We listen to snippets of music to uncover techniques of some great composers to inject humour into their works.  

Dickens was an amateur conjurer while writing some of his most famous novels. We'll learn what attracted him to magic and how it influenced him.

Elaine has stood in at very late notice to replace our publiished lecturer

Opening the door on the world of medieval and early modern houses. Doors are not just functional, the story behind ancient doors can reveal so much more.  

From a modest fancy goods store on Broadway in the 1830s to the global brand of the 1980s, Tiffany & Co.’s story is a glittering tale of entrepreneurial vision brought to life through a dazzling succession of magnificent jewels.   

(photo credit: Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore)

TO DRAW OR NOT TO DRAW: SIX GREAT PAINTERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY - Click Here

Self-Portrait (1657) by Rembrandt, and A Woman Pouring Milk (1658) by Vermeer

The six painters in question are among the best-loved artists of the whole European tradition, and yet some aspects of their creative processes remain somewhat mysterious.   In particular, while for three of them – Rubens, Poussin and Rembrandt – drawing played an essential role in their visual thinking, as testified by the many drawings of theirs that have survived, for the other three – Caravaggio, Velazquez and Vermeer – we have no surviving drawings at all, and drawing in the conventional sense may well have played no part in their picture-making strategies.   What explanations could there be for this fundamental divergence of technique?   These lectures will go beneath the surface of a small selection of these artists’ best known works – many of which happen to be united by the theme of eating and drinking, and many of which can be seen at first hand in Edinburgh – to explore how these paintings were actually made, and what meanings they would have carried for their first audiences.

TO DRAW OR NOT TO DRAW: SIX GREAT PAINTERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Click Here

The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church (1644-48) by Nicolas Poussin, and The Supper at Emmaus (1602) by Caravaggio

The six painters in question are among the best-loved artists of the whole European tradition, and yet some aspects of their creative processes remain somewhat mysterious.   In particular, while for three of them – Rubens, Poussin and Rembrandt – drawing played an essential role in their visual thinking, as testified by the many drawings of theirs that have survived, for the other three – Caravaggio, Velazquez and Vermeer – we have no surviving drawings at all, and drawing in the conventional sense may well have played no part in their picture-making strategies.   What explanations could there be for this fundamental divergence of technique?   These lectures will go beneath the surface of a small selection of these artists’ best known works – many of which happen to be united by the theme of eating and drinking, and many of which can be seen at first hand in Edinburgh – to explore how these paintings were actually made, and what meanings they would have carried for their first audiences.

TO DRAW OR NOT TO DRAW: SIX GREAT PAINTERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Click Here

An Old Woman Cooking Eggs (1618) by Diego Velazquez, and The Feast of Herod (c.1635-38) by Peter Paul Rubens

The six painters in question are among the best-loved artists of the whole European tradition, and yet some aspects of their creative processes remain somewhat mysterious.   In particular, while for three of them – Rubens, Poussin and Rembrandt – drawing played an essential role in their visual thinking, as testified by the many drawings of theirs that have survived, for the other three – Caravaggio, Velazquez and Vermeer – we have no surviving drawings at all, and drawing in the conventional sense may well have played no part in their picture-making strategies.   What explanations could there be for this fundamental divergence of technique?   These lectures will go beneath the surface of a small selection of these artists’ best known works – many of which happen to be united by the theme of eating and drinking, and many of which can be seen at first hand in Edinburgh – to explore how these paintings were actually made, and what meanings they would have carried for their first audiences.

The history and culture of Bhutan which for centuries has preserved its tradition and Buddhist values. Will Bhutan be able to maintain the balance between tradition and modernity. 

Bruegel was commissioned to create a series of paintings charting the course of a year. Changing the way we view the world through art .

The Art Deco movement inspired a golden age of car design ,including the “Great Gatsby Era” when some of the most fabulous cars ever created were produced.

Artists in far flung coastal communities were often linked through mutual friendships made studying in Peris and summers spent in French art colonies.

The NT collection has 450,000 books in 205 locations and are cared for by property staff conservators and volunteers. Managing the environment, stabilising the collections, tracking pests are all key to preservation.

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth, and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist, Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher.  Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives. It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain rose as the great superpower with an   empire spanning the globe. This vast wealth, alongside the renewed catholic       fervour of the counter reformation, kickstarted the Spanish siglo d’oro – literally the century of gold - the great flourishing of painting, sculpture, literature, and music. This lecture explores this period, looking at the historical moment and its vast array of art.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I.

Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque, King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you!’ 

