Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG 7.30pm, Guests £10 on the door

Evening only lecture, come early to enjoy refreshments

“Europe has a great deal of art, and America has a great deal of money,” remarked Joseph Duveen. It was a simple enough observation, but there was only one man who was perfectly positioned to combine his quintessential English charm with an unparalleled gift for creative salesmanship, allowing him to convince the tight-fisted titans of Wall Street (Frick, Morgan, Mellon etc.) that there was indeed one thing more important than money - art - and, “when you pay high for the priceless, you’re getting it cheap”. Without Duveen, there is no Frick; and, without Duveen both the Metropolitan Museum in New York and The National Gallery of Art in DC would struggle, or even fail, to be considered world-class today. But was he just a charismatic crook milking millionaires, or was he indeed truly deserving of the title, ‘world’s greatest art dealer'?

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG 7.30pm, Guests £10 on the door

Evening only lecture, come early to enjoy refreshments

Whether used for diplomatic gifts or tokens of love, between the 16th-19th centuries miniatures were commissioned as small portraits which could be held in the hand or placed inside lockets creating an intimate relationship between the owner and sitter. I look at the history of these tiny treasures of art.

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG 7.30pm Guests £10 at the door

Evening only lecture, refreshements served beforehand

The Stirling Prize has celebrated the very best contemporary buildings since 1996. Some winners, such as Norman Foster’s Gherkin, of 2004, have become enormously successful and appreciated by the wider public. Others have proved harder to love. This entertaining lecture looks at some of the hits, some of the misses, and several buildings that arguably should have won, but didn’t.

No doubt the audience have some strong opinions here!

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Lecture starts at 2.15pm and repeated at 7.30pm Guests £10 on the door

Refreshments beforehand

Unlike the widely publicised looting of Jewish collections by the Nazis during the Second World War, the wholesale dispersal of Russia’s cultural heritage during the inter-war period is rarely discussed. This talk looks at the process by which the Russian Revolutionary authorities sold off vast quantities of their country’s valuable patrimony following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to raise valuable hard currency. Sometimes referred to as the conversion of “Treasures into Tractors,” the process effectively confiscated and sold off the contents of Russia’s churches, libraries, monasteries, museums and aristocratic private collections, thereby dispersing much of the country’s cultural treasures to the far corners of the world. Many nations took advantage of these sales between 1918 and 1938, most notably the USA where, with the help of the international art trade, many of the more important works went on to form the basis of the Washington National Gallery and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. What happened to all those Fabergé eggs and the imperial crown jewels, the Raphaels and Botticellis? This talk lifts the lid on the extraordinary events that unfolded after the Revolution.

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG,

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm, Refreshments beforehand

Afternoon Only

Alexandra Epps – Temara de Lempicka: Art Deco Diva

Tamara de Lempicka's story is one of self-invention. From her early beginnings as an aristocratic fugitive from the Russian Revolution, to later taking Paris by storm as a successful artist living on her own terms, she has become an icon of the Roaring Twenties. Few artists sum up an epoch quite so completely - a true art deco diva.

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Lecture starts at 2.15pm with refreshments served before the lecture

Afternoon only

The true pioneers of visual effects in the movies were the musicals. In the glory days of the studio system Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were involved in an artistic arms race to put the most ingenious dance routines on screen. Join writer, teacher, and composer Christopher Budd for an appreciation of blue screens, rotating stages, and two extraordinarily talented men.

Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Lecture starts at 2.15pm, afternoon only.  Guests £10 at the door

Our last lecture before Christmas with drinks and hot mince pies, served before the lecture.

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

NOTE VENUE: HAZELWOOD CENTENARY THEATRE RH8 0QU

Annual General Meeting at 1.30 pm

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm, Afternoon Only Guests £10 on the door

In childhood and throughout his life, Sargent was described as being 'at home everywhere and nowhere.' Born in Florence to itinerant American parents, he adopted a frenetic pattern of international travel throughout his life. The range and duration of his travels is truly staggering. Renowned as a society portraitist, in 1909 his dramatic decision to refuse all further commissions provided a new found freedom. Sargent also indulged his fascination for all things 'curious' - a favourite word. Accommodation was variable - ranging from the White House in Washington DC to a tent in the mountains. We will explore his ability to capture a sense of place - the atmosphere, light, colours and textures of a land or seascape - with an intimately personal and often unusual interpretation. Whether it be luscious pomegranates in a Spanish orchard, brilliant hues of poppies in the Cotswolds, silver light on glistening fish in Norway, jewel-like reflections on water in Venice or Lake Garda, or the intense sunlight and heat of Morocco and the desert. And his most daring journey of all, in

1918 aged 62, as a war artist travelling to the war torn trenches in France. Many of the works shown will include examples from private collections around the world and correspondence and photographs from friends, family and travelling companions.

Lecture in Limpsfield Church hall RH8 0UD, Guests: £10 on the door

Refreshments served before the lecture - come early and enjoy a Welcome Back drink and time to socialize.

Afternoon only lecture at 2.15 pm

Merchant Ship's Figureheads

Why were they created and what and who did they represent? The nineteenth century was the height of wooden merchant shipping around the world and harbours were once filled with ships of all sizes, many with figureheads. Wooden ships were built around the coast of Britain and Ireland. Locally owned, these ships sailed across the oceans and their stories relate to these ship owning communities. The talk will look at myths connected with figureheads, famous figureheads and lesser known ones. It will consider the background to a figurehead and the people they represented. It finishes with one figurehead that inspired the career of a famous novelist.

EVENING LECTURE ONLY, 7.30 pm at Limpsfield Church Hall, RH8 0DG

Refreshments will be served BEFORE the lecture. Guests £10 on the door

Image: Johannes Vermeer, A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, ca. 1662–64.

Photo: Royal Collection Trust

The role of music and musical instruments in both life and art of the Dutch Golden Age.  This talk comes with musical excerpts which illustrate particular instruments shown in paintings. Based on a popular exhibition at the National Gallery by the same title some years ago.

EVENING LECTURE ONLY, 7.30 start Limpsfield Church Hall, RH8 0DG

Refreshments will be served before the lecture

The work of art is not just a symbol of creative genius but a historical object and the result of a laborious process of creation. This lecture looks at the development of stained glass, its purpose, the process by which it was created and some of the extraordinary survivals. From vast cathedrals to tiny chapels, we concentrate on the great achievements of the Middle Ages but consider, too, the reasons for the decline in popularity of this once-preeminent art form and some of the projects in which it has been reconsidered and revived. 

Where possible, all lectures are tailored to include relevant local examples. 

Image: Marc Chagall Window Tudely Church - photo by Philip French

EVENING ONLY LECTURE, 7.30 at Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Refreshments will be served BEFORE the lecture

Genius Spanish architect and designer Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), a key figure in Catalan Modernism, stands as one of the creators of Barcelona’s urban identity. Inventor of new techniques and a magpie enthusiast of all things botanical and sacred, Gaudí’s most famous building, the Barcelona Church of the Sagrada Família, is Spain’s most-visited monument and one of seven of the architect’s works listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Building works on Sagrada Família began in 1882 and are still ongoing, a fact that stands in stark contrast to contemporary building projects and brings to life the nature of cathedral building in medieval Europe. This lecture examines Gaudí’s work and legacy. Contrast to contemporary building projects and brings to life the nature of cathedral building in medieval Europe. This lecture examines Gaudí’s work and legacy.

Casa Batllò Dragon St. George Gaudi Barcelona

Join us for our happy Spring and Fiftieth Anniversary lunch.

A talk from Kate McCaffrey on Anne Boleyn's Book of Hours

Good value with a three course lunch, including drinks.

For full details and how to book click here 

AFTERNOON LECTURE 2.15, refreshments served BEFORE

EVENING LECTURE 7.30, refreshments served before (Lecture to be confirmed)

Amazingly the connoisseurship which led to the sumptuous collections at the Wallace Collection in London and the Frick in New York is linked by a circle of patrons, dealers and taste. Apart from Sir Richard and Lady Wallace and the American industrialist Henry Clay Frick, there was someone who worked for them all, who then left a related fortune to the mother of Vita Sackville-West. Therein lies a great story

Image:The Lady Sackville, Victoria Josefa Dolores Catalina Sackville-West

AFTERNOON LECTURE ONLY 2.15pm start Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Refreshments BEFORE the lecture

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

Image: Parisian panel design created in the 1780s by Réveillon. It was a type popular with the aristocracy (Credit: V&A)

AFTERNOON LECTURE ONLY, Limpsfield Church Hall RH8 0DG

Lecture starts at 2.15pm, refreshments BEFORE the lecture

In 2010, the elaborately carved, incomplete oak bed frame was removed from the honeymoon suite of a hotel in Chester, to be auctioned as a Victorian relic. The speaker has spent six years studying and attributing it, now featured in press around the world. Featuring five royal arms, six single roses, and deeply esoteric symbols of fertility, it turns out to be covered in medieval paintwork, and its proportions respect the mural of the lost Painted Chamber of royal Westminster Palace abandoned in 1512. Scientific analyses, documentation and art history agree to demonstrate it is an astonishing national treasure: the marriage bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, made by 18 January 1486.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Common Images etc 

AFTERNOON LECTURE ONLY

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm at Limspfield Church Hall, 

Join us for a hot mince pie and a glass of wine, BEFORE the lecture

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

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

Join me on a journey of discovery as we explore the hidden secrets of masterpieces by Bellini, Leonardo, van Eyck and many more.

AFTERNOON LECTURE ONLY

Annual General Meeting and Lecture

The Annual General Meeting starts at 1.30 pm  Held in Limpsfield Church Hall

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm (no Evening Lecture)

Bandstands are a distinctive feature of public parks and seaside promenades all over Britain. But what do we actually know about them? Why did they appear in our earliest parks? When were they erected, and who made them? This lecture explores and provides answers to these questions, showing how the bandstand evolved from the buildings and ‘orchestras’ of the early Pleasure Gardens of the eighteenth century, and how they appeared in nearly every public park and seaside promenade of the time, and how its design was influenced by the great landscape designers, and importantly how a very small number of Scottish foundries cornered the market across the world, from Bradford to Brazil and Aberdeen to Australia. From parks, seaside resorts and civic spaces, bandstands have appeared and disappeared - but are once again re-appearing, being restored and enjoying a new lease of life. This lecture will appeal to those interested in architecture, design and social history.

Please arrive in good time for the lecture start time of 2.15pm, in Limpsfield Church Hall.  

BEFORE the lecture, enjoy a welcome drink and a chance to socialize as we start our new season.

AFTERNOON ONLY, NO EVENING LECTURE

David Hockney has become a ‘national treasure’. Although a fine draughtsman, he first came to fame in the early 1960s for his graffiti-like paintings.  The late 1960s and early ’70s saw him painting in a number of different styles, from the precise naturalism of Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy to extremely unnaturalistic works paying homage to his great hero, Pablo Picasso. With all his media and style changes, Hockney continues to delight and enchant people from all walks of life.

Frank Woodgate is a well-established Arts Society lecturer

Image: Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 7.30 pm, refreshments served from 6.45 pm

EVENING lecture only

One of the greatest romantic films ever made,  Casablanca's original casting was not Humphrey Bogart but Ronald Reagan, not Ingrid Bergman but contract actress Ann Sheridan.  Bogart had no confidence in himself as a romantic hero while the film's composer, Max Steiner, hated "You must remember this".  The film won the Oscar for the Best Picture of 1943.

