Lecture begins at 10.30

The sinuous, characteristically whiplash forms that provide the blueprint for Art Nouveau are seen time and again in the fine and decorative art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until wiped away by the First World War. A truly international movement, the varied incarnations of the style in different countries is examined in a lecture that celebrates fluidity and movement.   

Vivienne Lawes 

Vivienne is an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market. She teaches at several Higher Education institutions, including Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, where she leads the professional certificate in Art History, as well as the University of the Arts London, Imperial College, SOAS (University of London) and the City & Guilds of London Art School. In 2021 she received the Geoffrey Bond Bursary for Art, an annual prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Educators to an “outstanding educator” nominated by their institution.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Often called "The Prince of Painters", Diego Velazquez is still a mystery to us - a mystery wrapped in an enigma, inside a locked box.  Working for one man, King Philip IV of Spain for almost his entire career, he lived in the palace working his way towards his great ambition, to become a member of the aristocracy.   

His functions at the palace were no sinecure, they involved long hours and heavy responsibilities, yet somehow, he developed a way of painting unmatched by any before or since - though many talented artists have tried. 

As he progressed, there seems to be less and less paint on the canvas, but it paradoxically powerfully suggests more and more to the viewer, with an overwhelming sensation of a complete human being living and breathing before us.  

This technique and vision is at its greatest in the painting known as "Las Meninas".   A seeming "snapshot" of an insignificant moment in the day of the court, and yet.....

Ronnie Ireland

Ronnie is an artist, based in southern England. He exhibits his own work, teaches art and gives lectures on art history. His main interest is in the How and Why of art.  Why did the artist make this; how did they make this and crucially, how do these two aspects interact?

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Looking back on his work towards the end of his life, Peder Severin Krøyer recalled his work at Skagen, the Danish artists' colony at the northernmost tip of Denmark, and expressed his particular love for that time "when the sun is going down, when the moon is rising over the sea, hanging there, crystalclear, and the water, smooth as glass, reflects its light...." Krøyer was referring to the 'blue hour' of northern Scandinavian summer nights, when sea and sky appear to merge into a single luminous whole.

Kathy McLauchlan

A lecturer specialising in 19th-century art history, Kathy is currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, organising courses and study days on the history of art and design. She teaches at several institutions, including Art Pursuits. She is a graduate of Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute, with a PhD on French 19th-century painters in Rome. 

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

This talk offers a comprehensive overview of the most significant and notorious cases of art forgery over the last 150 years. The lecture focuses on the core motivations of art forgers and explains how the majority of the most prominent art forgers started out as failed artists whose work was ignored by the dealers, auction house ‘experts’ and connoisseurs who function as the market’s ‘gatekeepers’. In many cases, this rejection led to a desire on the part of the overlooked painters to exact a form of revenge against what they perceived as an elitist art world ‘club’ from which they were excluded. Is our aesthetic response to works of art more complicated than we realise? 

Tom Flynn

Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer and art consultant. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex. His interests include contemporary art; sculpture history; museology and the history of  museums; art crime; issues in cultural heritage; and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets.  

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

This lecture will consider the importance of Dutch and English delftware for the history of European pottery and how these wares dominated seventeenth century ceramic production. It will begin with a brief history of tin-glazed earthenware, concentrating on the material and techniques employed, and go on to discuss the emergence of the town of Delft as a major production centre. It will demonstrate the impact of Chinese blue and white porcelain on the wares of both countries along with other stylistic developments such as the great ‘flower pyramids’ made for the court of William and Mary, the importance of delftware for the pharmacy, commemorative wares and the development of the ‘blue-dash’ charger.

Jane Gardiner 

Jane has an MA in History of Art from the University of London, then trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. She was Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK. Jane has also lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institutd'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, and a private women's college in Saudi Arabia.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

A founding member of the Impressionist group, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) was known for her swiftly painted glimpses of contemporary life and intimate domestic scenes. She featured prominently in the Impressionist exhibitions and defied social norms to become one of the movement’s most influential figures. There were similarities but also differences between her output and that of the other Impressionists, in particular in her engagement with 18th century art and culture which ultimately set her apart from her contemporaries.

Lydia Bauman was born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry). She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely to adult audiences.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

The history of this enduring and peculiarly British institution, from its origins in 16th century Italian commedia dell’arte through the influence of 19th century music hall, to the family shows that are still much loved today. On the way we examine the origins of some of the stories used in pantomime as well as such traditions as the (female) principal boy and the (male) pantomime dame. The talk is interspersed with personal anecdotes from the speaker’s years of working (and appearing) professionally in pantomime.

Ian Gledhill has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns. This lecture describes some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo have been a particularly rich source of material and inspiration. From the Renaissance, through to the present day, fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance Brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony.

Tony Rawlins was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J.Walter Thompson. He graduated through the training system there to become an account director and subsequently worked in a number of agencies before setting up on his own in 1985. There he handled primarily Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean, where he produced many commercials and print ads for them over a period of 15 years.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Unlike Vermeer or Rembrandt, little is known about the life of Frans Hals. Despite being one of the three great artists of the Dutch Golden Age few books are written about this master and few exhibitions on his work organized. This all changed just before Covid when the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium brought together pieces of a large family portrait, long cut up and dispersed all over the world.

Mariska Beekenkamp-Wladimiroff read Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and was tempted to do a PhD in Decision Making Behaviour. In the end she turned to her true love - the Arts. ​She completed her BA and MA in Art History, majoring in The Dutch Baroque Arts from the 17th century at the Courtauld Institute of Arts. She started as a College Lecturer, but soon after started her own company - Art Historical London offering art historical lectures, museum visits, courses, tours, travel and events from Amsterdam, London and New York, and since 2020 online. 
 

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

To understand jewellery, we need to read its secret language. In this talk, we will learn how to read the message sent by jewels, both open and hidden. Medieval lapidary books interpreted gemstones - each stone had a meaning and power. Gemstones in eighteenth and nineteenth century acrostic jewels spelled out secret messages. Romantic jewels used flowers, hands and hearts to send coded messages of affection and mourning jewels used a visual language of urns, broken pillars and veiled women to send a message of grief.  Political jewels also send a silent message, whether through the colours of the Suffragettes or the hidden imagery of Stuart loyalists.

Rachel Church developed a love of history as a student in Cambridge. After a Masters in Museum Studies, she went on to work as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She became an expert in jewellery by cataloguing and researching the collection, and as part of the team which redisplayed the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery in 2011.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

The RSN’s royal connections began from the outset when Princess Helena became its President and in 1875 Queen Victoria became its Patron. This lecture tells the story of the royal connections and especially focuses on the RSN’s role in the past five coronations: Edward VII, George V, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III and the work the RSN did for each of them. Learn why the Royal School made the funeral pall for Queen Victoria and of the weddings they worked on from Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in 1935 to the Princess of Wales in 2011.

Susan Kay-Williams is Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Institute of Marketing and in 2015 was made a Fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in recognition of her work on the history of dyes.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

From the very first, grainy image created in 1826, photography has evolved into a major art form. Developments in photography have posed challenges to more traditional art genres and it interesting to see how some of the great artists have adapted to using cameras as part of their work. This talk looks at photography over the past nearly 200 years, looking at key advances in technology and the inter-relationship with art movements.

Roger Mendham is a keen and accomplished photographer. He has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. His artistic taste is predominantly 20th century and he is particularly interested in the visual aspects of art. He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

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

Rosalind Whyte  has BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. Experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. Lectures at Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises. Leads art appreciation holidays.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

The Japanese are highly sensitive to the changes of the seasons and decorate their homes and themselves according to the time of the year. From clothes to food to art objects we will see and understand the motifs used for spring and summer, as well as explore the almost obsessive Japanese fascination with cherry blossoms.

Pauline Chakmakjian is a lecturer on a variety of subjects related to the history, fine arts and culture of Japan as well as unusual topics such as Freemasonry. She holds a BA in English Literature during which she was also awarded a Merit Scholarship in Fine Art (drawing and painting), a Diploma in Law, an MA in Modern French Studies and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Pauline was elected onto the Board of the Japan Society of the United Kingdom from 2008–2014 and the Japan Society of Hawaii from 2015–2017.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

The musical evolved in two great cities: London and New York, so similar and so different in equal measure. With Soho and Times Square as the ultimate destinations, this lecture explores the metropolitan world from the perspective of the musical theatre stage, taking in ganglands and society haunts, the suburbs and the centres of power. West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd and Oliver! are only a few of the familiar shows that have put London and New York centre stage. So what do metropolitan musicals reveal about the real cities and the people who live in them?

John Snelson has been fascinated by musicals all his life and is a leading expert in British musical theatre (the subject of his PhD). He is especially known for exploring musicals – British and American – in the light of not just the music and the stage, but society and culture to reveal what makes them so appealing, enduring and important. He is well known as a writer and speaker on all aspects of the lyric stage – musicals, opera, ballet – and has written many programme articles for leading companies in the UK and abroad.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Describing herself by writing, "I am a museum", Peggy Guggenheim's life took a clear path, from setting up a commercial gallery in London, going on a single-minded shopping trip to Paris in the late 1930's even as the German tanks were rolling in to the suburbs, to escape (with her selection of European artists) to New York and the subsequent establishment of her museum (and Arts centre), and finally the purchase of the eccentric 'unfinished palazzo' in Venice; her collection remains one of the most iconic assemblages of Twentieth century art in the world.

Charlie Hall is a passionate arts educator, lecturer, and guide, based in London and Italy. Director of the highly regarded John Hall Venice Course, (est. 1965) Tour lecturer and leader for Kirker Holidays since 2013, and of independent tours in Italy. Designer and host of a series of art talks and events for the Soho House group of private member’s clubs. Designed and led courses for Christie’s Education and The Serpentine Gallery ‘Collector’s Circle’.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

For a great many members of The Arts Society, the cartoonist Carl Giles was as much a part of the festive season as the Christmas tree, crackers and the Queen's Speech. So popular were the Giles annuals as Christmas presents that they helped to make him Britain's best loved, most successful and wealthiest cartoonist. The talk looks at Giles's life and work with a particular emphasis on his seasonal cartoons, particularly those featuring Grandma and the Giles family. They include some of his funniest cartoons but, as the art historian William Feaver pointed out, they also demonstrate that he had few equals when it came to representing Britain in winter.

