and Annual General Meeting

(Please be seated by 10.30am for the start of the AGM - tea and coffee will be available from 9.45 to take account of the earlier start time.)

Planting and painting, cultivating and creating: inspired and influenced by their dedication to painting ‘en plein air’ artists of the Impressionist movement had an especial relationship with gardens and landscape, most famously expressed by Claude Monet (1840-1926) at Giverny. This talk explores that relationship drawing on the wide range of gardens created and depicted by artists including Gustav Caillebotte, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederick Carl Frieseke, and Pierre Bonnard, placing Giverny and Monet in a wider perspective.NOTE: 2026 is the centenary of the death of Claude Monet.

Twigs Way completed research and a PhD in Garden History.  She is fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of gardens and landscape in society, art and culture. With a background in archaeology her understanding of landscape and design is embedded within their cultural context. Her academic research has concentrated on a range of topics including the role of women and gender in garden and landscape design of all periods, gardens of the working and middling classes, and the impact of politics and war on design and production. Whether focussing on individual plants or centuries of garden culture, Her  work encompasses symbolism and meaning, class and gender, art and literature. From gnomes in Neasden to hollyhocks from the Holy Land every plant has a tale to tell, every garden a past and every person a role in that past.

This lecture takes the audience on a tour of some of the extraordinary images that exist in some 400 churches in England. The art form was in vogue mainly from C13th – C15th and rarely includes religious images despite the misericords being positioned so close to the high altar. The secular, sometimes bizarre and often profane nature of their subjects meant that many survived the Reformation and later religious enthusiasts.

Much social comment can be gleaned from these carvings even though there are no records describing why particular images were chosen and very often it is not possible to date them accurately.

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen Corrigan went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham.  She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land.  She has written Stone on Stone: the Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published 2019.  Imogen is a Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators, and an advisor on memorials and monuments for Canterbury's Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Iran has a sophisticated cultural heritage ignored in the headlines. The main part of the lecture illustrates the development of the spectacular architecture in the mosques and palaces of Persia through the Islamic period, with an emphasis on their brilliant tilework and painting, including the splendid buildings of Shah Abbas' early 17th century Isfahan. Persia’s classic gardens are mentioned, and beautiful examples of manuscript illustration (‘miniatures’) are included.  The lecture explains how the Shi'a form of Islam originated and became the ruling creed in the late 20th century Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini.

John Osborne graduated in Classics at Cambridge University.  He taught Classics at Marlborough College for over thirty years.  He worked for the British Council in Iran and Turkey, which gave him a long-standing interest in Islamic culture. He is a tutor at Marlborough College Summer School, lecturer in the Department of Continuing Education, University of Bath, and a guide at Salisbury Cathedral.  John is also a lecturer on cruises and has led tours to Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, and Turkey and other countries in S.E. Europe and the Mediterranean.  He has also lectured in Australia and New Zealand.

American pioneers in glass technology from the late 19th century onwards provided much of the innovative tradition that was to bring about the birth of the Studio Glass Movement in the USA in the 1960s. Glass manufacturers such as Louis Comfort Tiffany developed new blown shapes and technologies to create new surface effects and an appearance of movement in glass that was to be continued in the work of studio glass makers such as Dale Chihuly.

The Studio Glass Movement dates from 1962, with its emphasis on the aesthetics of form and colour now influencing studio art glass makers everywhere.

Scott Anderson trained as an archaeologist at Leicester University and was a professional archaeologist for ten years before his interests shifted to the world of art, antiques and auctioneering. In 1994 he joined the team at Southampton Solent University lecturing on the only BA(Hons) degree course of its kind to look at the commercial art world. Now, as a Senior Lecturer, he teaches courses on the history and theory of interior design and visual culture. He has lectured to many adult audiences for a variety of University Extra-mural departments and the WEA. For the last few years he has also worked as a consultant valuer for the BBC television programme Flog It.

The ducal palace of Urbino is the most perfect of Italian renaissance palaces. It was the creation of the cultivated soldier-prince, Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, a showcase for his prodigious wealth and impeccable taste, and the setting for the ideal renaissance court described in Castiglione’s renaissance bestseller, The Book of the Courtier. This lecture takes us on a tour of the palace, from the exquisitely proportioned courtyard and vast throne room, to the gemlike private study and functional apartments such as the ducal bathroom and indoor riding school. We also look at treasures that once adorned the palace, notably paintings by Piero della Francesca.