The flower paintings of Cedric Morris (1889-1982) capturing plants around the Mediterranean, the Canaries and beyond reveal him as a consummate botanist. After a fire in 1940, Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines were forced to relocate their East Anglia School of Painting and Drawing to Benton End near Hadleigh, in Suffolk. Not just a School it became a vibrant eclectic artistic hub in a setting of Morris’s horticultural genius. He lived at Benton End until his death, enjoying national stature as artist and plantsman whose legacy included over 90 new irises.

Andy Warhol is remembered as the king of pop art who embraced celebrity and consumerism. He would become an American icon. Yet there is a lesser-known side to him: the shy, gay son of immigrants whose prolific, experimental, and inclusive artistic practice enabled a counterculture that would play a part in transforming modern art.

These two British artists found new ways to articulate very personal visions of the natural world from the 1960s   onwards, rejecting traditional modes of representing landscape in favour of a more direct engagement with the  matter of nature itself.  Long has based all his work on the act of walking long  distances, often in wild and remote  natural environments (rather like the         itinerant haiku poets of Japan) and has used found natural materials to make very simple  abstract ‘drawings’ in these locations, all characterised by an inherent impermanence.  Finlay, as much a poet as a visual artist, spent twenty years creating a unique garden on the edge of the Pentland Hills as a setting for his sculptures and inscriptions, which embody his meditations on culture,  political philosophy and poetry.  Finlay’s reverence for the art of Claude brings the theme of these lectures full circle.

The Romantic approach to the natural world found powerful expression in American landscape painting of the 19th  century: spectacular landmarks such as the Niagara Falls were depicted with painstaking realism and on a monumental scale by painters such as Church, whose work expresses religious conviction as well as an engagement with the theory of the Sublime. By contrast, the much older Chinese tradition of landscape painting was rooted in a very different philosophy known as Taoism;  the eighth-century artist and poet Wang Wei and his successors strove to attune themselves to the spiritual energies underlying the natural environment, so that these energies would be  directly manifested in their ink-paintings.

When landscape first emerged as an independent genre in European painting in the 17th century, it often served to articulate an essentially literary, classical vision of the natural world inhabited by mythological figures of antiquity, who themselves represented a ‘golden age’ of timeless harmony.   This vision was  exemplified by the paintings of Claude  Lorrain, whose idealism arguably still  influences our own responses to landscape to this day.   Claude had a profound influence on the art of John Constable  almost two centuries later;  however, Constable’s passionate attention to the landscape familiar to him from his   childhood led him to sacrifice Claude’s ‘timelessness’ for the sake of a  wholehearted embrace of transience as the essential quality of the natural world.

A talk which examines the journey of the musical, from its almost accidental beginnings of The Black Crook of 150 years ago, through to the modern phenomenon which is Hamilton. From Jerome Kern to Lin-Manuel Miranda, every great musical has its own story, from page to stage. Enjoy the great music, the great stories and the dynamic theatricality of their finest moments.

We might assume that our modern Christmas owes much to the Victorians. In fact, carol-singing, present-giving, mulled wine, and mince pies were all just as popular in Tudor times. It was a twelve-day-long festival, over which the Lord of Misrule held sway; so beloved by English people that its traditions survived remarkably unchanged in an age of    tumultuous religious upheaval. 

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 a team of craftsmen over two and a half years to make.This lecture tells the story of the making of the fabulous Great Omar. It is also the story of the renowned bookbinding firm of Sangorski and Sutcliffe - who were known for their elaborate jewelled bindings - and the men that made this extraordinary book.  

Armour was one of the most fundamental Renaissance art-forms. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, most of the richest noblemen of Europe were dedicated patrons of the armourer’s art. Armour was a kind of visual language used to project aristocratic identity, prestige and power. This lecture serves as an introduction to the subject of armour - protective equipment for fighting which was also crucially an expressive art form.

The religious art of the Eastern Church has become beloved as objects of veneration by people of faith, as well as being admired as fine works of art. These images are packed with meaning in the colours, symbols, and gestures, and understanding their meaning helps to appreciate the remarkable sophistication of these ancient icons.    

Humans have been very good at recording how and what we eat through the ages and this talk looks at these themes starting with the frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum up to the modern day. 

Historical references for musical instruments can be found in works of art. Music and different instruments play a strong role within symbolism in art. The lecture will explore the instruments in selected works with live demonstrations on replicas of the instruments depicted.

The revival of 15th century carpets in Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan. Illuminations on vellum – containing the only surviving representations of textiles from this era. The lecture will examine the traditional role of carpet weaving and embroidery in the social lives of Central Asian women.

Chris has recently published a new book - click on the link - 'Unravelling the Silk Road' .

