Art’s Hidden Secrets explores the messages, codes, and self-portraits found in famous works of art:

In Rembrandt’s Night Watch, what’s a little girl doing there, in a party dress with a dead chicken hanging from her waist?

Given Michelangelo’s statue of David was originally to be placed high on the Cathedral roof, why did he carve his eyes heart-shaped, when it would be impossible to see them from the ground?

Where can you find the hidden portraits of Velázquez, Vermeer, Raphael, Titian, Filippo Lippi and Botticelli?

In Gainsborough’s Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, why is there an unfinished area of paint on her lap?

Why did Ghirlandaio paint a strange item hovering in the sky behind the Madonna's head. Could it be a UFO?

For over a century, W. Heath Robinson, whom the novelist, Philip Pullman called ‘the immortal contraptioneer’, has been famous for drawing rickety, bizarrely complicated devices that carry out the simplest of tasks like potato peeling, wart removal or pancake making.

He became so famous for them that in 1933, he was the obvious person to illustrate Norman Hunter’s Professor Branestawm books and, in 1943, Bletchley Park named one of their code-breaking machines after him. 

Much later still, some of the contraptions in Wallace and Gromit’s ‘The Wrong Trousers’ are based on a scale model of a gadget filled house that he made for the Ideal Home Show in 1934.

But there was more to him than this: he was also a fine painter, an outstanding literary illustrator and a brilliant satirist, who poked gentle fun at modern life in cartoons that are still laugh out loud funny.

Loaded with symbolism, the colour blue creates meaning, provokes emotion and ignites memory on a personal, and a cultural level, throughout the world.

From the scared shade of Ultramarine, to the ancient roots of Indigo, to the startling alchemy of Prussian, blue has been used to venerate icons since the earliest human civilizations. Enjoy this rich history of colour via two powerful forces: Impressionism and Japanese Print.

When Monet’s water-lilies met Hokusai’s Great Wave, the values of art changed forever.

This is the gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during our Darkest Hour.

As Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London’s museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary and ingenious plans to send their collections to safety. 

Using stately homes, tube tunnels, slate mines, castles, prisons, quarries and even their own houses, a dedicated bunch of unlikely misfits packed up the nation’s greatest treasures and, in a race against time, dispatched them throughout the country on a series of top-secret wartime adventures.

With a cast of characters who could have stepped right out of an Ealing Comedy, this unlikely coalition of mild-mannered civil servants, social oddballs, and metropolitan aesthetes became nothing less than the heritage front in our fight against the Nazis.

Caravaggio’s paintings inspired many artists during his lifetime and would go on to influence many more, from Orazio Gentileschi to Peter Paul Rubens, Gerard van Honthorst and Rembrandt. Each absorbed a different aspect of his work. ,

His style spread across Europe and gave rise to the international movement known as ‘Caravaggism’. Yet for many, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is famed as much for his criminal record as for his art.

Was it the violence of his times or his own violent spirit that inspired the dramatic lighting and intense naturalism of his work? This lecture follows the dramatic incidents of the artist’s life and looks at why and how his influence spread so far.

• A look at Banksy’s 1990s Bristol roots and his signature stencil style.

• The stories behind his most iconic images: from large rodents and chimpanzees to the famous "Girl with Balloon".

• An exploration of his socio-political impact, including the famous shredded painting at Sotheby’s and his work in Ukraine.

Art Deco launched a thousand cinemas (and the Hoover factory) and is still influential today.

We look at how Art Nouveau evolved into Art Deco - the style that defined the jazz era and the golden age of pre-war Hollywood musicals.

Art Deco pervaded all forms of design in a way that Art Nouveau never did, and in this talk we look at all aspects of design, not just architecture, and examine the influences that made Art Deco the colourful style that is still influential today.

We end with a round-up of some of the many surviving Art Deco buildings around the world.

In 1803, America bought Louisiana from Napoleon, doubling the size of the country overnight.

What was in those 900,000 square miles? Who settled it? And how has the behaviour of those trailblazing misfits come to define the “cowboy attitude” of mainstream America through two centuries and the storming of the Capitol in January 2021?

“It takes one to know one” as they say. Your lecturer was born in Iowa, in the heart of the Louisiana Purchase. Please leave your guns at the door.

Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensembles and imaginative improvisation.

Drawing on his experience both as musicologist and gigging musician, Sandy can shed light on jazz from the inside. His talk covers the early years of jazz up to the Second World War, and touches on the disparate influences which lay behind the emergence of jazz.

Musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very first jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.