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published books, articles and exhibition catalogue essays on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. He works as a consultant and associate lecturer for the Open University. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and abc Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate. 

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on tasmmembers@gmail.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Britain has over 60,000 war memorials, each with its own sad and emotional story to tell. They also represent our largest collection of public art - more than 1,300 are listed.

We will explore the story of our war memorials, including such masterpieces as Sir Edwin Lutyens' Cenotaph and monumental Thiepval Gate and CS Jaggers' Royal Artillery memorial at Hyde Park Corner.

Especially memorable is the work of the Commonwealth (Imperial) War Graves Commission and the new National Arboretum in Staffordshire. We will look too at the Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh.

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

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Venice was the port for Europe through which all the glamorous and luxurious products of India, the Middle East and the Far East passed, and she certainly made sure that the best pieces remained in Venice. Indian jewellery, silks and porcelains were given a starring role in the paintings produced by any Venetian artist from the 15th or 16th century -  Bellini and Cima through to the trio of great Venetian artists, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. But of all of these, it is Veronese who delighted most in depicting the textures and colour effects of luxury goods. This lecture explores how he deployed his luxury props, and what it was in his style of painting that makes them such a feast for the eye.

Chantal has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, she has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture starts at 10.30

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as The Greek, became one of Spain’s most successful Mannerist painters. Born on Crete and starting out as an icon painter, he went to Italy and then to Spain where he remained, staunchly Greek and a foreigner, until he died in Toledo aged 73 in 1614. Despite professional success in his lifetime, he was a poor manager: constantly in debt and a regular participant in law suits. Some have criticised his work, wondering if he was actually insane or even if he had an eye disorder.

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham. She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land. She wrote Stone on Stone: the Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published in 2019. She is a Freeman of the City of London as a Member of the Company of Communicators.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture starts at 10.30

The beautiful city of Paris is a treasure house for the art lover. Not only is it the birthplace of modern art, it is also home to some of the world’s most significant examples of medieval and Renaissance art. In this lecture we will look at some of the most celebrated works of art to be found in the city museums and get to know some of the less well-known museums and monuments.

Val Woodgate is currently a Lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A, City of London libraries (Barbican and Guildhall) and other organisations. She was formerly a Tate Guide for 39 years; a member of Teaching Team at Dulwich Picture Gallery,  evening courses for DPG; lectures and courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; on P&O cruises representing the Tate; lectures at University of Cape Town; script-writer for The Living Paintings Trust.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

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.

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography.

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

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

Since the ground-breaking Michigan-Princeton-Alexandria Expedition trip in 1956, the masterpieces from this remote fortress-monastery now occupy a seminal position within the history of art. This lecture identifies and examines the key works and explains why they are important. It also gives a chance to see some of the hidden sacred places on Mt Sinai itself.

Helen combines her many years’ experience as an educator and professional artist to explain Late Medieval Italian Art and Eastern Orthodox iconography from a different perspective. Her interdisciplinary lectures weave together art historical scholarship, technical expertise and devotional context to provide a unique narrative for understanding 13th -14th century Italian panel painting.  Helen has received numerous commissions from cathedrals, churches and private patrons and has been described as one of the UK's leading iconographers. She is a MA graduate of the Courtauld Institute  and holds a first-class BA Hons, Fine Art Diploma and Adult Education Teaching qualification. She has worked in the museum sector at London’s leading Russian Art Auction House, MacDougall Arts, and at Christie's.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist Janet Brown. Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives. It is 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.

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers. He produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he is commissioned to do. They are just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they are out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

You are welcome to attend a lecture as a guest, for a fee of £10 per lecture, but  it would be helpful if you would contact the membership secretary, Richard Brace, by emailing him in advance on richard.brace@icloud.com

Lecture begins at 10.30

The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world. We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts, discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be.

Pepe Martinez qualified as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, graduating at the top of the class. Since qualifying as a guide he has specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue badge, he was a tour manager for 15 years, travelling extensively all over the world.  

Lecture begins at 10.30

Donatello is one of the artistic giants of the Renaissance and has been called the greatest sculptor of all time. Outstandingly original and inventive, working in a range of media, he pioneered the new style that emerged in Florence around 1400, transforming the visual language (and the visual landscape) of his native city through a range of sculptures both public and private, including for the Medici. This lecture surveys his career, highlighting Donatello’s versatility and innovation in works made for patrons in Florence, Siena and Padua. 

Paula Nuttall is the Director of V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year Course. She is a specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely, notably From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500 (Yale, 2004).  She has collaborated on major exhibitions including Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution (Ghent, 2020). She was formerly lecturer at the Courtauld Institute and the British Institute of Florence.

This is our first lecture at The Welcome Church at the town end of Goldsworth Road.

Lecture begins at 10.30

When Richard Curtis interweaved ten stories with equal doses of comedy and tragedy in Love Actually, he created one of our best-loved Christmas movies. But could it be that the stories are not entirely what they seem? In this entirely original and definitely unauthorised lecture, Mary presents her insights into how Shakespeare’s four great tragedies (and other classical masterpieces) lurk just under the surface.

Mary Sharp is an experienced broadcaster and teacher with particular expertise in literature and drama. She worked for many years for BBC Radio 4. Mary has subsequently worked as a teacher and Director of Sixth Form at a leading girls’ grammar school. She now runs her own company 'Opening Up Literature' which offers literature courses for adults. Her most popular course is 'Telling Tales' which explores how writers and artists have reinvented classical stories.  

This is our last lecture at St Andrew's Church, Goldsworth Park.

Lecture begins at 10.30

Napoleon’s Empress, Joséphine de Beauharnais, was a passionate gardener, book collector, patron and art collector. Her reputation in France and abroad for generosity, charm and gentleness of manner was of enormous value to Napoleon as a feminine counterpart to the otherwise military and legalistic tenor of his regime. This talk will explain the range of her cultural activities. Indeed, among female royal collectors her only superior is the incomparable Catherine the Great.

Educated at New College, Oxford, and formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where he had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings, Stephen Duffy has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups and many lectures on its art and other related subjects.  

Lecture begins at 10.30

Ethiopia is a mysterious and beautiful country steeped in history and legend. Its people live a life that is truly biblical and timeless. Their ancient history is populated with evocative names – the Queen of Sheba once ruled over large stretches of the north of the country. The Axumite kingdom introduced Christianity in the fourth century AD and has left a living legacy in the myriad colourful frescoed rock-hewn churches. Louise has been working in Ethiopia since 2006, living for much of the year in a small tent in a village in the north-eastern province of Tigray. This lecture looks at the art, archaeology, legends and landscapes of Ethiopia.

Louise Schofield is an archaeologist.  She now writes, lectures and runs international archaeological projects - previously in south-eastern Turkey, Greece and Albania and currently in Ethiopia. And she has just been appointed Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the American University of Rome.

Lecture begins at 10.30

How did church architecture develop in the way it did – particularly pointed arches? In this richly illustrated lecture, John looks at the development of Gothic styles across Europe. From its earliest origins in France he traces its progress all across Europe, with a special focus on the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles in Britain. He brings an engineering viewpoint to the discussion of why 'pointed arches' seem to have become so symbolic of church architecture in the west.

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

At our new venue - St Andrew's Church, Goldsworth Park Centre, GU21 3LG.

Lecture begins at 10.30.

What happened to Art Nouveau?  Partly through British influence it metamorphosed 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.

Ian Gledhill has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator. His main interests include architecture, history, transport and classical music, especially opera and operetta. 

At our new venue - St Andrew's Church, Goldsworth Park Centre, GU21 3LG.

Lecture begins at 10.30.

As London’s population doubled in its early decades, so did the numbers dying. Where to bury them? The deep attachment to burial in parish churchyards waned as layers of coffins raised ground levels high above the street while backlogs of the unburied became a rat’s delight. Churches acquired extra land for cemeteries. They were – and still are - places of landscaped beauty. The lecture ends with the legacy - the railway stations taking corteges to funerals in rural settings, an underappreciated Jewish burial ground, the municipal cemeteries and pocket parks of today.

As a London walking tour guide and lecturer, Charlie Forman highlights the social, architectural and artistic history of his home city. His talks focus on the forces that have shaped and changed this multi-faceted metropolis and the artistic and cultural heritage that this has given us. Charlie had a four-decade long career in housing and regeneration.

At our new venue - St Andrew's Church, Goldsworth Park Centre, GU21 3LG.

Lecture begins at 10.30.

From the beginnings of the Renaissance in 13th century Italy to the birth of Abstraction in the 20th century, this lecture charts the main developments of Western European painting. Focusing on a selection of acclaimed masterpieces, this dynamic lecture charts both the stylistic and the thematic development of European painting alongside the historical contexts in which they were created.

Aliki Braine studied at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford, The Slade School of Fine Art, London and The Courtauld Institute.  After working for the National Gallery for 20 years, she now teaches for Christie’s Education and the Wallace Collection, and is an Associate Lecturer for the Camberwell College of Art. Aliki is also a practising artist who regularly exhibits her photographic work internationally.

The last lecture at The Nova Cinema.

The Sainte Chapelle is a gem of beauty and technical innovation in the heart of Paris, possibly the most perfect surviving medieval ensemble. It was designed not only to celebrate France and its kings, but as a life-size reliquary, a worthy shrine for some of the most significant and talismanic of Christian remains, including the Crown of Thorns. This lecture looks at the architecture, the sculpture but, above all, the exquisite stained glass.

Nicole Mezey studied Art History at the Universities of Sussex, York and Paris. She is a freelance lecturer, working for organisations including the National Museums, universities, the National Trust and private companies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Higher Education Academy and her publications focus on adult education and the arts.

At The Nova Cinema.