The 18th century has often been described as a golden age in the history of the arts in Britain, and certainly the Georgian country house, filled with paintings, sculpture and objets d'art and set in a rolling landscape park is one of Britain’s greatest achievements in the visual arts.

Italian gardens from the Emperor Hadrian’s 1st Century Garden at Tivoli, which provided inspiration and building materials for generations of architects and garden makers, up until the 20th Century, which has seen a resurgence of Italian gardening.

Audubon is best known as an American ornithologist and illustrator, though his achievements were much wider. Born in Haiti of French parents, he visited revolutionary France in 1791, then moved to North America to study nature. His important visits to Britain included five visits to Edinburgh, which influenced his work significantly.

The history, techniques and uses of veneering, inlay, parquetry and marquetry in decorating fashionable and expensive items such as cabinets, tables, mirrors, and long case clocks between the period 1675-1730

Master masons both designed the buildings and ran their sites. They commanded everything and their creations remain to this day, breathtakingly beautiful in their exquisite detail causing us, centuries later, to stand in a nave and wonder.

An epic tale of two extraordinary figures from the same valley in Yorkshire who were destined to change the world of fashion and design for all time.  Art, design, textiles, fashion, politics, publishing, philosophy, and the very genesis of modern art in Britain.

Photo credit Gray M.C.A Collection

An insider's view of how paintings are made - how is it that certain paintings give us 'the tingle factor', whilst others leave us cold?

William Morris led a revolution against the products of the machine age.  His friend William de Morgan rediscovered the secrets of Near Eastern lustre glazes, and Bernard Leach married the arts of Japan and England.  This talk celebrates the creations of these passionate potters.

This lecture replaces the published on due to the Coronation date requiring change.

Aside from her political ambitions and successes, Catherine created an unparalleled collection of paintings, ornaments and sculptures, many of which remain at the Hermitage Museum.  This lecture explores Catherine’s rise to power and her passion for acquiring things of beauty.

This boisterous decade was marked by novelty, modernity and huge social, technological and economic change, and was a period of enormous vitality.  This lecture explores the lives of the leading figures of the time and shows examples of its most innovative art and design.

The horrors of the coronovirus epidemic have, just as in previous centuries, been a source of inspiration to countless artists. In contrast to the altarpieces and the secular paintings of the plague and previous epidemics our pandemic has led to an outpouring of remarkable street art. This lecture looks at the fascinating similarities and differences in pandemic artistic output over the centuries. It also looks at how such art can provide great comfort and consolation.

This lecture looks at the art, architecture and magnificent royal courts of the Mughal emperors of India whose creative building culminated in that most sublime of monuments, the Taj Mahal, and the majestic fort-palaces of the Rajput rajas where they held their glittering courts.

This talk explores the shifting associations in castle design and purpose over the last 1000 years, showing how the religious and political purposes of buildings later became representational of political authority and how British castles became palatial residences.

The Glasgow Girls contributed significantly to the development of the ‘Glasgow Style’, a distinctive branch of the Art Nouveau movement.  This lecture examines the exquisite embroidery, jewellery, ceramics, book illustrations and interior décor of the principal artists.

The two great Queens of Crime chartered the rapidly changing London of the 1920s and 30s writing in the same genre but in different ways.  This lecture explores how the authors brought the metropolis to life and how Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey found a home there. 

By the close of the 16th century the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II had amassed one of the most impressive collections of art, natural artefacts and scientific instruments in Europe and wielded his power through culture and the opulent display of wealth at his court in Prague.

This lecture offers a fresh angle on some of the greatest Renaissance masterpieces produced by the artistic Titans of the day. Drawing on contemporary anecdote, it tells the stories behind the bitter rivalries and iconic works of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Titian.

Photograph: Detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling (Michelangelo, The Creation of the Sun and Moon)

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed, for reasons including his passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music, as well as bis eccentricities as a man and a priest. Lecture features musical performances.

Before organic chemistry, the most desirable pigments were often rare, exotic or poisonous. This lecture tells the story of alchemy and adventure behind some of our most beautiful and colourful paintings. No wonder artists kept paint recipes in Books of Secrets.

Photograph: Lapis Lazuli (Lynne Gibson)

Youngest of the Mitford sisters and wife of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, Debo made Chatsworth one of Britain's best-loved historic houses. Described on her passport as a housewife, she was a best-selling author and speaker. The lecturer worked for her for 20 years.

This lecture plots the coming together of Art and Science in Leonardo's scientific approach to painting. It goes on to look at the work of Vermeer, Wright of Derby and Seurat, culminating in the rational aesthetic of the Bauhaus and examines the eventual split between art and science.