Colin Shindler

Colin Shindler has maintained an active interest in twentieth century American and British social and cultural history whilst pursuing a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and motion pictures, and as an author of books and journalism for forty years. He also teaches a variety of adult education courses at Madingley and Higham Hall in Cumbria on film and its relation to modern British and American social and cultural history.  He is probably best known for his childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life which was short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film Buster starring Phil Collins & Julie Walters and was the producer of such television dramas as Lovejoy, Wish Me Luck and A Little Princess for which he won a Bafta award.  His recent radio plays have been on the German film director Leni Riefenstahl ( Leni Goes to Hollywood, R4 August 2021), P.G. Wodehouse (How To Be An Internee) and Private Eye & The Profumo Affair (Rumours). His books include Hollywood Goes To War: Films & American Society 1939-1952 and Hollywood in Crisis: Films & American Society 1929-1939. His non-fiction novel Garbo & Gilbert in Love was an imaginative reconstruction of the infamous relationship of the two MGM stars. 

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 7.30 pm, refreshments served from 6.45 pm

EVENING lecture only

In this lecture we will look at Sorolla's life and art.  Claude Monet said that "painting in general needed more light in it", while Sorolla believed that he could only "approach the truth of it".  He captured the light of the Meditterranean beaches he loved and the energy of Spanish life.  Quickly painting what he saw, he captured the moment in brightly lit, colourful works.

Arantxa Sardina

Arantxa holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Management from Comillas Pontifical University ICADE in Madrid and a Master’s in Art History from the Open University in London.
She is a tour guide at the Tate Modern in London. As well as English, Arantxa is fluent in Spanish and Italian, and is available for lectures, study days and tours.

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 7.30 pm, refreshments served from 6.45 pm

EVENING lecture only

Following London's expansion many country houses, such as 17th century Ham House and neo-classical Osterley are now within Greater London.  The houses were once the country retreats of courtiers, government ministers and City merchants.  Whilst many are open to the public, some are privately owned and others are schools or offices.

Caroline Knight

Caroline is an architectural historian specialising in British Architecture of the 16th-18th centuries. She set up the course at the Victoria and Albert Museum on "The Visual Arts in Europe: High Renaissance - Baroque 1500-1720" in 2003, and was its Director until 2013. She is the author of London's Country Houses, published by Phillimore Press 2009, co-author of A History of Kensington Palace, and contributor to a variety of academic journals.  Caroline lecturers and teaches at the V&A and for NADFAS, and has performed the same role at the Royal Oak Foundation in the USA.  Caroline has an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. She is a member of the Georgian Group, the Society of Architectural Historians, and of the Furniture History Society.

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 2.15 pm, refreshments served from 1.30 pm

Afternoon lecture only

Rosamund is ideally placed to bring us the shared culture of Ukraine and its proud people.  She will show us the sacred art and architecture of Kyiv, its links to Byzantium and the distinctive characters of Lviv and Odessa.  Ukraine's history is multi-ethnic and includes rich folk traditions.  It influenced modern painting and haute couture.

Rosamund Bartlett

Rosamund Bartlett was born in London. She holds a doctorate from Oxford, and spent fifteen years pursuing an academic career, latterly as Reader in Russian at the University of Durham, before becoming a full-time writer, translator and lecturer.   She is a recent Honorary Research Associate at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Sydney and in 2015 she was awarded the Mary Zirin prize by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. 

Her books include Wagner and Russia, Chekhov: Scenes from a Life, and Tolstoy: A Russian Life, which was longlisted for the 2011 Samuel Johnson Prize.  

She has travelled extensively throughout Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union.  In 2007 she began a campaign to restore Chekhov’s house in Yalta, and remains a Trustee of the Anton Chekhov Foundation, a UK charity set up to preserve and honour the writer’s literary and humanitarian legacy.

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 2.15 pm, refreshments served from 1.30 pm

Afternoon lecture only

Enjoy seeing the work of a 19th century independent career woman at the forefront of artistic innovation.  Working with a passion and dedication previously only expected of men, she adopted a bold style for domestic subjects and landscapes.  She is linked to Edouard and Eugene Manet and has a place in the Impressionist movement.

Caroline Levisse

Caroline is an art historian who specialises in modern European art, which is how she became interested in colour theory and the history of pigments. Among her Arts Society talks are The Colour Blue in Western Art Throughout the Years, Colour Theory in Modern Art: from Delacroix to Delaunay and Seurat’s La Grande Jatte.

In Limpsfield Church Hall at 2.15 pm, refreshments served from 1.30 pm

Afternoon lecture only

The Evolution of Street Art

Much as you may dislike graffiti you will like this talk and learn the name of artists new to you! From its roots in American graffiti, street art has evolved to become a global phenomenon. Portraiture, abstract expressionism, many of the major conventional genres are included with leading artists working internationally. 

Roger Mendham

Roger is a well-known Arts Society speaker and a very keen photographer, on subjects from cars to art.  He is based in Surrey and provided valuable assistance to the Arts Society through the covid period

Note:  there will not be an evening lecture

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm at Limspfield Church Hall, refreshments from 1.30 pm

The Persian Paradise Garden

Learn the art of the ‘paradise garden’. Originating in Persia, they are noted for their tranquillity, shade and running water, becoming central to garden planning across the Islamic world, from Seville to the Taj Mahal. Justin describes the Persian chahar-bargh concept, using examples from across the world. 

Justin Reay

After serving as an officer in the Royal Navy and a long career in business, Justin Reay studied the History of Art and Architecture at Oxford, gaining the University’s Diploma with Distinction in 2005.  A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society, Justin is a member of the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association, New York.
He is an Accredited Lecturer for the Arts Society, and an advisor to the BBC and history foundations and museums in Europe, Australia and the USA. A qualified teacher, he is now a private tutor for university students in Art History, Classical Civilizations, academic writing and critical thinking.
During his studies and teaching, Justin was a senior academic manager of the Bodleian Library for ten years, and is a published historian. His edition of Samuel Pepys’ naval papers in the Bodleian’s collections offers new insights into Pepys’s working methods and political power, and presents several previously unpublished documents. His architectural study of the Admiralty in London describes the iconic buildings of the Royal Navy’s former headquarters, populated by many key figures from Britain’s history.  He offers talks on a wide variety of subjects.
 

The Annual General Meeting starts at 1.30 pm  Held in Limpsfield Church Hall

Lecture starts at 2.15 pm (no Evening Lecture)

The Art of the Cartoonist

Learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect! Harry will take us through the early practitioners like Cruikshank and Hogarth to Giles and Schultz.  With his comic and ironic approach he will bring great insights and great fun.

Harry Venning is an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator and comedy writer. A weekly contributor to The Guardian with the Clare In The Community strip, his work has also appeared in The Mail On Sunday, Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Sunday Times, The Stage and Radio Times, as well as publications in Canada, Switzerland, South Africa and New Zealand. Plus books, lots of books.
Harry is also a member of the exclusive Cartoonist Club of Great Britain with work displayed in the Cartoon Museum, London.(great fun and worth a visit)
 

Note: Welcome Drinks from 1.30pm, lecture starts at 2.15pm

Lecture in Limpsfield Church Hall, AFTERNOON ONLY

Jennie Churchill was seen as a woman with 200 lovers but now, it is time to re-evaluate. In 1874, aged 20, American-born Jennie entered into a disastrous marriage with Lord Randolph Churchill. Throwing her energies into her son, Winston, after trying various projects, she became an interior designer.

Anne Sebba

Anne is a well-known lecturer, author and historian.  She has published ten books and actively investigates the stories of women and their lives - from Mother Theresa to the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra and the story of Jennie Churchill.  Her most recent book is on Ethel Rosenberg.

THIS LECTURE WILL TAKE PLACE ONLY IN THE AFTERNOON at 2.15

Be early and take time to meet friends!¬

Morris and Burne-Jones collaborated on numerous projects including the Holy Grail tapestry cycle. After 1875 Burne-Jones concentrated on designing the Stained glass windows. When Morris predeceased him, Burne-Jones declared ‘the king is dead’.

Faith Charity & Hope

William Morris Stained Glass Window

THIS LECTURE WILL ONLY TAKE PLACE IN THE EVENING at 7.30

Marathon

‘The Battle of Marathon’ took place over two and a half thousand years ago. As an event in English history, it is more important than the Battle of Hastings. Rupert argues that Marathon was the battle that saved Western Civilisation.

Pheidippides

Magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries. Early artists used the magician to symbolise the mysterious and the unknown, associating them with astrology and tarot cards whilst cartoonists and satirists delighted in linking politicians with skulduggery. 

Image: The Conjurer is a painting by Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch or his workshop.

Colombia is by far the world’s largest producer of emeralds, constituting

50 – 95% of the world production. This member of the beryl family ranks amongst the traditional ‘big four’ gems along with diamonds, rubies and sapphires. 

Image: Cartier Emerald Bead Necklace   

Australian artist and friend of the Impressionists of whom the sculptor Rodin, said would be as famous as himself and their friend Monet. During his life he was more successful than his friend, the unknown van Gogh.

Image:  Mrs Russell amongst the flowers

Michael Harris was one of the innovators of the international studio glass movement and transformed 20thC glass and its creation. His pioneering work at Medina Glass on Malta and, later, at Isle of Wight Studio Glass is examined and the heritage he left behind.

Both lectures will be in the Limspfield Church Hall, starting at 2.15 and repeated at 7.30.

Join us for a Mince Pie beforehand

Mary’s husband Joseph is familiar from Christmas cards, carols, cribs and nativity plays, yet in the Bible he never speaks a word. We explore the many legends and faces of Joseph through the ages, from wizened old man to powerful guardian.

Amina Wright - our speaker

Amina has worked for three decades as a curator of historic art collections, exhibitions and interiors, specialising in eighteenth-century British art and Old Master paintings. Previous exhibitions have included Stubbs and the Wild, Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond, and Pictures of Innocence: Children in Portraits from Hogarth to Lawrence. She has recently completed an MA in Christianity & the Arts at King's College London with a study of images of St Joseph in late Renaissance and Baroque art.

Rodin is one of the heroic figures of 19th century art history and was celebrated during his lifetime. Now seen as having in one career taken sculpture on a revolutionary path equivalent to what the Realists, Impressionists and Post Impressionists did in many careers.

1685 was an extraordinary year for music with two of the world’s greatest composers born 130 km and one month apart. Their careers took very different directions, never meeting. This reunites their lives across six decades with a special focus on their vocal music.

NB: Our apologies to Patrick Craig as his name appears as Patrick Haig in the leaflet

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will take place in the Hall in Limspfield, Guests should register and pay £5 using the payment details on the Join Us page of the webiste

THE SPEAKER AND THE SUBJECT ARE A CHANGE TO THE ORIGINAL PROGRAMME

Combining history and design, this talk will take us through what was lost in the destruction of Ypres during World War 1 and how it has been regained.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR HISTORY AND DESIGN BUFFS!

 Christopher Chanter is an experienced and renowned historian and writer who has led many tours, lectures and study days of First World War locations. Previously, he was chairman of Historic Buildings Committee, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society, correspondent to the Council of British Archaeology.

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will take place in the Hall in Limpsfield, Guests should register through the Join Us page of the website.

The Woman Who Told Us Where to Go!

Margaret Calvert and designer Jock Kinneir transformed the entire face of modern Britain in the 1960’s by designing the road sign system, from the typeface to the colours and shapes. Their signage is used in NHS buildings and in the yellow and black wayfinding system at British Airports.  Their ideas were copied around the world. Celebrate Calvert & Kinneir in this revealing lecture and you’ll never look at the UK the same way again!

Mark Ovenden

Mark Ovenden is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit.

His first book Metro Maps of the World published in 2003 is a guide to the diagrams, plans and maps of underground rapid transit system.  Paris Metro Style in map and station design was published November 2008. Railway Maps of the World was published in May 2011 in the USA, a British edition was produced in September 2011. London Underground by Design was published by Penguin Books in January 2013. A celebration of the Johnston Typeface Centenary and the 90th Anniversary of Gill Sans was published in 2016.