This lecture will reveal the diverse richness of the decorative arts of Byzantium, tracing the fascinating story of the Byzantine Empire, which flourished for over a thousand years, through the art of the period. Mosaics, ivory carvings, enamels, holy relics, silverware and icons are just some of the ‘wonderful things' to be examined and discussed. We will encounter all manner of characters from emperors, empresses, Roman matrons, virgins and whores through a variety of art works from fourth-century buried treasure to tenth-century ‘porn’.

Dr Helen Rufus-Ward is an art historian with a BA, Masters and doctorate from the University of Sussex. She holds a Higher Education Academy teaching qualification, is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies and the Society of Jewellery Historians, and is the Chairman of Eastbourne Arts Circle which has raised significant sums of money for the Towner Art Gallery Eastbourne.

Edward Hopper's paintings of urban life are typically characterized by a sense of loneliness and alienation. The most celebrated example is Nighthawks, a work of 1942, which depicts three men and a woman gathered in a brightly illuminated restaurant in downtown New York. This lecture considers the background to Hopper's masterpiece and offers possible reasons for its lasting fascination. 

Kathy McLauchlan is a lecturer specialising in 19th-century art history. She is currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, organising courses and study days on the history of art and design. Kathy also teaches at several institutions. She is a graduate of Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute.

A light-hearted but serious look at the business of museums and collecting and how easy it is to lose one’s way without introspection, vision and money. Whose stuff is it anyway? And what of the future? How to make people look at objects rather than striding past without stopping? What actually happens to visitors in museums and art galleries? Why, for example, are there so seldom seats?

Irving Finkel 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. Irving is the author of several academic articles and books on ancient Babylon. He also studies the history of board games. Irving founded the Great Diary Project, a project to preserve the diaries of ordinary people.

Take a gourmet's journey through the origins of festive fayre and the traditions we have adopted and adapted from Georgian and Victorian times. From the turkey stagecoach to the drinking of Port with Stilton cheese and the custom of wiping one's mouth on the tablecloth (!) - all revealed in the fascinating portrayal of our Christmas customs.

Currently Special Events Organiser, Theatre Royal Bath Jane Tapley interviews visiting actors, writers, directors.   She lectures regularly to theatre going societies, NT and history and fine arts groups. She is also a West Country Tourist Board Registered Blue Badge Guide and Lecturer. Jane is an author and researcher of theatre programme notes, a theatrical landlady and a Home Economist. She is a Consultant on food in the 18th and 19th centuries to various TV productions of Jane Austen and she hosts and cooks period meals in her Regency house in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and other literary groups.

The younger son of the famous Pieter Bruegel, Jan did not inherit the right to copy his father’s pictures as his elder brother Pieter the Younger did. Instead he had to invent a different realm of subject matter for himself, and he turned what was doubtless his short-sightedness to use, painting pictures of exquisite detail and entrancing miniature scale. His landscapes are microcosms of the known flora and fauna of his day, and we can feel his delight in discovering new species of tulip, say, or of parrot. The beautiful scenes he painted are analysed in this lecture, but above all, they are presented for the sheer enjoyment of the audience.

Chantal Brotherton- Ratcliffe has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies in London, Italy and America. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making of the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis 1 meet to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and celebrate the betrothal of Henry’s daughter Mary to the Dauphin. Both have imperial ambitions and are eager to display themselves as magnificent noblemen and warrior kings. Each brings an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of various events and entertainments. The logistics of transporting, accommodating, ordering, feeding and watering, protecting and entertaining the English contingent for this spectacular event is staggering.  How was it all achieved?

Originally a trained singer, pianist and orchestra administrator, Jo is now a decorative artist, having trained in wood graining, marbling, gilding, specialist paint finishes and interior design. She taught in further education for 8 years then developed her own practice. She now divides her time as a designer/maker, lecturer and tutor running workshops for specialist groups.

This is the story of a most remarkable man, with enormous talent. He was an intellectual, a fine musician, a great collector of art and the finest soldier in history admired by such other great martial figures as Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. He had the most unhappy childhood imaginable, and though damaged by this he was loved by everyone who came into contact with him and his soldiers would have followed him to the ends of the earth.

Caroline has lectured for many years to universities and art organisations in America and on cruise boats. She was an official guide at the British Museum and has published articles on samplers. Her lectures range from the role of the royal mistress in history to more scholarly lectures on Frederick the Great of Prussia.

The art of self-portraiture has created some of the most moving and memorable images in history. This lecture reveals how self-portraits have shifted over time, how and why artists from Michelangelo and Durer to Rembrandt and Joshua Reynolds relentlessly made images of themselves. The lecture comes right up to date, looking, for example, at the work of Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Gavin Turk, Marc Quinn and Ana Mendieta, to explore what it means to make self-portraits today, in our image-saturated age of smartphones and selfies.

Jacky Klein is an art historian, publisher, writer and broadcaster, specialising in modern and contemporary art. After studying at Oxford University she worked as a curator at a number of leading galleries. In 2008, she moved sideways into the world of art publishing.  Jacky has presented and contributed to a range of television programmes. An experienced lecturer in museums, galleries and at literary festivals, she has taught at a number of arts institutions. 

This lecture serves as an introduction to the teapot collection at Norwich Castle Museum, the largest specialist collection of British ceramic teapots in the world.  It looks at the changing role of tea from its introduction in the 17th century as a fashionable and expensive drink of great exoticism, through to its eventual position at the centre of the British psyche as the ‘national drink’. This lecture also examines the development of the teapot, so combining both art and social history to trace the unique position teapots and tea drinking occupy in British culture.

Christopher is an Independent Researcher. Until 2019 he was Director of the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art. He has been Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum. He has catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residences.

Image © Christopher Garibaldi 2021

The British Museum is well known for treasures of Egyptian and Greek antiquity. However, this world-class museum also holds the treasures that tell the story of the British Isles. This lecture will explore the archaeology and antiquities of the British Isles from the Palaeolithic to the early Medieval period, from Stone Age hand axes to the Bronze and Iron Ages, the impact of the Romans and onto the Sutton Hoo Treasure, the artefacts of the Viking Age and finally through to the Middle Ages.

Aaron is a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge. As a palaeontologist, he is an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. He has a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and the history of art. He gives lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.

Despite the enormous political challenges that Vienna faced between 1780 and 1830, including major wars against Napoleon, the city thrived culturally. In fact, it could be argued that Vienna never had a finer moment in terms of its artistic achievements. It was a period of outstanding writers, poets, architects and painters, but above all it was a period of great composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert who made Vienna the musical capital of the world. The lecture explores the history and the arts of Vienna in the late Classical and early Romantic eras.

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

Why is Leonardo’s famous cartoon in the National Gallery no joke? What is the purpose of a ‘spolvero’?  How much lead is there in a pencil? Which tree produces gall nut ink? And can you spot bracelet shading, cross-hatching, stippling or stumping? 
Drawing plays a key role in an artist’s training. The techniques are quick and immediate. But it can also be planning a composition, presenting an idea for a large project to a client, or purely a finished product in its own right. In this beautifully illustrated lecture we will discover the drawing techniques of the Great Masters.

Now working as a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, Lynne originally trained as a fine artist and has taught painting, drawing and printmaking in higher and adult education. She gives lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations including the National Trust and the National Gallery. She has worked as a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching.

The UK provides some of the biggest ceremonial events in the world and arguably the best in the world but why is that? How do the military prepare for major events such as the State Opening of Parliament, State Visits, National Day of Remembrance, Royal Weddings or even a State Funeral?

Dr Graham Jones started his professional life as a musician in the British Army. He retired in 2012 as the Senior Director of Music, Household Division, and Director of Music, Coldstream Guards. He has recorded over 40 albums, been responsible for commissioning over 30 new works for wind band and pioneered a music education programme for military musicians. Graham was made an MBE for outstanding service to military music in 1993. Graham is enjoying a second career as a guest conductor, adjudicator, lecturer, recording consultant and educator.

As the Latin phrase (Condemnation of Memory) indicates, statue toppling has an ancient lineage stretching back to antiquity. As the Black Lives Matter movement spread virally across the world recently, we have witnessed numerous examples of the toppling or desecration of statues of controversial public figures. This talk offers an overview and analysis of the numerous occasions in history when statues have been toppled by an angry mob.

Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer and art consultant. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex. His interests include contemporary art, sculpture history, museology and the history of museums, art crime, issues in cultural heritage and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets.  

The figure of Mary’s husband Joseph is familiar from Christmas cards, carols, cribs and nativity plays, yet in the Bible he never speaks a word. It took many centuries for the quiet carpenter to emerge from humble obscurity and for artists to make his image visible. This lecture explores the many legends and faces of Joseph through the ages, from wizened old man to powerful guardian. Come and discover the hidden depths in that simple bearded figure on your Christmas cards; but please remember that although this lecture may be particularly appropriate for December meetings, Joseph is for life, not just for Christmas.

Amina Wright is a curator of historic art collections and exhibitions. She has produced several major exhibitions on eighteenth-century British Art and Old Masters and published and lectured widely in these areas. At the Holburne Museum in Bath she was a key member of the team that delivered the museum’s highly successful redevelopment, and has also worked as a collections and interiors curator for English Heritage and for the National Trust, among others. Amina has recently been awarded an MA in Christianity & the Arts at King's College London and is now Senior Curator for the Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

There's more to the world of street art than Banksy. Hidden Canvases is a beginner's guide to the biggest art movement since Pop Art. From train writing in New York to interactive technology that brings murals to life, the concept of un-commissioned public art is a very different beast to that which it once was. Hidden Canvases explores the key stages in street art's growth, examining the different elements and styles that comprise the scene with no rules.  From the international superstars to the local underground heroes you are guaranteed to leave knowing your Invader from you Aryz and who knows you might even start looking at the world a little differently.

Doug Gillen is heavily involved in documenting the street art scene in London and abroad through his project Fifth Wall TV. Doug can offer a genuine insight into this world. He previously lectured for London Art and More, and when not filming he is an East End tour guide for Alternative London, specialising in culture and art.