Photograph: Melzi portrait of Leonardo - The Royal Collection

Alan Riach is a professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He studied English at Cambridge University. He is also a poet in his own right.  He is currently very involved in saving Brownsbank Cottage near Biggar for posterity.  Brownsbank Cottage was the home of Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid and his wife, Valda. Alan will speak to us briefly about the literary importance of the Brownsbank project.

Alan was a family friend of Alexander Goudie. He will speak us through the wild, pulsating and tumultuous paintings of the Burns poem, Tam o' Shanter, created by Alexander Goudie. Alexander Goudie was an eminent Scottish painter and art school teacher, but he was fascinated by the Tam o' Shanter character so vividly brought to life by Burns in his poem. These huge, fantastic paintings are a tour de force...as was their author. Alan will help us to understand the enormity of ideas and philosophies underlying these amazing paintings and the words of Robert Burns.

Alan is also currently involved in the conservation of Hugh MacDiarmid's former home, Brownsbank Cottage, near Biggar and he will speak to us briefly about the Scottish literary importance of the Brownsbank project.

40 years ago, Hugh and Julie Goring established the seed of their future business in the world of art. Starting off with framing art work, the business moved on to become a small, vibrant Art Gallery.  Since then, Frames Art Gallery has become a Perth and Scottish icon. Many people reading this will have enjoyed visiting the gallery, being invited to a private view and will have works bought there hanging on their walls. Sadly, Hugh and Julie are retiring, and their beautiful Art Gallery is for sale.

TAST is very lucky to have Hugh giving us a lecture on the past 40 years of running a successful art gallery, including stories, anecdotes and most of all, the story of how Frames Gallery helped many young artists become well known and successful in the highly competitive world of selling their art. 

Tom is a PhD Physicist. After moving to Perth in 2013, he became president of the Perthshire Photographic Society (PPS) and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science (PSNS) where he runs the Curious Minds lecture series.

Tom travelled extensively during his career and always carried a camera. The Photo Society opened his eyes to the possibility that digital photography could be an art form. Tom has spent much of the last 8 years developing his own unique photographic style in an attempt to capture the experience of being in a busy urban environment at night. Tom also became interested in how the invention of photography influenced Modern Art and vice versa. In this talk he will trace some of the common threads that link artists in their studios, early photographers in their darkrooms and contemporary photographers using Photoshop.

England's Tudor century was an explosive one. It transformed or swept away much of its mediaeval inheritance for new worlds - geographical, political, religious and cultural. This lecture focuses on Holbein's portraits, Hilliard's miniatures and the music of Tallis and Byrd.

250 years after Stradivari's death, his violins and cellos remain the most highly prized instruments in the world. Their tone and beauty are legendary, every subsequent violin maker has tried to match them but none has succeeded. This lecture contains musical recordings.

Constantinople and Istanbul, two names for one city which straddles two continents, Europe and Asia. Byzantine capital for 1000 years, then capital of the Ottoman Turks, this is a city of Byzantine churches, Ottoman mosques, luxurious palaces and bustling covered markets.

Photograph: Haghia Sophia - Sue Rollin

Mr Punch, the most famous puppet character of all time, is descended from the Italian clown Pulcinella of the 15thC Commedia Del' Arte tradition. Appearing in England in 1662, Punch uses his slapstick to dispense with oppresive authority, proclaiming "Thats the way to do it!"

Bertie has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester university and a Diploma Internationale fro Ecole Internationale du Theatre, Jacques Lecoq.  He is member of the Inner Magic Circle, has lectured and performed on cruise ships, U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges.  He has toured the world with his magic cabaret show and has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and Theatre.  

Photograph: George Cruikshank Punch and Judy illustration from the book “The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Punch and Judy”, published 1827

Wonderful photographs of the architecture of Ypres taken before the Great War and images of the same buildings after destruction show the scale of devastation this town suffered. Many important buildings were carefully reconstructed including the Gothic-style cathedral.

This lecture provides an introduction to the world of our 2000-mile inland waterway network and looks at all aspects of their artistic, architectural and engineering vernacular from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards, from colourful historic narrowboats and ‘Roses and Castles’ artwork to quirky listed buildings. 

Retired Consultant Surgeon Michael Crumplin is a medical military historian whose principle purpose is to promote interest in the human cost of war and the oft-forgotten efforts of military medical men.  This lecture covers the evolution of surgery through military conflict, from Agincourt to Helmand.

This lecture will trace Vermeer’s origins, his early training and influences, and how he came to the genre of painting domestic interiors.  We will see how Vermeer went from being referred to as “the excellent and famous Vermeer” to being declared bankrupt towards the end of his life.

Siân came to Birnam a couple of years ago and spoke to us about the Rennaissance in Venice. She specialises in 15th and 16th Century Italian, Spanish and Dutch art, has been a lecturer at The National Gallery for 20 years and leads Art Tours abroad.

