection, we evaluate a decades-long project to settle just which painting Rembrandt actually did. It ended up as much a study of trickiness of attribution as of Rembrandt. Will experts of the future fall out over fake Damien Hirsts - or will the whole Britart movement be forgotten.

Tim received an MA in Art History at Edinburgh University and a Diploma in Architecture from the Architectural Association in London. He worked for Lambeth Borough Council architects department and Arup Associates before establishing his own private practice in London. He taught architectural design and history at Oxford Brookes University. More recently he has taught evening classes on the Appreciation of Contemporary Architecture at City University and free-lances in London. He also paints watercolours. With this background he hopes to help us understand and enjoy more about buildings that we walk past and use every day.