In 1703, Piotr Alexeyevich Romanov, Tsar of Russia, directed the laying of the first stone for a fortress on an island on the river Neva. This remote site on the shores of the Baltic expanded to both banks of the river and within ten years he had a new capital city, St Petersburg. For the rest of his life ‘Peter the Great’ oversaw the design of the city, commissioning many of the buildings from French and Italian architects, along street layouts and canals he had seen in England and Holland. The city grew under his successors, including Catherine the Great. In his talk, Justin relates the history of the city hewn out of the frozen marshes of northern Russia, describing the palaces, museums and other public buildings, and introducing some of the world-class art and interiors they hold.    

After officer service in the Royal Navy, Justin Reay entered a long career in business. On retirement in 2001, he studied the History of Art and Architecture at Oxford and has a doctorate in naval history. Justin has been a Senior Lecturer and is a qualified teacher. In 2011 he was appointed as tutor in the History of Art and Classical Civilisation at Oxford Tutorial College. He is a published historian, at present researching maritime art in the National Trust collections. He is frequently engaged as a speaker on art history for cruise lines. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society.

When Augustus John died in 1961 he was described in The New York Times as ‘the grand old man of British painting and one of the greatest in British history.’ He was only in his mid-twenties when, in the early 1900s, he was widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and promising young British artists – a Welsh rival, perhaps, to Gauguin or Picasso. This lecture explores John’s extraordinary life, including his early achievements, his position as one of the most exciting and outrageous young British artists before the Great War, his slow decline after it, and his troubled status as ‘the last Bohemian’.

David Haycock read Modern History at the University of Oxford and has an MA in the History of Art and a PhD in British History. He is the author of a number of books, including Paul Nash (2002), A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War (2009) and Augustus John: Drawn from Life (2018); he has lectured widely at galleries and museums in the UK, including Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Watercolour Society and Pallant House. He was formerly a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, and at UCLA, and was Curator of Maritime and Imperial History at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is now a freelance writer and lecturer.

British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960s. Young, talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Lewis Morley, Tony Ray­Jones and Jane Bown.

Brian Stater is a Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London, where he has lectured since 1997. His principal academic interest lies in the appreciation of architecture, while a strong personal enthusiasm is for photography. He therefore explores both business and pleasure by offering lectures on each of these subjects.

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

How the rise of Hollywood had such an important impact on fashion and jewellery design.

In this talk, Andrew shows how the rise of Hollywood had such an important impact on fashion and jewellery design. From the likes of Dietrich to Grace Kelly, he guides us through the various screen goddesses, how they were portrayed and what they wore to such dazzling effect. He discusses and shows the development of advertising, labour saving devices and leisure time. People had more opportunities to enjoy themselves and spend money on the finer things of life. As well as how political events influenced design and what was worn. He also shows that the Belle Époque and Art Deco styles did not end with the outbreak of WW2 but combined to flower again with Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’. 

Andrew Prince is a respected jewellery craftsman, historian and lecturer. He has had a passion for jewellery all his life; perhaps traced back to when he swallowed his mother’s pearl earring aged 3! He has made pieces for Versace, Harrods, celebrities, films and TV productions. He now enjoys lecturing all over the world for museums, auction houses, art colleges and The Arts Society. 

Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31 2016 at the 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.

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

An American artist in London, James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a leading proponent of the idea of "art for art's sake". He signed his paintings with a stylized monogram of a butterfly with a long stinger for a tail – as much a symbol of his love of Japanese art as his assertive and sometimes combative nature. Having lived and worked with the Paris avant-garde, he settled in London in 1859. He created a distinctive Post-Impressionist style at a time when many of his British contemporaries had yet to come to terms with Impressionism. Whistler’s art moved painting towards abstraction, sparked a renaissance in printmaking and gave us the Peacock Room, a masterpiece of interior design.

Inspired, influential, and infuriating, his art was full of subtle delicacy. He had a wide social network of friends and family and yet, if crossed, could be a formidable opponent. He mastered the art of making enemies.

Julia Musgrave got her first degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to become a Chartered Information Systems Engineer and IT project manager. In 2008 she decided that life was too short for just one career and decided to become an art historian. She now has a Graduate Diploma in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MLitt from the University of Glasgow. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. at the University of York.  She is a lecturer in Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit).

Gertrude Jekyll wrote ‘remember that in a garden we are painting a picture’ 

In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll’s short but seminal article written in ‘The Garden’ 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 Pollock, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

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

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a man out of step with his time. Scorning the traditional idealised interpretation of religious subjects, he took his models from the streets, painting them realistically and heightening the emotional intensity by his dramatic contrasts of light and shade. Such a revolutionary style was condemned by many as was his equally dramatic personal life and uncontrollable temper which involved him in endless brawls and even murder. This lecture will study the life and works of this enigmatic man and of his influence on later artists.

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

How the work of this controversial artist is woven into the fabric of our lives. 

The work of the controversial artist Eric Gill is woven into the fabric of our lives – in the typefaces on our computers, in the lettering on our rail network, in the images on our Christmas cards and in the sculpture on public buildings such as the BBC. This illustrated lecture by his great-niece Caroline Walker explores how Gill’s family background, friendships and passions influenced his work and attempts to explain how this poor clergyman’s son came to be regarded as one of the greatest artist-craftsmen of the 20th century. 

Caroline Walker grew up surrounded by the work of her grandfather's revered brother Eric Gill, an endlessly fascinating if infamous character, although her research in the last decade has focused on his sibling, the renowned pictorial mapmaker MacDonald Gill, who worked on numerous early inscriptional commissions with his brother. She has co-curated a series of exhibitions including the recent Max Gill: Wonderground Manat Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, written articles for publications such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Country Life and TAS journal, and her biography of MacDonald Gill is due to be published in 2020. She has lectured at societies and institutions around the country including the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, the National Trust and U3A, and since 2016 she has been an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society.  

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.

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Gavin lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks have been given at 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. 

This is the Christmas story told through beautiful and well-loved Renaissance images 

This lecture tells the Christmas story through a selection of well-loved paintings and illuminated manuscripts by Italian and Flemish artists, including Botticelli, Fra Angelico and Jan van Eyck, together with many less well-known images. From the Annunciation to the Nativity, the Journey of the Kings and the Flight into Egypt, it explores the rich symbolism of Christmas imagery, highlights the ways in which spiritual ideas and devotional practice shaped the depiction of the narrative, and introduces some less familiar aspects of the story, such as the Midwives and Joseph’s stockings. 

Paula Nuttall is a director of the V&A Medieval & Renaissance Year course. She is the author of From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500 (Yale, 2004). She also lectures for the Courtauld Institute, Christie's Education, the Art Fund and the National Gallery. She was formerly a lecturer at the British Institute of Florence. 

The story of the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsular and its lasting legacy

This lecture tells the story of the Moorish invasion and the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, through an introduction to the surviving architecture and other areas of the material culture, such as silk textiles, carved ivory caskets, bronze sculptures and defined ceramics. The invasion in 711AD by the Umayyad Caliphate quickly overthrew the Christian Visigothic kingdom and began the nearly 800-year occupation that ended only in 1492AD, when the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, completed the reconquest of the Kingdom of Granada – the same year that those two visionary monarchs also sent Christopher Columbus off to discover the New World. During the intervening centuries, the mixture of Islamic, Christian and Jewish influences produced a unique hybrid culture.

Ian Cockburn is an Art historian with a BA (Birkbeck College) in art history and an MA (Courtauld Institute of Art) in medieval Spanish art history. He is a Specialist in the nearly 800 years of Moorish occupation and Christian reconquest of medieval Iberia. He has been lecturing in Spain to customers of his travel business since 1984. This year he has also given a presentation on Islamic textiles from Al-Andalus to an expert audience of academics at Madrid University, plus two lectures at both the V&A and the London Art History Society, on textiles and ivories from Al-Andalus.  

Western Art from ‘Down Under’ is Often Overlooked and Neglected. 

However, there is a large number of talented and inventive painters who rose to prominence in the post-World War II era. Painters like Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd from the ‘Heide School’ working in a naïve and expressive style, John Brack’s figurative paintings giving a social critic of Australian post-war culture, John Olsen’s celebratory abstract expressions of the landscape, Brett Whiteley’s personal vision of his life in Sydney, Fred Williams' landscapes and Jeffery Smart’s surreal depictions of urban life are all essential in our understanding and appreciation of the modern art of Australia and its place in the history of Western Art. 

Paul Chapman is an Art Historian and a National Gallery trained guide with many years of experience working in education. As a freelance, Paul delivers courses and lectures for a wide range of educational organisations. Paul has also given talks and tours for art associations/societies in Museums and Galleries in the UK and Europe. As a writer, Paul has published a book, which examines the subject of cultural crossovers and appropriations in 20th century painting. Paul has a long-standing commitment, in conjunction with the National Gallery as a tour guide at the Longford Castle art collection and is also a visiting tutor at Marlborough College and a tutor at MCSS. 

These treasures rival those of Tutankhamen 

In the Ancient Egyptian city of Tanis in the Nile Delta, an entire complex of royal tombs was discovered during the 1939-1940 excavation season by the French Egyptologist Pierre Montet – three were still intact! The treasures uncovered there are one of the greatest, and most beautiful, archaeological discoveries of all time, rivalling even those of Tutankhamen. But because of its discovery during World War II, and published only in French, it went unnoticed.  This lecture covers the exciting discovery of the tombs of the pharaohs Psussenes 1, Sheshonq 11, and Amenope with explanations and images of the gold and silver treasures, fine jewellery and artifacts which are now housed in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum. 

An Egyptologist, author and lecturer, Eileen Goulding specialises in the pharaohs and people of Ancient Egypt, their history, language, art, religion and funerary practices and has a keen interest in the Myths & Legends of the Ancient World. She is a guest speaker on cruise ships and lectures to Egyptology Societies throughout the UK. Her first book ‘What Did the Poor Take with Them?’ published in 2013, is an academic treatise on Ancient Egyptian grave goods, while her second book ‘Understanding Ancient Egypt’ published in 2014, is a more accessible introduction to the subject. 

