Past Lectures & visits 25 September 2025 RUPERT DICKENS Rembrandt’s hand: a question of attribution What makes a genuine Rembrandt? This question has dogged museums and art historians since the great Dutch master’s reputation soared to prominence at the end of the 19th century. The Rembrandt Research Project tried for nearly five decades to pare down the painter’s oeuvre, using the latest technology and a barrage of experts. But a backlash in the 1990s cause many disavowed Rembrandts to be put back on the list. This lecture charts the ebb and flow of Rembrandt attribution and tries to answer the question: who decides? Science or the subjective eye of the connoisseur. 28 August 2025 LUCY HUGHES-HALLET George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham – the Handsomest Man in Europe and Patron of the Arts A king's favourite who amassed a great art collection. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you!’ 26 June 2025 SALLY HOBAN The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Midlands Many people are familiar with the national designers of the 19th century Arts and Crafts Movement such as William Morris and Charles Ashbee. But the Midlands made a huge contribution to the movement as well. Designers at The Bromsgrove Guild of Handicrafts for example produced the exquisite wrought iron gates for Buckingham Palace. This lecture sets the work of these Midlands designers in the context of the national Arts and Crafts Movement using examples of jewellery made by Arthur and Georgina Gaskin, stained glass by Florence Camm, ceramics from the Ruskin Pottery and more. 13 May 2025 Outing: Lamport Hall and Gardens Extra fee payable A Tudor founder, blind book collector, wayward 17th century grand tourist, eccentric Victorian, Hollywood actor, commanding wives and dedicated daughters – Lamport is full of characters. As home to the Isham family for over four centuries, the fortunes, interests and trials of each generation have left their mark. The Hall is set in approximately 10 acres of tranquil gardens, the result of over 450 years of love and dedication, enclosed by a spacious park. Although their size and location are the same as when they were first laid out, their design has been strongly influenced by the interests and tastes of successive owners. 22 May 2025 HILARY WILLIAMS The Frick and Wallace Collections and Their Link with Knole The Frick Collection, New York, is one of the finest-quality museums in the world. It belongs largely to the Gilded Age of American connoisseurship of the early years of the 20th century and is a testament to the taste of its founder, steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick. He died on the eve of WWI after being able to collect some of the best pieces available in Europe and America. His agents were really effective and the result is a first rate collection of fine French furniture, enamels, porcelain, paintings by Bellini, Van Eyck, Holbein, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Rubens, El Greco, Velázquez, Fragonard, Ingres, Renoir, JMW Turner, Constable, Whistler and many others. These are all set within an outstanding mansion in Manhattan. The Wallace Collection, in Hertford House, London, is a Pandora’s box of francophile taste in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was amassed by the Marquess of Hertford and his natural son, Sir Richard Wallace and his French wife, Lady Wallace, who, on her death in 1897, bequeathed the collection to the nation. It is stunning in its quality. Fine French furniture, Renaissance bronzes, Sevres porcelain, European paintings from Titian, Van Dyck and Rubens to Ruisdael, Gainsborough and Lawrence, adorn a sumptuous interior dripping with many pieces actually made for French Royal interiors, including Versailles. 24 April 2025 IAN COCKBURN Moorish Architecture – the Legacy of a Vanished kingdom The Alhambra of Granada, the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alcazar of Seville are the three most impressive monuments to the architectural creativity of the Moors in Spain, but there are many other examples worthy of mention too. The classical origins that influenced the Moorish style are less well-known, but fascinating to explore, as too is the unique interior decorative style developed by the Moors, which gives their architecture its beauty and exotic appeal – an appeal so strong that the Christians sometimes copied it, even as they slowly reconquered the territory from its Islamic rulers. This lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to the peninsula’s Moorish architecture. 27 March 2025 JUSTIN REAY Can Computers Cry? Art touches human emotions which machines cannot feel. Art of all kinds can touch us and make us respond, often beyond the expectation of the artist. Happiness, sadness, pity, compassion, a spiritual uplifting, curiosity, all human emotions which even the most sophisticated digital programming will never match. Justin demonstrates how art arises from human imagination to feed our emotions, and discusses the difference between mere imitation of the physical world – which even robots can be taught to do – and the creation of truly human art which enhances our lives. 