One of the highest paid and most successful writers of his day, Terence Rattigan (along with Noel Coward), was to fall out of favour in the 1950's with the rise of the Angry Young Men such as John Osborne, Harold Pinter and Joe Orton.

 This lecture examines the stark contrast between pre- and post-war British theatre and how we, in the 21st Century, can reassess which playwrights really stood the test of time.

Antony Gormley’s career spans nearly 40 years, during which time he has made sculpture that explores the relationship of the human body to space, often using his own body as his starting point. 

His work has been shown throughout the world, in galleries including the Tate in London and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, but is also often on open display, as public art, such as Another Place at Crosby Beach, near Liverpool.

As well as works that he is well known for, like the iconic Angel of the North, this lecture will look at some of his earlier and less well-known works, to give an overall view of the development of his work across his whole career, up to the present time.

In this talk Andrew shows that following the turbulent political times between 1870 and 1929, which culminated in the final collapse of the Russian and European Monarchies, countless astonishing art and jewel collections were dispersed, looted or sold. Fortunately, this coincided with the growing wealth and power of America and its industrial millionaires, who were intent on creating sumptuous palaces of their own and filling them with the greatest paintings and furniture, together with weighing down their wives and daughters with the finest of recently purchased royal jewels. In this talk, Andrew explains how these fabulously wealthy heiresses then married into the British aristocracy, bringing many of these treasures with them. He shows with the decline of aristocratic power and the British Empire, how these legendary jewels have again been parted with and can now to be seen by everyone, in the world's great museums.

Founded in 1919 in Weimar, the Bauhaus was a progressive art school. Under the directorship of architect Walter Gropius, its students studied a broad range of artistic disciplines. The Bauhaus lasted for a 14-year period, with bases in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, and during that time it not only came to typify an age but also dictate matters of style for decades to come, through its art, architecture and design. This talk looks at some of the movers and shakers behind this hugely influential movement, including Marianne Brandt, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, as well as exploring their legacy in our world and homes today.

We are still living amongst the infrastructure created by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 19 th century. He changed the face of the English landscape with his ground-breaking projects including railways, bridges, tunnels, ships, and grand buildings such as the magnificent Paddington Station. He merged art with engineering and science and was a pioneer and a revolutionary. And he was brilliant. We'll look at the man, his background, his work, and his legacy.

I knew when I researched this lecture over the last thirty years it would be controversial and I wasn't wrong, BUT It has proved to be of tremendous interest to Arts Society members as until recently her films were banned in Germany because of the Holocaust.  Leni Riefenstahl was undoubtedly one of the most creative women of the twentieth century.  From her early days dancing on Berlin’s stages, to becoming an actress and then producing her own films that attracted Hitler - she was always difficult and uncompromising in what she wanted to achieve. Her iconic films of the 1934 Nuremburg Nazi rally and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were exceptional using techniques that were way ahead of their time and still used in documentaries today!  85 years ago following Kristallnacht she was shunned and after the war faced three tribunals - being cleared by all of them of any Nazi or untoward involvement. She then escaped repression in Germany to live with a remote African tribe in the Sudan filming stunning documentaries and creating an outstanding photographic record.  At 87 she learnt to scuba dive and film coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. Over her hundred years, her legacy is fascinating, exciting, unbelievable and brought to life in this extraordinary lecture, with many films clips, photographs and ephemera

As the world emerged from WWII and French couturier Christian Dior introduced his revolutionary ‘New Look’ in 1947, fashion illustration was to play a pivotal role in the success of fashion houses who had struggled to survive the war years in Europe and new designers who were about to step onto the international stage.

Gilbert and Sullivan are still the most popular double act on the English stage. Why is that? Where did their ideas come from? Why have they endured so well? Looking at their solo works it seems that Gilbert's literary brilliance and Sullivan's musical flair were not enough on their own –the genius lay in their combined talents. I’m joined by Arts Society lecturer John Snelson for this: I’ll be covering the words, John the music, and both of us will be drawing on a lifetime of watching, performing, and writing about the Savoy Operas. And, as with Gilbert and Sullivan, you’ll be getting two experts for the price of one...

Although the Russian jeweller Carl Fabergé is best known for his magnificent Imperial Easter Eggs, they represent only one aspect of his firm's great creativity. This lecture examines the exquisite jewellery, vivid enamelled boxes, intricate hard-stone figures and naturalistic flower studies that were the mainstay of his success, and which delighted his customers throughout Europe. Although Fabergé’s story is rooted in Russia, its London branch, where Christmas was the busiest time rather than Easter, allows us to explore its other wealthy patrons and the links between St Petersburg and London. The lecture is a visual feast, in which we escape into the most privileged realms of Edwardian Christmas shopping.