2021 marks the 450th anniversary of the birth of Caravaggio.  Caravaggio was one of the most dynamic and influential artists of all time, famed for his dramatic lighting, powerful realism and revolutionary approach to storytelling.  This lecture examines his work and its influence on his contemporaries and followers. 

Giotto's Chapel is a masterpiece of storytelling. Devil, grief, love and vice line the opulent walls of the chapel, which is considered to have changed the direction of art history, and the frescoes covering the walls of Scrovegni Chapel are now celebrated as the pearl of the early Renaissance.

The Collections of the Dukes of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace

https://theartssocietytayside.org.uk/Special/FutureSpecial.aspx

Artistic links between Scotland and Sweden in the 18th century

https://theartssocietytayside.org.uk/Special/FutureSpecial.aspx

Responding to English and Continental European Influences

https://theartssocietytayside.org.uk/Special/FutureSpecial.aspx

Wine has been part of our society for over 7,000 years and the lecture tells of its origin and appearance across the Mediterranean and throughout Europe.  Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels all contribute to the story.

Palestine was one of the most turbulent provinces of the Roman Empire.  There was an enormous culture clash between Graeco-Roman classicism and traditional Judaism.  This was the context for the Dead Sea Scrolls and The New Testament and the world that produced Jesus Christ.

Cleopatra has been inspiring painters, poets and film-makers for over two millennia.  Their depictions of her offer insight into changing concepts of beauty, and she has become a screen onto which artists have projected their differing fantasies about exotic danger and erotic bliss.  With regret, the Cleopatra lecture was not recorded due to issues with copyright.

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire.  It produced Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka, Mahler and Freud, as well as philosophers and architects.  This talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900.

Allan Ramsay painted the great, the rich and the beautiful of two capital cities.  In Edinburgh he was the portrait painter of the Scottish Enlightenment, in London he was the court painter to George III.His innovative style was recognised in his day, and he brought freshness and naturalism to his work.

Constantinople and Istanbul, two names for one city which straddles two continents, Europe and Asia.  Byzantine capital for 1,000 years, then capital of the Ottoman Turks, this is a city of Byzantine churches, Ottoman mosques, luxurious palaces and bustling covered markets.

It's easy to take colour for granted, but before organic chemistry, the most desirable pigments were often rare, exotic or poisonous.  This lecture tells the stories of alchemy and adventure behind some of our most beautiful and colourful paintings.  No wonder artists kept paint recipes in Books of Secrets.

UPDATE - As of Sunday 15 March the Committee has decided to cancel this Lecture due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus.  The Lecture will be rescheduled at a later ....

Wonderful photographs of the architecture of Ypres taken before the Great War and images of the same buildings after destruction show the scale of devastation this town suffered.  Many important buildings were carefully reconstructed, including the Gothic-style cathedral and its soaring spire.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw the introduction of thousands of plant species from across the world into northern Europe, many of which are now staples of our gardens.  Long before Kew Gardens were established, these plants found homes in the gardens of London including Chelsea and Hampton Court.

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed.  The reasons for this are many - Vivaldi's passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music, as well as his eccentricities as a man and a priest.  This lecture features musical performances.

Glasgow is famous for its rich architectural and industrial heritage and for its vibrant culture.  This talk will focus on the architecture of Alexander "Greek" Thomson, the architecture and design of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the paintings of the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.

Ilya Repin was a Russian realist painter.  The most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century, his position in the world of art was comparable to that of Leo Tolstoy in literature.  He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture.

The ship is one of the most common images found in mediaeval churches and manuscripts.  Nations depend on it for safety, wealth and nourishment, but all too often, it brings ruin and death.  This lecture looks at some spectacular shipwrecks, some of which changed the course of history.

Dickens brought into the world a staggering array of wonderful characters, with orphans, misers, murderers and abusive school teachers among them.  Largely self-educated, Dickens possessed the genius to become the greatest writer of his age.  This talk is interspersed with readings from his works.

A mixture of art-historical analysis and scandalous anecdote, this lecture explores changing attitudes to sexual morality over the ages by examining the portraits and careers of some of history's most notorious mistresses and courtesans as they have been represented in art from the 17th to the 20th century.

The Mona Lisa is one of the most iconic paintings in Western art.  Painted by Leonardo in Florence in 1503, it accompanied him to France in 1517, eventually passing to the Louvre.  This lecture looks at the reasons for her fame – and incidentally, explains why she is smiling.