An additional lecture delivered to your home via ZOOM at 10.30am.

From the Edwardian era to the start of WW2 picture postcards would provide entertainment, boost morale, instruct, motivate and persuade. This lecture looks at popular themes and such masters of the medium as Mabel Lucy Attwell, Donald McGill and Fred Spurgin, and considers why their popularity with the British public eventually waned.

James Taylor is a former curator of paintings, drawings and prints and co-ordinator of various exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. His many publications include histories of marine painting, the voyages of Charles Darwin and, in 2013, the Secret History of the Propaganda Poster. He has visited Mayford in person three times in recent years.

Discover the enormous symbolism in everyday objects 

When it comes to Dutch flower painting the only real expert in the field (often literally) is the insect that lives off the stems and petals. As Harry Berger puts it ‘the caterpillar is a connoisseur’. From meat stalls to mince pies and bubbles to bread rolls, this lecture will help you discover the enormous symbolism that is conveyed by simple everyday objects that have been rendered with breathtaking accuracy and convey really satisfying moral meaning. 

Examining works by Aertsen, Claesz, Steenwyck de Heem, van Aelst and Mignon we shall explore the corruption of abundance, the mutability and ephemerality of life and the inevitability of death.
Dan Evans is an educationalist with a passion for all things Italian. He is a Housemaster at Cheltenham College, a full boarding and co-educational independent school established in 1841 and was formerly Head of History of Art at Wycombe Abbey School. He has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer, tutor and tour guide for Art History Abroad. He was voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards in 2008 and alongside his lectures and special interest days he also leads educational study trips for groups of friends to a range of destinations in Italy. 

‘The Rite of Spring’ ballet and its explosive 1913 premier in Paris. 

The story of one of the greatest creative collaborations of all: Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe, whose team of dancers, choreographers and costume and set designers transformed expectations of what a night in the theatre could be and the circumstances behind its most notorious stage work of all. Sandy examines the build-up to the Rite of Spring’s premiere in Paris, takes a look at the original costumes, plays excerpts from this fascinatingly inventive score and explores what divided opinions of that firstnight audience quite so dramatically.  No, nothing could top the riot at the Rite in 1913… 

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

Wine, an essential ingredient for contented life, a role it has played for thousands of years! 

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 throughout 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. 

David Wright has been a wine retailer, importer and distributor of wines for 30 years. In that time, he has 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. He has 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. 

Experience the story of gold and its significance and symbolism - all that glitters is certainly gold…

Experience the story of gold and its significance and symbolism within the history of art - as the colour of the sun; the colour of divinity; the colour of status and the colour of love. From creations ancient and contemporary, sacred and profane - all that glitters is certainly gold… 

Alexandra Epps is an Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, The Guildhall Art Gallery and Pallant House Gallery. She is a Lecturer and qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the Arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Alexandra is also a member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and co-author of the book Lord Mayors’ Portraits 1983-2014(2015). Alexandra’s background, BA Saint Martin’s School of Art, MA London College of Printing, is in design, having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years.  

This lecture explores the relationship between food and art. With a practice heavily influenced by history, Tasha has diverse culinary interests ranging from 16th century cabinets of curiosity to 1930s medicinal cookery: “The foundations of my ideas come from history but I always try to mix them with a contemporary twist. Confectionery is one of my great passions as it is truly timeless: nostalgia and novelty are powerful tools when used in an artistic context.” Vanity Fair calls AVM Curiosities ‘London at its crazy-best’, while London store Sick-Note describe Tasha’s work as ‘the love child of Leonardo da Vinci, Willy Wonka and Ferran Adria.’ Previous patrons have included the Royal Academy of Arts, Victoria & Albert Museum, The National Gallery and The British Museum - each of these projects eventuating in a unique and sensory art experience.

Tasha Marks is an award-winning food historian and artist who explores the relationship between food, art and history. Her practice, AVM Curiosities, champions the use of food as an artistic medium. 

The origins of our English Christmas go far back into European history, combining the pagan traditions of the Roman and Scandinavian winter festivals. Only in the 4th century did the Christian Church start to celebrate the birth of Christ. Since then these different cultures have co-existed, evolving as the social and political landscape changed. Music, art and folk customs associated with the season have all evolved to create one festival. This lecture explores in words, images and music the various strands, pagan and religious, that have created the Christmas we know today.

Roger Askew was a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English.  He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. He is Chairman of The Arts Society Windsor.

From the wax seal to the microchip, man has exploited the skill of both the artist and the artisan in an attempt to manufacture a forgery-proof document. Taking you through three centuries of passport design, this lecture explains the overt and uncovers the covert to illustrate the defences that are built in. You will never look at your passport in the same way again.

Martin Lloyd has been lecturing to various groups, including U3A, National Trust, historical societies, Gresham College and business groups since 2008. He previously worked for HM Immigration Service and has broadcast on local and national television and radio.

Lights, Cameras, Action! The inside stories of the art and artifice of the early decades of Hollywood. This lecture covers the work of stills photographers, costumiers, publicists, actors and actresses and the movie moguls who made it happen.

Geri Parlby is a former Fleet Street journalist and film publicist. She has an honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Fine Art and a Theology doctorate. She lectures both in the UK and internationally, is principal lecturer on the The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death this lecture will explore his interest in the anatomy of life and in particular the human body. This lecture aims to provide an understanding of this aspect of his life through the historical and social context. Hopefully, it will provide an insight into how his dissections of corpses and resulting, sometimes controversial, drawings have influenced modern day surgery and medicine.

Leslie Primo holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. He was a Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading and gives lectures and guided tours, plus special talks, at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. 

The Nazis looted over 20% of western art during WW2 and the effects are still evident today. This lecture will cover: setting the scene in Germany, the Führermuseum, Nazi art repositories, Post War restitution and the Monuments Men, contemporary restitution issues and international recovery efforts. The landmark cases will include Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer and the art works found in Cornelius Gurlitt’s flat.

Shauna Isaac studied at the Courtauld Institute and Birkbeck College, London and regularly lectures at the Sotheby's Institute of Art. She is currently managing an art recovery company and served on the Looted Art Working Group for the Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague, where she was instrumental in drafting the Terezin Declaration on Nazi looting. 

Whilst having a chair with a hinged seat under which a chamber pot resides was at the time most ‘commodus’, the commode this lecture refers to served a different and primarily decorative purpose. As Sheraton put it, commodes were ”….never intended for use but for ornament…” – not an attribute of that other item of the same name! This lecture traces the origin, purpose and social significance of what were highly fashionable and often beautifully decorated pieces of furniture in the 18th century drawing room of both town and country houses, and provides an insight into the fashions and life-styles of the time.

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

Four hundred years after her death, Bess of Hardwick remains a powerful personality and the great houses she built at Hardwick still survive – one an impressive ruin, the other, perhaps, the greatest Elizabethan house in England. Her descendants still live at Chatsworth, the estate that she and her second husband William Cavendish purchased. This lecture combines architectural and family history to tell the story of these great houses and an extraordinary family.

Roger Mitchell studied History at Oxford and Fine Art at Leeds. He was a former College Vice-Principal who now lectures for the University of Liverpool and for Adult Residential Colleges. He organises and leads country house study tours and tries to find time to do research on British and American Country Houses.

Following the trauma of the English Civil War came the Restoration, a period of loucheness and scandal. With the return of the king and the arrival of the first English actresses, the lecture looks at how the theatre of the day reflected society in this most saucy of eras.

Giles Ramsay is an independent theatre director and producer who specialises in creating new works with artists in developing countries. He is the founding director of the charity “Developing Artists”, a fellow of St Chad’s College, Durham University and a Course leader in Theatre at the V & A. 

Porcelain, jade, jewels, architecture, gardens and a few surprises are featured in this lecture, which encompasses the wonders and exoticism of the East, which enthralled the West for over two centuries.

The Meridian line of the Forbidden City, the pure white marble path, double hip roofs, and the importance of the number 9 are all discussed together with court ritual. Also considered is the importance of the beautiful artifacts that surrounded the emperors and some of the gifts that were given by the ‘Barbarian’ Westerners in exchange for trade agreements.

Peter Le Rossignol has degrees in Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors and Fine Art Valuation; he also holds a DPhil in Art History. He has forty years’ lecturing experience and has given talks on local radio and held antique road shows for various organisations. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

The beauty of Kenneth Grahame’s prose is widely acknowledged and the story is full of wonderful imagery of the characters Ratty, Mole and Mr. Toad. More than ninety artists have illustrated the book since its publication, making it the most widely illustrated book in the English language. In this presentation we will revisit the story as depicted by such well-known illustrators as EH Shepard, Arthur Rackham, Val Biro and Inga Moor. Where appropriate the lecture will compare and contrast the same scene through the eyes of the different artists. It will also explore how the story came to be written for his son Alastair and Grahame’s interesting but tragic life.

John Ericson was formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world. 

Where better to spend yuletide in pre-revolutionary times than in snowy Russia? Imagine yourself on Christmas Day wrapped in furs, sitting in your troika, bells ringing, on your way to church to celebrate the end of the 40 day fast, which ends as soon as the first evening star appears in the sky. This lecture explores the rich tradition of religious and folk customs associated with the Christmas period in Russia, and shows how they are reflected in the Russian arts, with musical illustrations. It also discusses the secular Christmas celebrations introduced to Russia by Peter the Great, how they were transformed by Stalin during Soviet times, and what Christmas means to Russians today.

An academic art historian, Rosamund specialises in the comparative study of art, music and literature and is currently writing a book on the Russian Avant-Garde and European Modernism. She is the author of several books, including biographies of Tolstoy and Chekhov.

August 4th, 1914. Imagine you are an artist and Lord Kitchener has just handed you the hottest brief in history: recruit 250,000 men by Christmas! What would you do? At the outbreak of WWI, posters were the most effective weapon of mass communication. The survival of the nation was at stake. The artistry and creative disciplines developed in the Belle Époque were dramatically and effectively harnessed to demonise the enemy, achieve huge recruitment targets, and stimulate industrialised economies to produce everything they could in the effort to win the Total War; a fascinating comparison of posters from Britain, France, Germany, America and Russia.

