Velázquez(1599-1660) was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of spain, noted for his portraits, of the spanish royal family and others, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas in 1656.  This Lecture considers the way in which the artist raises questions about reality and illusion, via complex and […]

The origins of our English Christmas lie in distant European history, combining the pagan traditions of the Roman and Scandinavian winter festivals.  In the 4thC AD the Christian Church began to celebrate the birth of Christ, and pagan and religious traditions blended, changing with the social and political landscape. This lecture explores the resultant rich […]

Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in 1stC BC.  During WW1, the town was all but obliterated by artillery fire and, in 1920, awarded the Military Cross by King George V.  After the war the town was extensively rebuilt with the main square, including the Cloth Hall and […]

  From his radical youth in the vibrant world of avant-garde 1890s Paris, to his death in rural Southern France in 1947, Pierre Bonnard moved from modern and urban subjects to the limited and domestic. Despite the glorious, atmospheric colour and shimmering decorative effect of his paintings, Bonnard was often dismissed by the avant-garde during […]

William Blake by Thomas Phillips   The Tygers of Wrath are wiser than the Horses of Instruction William Blake: Poet, Painter and Philosopher; Rebel, Radical, and Revolutionary. Called a man without a mask by his friends, Blake was always less ahead of his time than outside it, creating his own mythology to tell the truths […]

  The work of S.J. Peploe and J.D. Fergusson was seen in Edinburgh and London in the decade leading up to World War 1, but Hunter and Cadell were less well known. All were bold pioneers in the field of rich colour and exuberant brushwork. The strong light and bright colour they discovered in France […]

The Huguenots came to England in huge numbers in the late 17th century bringing a wide variety of skills - as silk weavers, silversmiths, clock makers, opticians, bankers, gilders, ironworkers, horticulturists etc. Names such as Paul de Lamerie, Samuel Courtauld and Jean Tijou spring to mind. In virtually all areas, they were innovators and more […]