In the early C7th a great ship was dragged ashore in Suffolk.  It became the burial place of a powerful Anglo-Saxon warlord, buried with a mound of treasures from all over the known world.  This lecture explores what insights the items offer and what questions they pose about their world.

This lecture explores the variety of approaches that artists have used to depict the scene of Jesus’ body being removed from the Cross. Analysing works from Rogier van der Weyden and Rembrandt to C20th artists, it examines what these paintings say to us today.

Starting with a look at the origins of opera as a form of courtly entertainment in C17th Italy, this overview takes in the opulent spectacles at the court of the Sun King, examines the legacy of the two creative giants of the C19th, Verdi and Wagner.

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 one of the finest soldiers in history, admired by such other great martial figures as Napoleon and Wellington.

From relative obscurity as a low-ranking consort, we explore the events which led to her confirmation as Dowager Empress Cixi in 1861 and her strategy to preserve, then revitalise, imperial rule after a series of humiliating military defeats by Western colonial powers.

The art of mediaeval Europe is invariably interpreted in relation to the Christian religion it was designed to serve, however the clergy were often the target of wicked visual satire.  Human weakness was a fertile source of laughter and the humour was sometimes bawdy.

Joan Eardley’s career lasted barely 15 years.  During that time, she concentrated on two very different themes:  the extraordinarily candid paintings of children in the Townhead area of Glasgow and paintings of the fishing village of Catterline with its leaden skies and wild sea.

St Paul’s Cathedral has become one of the icons of Britain; from the paintings of Canaletto to the photos of the Blitz, it rises above London.  This lecture looks at the genius of its creator, Sir Christopher Wren: scientist, anatomist, mathematician, architect and urban planner. 

Montmartre is evocative of Bohemian life, high spirits, decadence, poverty and revolutionary art in Paris.  Home to some of France’s greatest artists, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso would paint canvases that would shake the very foundations of Western art. 

For Lee Miller, a Woman at War was any woman caught up in WW2. She photographed faultless images for Vogue in London’s bombed out streets, documented the magnificent work of the WRNS, ATS, Land Girls and nurses, and shows us the concentration camp victims and refugees of Europe.

We are pleased to welcome back Antony Penrose who for 30 years has conserved and disseminated the work of his parents, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. He is the director of The Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection at Farley Farm House in Sussex and has seen his parents' work featured in major exhibitions at the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Whitworth. He has lectured at museums and universities around the world, and made documentaries for television. Publications include The Lives of Lee Miller, Lee Miller's War (editor), The Angel and the Fiend, The Home of the Surrealists, Roland Penrose the Friendly Surrealist and The Boy Who Bit Picasso.

To mark the centenary of women getting the vote, this lecture explores the story of suffragettes through portrayals in art and their own artistic productions, and will look at how contemporary artists choose to portray female politicians in our own time.

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

Neil contrasts the legend of Lawrence of Arabia with the true story of what happened in the desert war of 1916 – 1918. The numerous archaeological remains have been the subject of a 10 year programme of research leading to a new analysis of the war and assessment of Lawrence’s achievements.

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. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, Editor of Military History Monthly, and Director of the Great Arab Revolt Project. In 2016 he published Lawrence of Arabia's War. He has appeared on Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

The 16th century was the high point of Venetian art, when artists such as Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese were working in the Venetian republic. Siân explores the revolutions in technique pioneered by Venetian artists, and the function of art as a means of reflecting Venice’s political harmony.

Siân Walters studied at Cambridge University. She is a lecturer at the National Gallery and Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish art & architecture, and the relationship between dance and art. Has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

Hogarth is nowadays remembered as a talented satirist, however he was extremely ambitious in other fields, including portraiture, history painting and art theory.  A wide variety of images demonstrate his exceptional originality and unparalleled eye for absurdity and human weakness.

Linda Smith holds two first-class degrees in Art History. She is an experienced guide and lecturer at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and lectures to secondary school audiences and independent arts societies.

Despite his German birth and Italian musical training, Handel remains one of the most important composers that England ever nurtured.  Peter links the world of music with the visual arts and performs live vocal and keyboard music to complement the theme of his talk.

We are very pleased to welcome Peter Medhurst back. He appears in the UK and abroad as 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 were foreign painters preferred by the aristocracy in London to English painters?  Leslie will look at the various formats and uses of art, examining the contributions of artists such as Holbein, van Dyck, Lely and Rubens and assessing their legacy and influence on the British School of painting.

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

In 1999 Janet bought and restored Barholm Castle, Gatehouse of Fleet, a ruined 16th century tower and since then has researched and photographed dozens of restorations.  