Focusing on the role of posters and poster artists in the history of advertising, this global-award winning Creative Director of international advertising agencies has lectured extensively on design, illustration and photographic styles as they have influenced the building of brands. 

Holbein brought the Renaissance from Northern Europe to London and became court painter to Henry VIII. His portraits show a penetrating psychological insight into such figures as Erasmus, Thomas More and the king himself.

As well as lecturing, Sarah Stpford is a guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has a degree in Art History from Harvard and one in English from Cambridge and has a special interest in the connections between literature and the visual arts.

Between 1870 and 1914 hundreds of American heiresses flooded the shores of continental Europe, trading fortunes for titles. They were known as The Dollar Princesses and included Consuelo Vanderbilt at Blenheim and Mary Curzon at Kedleston. These marriages - dubbed by some as gilded prostitution – were usually hardheaded matches plotted by the parents. They may have kept many a grand estate from collapsing but few provided lasting happiness when the fairy tale was exposed. This lecture examines the clothes, the portraits, the jewels and the literature of The Dollar Princesses. 

Biographer and historian, Anne lectures to a variety of audiences in the US and UK. A former Reuters foreign correspondent, she is now a broadcaster and author. Her biography of Wallis Simpson, That Woman, was an international bestseller. 

Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. However, in an age known for its brutality and church corruption were the Borgias really so bad? This lecture reveals the real family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the charismatic figure of Pope Alexander VI, living inside his sumptuously decorated apartments, the career of his son, Cesare, cardinal, general, employer of Da Vinci and the model for Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the journey of Lucrezia Borgia from ‘the greatest whore in Rome’ to a devout and treasured duchess of the city Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Novelist, broadcaster and critic, Sarah worked for many years as a cultural journalist on such programmes as Kaleidoscope, The Late Show, and Night Waves. She has published thirteen novels. Her next, In the Name of the Family (to be published in 2017) completes the story of the Borgia family.

The cartoonist, Carl Giles, once said that he loved his creation, Grandma Giles – that fearsome, black-clad, gambling, drinking battleaxe – because she allowed him to say things through his cartoons that he was too polite to say in person. She helped him to poke fun at authority in all its forms, from Hitler to traffic wardens and even his employers at the Daily Express, who didn’t trust him and had sub-editors scouring his cartoons for subversive background details. His admirers included Prince Charles, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Tommy Cooper, and it was no surprise when he was voted Britain’s best-loved cartoonist in 2000. Few people realise, however, that this likeable and humane satirist was also a war correspondent who witnessed the horrors of Belsen, where he found that the camp commandant, Josef Kramer, was also a great fan of his work. Giles gave us a remarkable picture of a half-century of British life. He was also, as his editor John Gordon put it ‘a spreader of happiness’ and ‘a genius…with the common touch’.

An historian of British art, with a particular interest in the work of JMW Turner, Barry is currently Associate Lecturer with the Open University and lectures on a freelance basis for The Arts Society, Christie's Education and other organisations. This is his second visit to Mayford.

Art UK was set up to catalogue every oil painting in public ownership in the UK. This unique and ambitious project involved visiting 3,000 collections across the country and photographing over 212,000 paintings. These paintings are reproduced in an acclaimed series of hardback catalogues entitled Oil Paintings in Public Ownership.

The paintings are freely available to view on the Art UK website (www.artuk.org). The lecture offers an insider’s view of the project and describes some unusual collections visited, intriguing paintings uncovered, detective work involved and assistance given by The Arts Society members. Each lecture is tailored to reflect the locality of the venue. 

Mary Rose gained an MA in Victorian Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. Several of her arts-related essays and articles have been published.  Since 2007 she has worked part-time on the unique arts project that is the subject of her lectures.

Change to the published programme

Four hundred years of international jewellery design, examining the changing styles from the pomp of High Renaissance enamelled gold work to the glamour of Harry Winston diamonds. This presentation covers many of the key elements of manufacture, including the progress of diamond cutting, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, 19th Century Archaeological and Renaissance Revivalism, the impact of diamond mining in South Africa, Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco, Post War Modernism and designs of the future. Other important areas covered include Cartier and the introduction of platinum jewellery as a statement of style and the jewels of the Duchess of Windsor. 

John was with Phillips Auctioneers for 23 years, latterly as International Director of Jewellery. Since 1999 he has been an independent Jewellery Consultant. He lectures, writes and broadcasts (including BBC Antiques Roadshow). He was admitted to Goldsmiths' Company in 2000. Author of ‘Starting to collect Antique Jewellery’ and co-author with Paul Atterbury ‘The Jewellery and Silver of H.G. Murphy.’

A richly illustrated history of an art form that incorporates all the others; from the birth of opera in Renaissance Italy we move to Louis XIV’s Versailles, Handel’s London, Mozart’s Vienna, Verdi’s Italy, Wagner’s Germany, Gilded Age America and the worldwide spread of opera in the 20th century. During the course of this magnificent Grand Tour of the mind, we consider patronage of the arts, the changing nature of audiences, theatrical architecture and stage design and the impact of new technologies such as electric lighting, recording, photography and film.

Writer, broadcaster, lecturer and author of a dozen books on social and cultural history, Daniel was Chief Producer, BBC Radio (Features) and is now a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London). 

This lecture considers one of Britain’s favourite artists. We start by looking at his background and the techniques he used. We see the great changes in his style brought about by his British clients. We journey down the Grand Canal in Venice in his company starting at the Rialto Bridge and then move to England and travel down the River Thames in his painting from Windsor to Greenwich. Finally we return to Venice and consider his last years and enduring skill in old age.

MA from Oxford University, a Diploma in Art History, a qualified teacher and a lecturer for a number of institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, the National Gallery and the National Trust. This will be William's fifth visit to Mayford.

There are currently over 316,000 listed buildings in England, and thousands more in Scotland and Wales, but only a tiny proportion of these are related to sports or recreation. After 35 years of research in the field, Simon Inglis introduces us to some of the most interesting examples, from a 15th century tennis court in Scotland to a 1970s skate park in Essex. Why are these buildings – among them grandstands, pavilions, squash courts and scoreboards – so important? What do they tell us about our sporting heritage and social history? Why has it taken so long for recreational buildings to achieve the same level of protection afforded to buildings in other sectors? Wherever possible Simon will feature local examples in his lecture.

Writer and historian, Simon specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Although this might seem an unlikely subject for The Arts Society, non-sporty types need have no fear. Simon’s themes are architecture, design, heritage and popular culture. 

Specially packed for the festive season, Pamela Halford unwraps some of the many layers of history, custom and myth that make up Christmas: the nativity, decking the halls, cards, food, presents and much more. The lecture is beautifully illustrated by well-known paintings and by lesser-known quite extraordinary works. Poetry and prose abound - including words written by the speaker – a performance to bring well-remembered joys, pathos and much humour.

Pamela Halford is a freelance lecturer and former lecturer, researcher, scriptwriter and director for the BBC. This is her second visit to Mayford.

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

A Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian Swankie  is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul's Cathedral, and gives regular tours at each venue.

Completed in 1912, the Great Omar was the most elaborate and opulent binding ever created. It was embellished with over one thousand jewels, five thousand leather onlays and a hundred square feet of gold leaf, and took over two and a half years to make. It went down with the Titanic. This lecture tells the story of the Great Omar and the bookbinders Sangorski and Sutcliffe, who were known for their fabulous jewelled bindings. It is also the story of life after the tragedy and of one young man in particular, who decided against the odds to recreate the binding – a venture which occupied him for the rest of his life.

Dominic Riley is an internationally renowned bookbinder, artist and teacher. He specialises in the restoration of antiquarian books and the creation of contemporary fine bindings. 

The Emperor Qianlong was arguably the greatest of all Qing Emperors as he guided China through a period of political, economic and cultural prosperity which rivalled any comparable period of high achievement in Chinese history. Qianlong was a noted scholar who, during his lifetime, wrote over 43,000 poems and was accomplished in the art of calligraphy. However, it was as a collector of Fine Art that he created perhaps his greatest legacy. He amassed a treasure trove of hundreds of thousands of works of art from previous dynasties or which represented the finest current workmanship. His collection spanned all genres of the arts including paintings, porcelain, jade, textiles, enamelling, ivory carvings and snuff boxes.

David Rosier worked in Asia for 25 years. While living in Hong Kong he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominantly Quing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles and costume accessories.

Rick Mather leads a renowned award-winning architectural and urban design practice.

Completed work spans both new-build and renovation with a special interest in the cultural and education sectors.  The Millennium saw the transformation of several major museums in London, such as the renovation and extension of the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Wallace Collection.  Light and space were introduced into the museums and circulation immensely improved the visitor’s experience. On the basis of these achievements the firm was commissioned to similarly transform the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, completed in 2010. This lecture looks at the architectural strategies and principles used by Mather to transform these museums into modern masterpieces while preserving historical buildings and creating places and spaces that people love to visit.

Andrew Hopkins was previously Assistant Director of the British School at Rome.  Since 2004 he has the post of Associate Professor at the University of L'Aquila.

Petra, famous for its hundreds of rock-cut tombs, was a great trading centre of the ancient Arabs on the edge of the desert. This lecture will use the archaeology, architecture, and art of Petra to reconstruct the trade routes, the technology, the everyday life, the hybrid culture, and the death rites of the Nabataean Arabs who occupied the city. We will discover a city on the edge in every sense – standing between desert and cultivated land, between nomadism and civilisation, between Middle Eastern culture and Graeco-Roman classicism: an exotic Oriental mix in a stunning mountain landscape. 

Neil Faulkner was educated at King's College Cambridge and the Institute of Archaeology UCL. He works as a lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster. This is his third visit to Mayford

This lecture examines the work of a Textile Conservator, outlining cleaning and repair treatments on various textile items with images before, during and after treatment to illustrate these techniques. Items include canvas and bead work, lace, costume, fans, banners, ecclesiastical items and full sized tapestries. Jacqueline does not seek to turn people into experts but rather counsels against untrained action that could exacerbate a problem or ruin an item. Advice is always given on how to safely store, mount and display textile items so that they can be enjoyed and preserved for future generations.