Let me introduce you to 19th century palaeontologist Mary Anning and discover how she searched the Jurassic rocks of England's south coast to unearth what where believed to be sea dragons and we now call marine reptiles. We will look the social history and influences of Mary and the 19th century scientists that she would have worked with. We will not only look at these spectacular fossil remains, but also see how palaeontologists have revealed how these ancient extinct animals lived. Our journey will take us into a distant past, from south west England to southern Germany where shallow seas were inhabited by fish lizards, marine crocodiles and floating islands of tree trunks with ancient starfish like animals attached to them. We will finish by looking at the animals that ruled the land for millions of years, the dinosaurs, and how the first palaeontologists discovered, reconstructed and named these amazing creatures from the Jurassic World.

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

This lecture focuses on the costume and dress accessories that would have been worn for formal occasions (Regulated Court Costume), or informally, at the Imperial Court or in Provincial Government during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Initial consideration will be given to formal, mandated, Court Costume and Insignia of Rank worn by the Imperial Family plus the Civil and Military Officials. The focus will then move to a review of the full scope of the Emperor’s Wardrobe from State Robes, and regalia, through to informal wear Consideration will also be given to robes, and dress accessories, worn on a day to day basis, or for special occasions, by other members of the Court either in their official capacity or in their private lives. Particular focus will be given to the highly decorative clothing of high ranking Chinese Ladies and will consider the design of items such as informal robes, outerwear, headwear and ornamental accessories

The 1700s was a period when the people of England seemed to be especially gullible. They believed a woman could give birth to rabbits; a man could climb inside a two pint bottle and sing inside it; and where a blond-haired European could write a book claiming that he was born in Taiwan. These hoaxes weren't just written about extensively in newspapers and journals but also brilliantly and amusingly depicted by satirical artists such as William Hogarth and James Gillray. In this entertaining talk Ian demonstrates how 18th century hoaxes are memorable not only for their imaginative nature but also because of the differing motives of the tricksters.

I talk about the increasing popularity of classical music, especially amongst young people.

I show examples of how classical music enhances the mood - the drama, the tension, the romance -of feature films.

I show examples of how it has made many TV commercials truly memorable.

I describe how a piece by an obscure 17th century German Composer has become our No.1 favourite at weddings and funerals

And to finish I show how classical melodies and chord sequences have been borrowed for a huge number of popular hit records. (I play guitar and sing for this part)

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

In 1845, William Morris travelled around Northern France, visiting the tapestry weaving studios to learn the technique of medieval tapestry weaving. At the same time, his dear friend Edward Burne-Jones, purchased a copy of Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory. Through the comradeship of the knights and their heroic quests, described in the book, Morris and Burne-Jones saw an allegory for their own artistic achievements. This book became their major source for inspiration throughout their lives, and culminated in their finest artistic achievement, a narrative series of tapestries called ‘The Quest for the Holy Grail’. The tapestries were commissioned, in 1888, by the Australian millionaire William Knox D’Arcy, to decorate and furnish the interior of his home, Stanmore Hall in Middlesex. This was their final major commission as Morris died within a year of their completion and Burne-Jones died two years later.

Through my personal conservation of these tapestries, I am able to show a rare insight into their construction, design and artistic skill with unique detailed images.

This lecture tells the story of men's tailoring over the past 200 years, told through the lives of the men who commissioned and created and wore it. Tailors, shirtmaker, hatters and other craftspeople in London’s west end, especially around Savile Row & Jermyn Street have shaped the way men dress since the Regency. How did men such as Beau Brummell, The Duke of Windsor, Tommy Nutter, Montague Burton, Alexander McQueen and John Stephen create their signature looks which influenced the mens fashion? This lecture also looks at the wider cultural shifts since the early 19th century to the present day and how they affected the way that men present themselves.

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.

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth, and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher. 

Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives.

It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 

On September 26 1968, after 231 years of official censorship, Britain ended the power of the Lord Chamberlain to decide what the British public should and shouldn’t see. Official vetting and censoring of plays was established by the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 and led to years of controversy, absurdity and fascinating battles between the theatre makers and the authority of the Theatre Censor.