In 1999 Janet Brennan bought and restored Barholm Castle, a ruined 16th century Scottish tower and since then has researched and photographed dozens of castle restorations and written a doctoral thesis on the subject. Her book, Scotland’s Castles, Rescued, Rebuilt and Reoccupied, was published in 2014 by The History Press. Janet is Chair of the Scottish Castles Association and a member of the Board of Historic Environment Scotland. She is the committee member responsible for the Young Arts programme in her local branch, South West Scotland Decorative and Fine Arts Society. Janet is a chartered psychologist and was previously Head of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at Webster University in Leiden, Holland.

Built in the 12th century, Angkor Wat is the biggest religious monument in the world and measures a square mile. This mystical temple is a recreation on earth of the Hindu cosmos, brilliantly constructed to align with the sun and moon and covered with exquisite carvings.

Denise Heywood is an author, lecturer, photographer and journalist. She worked in Cambodia as a journalist for three years and has also lived in France and America.

Her books include one on the Buddhist temples of Laos, Ancient Luang Prabang, also in French, and her latest one is Cambodian Dance Celebration of the Gods, with a foreword by Princess Buppha Devi, daughter of King Sihanouk.

Now based in London, she is a lecturer for the The Arts Society, The Art Fund, The School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on their post-graduate Asian Art Course and Madingley Hall (University of Cambridge). She has lectured all over Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Europe at universities, colleges, schools, art institutions and travel organisations including the Royal Geographical Society, The British Museum, and The National Trust.

She writes for many art, literary and travel publications, has appeared on television and radio, leads art tours to Southeast Asia and France and lectures on cruise ships sailing throughout Asia.

By the 12th century, the Way to Santiago de Compostela, or the Camino, was a well-trodden route. Hospitals, monasteries, churches and shrines grew up along the Camino and cities along it prospered.  Pilgrim tales abound, and the Camino still exerts a fascination today.  Gail has walked most of it.

We are pleased to welcome back the historian, art historian, and painter Gail Turner. She has lecturered for NADFAS since 1992 and lectures regularly for the V&A High Renaissance and Baroque course and taught on Cambridge University International Summer Schools. She has led tours to Spain for NADFAS, lectured in the Prado and Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid 1983-5,and was Deputy Curator of Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome 1978-80.

In 2015 Gail was awarded the Encomienda de Isabel la Catolica (the equivalent of the CBE) by the King of Spain for promoting Spanish culture among British audiences.

In 1915 Churchill was rescued from depression by the ‘muse of painting’. Painting was the mainstay that enabled one of our greatest national leaders to achieve what he did. Churchill’s paintings record landscapes from the Riviera, to Blenheim, Chartwell and Marrakech. The most fascinating aspects of this exploration of a talent beyond the mere amateur is the role it played in his personal and political life, the restorative power of the process of painting, and the insight it allows us into the art of his age. Churchill took lessons from Lavery, Sickert and Nicholson, and the choices he made tell us much about the colour, texture and direction of art in the early-twentieth century. 

Claire Walsh studied at University of Kent,Royal College of Art and took her PhD at The European University Institute, Florence.
                                                                                
Having previously worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum and lectured for the University of Warwick, she now works for the Open University. Claire has also lectured widely in Britain and abroad at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, Yale and the Huntington amongst others. She has numerous publications in academic journals and edited volumes.

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In Kipling’s company, we will explore some of Rajasthan’s magnificent architectural splendours and gain some insights into the rich cultural history of the ‘Land of Kings’.

Elizabeth Merry has more than 25 years experience lecturing to adults in the UK, Europe and Australasia on various subjects including literature and poetry, classical art and architecture, and aspects of the visual arts.

The Lunar Society of Birmingham, whose members included James Watt, Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, were both artists and scientists and their legacy of experimentation in the 18th and 19th centuries helped give us the modern industrial world we know today,

Sally Hoban studied at the University of Birmingham, firstly in the History of Art department graduating with a BA (Hons) in 1996 and secondly in the School of History, where she gained a PhD in 2014.

She is passionate about public engagement with history and has broadcast on BBC Two, BBC Four and on national and local radio. She has written for national and international publications including arts reviews for The Lancet medical journal, and was the antiques and arts correspondent for The Birmingham Post newspaper between 2005 and 2009. Sally presents regular films for History West Midlands.

Huguenots (French-speaking Calvinists) came to this country in huge numbers in the late 17C escaping persecution in Catholic France.  They were welcome – as Protestants - but as also bringing a wide variety of skills in many fields - as silk weavers, silversmiths, clock and watch makers, opticians, bankers, gilders, ironworkers, horticulturists etc.  Names such as Paul de Lamerie, Courtauld, Tijou, Dolland, Jourdain, Bosanquet spring to mind. In virtually all areas, the Huguenots were innovators and way ahead of the English.