Jacqueline Hyman gained her conservation experience with the Museums' Service and established a freelance studio in 1982. 

Stonehenge is the most celebrated and sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the British Isles. This lecture explains why Stonehenge must be regarded as architectural in its layout and construction, embodying techniques that for centuries convinced antiquarians that it could not have been built by ‘primitive’ ancient Britons but must be a product of ‘sophisticated’ Romans. We then explore how, over the last two centuries, this iconic structure has inspired painters, potters and poets. Blake, Turner, Constable and Moore are amongst those who have all been drawn to this magnificent ruin, resulting in a diverse catalogue of images and impressions. Finally, we will look at Stonehenge as a global icon and how its instantly recognisable stones now grace tea towels in Wiltshire, phone cards in Japan and stamps from Bhutan.

Julian Richards studied archaeology at Reading University and has since worked as a professional archaeologist, for English Heritage, for the BBC and as an independent. He is a new NADFAS lecturer.

The historical background to this lecture is the evolution of the Russian people from their misty beginnings as Viking traders in the 8th century to Prince Vladimir of Kiev’s adoption of the Orthodox branch of Christianity in the late 10th century, when they inherited a specific style of religious art and architecture from Byzantium. This brought with it the centrally planned domed church and the hierarchic arrangement of holy images inside, the practice of venerating icons, and of course the liturgy itself. With their profound and innate artistic genius, the Russians adapted and restructured the Byzantine forms of church architecture to blend with native traditions of wood building and they imbued icon painting with a spirit that is markedly Russian, soft and sublime.

Jane Angelini is a freelance lecturer and runs her own art tours company specialising in cultural visits. This is her third visit to Mayford.

Paula Rego (born 1935) is a British artist of Portuguese origin. She is best known for her depictions of folk tales and strikingly unusual images of women. In 1990 she was invited to become the first Associate Artist at the National Gallery. She experimented in her early years with many different styles but her mature style places a strong emphasis on draughtsmanship and the human figure. Occasionally controversial, her refusal to idealise or revert to cliché has earned her global recognition and many prestigious awards.  She was made DBE in 2010.

Linda Smith is an art historian with a special interest in British art and the art of the twentieth century. This is her third visit to Mayford.

In Italy during the Renaissance, one northern European artist, Rogier van der Weyden, was called ‘Master’. It was an acknowledgment of his supreme artistic gifts.

This lecture explores many of his outstanding paintings from his enigmatic and haunting portraits to his great altarpiece at Beaune, and demonstrates why the Italian admiration for him was so well deserved.

Christopher Herbert was until recently Bishop of St Albans. He has an MPhil and PhD in Art History from the University of Leicester. This is his second visit to Mayford.

Even in ancient Rome people made complaints about the mid-winter Saturnalia celebrations remarkably like the ones we hear today about our commercialised Christmas. In a light-hearted historical review we discover some wonderful and some gloriously awful Christmas imagery, from Giotto’s painting of the first Christmas crib until Dickens meets Coca Cola among the movers and shakers who sometimes seem to have turned Christmas into Kitschmas.

David Phillips was formerly a lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at the University of Manchester. This is his second visit to Mayford.

The complex relationship between artist and muse and the inspiration for some of the most significant works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be explored in this lecture. Among those discussed will be the ‘stunners’ of the Pre Raphaelites, Picasso’s various wives and companions and  the Dalis, muses as different as the artists themselves.

Alexandra Epps is a graphic designer running a consultancy for a wide range of sectors including the arts over many years. She is a new NADFAS lecturer. 

This lecture exemplifies some of the finest products of the English craft of glass making from 1580 to 1900. Illustrations reveal the changing fashions and new and old techniques. Glass made for drinking toasts, for commemorating political and social events, for the sideboard or as treasonable gifts, all are on show. Although glassmakers are largely anonymous individuals, decorators of glass have used the material to produce some of the finest decorative artwork, their masterpieces remaining as monuments to their craft.  As an intimate object used by the very wealthy and powerful in England, with the story that each piece could tell, a wine glass can be regarded as a handle on history. A history of England is brought to life in this colourful presentation.

Simon Cottle is currently Director of European Ceramics and Glass at Bonhams Auctioneers, London.

Of all the many fascinating arts and crafts of Japan, perhaps the most exciting are those of textiles. This lecture traces the Art of the Kimono through changing styles that encompass intricate and bold designs, weaving signs, symbols and stories into the fabrics that people wore from the early 1600s to the mid 1900s. From courtesans to theatre costumes, daily wear and special occasions, wearing Kimono advertised one’s wealth, rank and status at every level of society.

Suzanne Perrin is a visiting lecturer at the University of Brighton Art and Design School. She studied Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at the Nagoya University of Arts, Japan. This is her first visit to Mayford. 

This lecture takes a fresh look at London’s development and history over the best part of two thousand years. Much of our capital’s past is now underground but clues remain on the surface of what lies beneath our feet. Rivers that once meandered through open fields remain today, following the same routes beneath central London. Ancient archaeology, City grave yards, tunnels that were once secret but now abandoned and other examples of the amazing skills of Victorian engineers will be described. Also some of the myths and facts of what is beneath Whitehall will be discussed. These and other topics will be shared by a lecturer who had a unique insight into this subject during his career with Special Operations at Scotland Yard.

Peter Lawrence is now an adult education tutor of Archeology and Social Studies.

This 17th century Spanish artist is one of the most influential painters in the history of art. By the age of twenty-four he was the only artist permitted to paint the king of Spain. After his death, the cool elegance of his style, his ability to discover a sense of dignity and humanity in even the simplest of subjects, coupled with his breathtakingly daring treatment of the paint was widely admired by generations of artists.                                          

Douglas Skeggs not only is a writer, artist and television presenter but also lectures widely on art to universities, colleges and art societies. This will be his sixth visit to Mayford.

The son of a Northumberland farmer, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown became the most influential of all landscape gardeners in Great Britain. He designed over 170 parks, many of which endure. This lecture attempts to define the principles of Brown’s work by looking at a range of his landscapes, beginning with Stowe and including such places as Harewood, Croome Court, Bowood and Alnwick. This year we celebrate the tercentenary of his birth.

Christopher Rogers was formerly Head of Geography at Downe House School, Newbury. He became interested in architecture while at Oxford and has lectured on the subject ever since.

Today’s playing cards date back to 1377 and there are surviving decks from as early as 1475. However, they became truly interesting when the face of the card deviated from the standard, for example when the Kings and Queens were recognisable monarchs.  Thus the potential of a pack of cards as a medium for communication, propaganda or education was not lost on our forefathers. Several political decks capitalized on both the popularity of gaming and the hunger for news and information. These cards often depict the art and beauty of the engraver’s hand and many were executed by well-established artists.

Yasha Beresiner is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards. This is his first visit to Mayford.

Ever since the mysterious double panel painting known as the Wilton Diptych was acquired for the National Gallery in 1929, speculation regarding its origins has been rife. Although many discoveries have been made regarding its subject, we are still none the wiser regarding its origins. Through the lens of the Wilton Diptych this lecture will look at Medieval England, patronage, saints and kingship, and also unearth the many hidden signs and symbols in this painting that have been slowly revealing themselves to us over the past 80 years.

Leslie Primo holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London.

This lecture examines the initial events during the mid Victorian era that prompted both craftsmen and women to reappraise their work and question the introduction of machine- made creations of debatable artistic merit. The influence of John Ruskin and William Morris who suggested that you should have nothing in your home that is neither useful nor beautiful eventually became the mantra for successive generations of such makers and their discerning clientele. The growth of the Guild system in which craftsmen and women strove to emulate the hand-made standards of excellence achieved by those of the Middle Ages is illustrated by stunning images. 

Eric Knowles has broadcast for thirty years on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

Books of Hours are the most famous and enchanting of all medieval illuminated manuscripts. They contain prayers and other information for the daily use of people in the late Middle Ages.  This lecture, which is profusely illustrated, will look at what a Book of Hours contains, how we can tell where and when it was made, and the whole process of making and illuminating a medieval manuscript.

Christopher de Hamel was responsible for all catalogues and sales of illuminated manuscripts at Sotheby’s for twenty-five years. He is now Donnelly Fellow Librarian at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Annie Gray is a food historian working in the heritage industry as well as a consultant on food and dining. She is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television.

Matthew Flinders commanded the first expedition to circumnavigate Australia. Onboard, two artists, Ferdinand Bauer and William Westall, recorded the flora and fauna.Their artworks are remarkable as is the story of the voyage, recounted by Flinders in A Voyage to Terra Australis, published in 1814.

An expert on maritime art, James Taylor has been a curator at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and is now working on a PhD on the topic of this lecture.

John Ericson visited Mayford in 2012 when his lecture was on Norman Rockwell.

Lois Oliver is Assistant Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London.

Brian MacDonald is a dealer and consultant in antique oriental rugs and carpets.

With her Anglo-German roots, artistic background and years of research, Angela Findlay is in an ideal position to give insights into Germany’s on-going efforts to find artistic forms for the remembrance of the victims of one of history’s darkest periods. Angela Findlay is a new NADFAS lecturer.

This will be Matthew Williams’s second visit to Mayford DFAS. The image of Dumfries House above is used here by kind permission of the Great Steward of Scotland's Dumfries House Trust.

Anthea Streeter last lectured to Mayford DFAS in 2012 on London’s Skyline.

Goya designed tapestries and produced hundreds of etchings and political works on a broad canvas. In his powerful and original portraits he turns his critical eye directly onto his contemporaries. Goya’s sitters came from many walks of life including politicians, architects, aristocrats, actresses, bankers, bullfighters, friends and relations and the extraordinarily unattractive members of the Spanish Royal Family. Today we marvel at how daringly unflattering he could be, and how he managed to get away with such provocative work.

This lecture will link in with the exhibition of Goya’s portraits at the National Gallery in autumn 2015. This will be Gail’s third visit to Mayford.

