Tuesday
24 Nov 2009

TURNER AND THE MASTERS
(Tate Britain Exhibition, 23 September – 31 January)
Douglas Skeggs.  Lecturer and author.

This Study Day has been arranged to coincide with a major exhibition at Tate Britain.  Turner’s greatest paintings will be exhibited alongside works by old masters and contemporaries, showing that his responses to other artists were both acts of homage and a sophisticated form of art criticism.  The ever popular Douglas Skeggs will explore these ideas and look at Turner’s works in greater depth.

Booking at September meeting

Friday
26 Feb 2010

PRIVATE PALACES: LONDON’S STATELY HOMES
William Forrester.  Lecturer

William Forrester will look at the mansions of the aristocracy in London, starting in the Tudor and early Stuart period, with Arundel, Exeter and Salisbury Houses for example.  He will look at shocking losses, such as Devonshire House and Northumberland House, and great survivors, such as Marlborough and Apsley, with plenty of anecdote and unusual detail.

Booking at December meeting

Thursday
29 April 2010

CANCELLED

A HISTORY OF QUILTS AND QUILTING
(Exhibition at the V & A, 20 March – 4 July)
Jen Jones.  Lecturer, author and collector of quilts.

From March to July there will be an exhibition of quilts at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Mrs Jones, who is lending some of her quilts to the exhibition, is coming to talk about the history of quilts and the stories attached to them, the American connection and Welsh quilts is Ethiopia.  She will bring some examples from her collection with her.

Booking at February meeting

THE PRE-RAPHAELITES: A VERY DIVERSE BROTHERHOOD
Linda Smith.  Art historian, lecturer and gallery guide.

The starting point for this Study Day is the anniversary of the death of William Holman Hunt, one of the founding members of the Brotherhood.  It will explore why they believed the ideals of the Royal Academy had been eroded and debased, their response and their relationship with John Ruskin.  Some of the main figures will be looked at in depth, as will the far-reaching influence of the Brotherhood as a whole.

Booking at April meeting