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will take place in the Hall in Limspfield

The Housekeepers Tale - The Women who really ran the Country House

As the most senior of upper servants, the Housekeeper typically carried a family’s secrets with her to the grave. She ran the English country house, controlled its female servants and conserved its many treasures – and yet she has not been remembered history.  Using old letters, secret diaries and neglected archives, Tessa has resurrected a fascinating story of 20th century domestic service.  Grace Higgens joined the Bell household in 1920 aged 15. For the next fifty years she propped up the ‘Bloomsbury Set’, both in London and Charleston, as housemaid, nurse, cook and, finally, as housekeeper. Grace regularly posed as an artist's model and her candid diaries paint a picture of Bohemia.

Boase Tessa

Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She is the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change. She uncovers stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics. Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines. 

Picture:  "Grace Higgins preparing a meal"

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will take place in the Hall in Limpsfield

Painted Pleats: A History of European Fan Painting

In seventeenth-century Europe fan painting rose to become a specialized craft - even becoming controlled by Guilds-controlled. It gained prestige in the 19th century with artists such as Gauguin, Degas and Sickert experimenting with the arc-shape format, producing fan paintings partly-inspired by Japanese art and design.

Moss Jacob

Having successfully completed a BA (hons) in Fashion at Reading School of Art, Jacob took up a position as an assistant for womenswear designer Donald Campbell.  Returning to education, he obtained a postgraduate degree (Distinction) in Fashion Curation from London College of Fashion. Shortly thereafter Jacob joined The Fan Museum, the UK’s only Museum dedicated to the history of fans and craft of fan making. 

As the Museum’s Curator, he is responsible for co-organising its temporary exhibition programme, overseeing loans from the Museum’s extraordinary collections to organisations such as the Palace of Versailles and Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2017 he curated ‘Street Fans’, a pioneering project linking street art and fan making which drew record audiences to The Fan Museum. 

Photograph:  A Folding French Fan (1860's)

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will be on Zoom

The Story of the Cullinan Diamond Mine

The Cullinan Diamond mine in South Africa remains the source of the largest piece of rough diamond in history. From the creation of diamonds deep within the earth’s crust, to images taken 750m underground, we examine the workings of the mine and see famous rare diamonds.

Clare Blatherwick

Clare Blatherwick is an independent jewellery consultant, based in Scotland. She has over twenty years of experience in the jewellery business, ten of which were spent as Head of Jewellery for Bonhams in Scotland, a role which saw her travel internationally, searching for wonderful jewels to be auctioned around the globe. She has a keen interest in the historical aspect of jewellery and has lectured extensively on her subject as well as having appeared on various TV programmes in the UK and US as a jewellery expert. She is also a member of The Society of Jewellery Historians.

Photo graph:  A square cut diamond ring.

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

DUE TO COVID THE LECTURES WILL BE ON ZOOM

There will now be TWO DIFFERENT lectures, see below.

2.00 pm Rembrandt's "Belshazzar's Feast" and the Writing on the Wall

To learn more about this well-known phrase and the famous painting, our speaker will explian that this masterpiece, like many of Rembrandt’s paintings, has more than one story behind it. Here we investigate the message ‘mene mene tekel ufarsin’, to discover what it means, where it comes from, and how Rembrandt was able to bring it to a vivid life.

7.30 pm LECTURE 2 The Ark Before Noah
 

Dr Irving Finkel reveals how decoding the symbols on a 4,000 year old piece of clay enable a radical new interpretation of the Noah's Ark myth.
Surviving in clay tablets, the story of the calamitous inundation was recounted in epics before Noah. It all goes back to Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq, and the local Sumerian and Akkadian languages recorded in the wedge-shaped cuneiform inscriptions. 
Only recently, he deciphered a previously unread tablet that turned out to be instructions for building a vessel that would ride out the worldwide flood.
Under the tutelage of a clever scholar, a cuneiform tablet brings to life an ancient world and the genesis of a great biblical story.

Irving Finkel

Irving Finkel is a British philologist (studier of languages) and Assyriologist. He is currently the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he specialises in cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia. It is rumoured that even in his schooldays Irving was reading and writing cuneifom.  Irving is the author of several academic articles and books on ancient Babylon. He also studies the history of board games, and is on the Editorial Board of Board Game Studies. Among his breakthrough works is the determination of the rules of the Royal Game of Ur. Irving founded the Great Diary Project, a project to preserve the diaries of ordinary people. In 2014, the V&A Museum of Childhood held an exhibition of the diaries of children written between 1813 and 1996.

Picture: " Belshazzar's Feast" by Rembrandt 

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

The lectures will take place in the Hall at Limpsfield

Join us for a mince pie and a drink!

A Musical Portrait of Medieval Christmas

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

Sarah Jones

Sarah is a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music and in 2015 was elected an Associate. She performs, writes and lectures about the harp regularly in America, Australia, Europe and UK. She includes live music and songs on harps and other instruments to give a truly memorable event.

Please Note:  The first lecture will be at 2.00 pm and will be repeated at 7.30 pm

EXCEPTIONALLY, THIS LECTURE WILL BE ON ZOOM, NOT IN THE HALL

Beguiled by Women

Influenced by both Victorian Classicism and the Pre-Raphaelites, John Waterhouse's paintings still create scandal today. This talk will look at his most celebrated works, including ‘Hylas and the Nymphs’ and ‘The Lady of Shallot’, and explores the paintings within the context of the time. 

Stella Lyons:

Stella Grace Lyons is a freelance Art History lecturer, speaker and writer accredited with The Arts Society. She gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol, and her MA in History of Art from the University of Warwick. She has studied Renaissance art in Italy, and Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence.

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

Picture:  "The lady of Shallot" by John Waterhouse

Please Note:  First Lecture is at 2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm

Timurid Carpet Designs

This is a narrative approach to the revival of 15th century carpets in Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan. Illuminations on vellum flourished, despite the Islamic prohibition on representative art – and are all that was left of Timurid Carpets until Chris Alexander’s workshop began to weave them to life again.  The lecture will examine the traditional role of carpet weaving and embroidery in the social lives of Central Asian women and how social and political influences led to the decline of textile production. How do the problems of gender-inequality, corruption and the sourcing of natural dyes from neighbouring Afghanistan challenge attempts at reviving the rich textile heritage of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand?

Chris Aslan

Chris Aslan was born in Turkey (hence the name Aslan) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut. Chris studied Media and Journalism at Leicester University. He then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries. He was kicked out as part of an anti-Western purge, and took a year in Cambridge to write A Carpet Ride to Khiva. Chris then spent three years in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down. Next came two years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop.  Chris has studied and rowed at Oxford, and is now based in Cambridge and focussed on writing fiction. He also leads tours to Central Asia. 

Picture:  Carpet Making

NOTE:  This talk is open only to Members (renewals and new members) due to COVID

Please note:  The first Lecture is at  2.00 pm and is repeated at 7.30 pm.

William Hogarth

William Hogarth is one of the major 18th Century artists representing the Golden Age of British Art. He was not a man to flatter his sitters, so he was never too successful at portrait painting and instead turned to what became very popular paintings and prints exploring political and social issues, in which he criticised and poked fun at anyone and everyone. He was very proud of being English and his worked both incorporated and generated new stereotypes of what ‘being English’ meant, some of which still exist today. He was also a major promoter of British artists which helped a younger generation of English artists achieve greater successes than had been seen before. 

Sarah Ciacci

Sarah Ciacci has an MA in History of Art (Late 19th century French Painting and 20th Century Art) from University College London. She has been a Blue Badge Guide for London since 2008, specialising in art, museums and galleries. Since 2008 she has trained Blue Badge Guides in the National Gallery and is an art lecturer for trainee guides in Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the National Portrait Gallery. She is a gallery educator and Adjunct Faculty at Richmond University.

Picture:  "Beer Street" by W Hogarth 1751     

The timing and format of this lecture will be announced nearer to the event

Gustav Klimt and his colleagues broke away from the imperially endorsed art institutions in Vienna in 1897 and founded the Secession. That was the same year that Gustav Mahler arrived to take charge of the Opera House in the city. Comparing these two totemic fin de siècle talents, this lecture places Klimt and Mahler in context, asking what fundamentally links and, indeed, divides them.

MR GAVIN PLUMLEY

A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. 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 timing of this lecture will be announced nearer to the event

London’s Tite Street was one of the most influential artistic quarters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A staggering amount of talent thrived in just this one street in Chelsea, including James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, John Singer Sargent, Robert Brough, Glyn Philpot, Augustus John, Romaine Brooks and Gluck. Throughout its turbulent history it remained home to innumerable artists, writers, suffragettes, queers and madmen. Here Whistler was bankrupted, Oscar Wilde imprisoned and Frank Miles went mad. This lecture ties together the private and professional lives of its inhabitants to form a colourful tapestry of art and intrigue.

MS JENNIFER TOYNBEE-HOLMES

Jennifer Toynbee-Holmes is an experienced guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and lectures at various art societies and institutions. She has a special interest in British and European art of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Having gained an MA in film and television practice, Jennifer had a long-standing career spanning twenty years as a television producer/director making documentaries and factual programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. She was also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck, University of London and a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society.

Details of the links to the on-line Zoom session will be given in the April Newsletter

Before the British arrived in India, the Indian subcontinent was ruled by the Mughal Emperors. The stunning buildings and gardens they constructed from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century have left an indelible stamp on India’s architectural and cultural landscape. Mughal architecture fused elements from Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian architectural traditions, and gave rise to some of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in the world. From the Jama Masjid in Delhi, to the Taj Mahal in Agra, to the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, this lecture will take you on a tour of some of India’s greatest buildings, and provide insight into the historical contexts and colourful personalities involved in their construction.

DR JOHN STEVENS

Dr John Stevens is a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a member of academic staff at the SOAS South Asia Institute. His PhD in History is from University College London. He teaches British Imperial history, Indian history and Bengali language, and is a regular visitor to India and Bangladesh. He publishes widely in the fields of British and Indian history. His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. He appears regularly in the Indian media, and was recently a guest on BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time, discussing the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore.

The timing of this lecture will be announced nearer to the event

The timing and format of this lecture will be announced nearer to the event

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

DR MERI ARICHI

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

The timing and format of this lecture will be announced nearer to the event

An in-depth look at the unique jewellery created by flamboyant artist Charles Ricketts at the turn of the twentieth century. His intricate and richly-enamelled neo-Renaissance pieces were designed as gifts for his many friends including May Morris and the fascinating couple known as Michael Field.

MS HELEN RITCHIE

Helen Ritchie is Curator of Modern Applied Arts at The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Recent exhibitions include Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, Flux: Parian Unpacked and Designers and Jewellery 1850-1940: Jewellery and Metalwork from The Fitzwilliam Museum, for which she wrote the accompanying catalogue.

Helen is also the author of A Passionate Collector: Mrs Hull Grundy and Jewellery from the Harrogate Collection (2014). She studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and the University of the Arts London, and has worked at numerous institutions including the Royal Collection Trust, Christie's, Harrogate Museums and the British Museum. She is a Trustee of the Society of Jewellery Historians.