British artists have always been fascinated by the maritime world, but in the age of Turner and Gericault attention shifted to the experience of sailors and travellers. At first the emphasis was on disaster, but soon we begin to see more nuanced depictions of ocean travel, such as Ford Madox Brown's The Last of England. With the 20th century came opportunities for artists to portray life aboard battleships, ocean liners, submarines and fishing trawlers. Alternating between drama and serenity, tragedy and laughter, and featuring works by a star-studded cast of artists, this lecture brings to life a fascinating story.

This lecture will present the most popular paintings to be found in British collections – in reverse order from No. 20 to No. 1. (Those society members who recall Alan Freeman’s Pick of the Pops will get the idea!) The list has been compiled from different polls that have been conducted since 2005, where the public and artists themselves have been asked to name their favourite paintings. Needless to say, the list contains some predictable and some surprising choices. During the lecture, as the list is counted down, there will be detailed discussion of some of the individual artworks, as well as reflections on why some artworks are so high or low in the Top Twenty, and why some don’t feature at all. Quite a few theories have been developed over the years as to what draws people into some artworks more than others, and these ideas will be briefly shared. Before the lecture starts, the lecturer will talk to a selection of society members, and ask to name their favourite paintings in Britain today. It will be interesting to see how their choices compare with the polls. Overall, considerable interest, some fun and a little seriousness is promised. The lecture will be jargon-free with audience engagement, backed by high quality images.

Since the birth of the earliest human civilisations, dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations, a method of healing and a means of expression and entertainment. 

Using stills and video clips we take a look at dance as an art form from its earliest beginnings; through the birth and rapid development of ballet throughout Europe, the explosion of modern dance in the early 20th century a time of unprecedented creative growth for dancers and choreographers and with the growth of post-modernism from the 1960s  the expansion of street dance, hip-hop, break dancing and rock dance. 

Preceded by the AGM at 10:30

The mansions built during America’s “Gilded Age” came in all shapes and sizes, but a significant number of them were inspired by - some may say copied from - a varied selection of classic English houses. They were resurrected and lived in by an eclectic mix of millionaires, all with their own aims and ambitions staked within: the man dubbed 'The American Prince of Wales'; the woman who swapped a necklace for what is now a flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue; and, both the victim and accused of one of the most highly publicised crimes of the 1980s. Their counterparts in England were no less colourful, and include the real-life Squire Allworthy. Through the splendour of the architecture on both sides of the Atlantic, we’ll delve into the characters, quirks, and frequently amusing stories behind these truly international treasures.  

Darling’s daring rescue of steamship passengers off the Northumberland coast in 1838 brought her international fame and celebrity, and she became the ‘poster girl’ of the RNLI. Discover more about her bravery and short life (died aged 26) and other dramatic rescues and life-saving inventions by Captain Manby and John Dennett pictured by diverse artists. For the first time this talk reveals the full extent of the artistic contribution in keeping Darling in the public eye. It is part of the national events marking the RNLI’s bicentenary across the years 2023-2024.

There are four elements to this lecture. The first is a look at the emergence of the North in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Room at the Top, A Taste of Honey, This Sporting Life etc.. Second would be a look at Swinging Britain – Julie Christie in Darling, Michael Caine in Alfie, the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night and the James Bond movies. Third would be a look at the last days of Empire as seen in Tony Richardson’s Charge of the Light Brigade, Zulu and, comically, Carry On Up the Khyber. Finally the drastic change in the depiction of sex from Dirk Bogarde in Victim (1961) to Alan Bates and Oliver Reed famously wrestling nude in Women in Love (1969).

Have you had this experience? You go to a gallery, an exhibition and are stopped dead by an unknown picture: you look at the label and find you have never heard of the artist. How does it come about that there can be such wonderful painters of whom we have never heard? This lecture will consider some of the many reasons for a good artist’s obscurity, from the brevity of his life to the misfortune of his being born and working in the shadow of a larger reputation, such as Leonardo or Rembrandt. But above all it is an excuse to spend an hour gorging on beautiful paintings, finding hidden treasures.

In Spring 2000 an archaeological drama began to unfold on the banks of the Euphrates river in Turkey, close to the border with Syria. A small team of French and Turkish archaeologists found a Roman city on the banks of the river, with mosaics and wall-paintings finer than those of Pompeii. However, just beside them was the almost completed Birecik Dam, and the Turks had begun to flood the great reservoir behind it, taking the city under water. This lecture tells the story of the extraordinary archaeological rescue excavation that then took place (racing against the inexorable waters for four and a half months as they rose at a rate of two feet a day) and the fabulous treasures recovered, including mosaic floors (arguably the finest ever found) depicting colourful scenes from myth and legend.