A very important exhibition at the Goldsmiths’ Hall in 1961 helped pave the way for jewels to be seen as an art form. The recession of the 1970s allowed different styles and materials to be in vogue before we moved into the prosperity of the 1980s and a booming art market. Today there is a growing appreciation of jewellery that is individual and unique. Contemporary jewels that have not compromised the importance of craftsmanship and uniqueness of design will stand the test of time and become collectable art of the future.

Joanna Hardy worked as a senior jewellery specialist for Phillips Auctioneers and Sotheby’s London. She is now an independent jewellery consultant and regular expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow.

Turner was criticized during his lifetime for the challenging nature of his mature visual style. Today his late works are highly regarded. This lecture discusses the origins and character of the artist’s so-called ‘late style’ and asks whether it is valid to talk about these pictures in terms of abstraction. The lecture complements the major exhibition at Tate Britain until January 25th 2015.

Nicola Moorby is a freelance historian specializing in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and has published widely on J.M.W. Turner.

Sally Dormer is a lecturer for the Early Medieval Course at the V&A, Dean of European Studies at two US Universities and a freelance lecturer. This is an alteration to the original programme owing to the sad and untimely death of Tom Errington.

Frank Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Christopher Bradley is a photographer, film maker, tour guide and author of many travel publications including a new Insight Guide to the Silk Road.

Mary Acton is the author of Learning to Look at Sculpture, to be published by Routledge on November 1st 2013.

Sam Moorhead, in his capacity as National Finds Adviser for Iron Age and Roman Coins, personally drove the hoard from Frome to the British Museum a few days after its discovery. The Annual General Meeting will precede this lecture, beginning at 10am. Coffee will be available from 9.30. Image: Portable Antiquities Scheme

Michael Howard is a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of L. S. Lowry: a Visionary Artist.

Brian Stater teaches architectural history at University College, London, and is a member of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography.

Eveline Eaton has recently been elected Vice-Chairman of the Dresden Trust. Note the earlier start time of 10am with coffee from 9.30am.

Kathy McLauchlan is head of the Visual Art Department, Morley College, London.

Susan Kay-Williams is Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework and author of The Story of Colour in Textiles (Bloomsbury, 2013).

Rosalind Whyte is an experienced guide and lecturer at London galleries including the Tate and the Royal Academy.

Sarah Lenton has written and directed more than twenty shows for the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, and writes, lectures and broadcasts on Opera. She gave our Christmas lecture All Done on Ginger Beer in 2009.

Kevin Karney's main career was in oil, as a technical engineer and manager, but he has had a life-long interest in the art and science of sundials.

Valerie Woodgate is a lecturer and guide in Tate Britain and Tate Modern and teaches at Dulwich Picture Gallery. This will be her sixth visit to MDFAS.

Rupert Willoughby is a historian, author of Pitkin's 'Life in Medieval England' and of many popular historical guides, notably to Chawton and Basingstoke. Image: Wikimedia/ Simon Green

With a background in museums and academia David Phillips specializes in issues of taste, authenticity and ambiguity in art. The Annual General Meeting will precede this lecture, beginning at 10am. Coffee will be available from 9.30.

As Creative Director of global advertising agencies, Charles Harris has created posters for major international brands as well as professional photography and film.

Barry Venning is a lecturer in Art History at Brooklands College, Weybridge, and Associate Lecturer for the Open University. Image: Wikimedia/Jack Garigan

Imogen Corrigan is a freelance lecturer in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval History and Art and is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Birmingham. Image © British Library Board/Royal 18D11

William Forrester is a registered guide, lecturer and Adult Education tutor. He gave one of the first lectures to the new MDFAS in 1993. The lecture will be followed by a Birthday Celebration to mark the 20th anniversary of MDFAS. Tickets cost £10 and will be available from January10th. NADFAS National Chairman, Jill Makepeace-Warne, and MP for Woking, Jonathan Lord, will be our special guests. Image: Wikimedia/greenacre8

As a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University Dr Anderson specialised in the Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism and her published books include one on Art Deco teapots.

Toby Faber's book 'Stradivarius: five violins, one cello and a genius' was described in The New York Times as 'more enthralling, earthy and illuminating than any fiction could be.'

Ian Kelly is an actor and author of 'Cooking for Kings', the biography of Careme, also adapted for Radio 4, stage and television. Amongst his recent performances are as Hermione's father in the last Harry Potter film, and in The Pitmen Painters on Broadway.

Bertie Pearce is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and Professor of Punch and Judy. After a Drama degree at Manchester University he went on to study theatre at an international school in Paris. He has performed and lectured for cruise liners, in Europe and in the USA, including at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Suzanne Fagence Cooper grew up in Woking before studying History at Oxford University and Art History at the Courtauld Institute and at Christie's Education. She has lectured at the V&A and on cruise liners, tutored at Oxford Summer School and been an adviser on television programmes. Her publications include 'Pre-Raphaelite Art in the V&A' and 'The Model Wife: Effie, Ruskin and Millais'.

Mark Bills is curator of the newly restored Watts Gallery at Compton. His published works include books on Watts and William Powell Frith. He studied at the Slade School of Art and at Birmingham and Manchester Universities. He lectures widely in museums and galleries in London and elsewhere.

Anthea Streeter studied Fine and Decorative Arts in London and developed a special interest in 20th century architecture during further study at Harvard. She has taught courses in Oxford and London and lectures widely for private groups.

Anne Haworth lectures at the V&A and the British Museum, guides private tours at Buckingham Palace and teaches a course on British Art. As a specialist in European and Oriental ceramics she has worked at Bonhams and Christie's; during several years' residence in Shanghai she lectured to the international community. She led our Special Interest Day on China in 2009.

Jane Angelini holds a BA in Russian Studies and an MA in Byzantine Studies; she led a Special Interest Day on Byzantine Art for Mayford DFAS in 2006.She has translated a number of works of 19th century Russian literature for publication and also runs her own arts tours company.

A Cambridge Fine Art graduate, Douglas Skeggs has lectured very widely and his current engagements include Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies'. He advises cultural travel companies and has written and presented several television documentaries. He is also a practising painter, successful novelist and author of 'River of Light, a study of Monet. This will be his fifth visit to Mayford DFAS. NB. Royal Academy exhibition: 'David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture' is scheduled for 21st January to 9th April 2012

As a police detective Malcolm Kenwood specialised in art and antique crime, and later trained Law Enforcement officers in the investigation of this type of crime. He was also Recoveries Director for the Art Loss Register which maintains an international database of stolen artworks. Among his lecture audiences are the FBI and Interpol.

Hilary Hope Guise trained at Central St Martin's and now combines painting with lecturing in London museums and at American universities. She has also worked for the Art Fund, taught at Cambridge University and been a guest speaker on cultural cruises.

John Ericson has a background in education, and was Director of Studies in the School of Education at the University of Bath. As an educational consultant he has given lectures and presentations all over the world. For NADFAS he lectures on an eclectic range of topics.

The lecturer is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and an Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography. Her work includes identifications, teaching, writing, lecturing and research into the various aspects of organic gems. Her photographs have been published in many specialist books and magazines and she is the author of the only book covering the topics of today’s lecture. She also runs a website dealing with all aspects of the subject.

James Taylor studied at the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester. Formerly Head of Victorian Paintings at Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers, he was for ten years curator of paintings, drawings and prints and exhibition organizer at the National Maritime Museum. He is now a freelance art consultant, exhibition organizer and author, his most recent publication being on ‘The Voyage of the Beagle’. MDFAS enjoyed his lecture on Darwin in 2009.

Col Bolton is a ‘Man of Kent’, born in Dover and living near Canterbury. He is a Blue Badge guide for the South East of England and the City of Canterbury, a guide in Canterbury Cathedral and accredited to Rochester and Salisbury Cathedrals and York Minster. He specialises in stained glass and architecture; many MDFAS members will remember his lecture on ‘The South of England Brick by Brick’ in 2007. He is a member of the Lutyens Trust and the British Brick Society and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass.

After beginning her career in publishing, particularly in art and design, Sue Jackson now lectures for the National Trust, U3A and the City Literary Institute. As a Blue Badge Guide she leads walks on various aspects of London history and has published work on the lost world of the River Fleet. In 2009 MDFAS enjoyed a visit to Hampton Court with her guidance to see the Story of Abraham tapestries.

A freelance specialist in Latin American art and culture and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Chloe Sayer has made ethnographic collections and carried out fieldwork in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum. She has curated several exhibitions of Mexican folk art and has worked on documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC, including Full Circle with Michael Palin. She is the author of many books on Latin American art and craft and lectures in galleries and museums in Great Britain and around the world.

Mary Alexander holds a BA in History and History of Art with Distinction from the University of London. She has thirty years of experience as a lecturer in History of Art and design, including at Open University Summer Schools and Christie’s Education. She was formerly Curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of English Costume in Manchester. Her special interest is how the history of art and design relates to the aesthetic, cultural and social context.

After her graduation from Manchester University in History of Art and English, Ann Clement’s early work included cataloguing the collection of English watercolours and drawings for the Whitworth Art Gallery and research for the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art. She has wide experience in lecturing at home and abroad, on cruises, for organizations such as the National Trust and in Adult Education, and is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Surrey. We are very pleased that she is making a third visit to MDFAS.

Linda Smith is an art historian with a special interest in British art and the art of the twentieth century. She lectures widely in public galleries, secondary schools, universities, cruise liners and private arts societies in the UK and overseas. She is an experienced gallery guide, especially at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern where she works as a guide and lecturer.

Louise Schofield was Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities in the British Museum from 1987 – 2000. She now writes, lectures, teaches, makes television programmes and runs international archaeological projects in Turkey, Greece, Albania and Ethiopia. In 2004 she made a film with the BBC2 Horizon team on the truth behind the story of Troy and her latest book, The Mycenaeans, was published in March 2007. Louise last lectured to MDFAS in 2004 and we are delighted to welcome her back.’

Dr Kate Williams is the author of England's Mistress: the Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton and Becoming Queen, concerning the youth of Queen Victoria.