This is an on-line lecture  - further details will be given nearer the event

The Regency period was an era of great contrasts - of wealth and poverty; of radical political developments and extremes of taste. Its figurehead, the extravagant George Frederick, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent and ultimately King George IV, was in the vanguard of new fashions in architecture, decorative style and collecting. Criticised for his profligacy, his popularity declined as his weight and self-indulgence ballooned. The target of caricaturists, the title of this talk is drawn from a typically vicious work by Gillray. Opening with Carlton House, the Prince's London residence, we then explore the many facets of Regency style: architecture, interior decoration, furnishing and the influences of Romanticism and Exoticism

MR STEPHEN RICHARDSON

An art historian with a particular interest in the art and architecture of the Georgian period. Holds a Masters Degree in Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors from UCL and has published a number of articles on country house visiting, which is a favourite pastime. Has lectured extensively for organisations such as WI, U3A, WEA, Probus and The National Trust, and has experience as a cruise lecturer. In 2016 he undertook a lecture tour of Australia for ADFAS. He is a guide at both the Royal Academy of Arts and at the V&A, where he describes himself as a 'creature' of the British Galleries. Can travel from London or the West Midlands.

This is an on-line lecture  - further details will be given nearer the event

Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe. There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society wine has been ever present. Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story.

MR DAVID WRIGHT

I have been a wine retailer, importer and distributor for 30 years. In that time, I have publicly presented tastings and talks on wine to trade and private audiences. These have taken the form of wine ‘tastings’ or charity events where a particular subject is presented and wines tasted. I have developed a talk, A Brief Story of Wine, a great subject, and full of rich evidence, going back 7,000 years, in the form of paintings, decorated drinking vessels, buildings and literature that contribute to the story.

This is an on-line lecture  - further details will be given nearer the event

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

MS NICOLA MOORBY

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

This is an on-line lecture  further details will be given nearer the event

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

Mr Timothy Walker

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

This on-line  lecture will follow the AGM at 4.00pm on 30 September.  Joining instructions will be sent to members via email prior to the event.

Covers surprising attempts to create some graphic unity, even in the 1860s and 70s, expansion of the Underground and the need to create some cohesion between the different operating companies, Leslie Green's architecture and the Arts & Crafts movement, Frank Pick, Edward Johnston's typeface, Charles Holden's architecture and the Streamline Moderne/Art Deco movement, the New Works Programme, post war austerity/design, Victoria Line, loss of Johnston & rescue by Kono, Jubilee Line Extension/architecture, creation of TfL, recent schemes and future works including the Elizabeth Line/Northern Line extension to Battersea.

MR MARK OVENDEN

Mark Ovenden is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit.

His first book Metro Maps of the World published in 2003 is a guide to the diagrams, plans and maps of underground rapid transit system including images ranging from photos of the systems to rare and historical maps. Paris Metro Style in map and station design was published November 2008. Railway Maps of the World was published in May 2011 in the USA, a British edition was produced in September 2011. London Underground by Design was published by Penguin Books in January 2013. A celebration of the Johnston typeface centenary and 90th Anniversary of Gill Sans was published in 2016, and in July 2017 Mark fronted a television documentary for BBC Four on the subject of Johnston and Gill and in November 2018 he presented a documentary for BBC Radio 4 on skyscrapers.

This an on-line lecture - further details will be given nearer the event

As Stalin rose to power, he banned all but Socialist Realist expressions of art. To own anything else was dangerous enough but to start collecting it was unthinkable. And yet this is what Igor Savitsky did. He travelled throughout the Soviet Union, buying, bribing and cajoling until he’d amassed the second largest collection of Russian Avante-Garde art in the world. The State Museum of Karakalpakstan, situated near the south shores of the Aral Sea is now a Mecca for art lovers.

Chris Aslan Alexander was born in Turkey. After his childhood, he studied Media and Journalism at Leicester University.  Then moved to Khiva in Uzbekisan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving 15th century carpet designs and embroideries;moved to the Pamirs in Tajikistan training yak herders to comb their yaks for cashmere-like down for 3 years; then 2 years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world's largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshoping and stud. Chris is taking two years out to focus on writing fiction and leads tours to Central Asia.

Selling fermented mare’s milk to passengers on Soviet Train’ by B H Ufimstev

This lecture was delivered in an on-line format

 English Delftware

Blue and white tin-glazed earthenware has long been admired and collected for its attractive appearance but these also had a pharmaceutical purpose. Drawing on examples from collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, these drug jars have an undervalued role to play in understanding medical practices in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Briony Harmer studied History at Cambridge University, and Museums Studies at Leicester University. Having worked at museums as diverse as Hereford Cider Museum, the V&A, and Wakefield Museum, Briony was Keeper of the Museum Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society from 2002 to 2010.  She was Past President of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, and she lectures on wide-ranging topics relating to pharmacy history.

English Delftware © Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum

This lecture was delivered in an on-line format

In 1919 the medieval city of Ypres lay in total destruction.  Only 2 buildings were undamaged out of 10,000.  Winston Churchill wanted it to stay derelict.  It was decided recinstruction should take place and the cost should be borne by Germany out of reparation monies.  This is a pilgramage through the city illustrating the situation before, during destruction and now.

Paul Jagger

Has led lectures, study days and workshops. Author of articles on restoration, consultant on restoration to the Georgian Group. Chairman of Historic Buildings Committee, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society 1999-2004. Correspondent to the Council of British Archaeology.

This lecture was delivered on-line to members

Gardens of Earthly Delight: The Art of the Garden
 

Gardens have been, and continue to be, a great source of inspiration for artists. Looking at imagery from diverse centuries, we'll explore how portrayals of gardens have given us insight into our relationship with the natural world and helped us to define what it means to be human.

This talk will explore beautiful, symbolic and sensual paintings,including Hieronymus Bosch’s shocking ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, Fragonard's erotic 'The Swing' and John Singer Sargent’s enchanting ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose’.

Mrs Stella Lyons

Stella Grace Lyons gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol, and her MA in History of Art at the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence. In 2017, Stella was selected by The Arts Society to lecture at the launch of ‘Drawing Room Discussions’ in association with ROSL ARTS, hosted by Guardian arts correspondent Maev Kennedy. Stella runs her own art history courses and she is also a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, National Trust, Contemporary Arts Society Wales (CASW), Classical Education Forum, WEA, and several travel companies. Stella also works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

Ford Madox’s Brown’s expansive painting ‘Work’ was one of the most remarkable and radical works painted during the Victorian period. Taking over twelve years to produce, the modern life scene attempted to show every level of Victorian society; from a rich aristocrat, to a hard-working builder, to a destitute and orphaned baby. Illustrating corruption, out-of-touch MPs, and a devious sausage maker, the painting shares some extraordinary similarities to our 21st Century society, despite being over 150 years old.

Mrs Stella Lyons

Stella Grace Lyons gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol, and her MA in History of Art at the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence. In 2017, Stella was selected by The Arts Society to lecture at the launch of ‘Drawing Room Discussions’ in association with ROSL ARTS, hosted by Guardian arts correspondent Maev Kennedy. Stella runs her own art history courses and she is also a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, National Trust, Contemporary Arts Society Wales (CASW), Classical Education Forum, WEA, and several travel companies. Stella also works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

This presentation tells of the Mozart family’s residence in London (1764-5) during which time the 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus – already a prolific composer – amazed the royal guests of George III and performed musical tricks in pubs (and was even the subject of medical research). All this is described with surprising images of 18th century Chelsea and of Mozart’s earliest musical handwriting. Furthermore, Dr Griffiths illustrates his talk at the piano* with explanations and performances of over a dozen of Mozart’s witty miniatures. The equally-astonishing Polonaise melancolique by Mozart’s own child-prodigy Franz Xaver (whom he never knew) brings the presentation to an emotional conclusion. N.B. This is the ideal introduction to the inimitable style of Griffiths’s presentations where the experienced concert-goer and the musical new-comer are informed and entertained in equal measure.

Dr Graham Griffiths

Lecturer, conductor, pianist, composer. Music Research Fellow (City, University of London). DPhil., Musicology (Christ Church, Oxford, 2008), PGCE (Cambridge), BMusHons (Edinburgh). 

Musical Director Grupo Novo Horizonte de Sao Paulo (featured on BBCR3); lectures, concerts, and recordings (UK, Denmark, Brazil, Russia); Guest of The British Council; University lecturing (UK) at Bath, Bristol, Canterbury (Christchurch), City (London), Oxford.

Author: Stravinsky’s Piano: Genesis of a Musical Language (Cambridge, 2013/2015; ‘Kaschperowa, Leokadiya’ in Instrumentalistinnen-Lexikon-online (Bremen: Sophie Drinker Institut, 2018).

Editor: Stravinsky in Context (Cambridge, 2020); Contributor to The Stravinsky Encyclopedia (Cambridge, forthcoming); Strawinsky Abécédaire (ed. Marie Strawinsky) (Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 2018).

Recordings: Latin American Sacred Music of the 18th and 19th centuries; Brazilian contemporary music; the piano music of L.A.Kashperova.

Composer, film: Voyage of the Vikings: Hurricane! Hurry! (dir. Camille Bontemps: Edwards Films, 2018).

Guest appearances at ‘St Petersburg International Conservatoires Festival’ performing lost works by Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) re-discovered by Griffiths. This research featured in the BBCRadio3/AHRC celebration Five Forgotten Female Composers on International Women’s Day (8 March 2018). Griffiths’s work has been featured by public service broadcasters in several countries.

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

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

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

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

Joanna Banham

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

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

British film director Alfred Hitchcock is often referred to as the ‘master of darkness’. He made over fifty feature films where we often see innocent people were caught up in circumstances beyond their control. His catholic upbringing and uneasy relationship with femininity will be discussed in his early work of the Silent era. London based dramas, Blackmail (1929) and Dial M for Murder (1954) will be closely analysed. After moving to Hollywood, Hitch created several masterpieces of cinema including Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960). Although often regarded as a skilled entertainer, the French New Wave critics of Cahiers du Cinema argued that Hitchcock’s films should be regarded as artistic masterworks. He remains by far the most studied film director of all time.

John Francis

John is an inspirational speaker who has delivered lecturers, workshops in the US (Texas, California, Massachusetts), Beijing, Malaysia and the UK. Initially trained as a painter, John was awarded the Max Beckmann Memorial Scholarship in painting in Brooklyn, New York and went on to be artist in resident for the state of Texas.

Later in his career John produced and directed several short films and animations. He has taught film, art and pedagogy at the University of Exeter, Arts University Bournemouth, University Sains Malaysia, Southwestern College, California, Brunel University, London and recently Kingston University.

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

Nicholas was the Greek Bishop of Myra, a 4th century port in Anatolia. Following his death, his legendary generosity established him as the principle gift-giving saint as well as the patron saint of seafarers. The body of St Nicholas was stolen by Italian sailors to protect their own ports in the Adriatic. Over the centuries the image of St Nicholas changed constantly until the Dutch re-invented him as Sinterklaas. Taking him to their new colonies in America, he transformed into kindly Santa Claus. Later re-imported into Britain without his Catholic baggage, he gradually emerged as Father Christmas.

Christopher Bradley

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

1st Lecture: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture: 8.00pm

Illustrated with many wonderful works of art, this lecture tells the extraordinary story of the rise of the son of a lawyer in Ajaccio, Corsica, to become Emperor of the French before finally being defeated and sent into exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. It also attempts to explain the nature of his genius as an administrator and a military commander, assessing his achievements and his failures, his strengths and his weaknesses. Among the topics covered will be his marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais, his relationship with the Duke of Wellington, and his place within history. It is in some ways a very human story, but one which focuses on one of the most remarkable men who has ever lived.

Stephen Duffy

Educated at New College, Oxford, and formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where he had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups and many lectures on its art and other related subjects. His latest publication, The Discovery of Paris, is a book on early nineteenth-century watercolour views of Paris by major British artists.

1st Lecture Time: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture Time: 8.00pm

This lecture takes a look at life backstage at London's Royal Opera House and the tribulations and triumphs of working with The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies. We look at the way artistic inspirations, the people involved and the very special Victorian building all function together to create world-class opera and ballet in a unique environment.  Includes several performance video clips.