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

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

In 'The Art Of The Cartoonist' Harry will be tracing the history of his profession with examples from early practitioners like Cruickshank and Hogarth, to more contemporary artists such as Giles and Schulz, bringing events right up to date with cartoons produced fresh on the page that day!

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

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’ll talk about restoration and conservation, exploring extraordinary details from works such as the Wilton Diptych, which have only been discovered recently thanks to scientific analysis.

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

I have been a lecturer at the National Gallery for nearly 20 years.

Blue and white tin-glazed earthenware has long been admired and collected for its attractive appearance, but this lecture goes further by examining English delftware with 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, this talk will provide a beginner's guide to these beautiful yet practical vessels. By placing them in their wider historical context, Briony will also demonstrate that delftware drug jars have an undervalued role to play in understanding medical practices in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Pip Burley began his musical career playing Rock'n'Roll in the 60s and 70s as well as working with the big bands - including Sydney Lipton, Joe Loss and Ken Mackintosh. He went on to compose and record music for commercials, theatre, film and television and, in 1990, won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme music for The Darling Buds of May - a TV series he also produced (discovering Catherine Zeta-Jones in the process). Other television successes include the multi-award winning series A Touch of Frost, the most watched police series of all time, created for and starring David Jason. As a sideline he also managed to start and run an advertising agency!

Since then Pip has been lecturing widely about his career based on his book Briefest Encounters and, more recently, has devised a series of six talks entitled 'The Golden Age of Song', featuring the lives and music of six great composers of popular song, lavishly illustrated with slides, videos and occasional demonstrations on the piano. These lectures have been presented both ashore and on cruise ships. 

Dogs are man’s most loyal friend. They are often used in art, as in life, to project our ambitions and anxieties. From the poignancy of Landseer, Queen Victoria’s favourite animal painter; to the dachshunds of Bonnard and Picasso; the xolos of Kahlo; the whippets of Freud and many more, explore how dogs have provided inspiration, solace and companionship throughout artistic lives.

This presentation will give a personal account of preparing the music for The Queen’s Birthday Parade from music selection, rehearsals and the big day itself, including an insight into how it all works. This presentation will also look at the relevance of music for such an event; is it really relevant in today's modern world?

Appreciate the astonishing range of signature buildings of faith communities settling in London. New arrivals leave their imprint on a city – nowhere more so than in London where Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Hindus, Methodists, Sikhs, Buddhists and Orthodox Greeks have each added their own layer. Not least, they have all left a remarkable signature. Here are eight faith communities which can each point to a special place they built, not on first arrival, but when numbers and self-confidence had grown in the knowledge they had established themselves for the long term. Crucially, it was when they had the wealth and resources to commission great architecture. So we have a synagogue, a chapel, a gurdwara, a monastery, a couple of cathedrals, a temple and a mosque, permanent markers of the highest quality. Their differences stretch across cultures and 300 hundred years of persecutions and economic crises. But their similarities are also striking.

The story of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain speaks of the important trade between East and West along both the overland and maritime Silk Roads. The cobalt blue mineral, or ‘Mohammedan Blue’, that provided the distinctive under-glaze colour of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain owed its origins to China’s early trade with Persia. During the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese imperial kilns at Jingdezhen perfected the production of blue-and-white wares and thus extended the scope of China’s trade with the West. Oriental export porcelain has its own rich history, enhanced by tales of shipwrecks and lost cargoes, that hints of the fascination for these products from the East, that came to be adapted for Western markets. This lecture will trace the history of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain and the trade in export porcelain. It will also recount tales of salvaging operations that have resulted in the recovery of sunken treasures from the East. The ‘Nanking Cargo’ and the ‘Hoi An Hoard’ are but two examples of early shipwrecks in Eastern waters, the recovery of which have enhanced our understanding of blue-and-white porcelain and its wider commercial impact. 

"I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works."  I examine the public and private life of one of the world's most original and controversial artists. Born into a moderately respectable Dublin family Oscar Wilde recreated himself as an international celebrity and wrote a series of short stories and plays that charmed the world. In 1890 he also published the last of the great myths - The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ten years later Wilde, devoured by his fame, his demons and his decadence, would be dead.

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

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.

Live in Ryarsh Village Hall and streamed via Zoom

This lecture examines the way artists, with direct experience of the war, attempted to depict the conflict in the face of strict official censorship, and how each side responded to the aftermath of war.

