Online Lectures
'Ceramics in the Frame from the Renaissance to Rossetti'
An inaugural series of six online lectures for 2023.
More details including lecture titles and dates will be posted soon.
I will be contributing three online lectures for the 6-part series 'Paradise on Porcelain', organised by The Gardens Trust
14th November at 18:00 'A Passion for Porcelain - Flowers and the Gardens of Asia'
21st November at 18:00 'Porcelain, Flowers and Magnificence in 18th Century Europe'
5th December at 18:00 'From Chelsea to Coalport: Flowers, Porcelain and the British Garden'
If you would like to discuss options for online lectures for your own society or organisation, then please send me a message through this link.
FIVE YEARS, FIVE MINUTES, FIVE OBJECTS (A DIFFERENT STYLE OF ONLINE LECTURE)
How often do we pass quickly through the rooms of a museum or art gallery, glancing at the displays in our haste to absorb everything from paintings to sculpture, jewellery, furniture, silver, porcelain, musical instruments, textiles and the myriad works of art from around the world? Yet often, these artefacts are startlingly beautiful and the product of much passion and ingenuity. Some are little-known and remain hidden in the shadows whilst concealing their fascinating stories. In our modern era, online technology on our laptops, computers or tablets allows us to view these works of art in close detail, giving us the time and opportunity for contemplation and detailed study.
‘Five Years, Five Minutes, Five Objects’ is a series of separate and unique lectures. ‘Five Years’ symbolises the extensive amount of time required for artists and artisans to perfect their skills. ‘Five Minutes’ represents the brief moment that we often accord to exhibits in a museum. Each lecture will comprise a detailed study of five objects. These have been selected from many thousands of works of art in our national museums and art galleries which I have loved, studied and admired with friends, colleagues, students and visitors during almost two decades of leading museum tours.
You have a choice of five broad themes:
1 – ‘People: Portraits, Mythology and Faith’
2 – ‘Magnificence, Gifts and Pilgrimage’
3 – ‘Inspired by Nature’
4 – ‘Love, Chivalry and Marriage’
5 – ‘Crafts, Ingenuity and the Artisan’
After you have chosen your theme from these five options, the contents of your lecture - the five works of art - will remain wrapped in mystery as a surprise for you, which will be unveiled as your lecture unfolds. Every lecture is unique as its exact combination of works of art will never be repeated. For the Arts Society, the lecture can appear on your programme as, for example:
‘Five Years, Five Minutes, Five Objects: Magnificence, Gifts and Pilgrimage’
Nicholas Hilliard, Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, The ‘Phoenix’ Portrait (detail), c.1575, National Portrait Gallery