Nigel Bates

Nigel Bates is the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and has been a performer for nearly forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra. 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 twenty years, including arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.

1st Lecture Time: 2.30pm

2nd Lecture Time: 8.00pm

The Arts and Crafts gardens created, in particular by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, set a standard against which English gardens would be measured for the next 60 years. Sissinghurst, created and gardened by Vita Sackville-West, novelist, poet and garden writer, and her husband, Harold Nicholson, from 1930 to her death in 1962, is the perfect example of this style; wonderful plantsmanship set within a framework of hedges and vistas.

Sissinghurst is the child of Knole, the sprawling Elizabethan house that Vita did not inherit, described by her as having “an inward gaiety of an aging woman who has had many lovers and seen many generations come and go.” The Nicholsons acquired a ruin and, to their intense surprised, created, along with Lawrence Johnston’s Hidcote, the quintessential twentieth century English garden.

This lecture looks at the life of Vita Sackville-West and the extraordinary garden that she created which nearly 60 years after her death continues to charm and delight.

James Bolton

Inchbald School of Design 1990 (Dip ISD). Head Gardener, Old Rectory Farnborough 1990-92. Faculty Director, Design History, Inchbald School of Design. Garden Designer 1992-. A lecturer for The Arts Society since 1995. Organiser of The Arts Society's garden study days and tours in UK and Europe. Organises tours to the best private gardens in the UK, Italy, France and South Africa. Garden Mania, a book on garden ornaments, published in 2000.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The title “Pots of Art from Grayson Perry” is a play on words.
He has produced “lots” of work in a wide range of art forms and during the lecture I look at his vases, drawings, sculptures, tapestries and his “House for Essex”.
Grayson Perry became famous in 2003, when he won the Turner Prize.  Ten years later he was awarded the CBE.for services to contemporary Art.
His Channel 4 series “All in the best possible taste” won a BAFTA award and lead to the production of six tapestries “The Vanity of Small Differences”, which have attracted a great deal of interest.
In October to November 2014 he became the first artist to present the Reith lectures, which were warmly received.
He has curated a very popular exhibition at the British Museum of around 30 of his own new works alongside around 170 objects by unknown men and women throughout history.  In 2015 he has had an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, based on another Channel 4 series, “Who are you /”.
He is an excellent subject for a lecture, because he has lived a very interesting life so far, he is  such a flamboyant character and an excellent communicator and he has produced such a wide range of art.

Harry Fletcher has tutored three courses for the Open University - The History of Modern Art, Art and the Environment and Design, Processes and Products. He has worked as an OU examiner and A level examiner in the History of Art. He is a practising artist who has had work shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He has lead art appreciation holidays across Europe. As Head of Art & Design in a comprehensive school he taught A level Art, the history of art, printmaking, the history of printmaking and the history of architecture.

Picture  ‘Self-conscious’: Puff Piece, 2016, Photograph: Stephen White/© Grayson Perry

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Kensington Palace has become a familiar royal home, associated with Diana Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But there are more stories to be told about its past inhabitants, the lives they lived and the contributions they made to the building and the collections it houses. The lecture starts with a modest villa on the outskirts of London and traces the story of its architecture and art and the lives of a  curious collection of courtiers, kings, queens, princesses and others....

Nigel Arch worked at Kensington Palace for thirty years. He began his career at the National Army Museum as Head of the Department of Art, subsequently caring for the military history collections at the Castle Museum, York. His first post at Kensington Palace was as Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. He retired in 2012 as Head of Kensington and Kew Palaces. He was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) by HM The Queen.

Picture The King's Staircase Kensington Palace © Nigel Arch

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Leonardo da Vinci, painter and draughtsman of the High Renaissance was an artist whose works were informed by scientific investigation.

Leonardo observed the world closely, describing nature as his teacher, studying anatomy and physiology in order to create convincing images of the human form. He believed the moral and ethical meanings of his narrative art would emerge through the accurate representation of human gesture and expression.

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

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

GUY ROOKER

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

Picture: Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci - Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

This lecture seeks to provide a balanced insight into the life and achievements of one of the most important women in Chinese Imperial history.

From relative obscurity as a low-ranking consort we explore the events that led to her confirmation as Dowager Empress Cixi in 1861 and her strategy to preserve, then revitalise, imperial rule after a series of humiliating military defeats by Western Colonial Powers plus several brutal ethnic uprisings.

We will trace the distinct cycles of Cixi’s power, as Emperors came and went, whilst the Dowager Empress moved periodically from a position of influence to full authority and then into times of enforced retirement.

Looking beyond Cixi’s desire to force China into the modern world we will gain an insight into her life within her beloved Summer Palace with a focus on her passion for painting, embroidery, fashion design and the extensive gardens. A location where Cixi forged some extraordinarily close relationships with leading western women. 

DAVID ROSIER

A Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment. He has in excess of 25 years of working and living in Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories. Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

An intriguing journey through the history of the ‘cabinet of curiosity’ and the origins of our modern museums. Based on decades of personal experience - as both a collector and auctioneer - Marc’s talk explores some of the great collectors from history, including John Tradescant, whose collection founded the Ashmolean in Oxford, together with a fascinating insight into the alchemy, myth and folklore which inspired their curiosity.

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

Illustration: A showcase of collectibles © Marc Allum

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) have iconic status in Mexico. Rivera's intricate visual narratives, rich with allegory and symbolism, adorn the walls of public buildings. Inspired by Aztec and Maya imagery, and by early Italian fresco painting, his vast murals combine social criticism with faith in human progress. Kahlo's work, unlike Rivera's, is small in format. Arguably Mexico’s most original painter, she made herself the principal theme of her art. Her paintings reflect her experiences and dreams. This lecture surveys the work of both artists; it chronicles their turbulent marriage and Mexico's history after the 1910 Revolution.

CHLOË SAYER

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

Picture is Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo 1940

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The Christmas that we now celebrate is largely based on the one that the Victorians invented but there are many traditions that we take for granted that have their origins in much earlier times…Who  invented mince pies, Christmas pudding and cake? Where did cross dressing, and slapstick from theatrical performances become part of the Christmas tradition? Who invented and designed the first Christmas card and what themes were popular in this artistic industry?

JANE TAPLEY

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

All will be revealed in this light hearted and informative talk.

Illustration: First Christmas card, John Callcott Horsley, 1843, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

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

DR JAMES GRANT

As a retired country doctor with a lifetime of working in the NHS both in hospital and in rural practice I am passionate about all aspects of medicine, its history and its relationship to art and artists. I feel very strongly that lecturing should be stimulating, informative and entertaining. I have been very privileged to be able to share my interests with others lecturing to a variety of different groups and now as a lecturer for The Arts Society.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

An historic building survey at Knole, Kent enabled a very surprising revelation about the history of the house in the early 17th century. A series of symbols beneath the floorboards carved by the carpenters working at the house were intended to protect the building from possession by witches, demons and evil spirits. Further research showed that the symbols were related to James I, witch trials and the Gunpowder Plot.

James Wright FSA is an archaeologist and historian based at the University of Nottingham. With over twenty years of professional experience, he has published two books and a string of popular and academic articles concentrating on the British Mediaeval and Early Modern periods. He is a very proficient public speaker and has spoken to a wide variety of organisations including Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust, Lowdham Book Festival, the Fortean Society, Gresham College, Shakespeare400 and the Museum of London. He presents in a clear and conversational style, without notes or script, and readily uses illustrative slides throughout his lectures. The talks are adaptable and can be presented to novice, mid-level or expert audiences.

Picture: Knole House © National Trust

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Since its foundation in 1925, Faber and Faber has built a reputation as one of London’s most important literary publishing houses. Part of that relates to the editorial team that Geoffrey Faber and his successors built around them - TS Eliot was famously an early recruit - but a large part is also due to the firm’s insistence on good design and illustration. This lecture traces the history of Faber and Faber through its illustrations, covers and designs. Early years brought innovations like the Ariel Poems – single poems, beautifully illustrated, sold in their own envelopes. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an emphasis on typography, led by the firm’s art director Berthold Wolpe; his Albertus font is still used on City of London road signs. In the 1980s, the firm started its association with Pentagram, responsible for the ff logo. Along the way, it has employed some of our most celebrated artists as cover illustrators – from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst. Slides will range from book covers, advertisements and photos of key individuals, to illustrations of the concepts behind the designs. The talk will also be peppered with personal insight and anecdote. Faber and Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent. As the grandson of its founder, I grew up steeped in its books. I was managing director for four years and I remain on the board. I am passionate about the firm’s success, and intensely proud of my association with it.

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

Picture Lord of the Flies, cover by Anthony Grossman © Faber & Faber.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

For Lee Miller, a woman at war was any woman caught up in World War 2. She shot faultless images for Vogue’s haute couture in London’s bombed out streets. She documented the magnificent work of the WRNS, ATS, the Land Girls, the WRVS and the nurses. She shows us the refugees in Europe, girls accused of collaboration and women forced into slave labour or prostitution and concentration camp victims. Their roles range from bravery to stupidity and from enforced involvement to volunteering. It is told against the background of Lee Miller’s own life story which takes her from being a fashion supermodel via life as a surrealist artist to a combat photographer and finally a gourmet cook.

Anthony Penrose is the son of Lee Miller, a model, fine art photographer and noted war correspondent. And Sir Roland Penrose, the surrealist artist, poet and biographer of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Man Ray, and Antoni Tàpies, who co-founded the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 1947.

Following the death of his mother, a cache of her work was discovered in the attic of the family home by Antony's late wife Suzanna. It contained some 60,000 negatives, prints and manuscripts, which made the basis of the Lee Miller Archives.  Penrose now gives lectures worldwide on photography, fine art and his parents work to museums and photographic societies

Photo ‘A Polish pilot {Anna Leska} flying a spitfire for the A.T.A., White Waltham, Berkshire, England 1942’ by Lee Miller

© Lee Miller Archives, England 2017. All rights reserved.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The temples, iconography, sculptures, textiles, dance performances, literature, landscapes and people of Burma are infused with the spirit of Buddhism. This gentle philosophy, preaching peace and serenity, has inspired some of the greatest art and architecture in the world, nowhere more so than in Burma, now known as Myanmar.

This lecture shows the artistic glories of temples throughout the country, their spires, statues, carvings, murals and rituals. It illustrates the religious symbolism of exquisite textiles and compelling dance ceremonies.

Denise Heywood is an author, lecturer, photographer and journalist. She worked in Cambodia as a journalist for three years and has also lived in France and America. She writes for many art, literary and travel publications, leads art tours to Southeast Asia and France and lectures on cruise ships sailing throughout Asia.

Her latest book is Cambodian Dance Celebration of the Gods, with a foreword by Princess Buppha Devi, daughter of King Sihanouk.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

One of the most derided towns in England, renowned for its dullness, Basingstoke is distinguished only by its numerous roundabouts and absurd Modernist architecture. Rupert explains that the post-war planners, who inflicted such features as ‘the Great Wall of Basingstoke’ on the town, were politically-motivated and bent on destroying all traces of its past. He reveals the nobler Basingstoke that is buried beneath the concrete, and the few historic gems that have survived the holocaust. Hilariously told, it is a story that neatly illustrates the ugliest episode in England’s architectural history. As Betjeman wrote prophetically, ‘What goes for Basingstoke goes for most English towns’.

Rupert Willoughby specialises in the domestic and social life of the past. He is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village. His most recent book – perhaps his greatest challenge to date – is Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture.  Rupert has published numerous articles, contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph, writes histories of houses, occasionally broadcasts to the nation and is an experienced lecturer, whose repertoire ranges from the life and personalities of the Middle Ages to the world of Jane Austen.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The infrastructure of travel has provided many artistic treasures. Leading figures in architecture were employed to build railway stations, shipping offices and hotels, whilst artists provided posters, souvenir images and other ephemera. This lecture examines the art and architecture of travelling from ancient times to the present day, illuminating the many ways in which this common theme created often overlooked gems of form and design.

