Archived lectures

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04
Dec
2025

Seascapes of the British Coast

Foula

Tuesday 20th January 2026 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Susan Wood

This lecture was inspired by the late great printmaker Norman Ackroyd, who spent four decades recording the coastal landscapes of the British archipelago in etchings and sketches. A “seascape””can be a painting, print, sculpture, photograph or installation. Starting in the very far north in Shetland we move clockwise round the British coast via locations including Orkney, East Fife, Whitby, Alburgh, Brighton, St Ives and Liverpool, ending up beyond the Outer hebrides in St Kilda.

Posted by Martin Lutley in Archived lectures
19
Mar
2024

London Bridged – 3,500 Years of Crossing the Thames

Tuesday 19th March 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Charlie Forman

People were bridging the Thames in the Bronze Age - 1,500 years before the Romans built London Bridge. The last 200 years have seen over 50 new crossings over and under the river. Some are great feats of engineering, some are architecturally elegant. Every crossover changes the city’s genetic code.

Posted by Malcolm Lawrenson in Archived lectures
16
Apr
2024

Alma Tad. of the Royal Acad.

Medieval revelry

Tuesday 16th April 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Tim Stimson replaces Louise Schofield who is indisposed.

The lecture title is from the song celebrating this cheery Dutchman’s knighthood during Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. It conveys the widespread affection with which he was regarded by his public, and the riches he enjoyed through the popularity of his accurate and amusing recreations of Roman life. His pictures were once criticised as “Victorians in togas”, yet that is their charm now; and the parallels between the Roman and the British empires are entertainingly apt. The partially disguised eroticism, of course, did no harm to the sales of his sumptuous evocations of delightful decadence.

Posted by vivalogue in Archived lectures
17
May
2024

Stamford Raffles, Art Collector and Discoverer of Singapore

Portmeirion

Tuesday 21st May 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Denise Heywood

Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was a scholar, polymath and the enlightened colonial administrator of Java. In 1804 he discovered the C8th temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash. He founded Singapore and also acquired wondrous artefacts in Java, such as shadow puppets and textiles, now in the British Museum.
Posted by vivalogue in Archived lectures
17
Jun
2024

Discovering MacDonald Gill: Artist and Mapmaker

Covent Garden Piazza

Tuesday 18th June 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Caroline Walker

MacDonald Gill, brother of the sculptor Eric Gill, was an architect, illustrator, graphic designer and letterer, best known for his eye-catching pictorial map posters for London Underground and the Empire Marketing Board. He created beautiful painted map panels for buildings, magnificent murals for churches and Cunard liners as well as the alphabet and regimental badges for the Imperial War Graves Commission.

Posted by Malcolm Lawrenson in Archived lectures
16
Jul
2024

Arts and Crafts of Mexico, Past and Present

Punch1919

Tuesday 16th July 2024 at 10.45am 

MARY GLEN MEMORIAL LECTURE

Lecturer: Chloe Sayer

Arts and crafts remain an essential part of Mexican life. After the Spanish conquest of 1521, the techniques and art styles of Europe merged with those of the New World. Drawing on skills inherited from Aztec, Maya and Spanish predecessors, makers bring a modern vision to ancient traditions. Exquisite textiles, silver jewellery, wooden dance-masks, imaginative toys and fine pottery are still used in many regions
Posted by vivalogue in Archived lectures
17
Sep
2024

Grace Darling and the Fine Art of Saving Lives at Sea

Gertrude Bell

Tuesday 17th September 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: James Taylor

Darling’s daring rescue of steamship passengers off the Northumberland coast in 1838 brought her international fame. Discover more about her bravery and short life and the artistic contribution that has helped to keep her in the public eye. Grace became the ‘poster girl’ of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was the first woman awarded their medal for gallantry.

Posted by vivalogue in Archived lectures
15
Oct
2024

Murder, Mystery, and Paint – the Story of Walter Sickert

London Underground Design

Tuesday 15th October 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Michael Howard

The well-known crime writer Patricia Cornwell has claimed that the celebrated artist Walter Sickert was responsible for the murders attributed to the infamous Jack the Ripper. This lecture will attempt to untangle the truth of this claim following a trail of murder, mystery, mayhem and paint. Was this much-loved, colourful and enigmatic painter Jack the Ripper – or not?

Posted by Malcolm Lawrenson in Archived lectures
19
Nov
2024

Burton Constable, the House and its People

History of Wine

Tuesday 19th November 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Jenny Scruton

Burton Constable Hall is a large Elizabethan country house set in a park designed by Capability Brown. With its 18th & 19th century interiors and a remarkable C18th ‘cabinet of curiosities’, the rooms at Burton Constable are filled with spectacular collections that survive from when the Hall was the Constable family home.

Posted by Malcolm Lawrenson in Archived lectures