Lectures

Scottish architect, designer and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh is now a well-known name and a major draw for the tourist industry in Glasgow, with several of his buildings still existing, as well as his designs for Tea Rooms.  However, his work was not always so well received and, following some early success, which included his architectural masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, his prospects floundered.  His work was increasingly unfashionable as Glasgow turned to Neoclassicism and he found himself struggling to secure commissions.  In this lecture we track him from that early success in his native Glasgow, through the years of doubt and struggle, ultimately to the South of France where he enjoyed the last few years of his life travelling with his wife and collaborator, Margaret, and reinvented himself as a water colour painter.  With a wonderful array of beautifully designed buildings, furniture and interiors to enjoy along the way, we explore how such early promise turne to disappointment and Mackintosh became the archetypal misunderstood artist.

Rosalind is an experienced guide for Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. She lectures at the Tate, to independent arts societies and on cruises, and leads art appreciation holidays.

Art’s Hidden Secrets is about the messages, codes, and self-portraits found in famous works of art. 

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

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

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

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

Tony Rawlins has had a career n advertising, both in the UK and abroad, which is still active. He spends more time now on philanthropic projects for local communities and on lecturing

In his book Historic Building Mythbusting the archaeologist James Wright, a resident of Nottinghamshire, has used many case studies from our county to articulate some of the tales which are told about ancient architecture. These include stories of secret passages underneath Wollaton, ship timbers in Worksop, strange sculptures at Laxton parish church, stones used by archers to sharpen arrows in Wilford, and yarns about Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem being the oldest inn in England… but are any of these stories true?

James Wright is a buildings archaeologist specialising in medieval and early modern architecture, and who has strong links with the University of Nottingham.  He founded Triskele Heritage which provides a variety of archaeologic services, public talks, broadcasting and publications.

This talk is in itself a celebration of how the Ancient Greeks and Romans created our love of wine.  How wine's popularity spread, how wine production has and has not changed, what wine connoisseurs 2,000 years ago thought made a wine great!  As an archaeologist who has excavated a Roman wine-producing warehouse,  Gillian has promised that this talk will refresh your palette!

Gillian Hovel, also known as "The Muddy Archaelogist", is an author, historian and public speaker who provides passion, colour and depth to the present by visiting the past.  She is expert in the ancient world, in archaeology, and in Latin.

The paintings of the young Monet and his fellow artists captured the fashion for Japanese arts and crafts, notably his wife Camille as La Japonaise. Monet’s own collection of ukiyo-e or ‘floating world’ prints by Utamaro, Hiroshige and Hokusai still line the walls in his house in Giverny. We trace the development of Monet’s interpretation of Japonisme from canvas to horticulture, and how impressionism and his arguably unique water gardens attracted both influential Japanese collectors and budding artists. 

Caroline Holmes is a garden historian, author and presenter who is expert on impressionism, botanists and horticultural power play. She is interested in artists and their gardens.

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

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe started her career by training as a paintings conservator, and then moved into art history, working for Sotheby’s. She has been a lecturer in Old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for over 30 years. She has also lectured for a number of institutions in London and elsewhere, including the National Gallery, the Royal Academy, the Wallace Collection and the Arts Society. Her particular interest is in demonstrating how to analyse the subtle stylistic features of a painting that might tell us who the artist is, and when a painting is a copy, good or ba

Most 21st century viewers have no idea that Constable’s exuberant, almost abstract, brush and palette-knife work shocked audiences a full 50 years before the advent of Impressionism. In fact, his handling is often so avant-garde that it is literally impossible to tell what the paint strokes depict! People are astonished to learn that he only sold 20 or so paintings to English collectors, family and friends during his lifetime, as the rough and ‘specky’ surfaces of his canvases horrified audiences with their lack of ‘finish’. By contrast, he sold many pictures to forward-looking Parisian art dealers and French collectors.

In 1986 Sarah founded the Constable Research Project to study John Constable's oil painting materials and techniques. She has taught courses on Constable and Turner's painting methods and materials. After 30 years, the project continues to flourish.

This lecture examines the extraordinary  life (1854 - 1900) and dramatic times of Oscar Wilde from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity. We travel with him to the United States and examine his starring role within the artistic & theatrical worlds of late 19th century London. We visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts. Finally, we learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous.

Simon Whtehouse is an actor, presenter and a London Blue Badge tourist guide.