Live in Ryarsh Village Hall and streamed via Zoom

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

The story of stage scenery from Sophocles to Spiderman!  Western style theatre was invented by the Greeks from the 5th century BC onwards, and this talk illustrates the way in which theatre has developed over the last two and a half thousand years, and in particular how stage scenery design has advanced in that time. Ian Gledhill has worked, among other things, as a professional stage designer, and the talk will end with a look at some of his work including a practical demonstration of simple trompe-l’oeil scenic painting.

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 etc..

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.

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

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

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

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

Early in the French revolution, adventurous English women writers visit Paris. Some stay there; Mary Wollstonecraft is there for the execution of Louis XV1. Grace Dalrymple Elliott hides the governor of the Tuileries Palace between two mattresses in her own bed; then gets into the bed herself for 4 hours while her apartment is searched, risking her own life. Gainsborough’s striking portrait of the beautiful Grace is in the Frick Museum, New York. Other observers include Fanny Burney, bluestocking Hannah More and the Welsh Jacobin writer Helen Maria Williams. With paintings by contemporary French artists including Louis-Leopold Boilly and Jean-Baptiste Lesueur.

The Nutcracker ballet has delighted audiences at Christmas for many decades yet it was deemed a failure at its initial performances. Based upon the current Royal Ballet production by Sir Peter Wright, this lecture takes a close look at how this well-loved ballet now takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky along with story-telling, design, dance and a little bit of stage ingenuity all come together to make the most magical escape for young and old alike. Includes several performance video clips.

Our royal families have celebrated Christmas throughout their long history, from William the Conqueror making sure of his claim to the English throne by being crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. Feasting on a spectacular scale characterised medieval Christmases – we read of extraordinary culinary delicacies served to Henry II, crane’s flesh, peacocks and herons. Present-giving always marked the season, from the extravagant – the City of London presented Richard II with a camel and a pelican – to the witty – Mrs. Thatcher sent the Queen a pair of yellow washing-up gloves having seen Her Majesty doing the dishes without any. This lecture explores these traditions and other delights, many of which we have adopted as a necessary part of our own celebrations.

Despite the traumatic nature of their dislocation and the obstacles they often encountered on arrival in the UK, those who fled here from Nazi-dominated Europe in the 1930s and 1940s made a deep, pervasive and long-lasting contribution to British culture. Focussing on the visual arts, this new lecture will examine the nature of this contribution, embracing not only familiar names such as Gombrich, Kokoschka, Moholy-Nagy, Schwitters and Heartfield, but also lesser-known figures such as Albert Reuss, Josef Herman and Marie-Louise von Motesiczky. Monica is the initiator and creative director of the insiders/Outsiders Festival (see www.insidersoutsidersfestival.org), so this topic and its relevance to the present day is much on her mind.

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

MR RICHARD WHINCOP

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

The City of London is home to no fewer than forty Livery Company Halls, almost as many as existed immediately prior to the Great Fire of London. Many of the Halls succumbed to the fire, others to the Blitz, and several to the property developer, but they all contain a wealth of treasures in art, sculpture, stained glass, silverware and furniture. Many are of national significance, including Royal portraits such as that of HM The Queen during her Golden Jubilee year, commissioned by the Drapers’ Company of which HM is a member.

MR PAUL JAGGER

Paul Jagger is a Court Assistant of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and author ofThe City of London Freeman’s Guide - the definitive concise guide to the City of London’s customs, ceremonies, officers, institutions, landmarks and traditions. He is also the author of the History of The Worshipful Company of Marketors and the Pitkin guide to the Square Mile.

He has a particular interest in the treasures and heraldry of the City’s Livery Companies. In April 2016, Paul received the City’s prestigious Root and Branch Award from the Lord Mayor of the City of London for his work in promoting awareness and understanding of the City of London and its Livery Companies, particularly their beneficial impact on wider society.

Paul is a member of many heritage and history bodies including The Arts Society, the Cambridge University Heraldic & Genealogical Society, the White Lion Society (supporting HM College of Arms), The Heraldry Society (England and Wales) and he is a life member of London Historians, the National Trust and English Heritage. He is a member of the City Livery Club and a life member of Farringdon Ward Club. 

Paul is able to facilitate and conduct tours of some of the City's Livery Halls by arrangement and encourages Arts Societies to contact him to discuss their specific needs. Please accept the list of lectures as a source of inspiration for a discuusion around your needs.

He formerly served with 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (EOD) - one of the City’s privileged regiments and is a life member of the Victory Services Club and of 101 Engineer Regiment’s regimental association.