Lectures 2023
Wednesday 24th May
THE MARY ROSE – A TIME CAPSULE OF TUDOR CULTURE Lecturer: Rear Admiral John Lippiett The stories of the salvaging of the 500-year-old Mary Rose and the amazing artefacts that were discovered during the excavation of the wreck are endlessly fascinating. John Lippiett’s knowledge of maritime history will add an...
Find out moreWednesday 28th June
CONSTABLE – THE FATHER OF MODERN PAINTING Lecturer: Sarah Cove Constable produced full-size oil studies for his Great Landscapes, extraordinary creations for the early 19th century. Sarah will describe and illustrate his diverse painting methods in oil sketches, studio studies and exhibited pictures. You will never look at these 'chocolate...
Find out moreWednesday 26th July
VERSAILLES AND THE POLITICS OF PORCELAIN Lecturer: Peter Le Rossignol The magnificent palace of Versailles was built by Louis XIV for political reasons: to control the French aristocracy and court. Louis XV’s mistress Mme de Pompadour bought the Sevres porcelain factory. The lecture explains the reasoning behind the grandeur of...
Find out moreWednesday 20th September
BERTHE MORISOT – “UNE FINESSE FRAGONARDIENNE’ Lecturer: Lois Oliver Renoir considered Impressionist Berthe Morisot “the last elegant and ‘feminine’ artist that we have had since Fragonard.” Complementing an exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery, this lecture traces Morisot’s engagement with eighteenth-century culture, and highlights what set her apart from her predecessors...
Find out moreWednesday 18th October
THE JAPANESE GARDEN IN THE WEST – 100 YEARS OF EASTERN INFLUENCE Lecturer: Amanda Herries The serenity, asymmetry and control of a Japanese garden is in seductive contrast to Western symmetry, form and free growth. The West originally discovered Japanese trees, plants, flowers and designs through illustrations on imported porcelain,...
Find out moreWednesday 22nd November
VICTORIAN FURNITURE – WHY QUEEN VICTORIA WAS NOT AMUSED Lecturer: Janusz Karcjewski-Slowikowski ‘The good, the bad and the ugly’ - all three are to be found within Victorian furniture. The principal styles: Grecian, Gothic, Elizabethan, Louis XIV, Italian - making sense of these and the various other styles of this...
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