Paula Nuttall is a specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely, notably From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500 (Yale, 2004).  She has collaborated on major exhibitions including Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution (Ghent, 2020).  Before retiring in 2023 Paula was Director of the V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year Course, and has taught at – among others – the Courtauld Institute and the British Institute of Florence.  She now focuses on the Arts Society, her own online courses, and research.

This lecture focuses on the work and achievements of, and challenges faced by leading sculptors based in Britain in the 20th century. They comprise Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro, Elisabeth Frink and Antony Gormley. In their different ways, they all embraced modernism, but some more than others.

Some looked to African, Oceanic and pre-Columbian cultures, while others looked to Paris. Some embarked on direct carving, while others modelled or shaped their materials. Some embraced social and humanitarian themes, while others opted for abstraction

The arrival of the Knights of St John in Malta in 1530 was the prelude to two and a half centuries of remarkable building and artistic activity. Their heroic defeat of the Turks in the legendary Great Siege of 1565 inspired the building of the new city of Valetta, the finest Renaissance fortified city in Europe. 

The Grand Masters were great patrons, commissioning numerous magnificent works of art. Dignitaries: Knights of Malt.  After Antoine de Favray (1706–1798)  Collection of the Museum of the Order of St John

It was during the Middle Ages that many of the familiar images associated with the Christmas story were devised and popularized: including the stable in Bethlehem inhabited by the ox and ass. What were the sources for these images? Are they always of biblical origin?

This lecture, illustrated by images taken from sources as diverse as illuminated manuscripts, church portals, liturgical vestments, stained glass windows and goldsmiths’ work, will tell the stories surrounding Christ’s birth and investigate the often surprising sources for certain aspects of this well-known narrative.

By looking first at Madras, and then Calcutta – there is an opportunity to look at the very best of the buildings constructed in the heyday of the East India Company. This lecture touches on the early 17th century origins of the East India Company and considers the tentative architectural endeavours of the amateur architects and engineers working at the Company’s behest.

Study is made of Company’s magnificent late 18th and early 19th century classical buildings, as well as of the stunning late flowering of the Indo Saracenic in Madras and the remarkable Edwardian Baroque of the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta.

Ravilious has been described as the greatest English watercolourist of the 20th century and his images of the landscape and of everyday objects attract passionate devotees. A prolific painter, printmaker and designer, he became an Official War Artist in 1939, and was killed in 1942 but his legacy is a body of work reflecting deep delight in the world in which he lived. This talk looks at his work and that of some of his contemporaries working on the Home Front in the Second World War.  

1934 painting by Eric Ravilious, titled "Shepherd's Cottage, Firle". Depicts a house with a man tending its garden.  Eric Ravilious  Public domain

The Australian indigenous people possess probably the oldest continuous culture on ourplanet. From the extraordinary early rock and cave art to the modern oil painting, these artists are great storytellers, passing their mystic culture and sense of the sacred nature of the landscape down the generations.

This talk investigates the early beginnings of this fascinating art and traces its development to the modern day where it is exhibited in international galleries and sells for high prices on the world art market.

The Huguenots came to England in huge numbers in the late 17th century bringing a wide variety of skills - as silk weavers, silversmiths, clock makers, opticians, bankers, gilders,iron workers, horticulturists etc. Names such as Paul de Lamerie, Samuel Courtauld and Jean Tijou spring to mind.

In virtually all areas, they were innovators and more advanced than the English who were forced to improve their own skills or go out of business. Although the majority settled in London, others found their way to East Anglia, Macclesfield and Canterbury. This talk examines their lasting legacy.

This lecture looks at western bookbinding, in particular during the age of the printed book. Aspects of the book trade, including bookbinding practices and materials used in bindings  are shown and, as structure and decoration changed as the centuries passed, the individual  binders’ fingers tell their own tale as the craft developed.  The bookbinding trade has long recycled waste materials, some of which may be more  valuable than the books themselves. Bookbindings also provide an insight into the owner’s  wealth and station in life, as books were bought unbound and bindings were therefore  generally chosen by the first owner until the 19th century

The Ming Dynasty came to power in 1368. Ming translates as bright and the first emperors  of this new dynasty were regarded as semi-divine and blessed by the 'Mandate of Heaven'.  China's new capital city, Beijing, had massive fortified walls which protected the Imperial  Palace - the Forbidden City.

Fine craftsmanship developed under the patronage of the emperors including the making of  glittering gold vessels which reflected the brightness of the new dynasty, brilliantly coloured  red lacquer, jade sculptures and porcelain vessels including the legendary 'Ming Vases'.  Lustrous silk was made into robes and tiny embroidered shoes for ladies with bound 'golden  lotus' feet