​December 11th
Dining in Style by David Evans
English authors blogspot
People have been eating at tables for thousands of years, but setting the table , is a more recent concept. This lecture takes us from the medieval period to the Edwardian era and introduces us to the changes in the serving of food and dressing the table.
 David Evans originally trained as a carpenter and joiner. He has worked for the Open University and the Museum of Welsh Life. He is property manager at Petworth House, Sussex.
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​January 8th
​The Glamour Years 1929-1959 by Andrew Prince
website of Andrew Prince
With increased leisure time, thanks to the development of labour-saving devices for the home, advertisers were persuading us to enjoy ourselves and indulge in the finer things in life. The ultimate glamorous lifestyle was portrayed on the silver screen, but how did the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Grace Kelly influence the great designers?
Andrew has designed elegant and beautifully crafted jewellery for an exhibition at the V & A and for many films and television programmes.
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​February 19th
The European Enlightenment and the Evolution of the Universal Museum
​ Dr Thomas Flynn
British Museum - the Enlightenment Gallery                  metadata
This lively lecture looks back into the late seventeenth century to discover how the Cabinets of Curiosity assembled by the princely classes emerged as part of the Europe-wide intellectual revolution known as the ‘Enlightenment’. Why have these great institutions recently become so controversial?Are they sustainable, or do we need to reimagine the Universal Museum for a changing world?
Tom Flynn is a London-based art historian and writer. He holds a Masters degree in design history from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex.
March 11th
The Awkward Bodies of British Modernism by Kate Aspinall
Picture
Girl in bed Lucien Freud from Kate Aspinall's website

The pale flesh of Lucian Freud’s women. The red stars and barbs of William Coldstream’s nudes. The viscerally disturbing figures of Francis Bacon. This  lecture explores the special talent of British painters in the twentieth century for representing the human form in a particularly expressive manner. As disturbing as it is sometimes cathartic, the changing attitudes to depicting the human body reflected artists’ changing relationship to society and to the events of the long and troubled twentieth century.
Dr Kate Aspinall is an independent historian, writer, and artist. Based in London, her research looks to the role of drawing in 20th century British ​visual culture.
               
​April 8th
Gardens of Earthly Delight 
​by Stella Lyons
The Gleaners -Millet                  Wikipedia Commons
“‘Without sacrificing scholarship, Stella Lyons has a most engaging way of hooking an audience into sharing her passionate interest in art history, drawing three dimensional human stories and experiences from the two dimensional canvas” – Maev Kennedy, writer and Arts correspondent for the Guardian
Looking at imagery from diverse centuries and societies, we explore how portrayals of gardens, flora, and agriculture in art, have given us insight into our relationship with the natural world, and helped us to define what it means to be human. We look at a variety of different approaches to the subject, such as the shocking symbolism in Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, the political imagery in Millet’s ‘The Gleaners’, and the beautiful textile designs of William Morris.
​May 13th
The Luttrell Psalter
​by Professor Michelle Brown
Wikipedia commons
The Luttrell Psalter is one of the most famous medieval manuscripts because of its rich illustrations of everyday life in the 14th century. It was not the first to include scenes of contemporary rustic life, but it is exceptional in their number and fascinating detail.This is one of the most unusual and insightful of English medieval artworks.

Michelle P. Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She was previously (1986–2004) Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. 
​June 10th 
A.G.M at 2 pm followed by the lecture at 2.15.
Museum of the Missing 
Shauna Isaac
Vermeer - The Concert                                          wikipedia
What kind of person would dare to steal a legendary painting—and who would buy something so instantly recognizable? 
A museum made up of all the stolen artworks would be the most valuable collection ever.
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Shauna Isaac, an expert in World War II art restitution, will examine how the works were taken and the impact of the thefts.









Missing - Rembrandt's only seascape
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