Sarah Pearson holds a First Class BA in Art History from Reading University, an MA in World Art Studies from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in Architectural History also from Reading.  She also lectured at these Universities for 10 years and now works as a freelance lecturer / adult education provider. Sarah has published articles and a book chapter on the architect Francesco di Giorgio and is currently researching the development of the Riddlesworth estate with a view to future publication.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

In 2018 it’ll be 100 years since the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918. To mark the centenary of women first getting the vote after decades of struggle, this NADFAS lecture will explore the story of the suffragettes through portrayals in art and their own artistic productions. It will also look at how contemporary artists choose to depict female politicians, and the controversies surrounding these portraits with regard to power, dress, and gender: all so familiar to the suffragettes.

Caroline Shenton graduated in medieval history at St Andrews University and then completed a doctorate at Oxford’s Worcester College on the court and household of Edward III. Starting as a medieval cataloguer at the National Archives, Caroline was Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster. Her first book, ‘The Day Parliament Burned Down’, won the inaugural Political Book of the Year Award in 2013 and Book of the Year for many media publications.

Postcard – Somehow the Tide Keeps Rising designed by Ernestine Mills to promote the suffragette campaign © The Museum of London

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

In this sumptuously illustrated lecture, Sarah Dunant, international bestselling author of the Italian renaissance shares the secrets of her trade. To recreate the past as a living, breathing place Sarah has visited churches, archives, museums and art galleries all over Italy. 

Here she tells the story of her discoveries; how the decoding of old paintings alongside the work of the most modern historians helped her to penetrate hidden worlds inside the Renaissance, finding wonder and drama in ordinary lives and exploring the complexities of politics and religion along with emotion, the senses and the heady appetites of body and soul.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Origins, stories, legends, truths and untruths about what we do  at Christmas time.

This lecture takes the form of a rhetorical quiz. It is a light hearted presentation of many serious, but also, amusing, beliefs, subject and activities, concerning this ‘ yule-tide ‘ season.  Both questions and answers will be supplied by the lecturer in both serious, educational and informative terms as well as playful, jovial and merrily that befits this joyful season of the year.

Richard Box is a Painter & Embroiderer, Teacher & Lecturer, Author & Art Historian.  He trained at Goldsmiths’ School of Art and went on to be ‘Senior Lecturer’ and finally ‘Head of Art’ at Avery Hill College of Education.

A regular exhibitor and demonstrator at the Knitting and Stitching shows and other craft fairs, Richard also gives talks to textile groups, particularly the Embroiderers’ Guild. He runs courses in drawing, painting and his particular system of textile art which combines fabric collage with both machine and hand embroidery.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

A Baltimore woman Wallis Simpson, born in 1896 into relative obscurity, was so demonised by the British establishment and wider commonwealth and accused of being a spy, prostitute or Nazi sympathizer.  Yet, after she married the ex-King and became Duchess of Windsor, she turned her exile and hatred into a platform from which to launch herself as one of the world’s best dressed woman who entertained in the most elegant homes fit for a King – or an ex-King.

Was she simply a clothes horse for dress designers and jewellery makers or did she have a heart that has never been fairly understood?  The lecture  will include many pictures of Wallis and the clothes and jewellery she had made especially for her as well as the homes she lived in.  It will also tell the story of how, in the context of the 1930’s, this woman with three husbands was unacceptable as Queen of England and of the Empire. We will explore who this woman was and what was the power she had over King Edward Vlll. Over seventy five years since the Abdication in 1936, it is now time to reassess That Woman.

Anne Sebba is a biographer, lecturer, journalist and former Reuters foreign correspondent. She read History at King’s College London and her first job was at the BBC World Services in the Arabic Department. Her latest book is about Paris from 1939-49 through women’s eyes, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940’s published in 2016.

Anne is a former Chair of Britain’s 9,000 strong Society of Authors and now on the SOA Council.

Image Wallis Simpson 1936 Public Domain believed to have been originally published in The Sketch

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The ‘discovery’ of the body of the Apostle, St James, proved a useful and timely propaganda tool just as the Christians in northern Spain began their re-conquest of Spain from the Moors.  It opened a new European pilgrimage route, and by the 12th century the Way to Santiago de Compostela, or the Camino, was a well-trodden route.  Hospitals, monasteries, churches and shrines grew up all along the Camino to attend to the spiritual and worldly needs of the pilgrims. Also, the large cities along it also prospered and expanded. Pilgrims’ tales abound – and the Camino still exerts a fascination making it as popular today as it ever was as Gail will testify.

Gail Turner read Modern History at Oxford, and then studied for an MA in the History of European Art at the Courtauld Institute. She has worked at Tate Britain, the Arts Council, as a consultant (in Illuminated Manuscripts) for Christie’s and at the Courtauld Institute.
Gail has recently been honoured with the award of Encomienda de Isabel la Católica, by HM the King of Spain, for promoting Spanish art and culture through lectures and study tours to the British in the UK and abroad.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The lecture traces major themes from Stubbs, the greatest horse painter of all time. Degas and Duchamp-Villon created modern metaphors of horsepower. Munnings’s established a defining image of traditional Englishness. Picasso’s agonised horse in its death throes in Guernica (1937) expresses the horrendous destruction of the city in the Spanish Civil War. The lecture concludes with the very diverse ways in which our leading contemporary artists have made use of the expressive power of the equestrian image. Mark Wallinger’s gigantic 50 metre high thoroughbred horse will loom large over the Kent countryside at Ebbsfleet.

Dr Nicholas Watkins is Emeritus Reader in the Department of the History of Art and Film, University of Leicester, curator, critic, author and lecturer. His numerous publications include Matisse (1984), Bonnard (1994), Bonnard Colour and Light (1998), The Genesis of a Decorative Aesthetic (2001), Marino Marini (2007), Behind the Mirror: Aimé Maeght and His Artists (Royal Academy, London 2008), Bonard Peindre L’arcadie (Musee D’Orsay, Paris 2015). TV ‘Pierre Bonnard: A Love Exposed’ (1998). Regular contributor to The Burlington Magazine and other leading art journals. Lectures extensively to universities, museums, art galleries and art societies.

Picture The Start of a Horse Race, ca. 1952 – Sir Alfred J. Munnings, KCVO, PRA, RWS, RP

© 2017 Berger Collection Educational Trust

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

In an influential essay The Painter of Modern Life (1863), the poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire described his ideal artist going out into the city to seek out new subjects for art: a “flâneur”, or “passionate spectator”, rejoicing in the experience of the crowd. Taking Baudelaire’s essay as a starting point, this lecture explores celebrated paintings of Parisian life by artists including Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Mary Cassatt.

Lois Oliver is an Art Historian with extensive experience as a Lecturer, Curator and Exhibition Organiser. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and writing her doctoral thesis on ‘The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855’.

Picture: Gustave Caillebotte – Paris Street; Rainy Day

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

The Houses of Parliament is one of the most famous and staggering buildings in the world. It rises serenely from the Thames at Westminster, on a site which has been the centre of power and government in England from the earliest times. It is a masterpiece of Victorian architecture and a spectacular feat of civil engineering: a landmark which is today the essence of Britishness. And it was nearly never built at all.

From the beginning, its design and construction were a battleground for its architect, Charles Barry. The practical challenges, even by the standards of Victorian invention, were immense. Following the disastrous fire of 1834, the new building was required to cover eight acres of unstable gravel beds. Its river frontage, a quarter of a mile long, was to be constructed in the treacherous currents of the Thames. Its towers were so gigantic they required feats of engineering and building technology never seen before, in order to construct them on the cramped site. And the interior design – stained glass, metalwork, encaustic tiling and wall coverings – needed ancient craft techniques not used since the middle ages to be revived. Battling the interference of MPs and royalty, coaxing and soothing the genius of his partner Pugin, fending off the mad schemes of a host of crackpot inventors and busybodies, and coming in three times over budget and twenty-four years behind schedule, this lecture will tell the story of how Charles Barry created the most famous building in Britain.

Caroline Shenton is an archivist, historian and author. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster and a senior archivist at The National Archives at Kew. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society and has appeared on national TV and radio and reviews books for The Spectator. Her first popular history book, The Day Parliament Burned Down, won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013.

Painting is Houses of Parliament from the Thames by Moonlight by Henry Pether (c.1801–1880)

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

We welcome back Paul Atterbury who entertained and informed us alongside Hillary Kay with the special lecture Have You Had It Long Madam?.

For this lecture Paul is taking us to the Golden Age of Travel.  The twenties and thirties were indeed the Golden Age of Travel with Cunard, the Orient Express, Pullman carriages and flying boats.

Paul Atterbury is an antiques expert, probably best known for his many appearances since on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. He specialises in the art, architecture, design and decorative arts of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Nelson, Britain’s greatest naval hero, sat for more artists and sculptors than most famous people other than royalty. Their works tell his life’s story and reveal a man of many parts and moods that reflect on his public and private life, including the scandalous ménage a trois with Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The lecture asks, who was the real Lord Nelson?

Peter Warwick is an author, historian and major event organiser, and a recognised authority on Admiral Lord Nelson. Specialises in naval and polar history. Chairs the 1805 Club, which conserves the monuments of the Georgian sailing navy; the New Waterloo Dispatch/Waterloo 200, the official body arranging the bicentenary commemorations for Waterloo in 2015; and Thames Alive which in 2012 arranged the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the Thames Olympic Torch Relay. Was vice-chairman of the Official Nelson Commemorations Committee and played a key role in the planning of the Trafalgar 200 and Sea Britain 2005. Lectures at the Defence Academy, National Maritime Museum, National Museum for the Royal Navy, Royal Institution and at schools and universities. Also lectures on cruises.

Portrait of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805 by Lemuel Francis Abbott National Maritime Museum

In 2012 Louise Schofield led an expedition to Ethiopia that discovered a gold mine that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures.

Sheba was a powerful incense-trading kingdom that prospered through trade with Jerusalem and the Roman empire. The queen is immortalised in Qur’an and the Bible, which describes her visit to Solomon “with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones … Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices.”

Although little is known about her, the queen’s image inspired medieval Christian mystical works in which she embodied divine wisdom, as well as Turkish and Persian paintings, Handel’s oratorio Solomon, and Hollywood films. Her story is still told across Africa and Arabia, and the Ethiopian tales are immortalised in the holy book the Kebra Nagast.

Louise Schofield is an archaeologist and former British Museum curator who has carried out many excavations in Ethiopia.  She is also a director of the Tigray Trust

Painting: Detail from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba Piero della Francesca

Medieval Russia produced exquisite icons showing technical mastery and sublime spirituality, however the dynamic events associated with the renaissance of arts in Europe by-passed Russia as the country was still under Mongol control. When Peter the Great founded his new capital as a “window to the west”, Russia had no known artists of its own. Peter and his successors hired predominately foreign architects and artists and the list of native Russian artists is minimal, until the 19th century. For centuries Russian art followed closely in the wake of European artistic currents and there was little innovation. From the mid 19th century all this changed when numerous artists broke away from the strict and stifling dictates of the Academy and Russian art came into its own. It is an exciting  period, and a very nostalgic one, reflecting the turbulence of pre-revolutionary Russia. The little known schools of Russian landscape painters, neo-Realists, impressionists, and pre-Raphaelites will certainly change your ideas on Russian painting.

Fostered by Benois, Bakst and Diaghalev there was  increasing interest in the role of music, dance and art combined, leading up to the Ballets Russes, which took not only Russia but Europe by storm.