Their influence was profound and English craftsmen and merchants were forced to adopt new practices and improve their own skills or go out of business.  Although the majority settled in London, others found their way to East Anglia, Devon, Canterbury and Scotland. This talk examines the influence and lasting impact this extraordinary group of immigrants had on technical skills, design, the sciences, horticulture, banking and social display and ceremony. 

Sue Jackson originally worked in art and design publishing (Phaidon and Yale University Press), but now lectures for the National Trust, U3A, City Literary Institute. A qualified Blue Badge Guide, she gives guided walks on various themes and has published work on the lost world of the River Fleet. 

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera became London's longest-running theatrical hit when first produced in 1728, and it was on the stage every year for the rest of the 18th century. The work set out as a deliberate contrast to the Italian operas by Handel and others that had dominated musical theatre in London for nearly twenty years. The popularity of The Beggar's Opera continued for much of the 19th century, and a revival at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1920 again broke theatrical records, running for nearly 1,500 performances. The Beggar's Opera inspired several adaptations internationally, most famously the Brecht/Weill Die Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera). The lecture examines the show's appeal and influence over the centuries.

After studying at Trinity College Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, Jeremy Barlow worked at first chiefly in the theatre as a musical director, flautist and composer, and at the BBC as a radio producer and broadcaster. He then focused increasingly on early music as a performer, playing baroque flute, recorder and harpsichord, and directing the Broadside Band from 1979. Jeremy arranged the music of The Beggar's Opera for the BBC TV production directed by Jonathan Miller. He has made an edition of the music (Oxford University Press) and directed a complete recording for (Hyperion Records, CDA 66591/2). The recording won an Edison Award.

Denmark is blessed with no less than fourteen Royal Castles and palaces. Over the centuries the Danish Kings enriched the land with great buildings programmes, from simple dwellings to sumptuous palaces. In this lecture Hanne will look at the Rosenborg Palace, the Fredriksborg Palace, the Amalienborg Palace and the Fredensborg Palace, four of the most famous, splendid palaces and their extraordinary history will be discussed.

Hanne Sutcliffe has extensive experience lecturing to museums, art and historical societies. She is a NADFAS and Art Fund Lecturer, and extra-mural lecturer at Leeds University and Harogate College.

As a guide and lecturer she has toured Australia, South Africa, the USA and Europe and on cruise liners in the Far East. She has published on the Chinese Ceramics at Lotherton Hall and is a Council Member of the Oriental Ceramics Society.

Fra Filippo Lippi’s legacy included many innovations in composition and colour. We see his style evolve and admire the graceful elegance of his work.Some artists painted so exquisitely that it’s hard to credit that their personal lives were a series of lascivious engagements, missed deadlines, accusations of fraud and exasperated patrons, but that is the case with the fifteenth-century Carmelite monk, Fra Filippo Lippi. His work still causes wonder 600 years after he was born. His legacy was not only the many innovations he made in composition and colour, but also that Botticelli was one of his pupils and Filippino Lippi was one of two children he had with the nun, Lucrezia Buti.

Filippo Lippi’s life is very well documented so we are able to follow him through his many adventures and commissions. We can see his style evolve from the monumental forms of Masaccio who was his first great influence, to the graceful elegance of his later work, full of soft shades, delicate moulding and astonishing attention to detail. He was able to make a pearl look like a real pearl. He graduated from stolid groups of holy figures, to scenes that are both ethereal and riotous. His last great works in Spoleto Cathedral must surely have gained him a place in heaven.

Following a 20 year career in the army Imogen Corrigan turned to a life-long interest resulting in a 1st class degree from the University of Kent in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval History. She has beenlecturing and running study tours on Anglo-Saxon and Medieval history for some years. As well as being a NADFAS lecturer she is a speaker for the U3A, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Commission for Military History.

The Great War cast its long shadow over the whole of the 20thcentury and changed history and society for ever. The horror and the trauma in the trenches of the battlefields of France in the War is beyond description; but along with the violence, the terrible suffering and loss of life there was manifest courage, heroism, compassion and companionship. This lecture sets Owen’s brief life in its context, draws on his poetry, the work of war artists and the compelling photographic images of the conflict.

Denis Moriarty is an ex-BBCtv Music and Arts director who is also an experienced lecturer for NADFAS and the National Trust. He now leads cultural tours in music, architecture and history world-wide.

2016 sees the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.  This talk looked at his life, the influences of the Renaissance Age and how his work impacted on the global stage.

On Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914, his ship became trapped in pack ice and sank. Shackleton and his crew survived Their story was documented by Frank Hurley, the expedition’s photographer, whose images form the visual narrative of this epic journey.