Jane Angelini specialises in the cultures of the Mediterranean world – Classical, Byzantine, Islamic – as well as that of Russia. She graduated in Russian Studies and took a Masters degree in Byzantine & Early Russian Art & Architecture. As well as running St James’s Art Tours she works as a free-lance lecturer for numerous organisations, including NADFAS, the Art Fund. and Swan Hellenic Cruises. She speaks several foreign languages and has translated works of 19th century Russian literature for Penguin Books and the Oxford University Press.

Painting  Serov, Girl with Peaches

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

Charles Dickens was an amateur conjuror for around eight years of his life; his interest was sparked by seeing an Austrian conjuror called Ludwig Dobler who came over to London in 1842. Dickens’s most famous show was on the Isle of Wight where he called himself the Unparalleled Necromancer, Rhia Rhama Rhoos, parodying the name of a contemporary conjuror called Khia Khana Khruse. From his playbill for that that show we know not only the tricks which Dickens performed (some of which are demonstrated in this talk) but also how he had great fun with the different playbills of sundry Victorian showmen.

Ian Keable is an authority on political and satirical prints (the 18th and early 19th century equivalent of cartoons and caricatures), Victorian book illustrations and Charles Dickens as well as being a magician and an after dinner speaker. With his background as a professional magician, Ian’s talks stand out for being not only informative but also extremely entertaining.  He is a Member of The Magic Circle with Gold Star. He has received The Magic Circle Comedy Magic Award and has also won the British Champion of Comedy Magic

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

This is talk is an homage to René Lalique, the 20th century’s greatest glass designer. Lalique’s extraordinary work was unrivalled, combining his unique visual sense with a perfect understanding of glassmaking technologies and revolutionary approach to marketing. This talk is a visual feast, covers Lalique’s early work in jewels and furniture before he dedicated the remainder of his life, c1905-45, to glass. His output spanned simple, pressed cosmetic pots through car mascots and stemware to the unique cire perdu [lost wax] vases that today can command tens and even hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Andy McConnell has dealt in antiques since adolescence, but served an apprenticeship in journalism. After working in music, film and television, he returned to writing in 2004 as the author of the acclaimed tome ‘The Decanter, An Illustrated History of Glass From 1650?. He followed this in 2006 with Miller’s’ 20th Century Glass. He writes regularly for journals as diverse as ‘The Times’ and ‘Glass Circle News’ and runs Britain’s largest antique and vintage glass gallery in Rye, Sussex. He is best known as the distinctly humorous glass specialist on BBC’s evergreen Antiques Roadshow and has recently completed his sixth series.

Picture is of  a selection of the scent bottles designed by René Lalique for various Parisian perfumers 1905 – 1930. [Lalique SA]

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

WHERE: Barn Theatre, 25 Bluehouse Ln
Oxted, Surrey RH8 0AA

COST: £10 for non members

Harry Murphy was probably Britain’s most versatile and innovative jewellery designer of the first half of the twentieth century. He was one of the most influential silversmiths of the Art Deco era. He had a reputation second to none in Britain and continental Europe and was a leader in the Art Deco movement. He won a gold medal at the Milan Exhibition in 1933 and showed 10 pieces at the Paris Exhibition in 1937. He died unexpectedly at the height of his influence and reputation in 1939. Post-war tastes changed dramatically and he was forgotten.

His Falcon studio in London followed the highest standards of craftsmanship and a fine taste in design, giving a contemporary flavour to traditional forms and techniques. The V&A has some wonderful pieces including the famous 1933 Milan prize-winning circular Art Deco silver tea service. In 1922 he had designed a beautiful gold, topaz and sapphire tiara for Mary, Princess Royal for her engagement and in 1924, designed a delightful miniature version of the crown jewels for Queen Mary’s dolls’ house at Windsor Castle.

The re-discovery of Murphy came about by accident. As John Benjamin describes it: “Paul Atterbury and I had been asked to a weekend antiques event where we were asked to discuss ‘our favourite craftsman’. Paul brought out an HGM silver rose bowl and I revealed an HGM sugar dredger. Paul and I are colleagues on BBC television’s Antiques Roadshow, and we recognized there was enormous scope to explore and research the life and work of a totally neglected goldsmith and silversmith barely known outside a limited circle of enthusiasts”. With the help of Murphy’s family, they spent years researching his life and work resulting in a beautiful book: “The Jewellery and Silver of H.G.Murphy, Arts and Crafts to Art Deco”.

John Benjamin is an independent jewellery consultant, gemologist and Freeman of both the City of London and the Goldsmiths’ Company. He is probably better known for his appearances on BBC’s Antiques roadshow.

1ST LECTURE TIME: 2:30 pm

2ND LECTURE TIME: 8:00 pm

This lecture looks first at the few surviving medieval churches in the City of London (of which there were originally 107 before the Great Fire), including Samuel Pepys’ “own church”, St Olave Hart Street, where he is buried alongside his wife.  This church was called St Ghastly Grim by Charles Dickens and the burial ground at this church is home to 365 plague victims, not least the woman popularly believed to be responsible for bringing the plague to London, Mary Ramsey.

The lecture then focuses on the work of Wren and his colleagues in rebuilding some 50 City churches after the Great Fire, (of which less than half survive), in their unique classical style, which has made them famous throughout the world.  A hundred photographs are featured to illustrate the magnificent steeples and domes as well as the craftmanship of the great woodcarvers, stonemasons and plasterers who created such beautiful interiors.

Tony has an MA in Modern History from Oriel College, Oxford, Qualified City Guide and is former Chairman of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and Trustee of the Friends of the City Churches (FCC).  Publications include ‘The Visitor’s Guide to the City of London Churches’ (2006) and regular contributions to Cityguide magazine and the FCC Newsletter.

Note that the Annual General Meeting will be held at 7:30 before the evening lecture, preceded by wine, soft drinks, tea and coffee

Photograph is of the 1658 entrance to St Olave named by Charles Dickens as “St Ghastly Grim” in his novel Uncommercial Traveller.

Photograph © St Olave

A persuasive introduction to buying antiques and integrating and using them in today’s homes. The state of the antiques market and the different meanings of the word value are considered, and we take a look at what current and future generations of collectors are buying, why they are buying it and how they are displaying it.

Mark Hill BA is an author, publisher, TV presenter, and the leading specialist dealer in postwar Czechoslovakian glass. He is an expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow, and co-presented the primetime TV shows Cracking Antiques, Antiques Uncovered and Collectaholics for BBC2. He lectures widely, researches and publishes his own books and is also the co-author of the bi-annual Miller’s Collectables Price Guide.

On Ernest Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914, his ship, the Endurance, became trapped in the pack ice. Shackleton’s men rowed to the remote Elephant Island and from there Shackleton sailed for help to South Georgia over 800 miles away. This remains one of the most remarkable open boat journeys ever made. Frank Hurley, an Australian, was the expedition’s photographer and a pioneer in the emerging world of photo-journalism.

Mark Cottle, born in the Isles of Scilly, has spent his life in teaching, lecturing and training.  He has lived and worked in Germany and Libya.  His specialist subjects include Medieval Art and Culture, Anglo-Saxon England, the Vikings and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.  He has been a NADFAS lecturer since 2008.

Almost eighty years after her death, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is still one of the most influential of all English garden designers. Best known for her superb use of colour schemes in her hallmark flower borders, she combined an early training in art with self taught horticultural skills. Early influences included William Morris, John Ruskin and William Robinson but it is her partnership with the architect Edwin Lutyens that produced some of the most distinctive of Edwardian houses and gardens. From her house (and nursery) at Munstead Wood, Surrey, Jekyll designed over 400 gardens across Britain and Europe, and some in America – where her archive of designs and drawings is now held. Through her articles and books she became the defining voice of early to mid 20th century garden design, creating a style many gardeners still aspire to today. This talk will explore her life, influences on her early work in art and crafts, the transfer to Munstead Wood and working relationship with Edwin Lutyens, as well as her own writings and achievements.

Twigs Way is a professional garden historian, author, freelance lecturer and researcher.Twigs lectures on garden history, gives talks to private groups, including NADFAS, and is also available to lead garden tours.

The Lost Princes, Royal Heirs Who Never Came to the Throne.

Edward, the elder of the princes in the Tower, was known as Edward V for a brief few months when his father Edward IV died, but was never crowned. When Prince Arthur Tudor and Prince Henry Stuart died they were succeeded by their younger brothers who became Henry VIII and Charles I. George II was succeeded by his grandson while George IV’s only child Princess Charlotte died in childbirth. Edward VII’s elder son Prince Eddy, Duke of Clarence, died aged 28 paving the way for George V. What were they like? We will look at contemporary portraits, stained glass windows and history paintings.

Chloe Cockerill MBE MA Following a lifetime passion for churches Chloe worked for The Churches Conservation Trust. She lectures for the National Trust, NADFAS & WEA and has a particular interest in heraldry and fabulous beasts.

Machu Picchu is the most important Inca settlement in the world. It is also the most complete and best preserved in terms of architectural and urban remains. Since its official discovery in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham, extensive studies have been made as to its origin, social use, planning and construction, adaptation to environment and especially its meaning. Recent studies suggest that Machu Picchu was a Royal Retreat used exclusively by members of the Inca Court as a place of rest and recuperation. Others think it was a university.

Gloria Broadbent was born in Cusco, Peru.  She graduated from the University of Cusco with a BA and a Degree in Architecture in 1988, and studied for an MA in the Theory and History of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) in Lima in 1990.  After completing her MA studies, Ms. Broadbent arrived in the United Kingdom to pursue her PhD.  A year later, as part of her introduction to architectural practice in the UK, she joined The Conservation Practice on the restoration of Uppark, a Georgian National Trust property heavily damaged by fire in 1989.

Dressing to impress in the 18th Century.

This was a time when both to enter and retain your position in Society it was necessary to appear in the most expensive clothes and jewellery.  At the top of society was the Royal Court, which in the person of the Prince of Wales, later George IV set the tone in terms of extravagant dress and behaviour.  The lecture considers how men and women prepared themselves for entry into Society and the sometimes extraordinary (not to say comical) lengths to which both sexes went.

Nigel Arch LVO MA is Chairman of Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre.  Nigel has worked for 40 years in museums and historic houses, first as Head of the Department of Art at the National Army Museum, Chelsea,then as Keeper of Military History at the Castle Museum York, then ( 1982) Curator of the Court Dress Collection, Kensington Palace,from 1986 Administrator then Director Kensington Palace and also from 2004 with responsibility for Kew Palace.  He was apppointed LVO (Lieutenant of the Victorian Order) by The Queen in 2008 and retires in 2012.

He has published various articles on military uniform and ceremonial dress. He is author of Splendour at Court (with J Marschner) , Dressing for Royal occasions since 1700 and The Royal Wedding Dresses.

From the beginning of time the fascination with magic and the impossible has been widespread. Egypt was the cradle of magic. Sorcerer Priests used scientific principles to create illusions for the edification of worship and to hold power over the people. Where there was power there was magic. Then there is the age-old skill of sleight of hand, which proves that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye’. Magicians were known as ‘Jongleurs’ lest they by sentenced to death for ‘witchcraft and conjuration’ under the edicts of Henry VIII.

With the emergence of the Music Hall, Magic gained a new respectability and audiences flocked in there thousands to watch the extraordinary feats of The Great Illusionists. This gave birth to legendary tricks such as pulling a rabbit from a hat and sawing a lady in half. And if magicians guarded their secrets with their lives, how was the Magic Circle formed ? – Home to 10,000 secrets.

Even today in our super technical age of ipods and broadband, the wonder and surprise of magic are as popular as ever, not forgetting the Harry Potter craze.

Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion is a whistle stop tour of the history of mystery from 3000bc to the 21st century and be careful! – you might be amazed and bewitched.

Bertie Pearce is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star He has performed all over the world in weird and wonderful places including: The Magic Castle in Hollywood; The Kulm Hotel in St Moritz and The Bertie and Boo Cafe in Balham,London.

Note that this lecture is on a Tuesday not Wednesday.

The moving story of Britain’s war memorials.

Britain has over 60,000 war memorials, each with their own sad and moving story to tell.

They also represent our largest collection of public art – 1,300 are listed.

We will explore the history of Britain’s war memorials, including such masterpieces as Sir Edwin Lutyens’ Cenotaph and the Thiepval Gate and C.S. Jagger’s Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London.

Especially memorable is the magnificent achievement of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and we will look at the Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh

Andrew Davies read law at Oxford, but he only ever wanted to talk about history. He has been very fortunate in turning his passions into his job.

He lectures extensively for NADFAS, the National Trust, London and Essex University Extra-Mural Departments, the Open University and the British Museum, travelling all over the world.  He is the author of nine books, and he appears frequently on television and radio.

A preview for our Tour in May 2016

The end of the Habsburg Empire was marked by a huge increase in the population of Vienna and an extraordinary flourishing of the city’s café life. This talk will explain the links between the Secession artists and the achievements of Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg. It will compare the architecture of Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos and explore the ‘culture of nerves’ that came to define its artists’ response to the speed and movement of the rapidly changing capital.

The talk will also explain how the artists’ escape into ‘the nervous, the artificial, the monstrous and the mystical’ had analogies with much earlier traditions in German art. It will compare Klimt’s disturbing female allegories and Schiele’s double-portraits to the work of Cranach. It will also unpick the prejudices and tensions behind contemporary critics’ comparisons of the decorative quality of the Secession to the ‘sickly sweetness of the Viennese Orient’.

Gerald Deslandes is a former gallery director and has curated exhibitions by some of the best known artists working in the U.K.

Britain was heavily involved in the profitable slave trade and between 1662 and 1807 transported over 3 million African slaves on British ships, mainly to work on the sugar plantations in the West Indies.
Dido Belle was the daughter of  Sir John Lindsay, then a Captain in the West Indies and Maria Belle an African slave.  Sir John  brought Dido Belle to England in 1765 when she was 4 years old.  She was brought up at Kenwood, the home of John Lindsay’s uncle, Lord Mansfield, where she appeared in a painting of 1777.  Lord Mansfield, later Lord Chief Justice, ruled in 1772 in favour of a runaway slave, finding that slavery had no basis in England, where it was effectively abolished.  He was an early supporter of the movement to abolish the slave trade and slavery, also supported by Josiah Wedgwood and other industrialists;

Lord Mansfield also ruled in 1783 on the Zong case where slaves were thrown overboard off Jamaica and the shipowners claimed compensation from their insurers for the loss of “cargo”. Mansfield only ordered a retrial of which there is no record that one took place. This case became a cause celebre for the Anti Abolitionist campaign. An account of this incident inspired J M W Turner to paint The Slave Ship which was exhibited at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1840.

Dido Belle inherited money from Sir John Lindsay and Lord Mansfield, being one of several successful black people in London.  Eventually Britain’s part in the slave trade was ended in 1807 and in 1833 slavery was abolished in the British Empire.

The life of Dido Belle was dramatised in the award winning film Belle in 2013.

Leslie Primo is a graduate with a degree in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck, University College, London.  Leslie currently lectures at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and teaches a variety of art history courses at the City Literary and Bishopsgate Institutes in London.

Henry Purcell had a similar status in the late 17th Century to Handel in the 18th Century.  He wrote many pieces to celebrate events and enjoyed a gift for melody and harmony.  Although a great composer, little is known about his life.  He was born in Westminster in 1759 into a musical family, as both his father and brother were keen musicians.  He was in royal service at an early age.  In 1674 he was appointed organ tuner at Westminster Abbey and from 1679 was the organist there.  He also taught the harpsichord and many of his works were composed for his students.  Peter Medhurst played and sang excerpts from various of Purcell’s compositions.
Only one portrait of Purcell (by John Closterman) is known to exist and other images are taken from this painting.  After his death at the early age of 36 in 1695 he was much missed by other musicians and friends.  Dryden wrote an ode on his death, put to music by John Blow.  Purcell surpassed his contemporaries and was admired by his peers as a leading Baroque composer.  After his death he became known as the ‘English Orpheus’.

Covering the 1920 to 1955 period, Neo-Romantic Art was influenced by the work of the early 19th Century, Samuel Palmer, in turn a follower of William Blake.

Paul Nash, an official war artist in World War I, initially took little notice of new art movements but in the early 1930s recognised the conflict between landscape and surrealist art.  His work, such as ‘Druid Landscape’ (1934) draws on both movements.

Graham Sutherland was similarly influenced.  In his Pembrokeshire landscapes he used colours for emotional effect.  A war artist in World War II, he painted vivid images of destroyed buildings, manufacturing plants and mines.

John Piper worked in abstract art but at the same time produced landscapes, making collages of British seaside scenes.  A World War II war artist, he painted ruined churches and commissioned by the then Queen, he painted views of Windsor Castle against threatening skies, symbolising the threat of invasion.

Henry Moore is famous for his images of people sheltering from bombs in the London Tube.  Other Neo-Romantic artists include Ceri Richards, Cecil Collins and John Craxton.

Food is a brilliant way to get under the skin of past societies. Everyone eats and the choices we make reflect who we are and what we believe.  By exploring what was eaten, and by whom, how it was cooked and how it was consumed, we can explore a wide range of beliefs and behaviours.

Dr Annie Gray  food historian and TV presenter, wearing Georgian dress, gave an illustrated lecture to the Limpsfield Decorative & Fine Arts Society on ‘Appearing to Advantage – The Art of Dining in Georgian England’.

Georgian England was an era of elegant dinner parties but also of gin palaces, an age of enlightenment and progress, enclosures, steam engines and consumer goods, when shopping became popular.

Dining styles changed from the previous long tables and separated sexes.  Copied from France, men and women sat together at round tables on elegant dining chairs, with silver cutlery, including now popular forks and ceramic plates and dishes.  Kitchens could be magnificent as at the Royal Pavilion but normal kitchens contained a mid-room table, a dresser, a cooking range and roasting spits.  There were no mixers or whisks so a lot of pounding during preparation was necessary.  All parts of animals were eaten as well as exotic fruits, grown in heated frames and hothouses.

Following a variety of soups, there was a fish course and then roast meats.  Following the meal, the ladies withdrew and the gentlemen could over-indulge and use the chamber pot kept in a cupboard in the now popular sideboard

Immortalised in Cole Porter’s lyrics ‘You’re the top! You’re a Waldorf Salad’, the Waldorf-Astoria New York was a glamorous home to international celebrities in the 1930s.

The first Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York opened on 5th Avenue in 1893.  Looking like a French chateau, it was built by the fabulously wealthy Astor family.  The interiors were those of a large country house, with sculptures, paintings and silver cutlery and plate.  The waiters spoke French and German and the menus were in French.  Ladies were allowed in the front door without escorts and could dine on their own.

However by the late 1920s, the area round the first Waldorf Astoria had become too commercial.  The site for the new Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue was purchased in 1929 and the Empire State Building was developed on the site of the old hotel.  Despite the Crash, the new Waldorf was built rapidly and opened by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.  It was designed to attract Hollywood royalty as well as real royalty, with a secret underground entrance for those wishing to avoid publicity.  Residents included Greta Garbo, Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra.  The new Waldorf was in true Parisian Art Deco style, with the ‘Spirit of Achievement’ statue in the main entrance, diffused lighting, a magnificent staircase, as well as wall paintings and mosaics.  The interiors were widely photographed in films.

Mary Alexander trained as an art historian and graduated with a BA in History and History of Art and an MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London.  She is now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies.  Author of many articles on design and visual awareness, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills

Previous major reconstruction in London followed catastrophes like the 1666 Great Fire and the destruction in the Second World War. The current phase of redevelopment followed the financial  boom in London, starting in 1980. Society members were taken on an illustrated tour of new buildings in the capital: the 1985 Lloyds Building, No. One Poultry (1997), 88 Wood Street (2004), the Gherkin (2003), Heron Tower in Bishopsgate (2008), the Cheese-grater and the recently opened Walky-Talkie Building.

Many modern buildings are on sites near London railway stations. The 1980 Broadgate Square development near Liverpool Street has already been demolished to be replaced by new offices  for UBS. Exchange Square has been built over Liverpool Street and other major building schemes have taken place at Kings Cross, St Pancras, Paddington and Charing Cross. Additionally new buildings have been erected near St Paul’s, Canary Wharf, the Millennium Dome and Bridge, the Olympic Games site and the GLA Building on the South Bank.

Also mentioned were the new stations on the Jubilee Line, the new US Embassy, the Magazine in Hyde Park and the Great  Court of the British Museum

The 1925 Paris Exhibition is generally seen as the start of Art Deco.  There were temporary galleries on both sides of the Seine, an illuminated 50 foot high fountain and various interiors and items in the Deco style.  The Exhibition included the ‘Pavilion L’Esprit Nouveau’, a house of the future with simplistic furniture.  Art Deco influenced architecture, including New York skyscrapers as well as art, posters, ceramics, glass and other everyday items.  A poster of the 1935 liner, the ‘Normandie’ embodied the Art Deco movement.  The ‘Normandie’ was a floating palace in Deco style.  Its dining room featured Lalique fountains and ceiling.

Some Deco jewellery was made of diamonds and sapphires, aimed at the upper end of the market.  Cheaper Deco jewellery can still be bought at modest prices, such as the item bought by Eric Knowles for £15 and sold for ‘£25’ in the TV programme ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’.  Members enjoyed seeing illustrations of up-market Deco figurines as well as Deco ceramics from Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and other English potteries as well as Lalique glass.

This lecture is a foretaste of the ‘Moorish Spain’ tour being organised by the Society next May.

In 711, the Arabs, led by Tariq, invaded Visigoth Spain, overrunning it in 3 or 4 years.  A coup d’etat, in Damascus in 750, led to the last Omeya fleeing to Spain.  He set up the progressive Caliphate, which lasted until around 1000.  This was multi-cultural and multi-lingual, a beacon of civilization in a backward Western Europe.  The new capital was at Cordoba, where there were still considerable Roman remains, including the today’s surviving river bridge.  Most of the Great Mosque at Cordoba is still there, albeit with a cathedral built in the middle of it.

In the 11th Century, the Caliphate split into smaller kingdoms and the weakened Arab Spain was largely conquered by Christians from the north, who reached as far south as Toledo by 1085.  However, Granada survived for another 400 years until 1492.  The Alhambra is a magnificent reminder of the glory of Muslim Spain.  It covers 37 acres, with water features, bathhouse, grandiose Moorish architecture and gardens.  Its fantastic ceilings, wall tiles and views are a reminder of a civilisation which was much superior to contemporary Western Europe.

Harps have vertical strings and are played from both sides.  One side is a sound-box and another is a strong pillar.  There were various early harps in Ancient Egypt and Greece.  They then spread throughout the Middle and Far East and to Europe in the 9th and 10th Centuries.  By the 14th Century the harp was the main instrument in England, mentioned in Chaucer.  Travelling harpists visited big houses, enjoying a very high status.  Harps remained popular until Elizabeth I discouraged wandering harpists, preferring the lute.  Harps went out of fashion in England but remained popular in Europe.

Key changes were not possible on early harps but this was possible with 17th Century hook harps and more easily on 18th Century pedal harps.  Harps were then welcomed back into orchestras, now that they could change key.