27 February 2025 JAMES WRIGHT Historic Building Mythbusting In his book ‘Historic Building Mythbusting’ the archaeologist James Wright, a resident of Nottinghamshire, has used many case studies from the county to articulate some of the tales which are told about ancient architecture. These include stories of secret passages underneath Wollaton, ship timbers in Worksop, strange sculptures at Laxton parish church, stones used by archers to sharpen arrows in Wilford, and yarns about Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem being the oldest inn in England… but are any of these stories true? 23 January 2025 TIMOTHY WALKER The Subtle Science and Exact Art of Colour in English Garden Design In 1882 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. This talk looks at how to apply these principles in designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting. However, it goes further than this and looks at how contemporary work of the likes of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollack evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should show. 28 November 2024 IMOGEN CORRIGAN The Glories of Anglo-Saxon England It seems that many peoples over many centuries have wanted to live in and claim England as their own. Why? For some incoming settlers, England can’t have been the most obvious choice as richer pickings might have been had by heading southwards or eastwards. Here we will see not only who came, but also why. We will look at the many great attractions of England, not just the varied and rich pastures and natural wealth beyond belief today, but also - perhaps surprisingly – unparalleled education, justice and hierarchy: it was a good place to settle upon your heirs. 24 October 2024 SALLY DORMER Medieval Combs: Disentangling Lockdown Locks Combs survive in abundance from the Middle Ages. The majority, carved from bone or wood, were practical objects used to remove unwelcome tangles and lice, and arrange the hair, but others, fashioned from ivory and ornamented with decoration and intricate narratives, performed more elevated roles. Ivory combs decorated with scenes of courtly love and chivalry were exchanged as gifts by wealthy lovers, to beguile or demonstrate commitment, while those carved with sacred themes, played a part in ceremonial rituals involving high-ranking ecclesiastics and secular rulers. Bishops had their hair combed during their investitures, as did priests before they celebrated a Mass, and an emperor’s locks were combed in the course of his coronation. This lecture will explore why well-groomed hair was desirable in the Middle Ages, consider contemporary images of combs in use, and examine medieval combs from church treasuries and museums, some connected with individuals like St Cuthbert (d. 687), and, paradoxically, Emperor Charles the Bald (d. 877)! 26 September 2024 CHLOE SAYER The Maya Heritage: Ancient and Modern Maya culture The civilisation of the ancient Maya reached its peak between AD 300-900. Across much of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, dozens of great cities have been located, many still buried in remote parts of the jungle. Maya achievements in art and architecture were matched by a knowledge of maths, astrology, calendrics and hieroglyphic writing. Mural paintings, ceramic figurines and intricately carved stone panels provide an insight into the religious rituals, music, warfare, textiles and courtly life of the Maya. Today some six million Maya carry on many of the traditions of their ancestors. Greetham Valley Golf Club at 10.30am Thursday 22 August 2024 TOBIAS CAPWELL The Scoliotic Knight: Reconstructing the real Richard 111 The discovery of the grave of King Richard III in Leicester raised an army of new and fascinating questions. The severe scoliosis exhibited by the skeleton revealed that the twisted physique of Shakespeare’s ‘Black Legend’ was based in fact. But how could a diminutive person, suffering from a significant spinal condition, have become a skilled practitioner of the knightly fighting arts? How could he have worn armour and fought in three major battles? What would his armour have looked like? How might it have disguised the King’s condition, presenting him as a powerful warrior? In the case of a king whose royal legitimacy was questioned by many people, how were the visual trappings of knightly kingship used to solidify his claim? followed by the annual summer lunch, which we hope many of you will stay for 27 June 2024 ANNE SEBBA The Story of the Cook Sisters and how they used Opera to save lives Ida and Louise Cook were destined never to marry after decimation of the men of their generation in World War One. When Ida became a successful Mills and Boon novelist they used their earnings to indulge their love of opera, travelling all over the world but especially to Salzburg. Familiarity with Austria enabled these two eccentric opera loving sisters to undertake dangerous undercover missions in the 1930s rescuing Jewish musicians and others from the Nazis. This talk will explore the world of Opera in the 1920s and 30s - the clothes, music, celebrities, and the signed photographs coveted by fans. It will also show how Opera transformed the lives not just of these two sisters but of at least 29 families they saved. In 2010 the Government posthumously created the Cook sisters British Heroes of the Holocaust. Click here for the background of the sisters. Visit THURSDAY 09 May 2024 Fully booked Private Guided Tour of Deene Park House with lunch + explore gardens at your leisure in the afternoon Make your own way to Deene Park, Deene, Corby NN17 3EG for 10.15am £30 per person includes refreshments on arrival, the tour and a soup & sandwich buffet lunch. 23 May 2024 CHRIS GARIBALDI The Architecture of Inigo Jones, John Webb and William Samwell Whilst Inigo Jones (1573–1652) became Surveyor of the Kings Works in 1611, John Webb (1611–1672), his sometime pupil, assistant and natural successor, failed to secure the same formal role. Webb was nevertheless one of the most important and influential architects working in England in the mid-seventeenth century and was responsible for many important royal commissions. Designing part of the palace of Greenwich for Charles II and alterations to the Queen’s House in 1662, he also completed significant alterations at Belvoir Castle, home to the Dukes of Rutland, between 1654 and 1668. During the same period his work influenced that of the gentleman architect William Samwell (1628–1676) who built the palace at Newmarket between 1668 and 1671. Based on recent research, this lecture looks at the relationship between the work of these three architects for their respective royal and aristocratic patrons and places them in the context of pre-Civil War and Restoration architecture more generally, examining their lasting legacy and influence. 25 April 2024 LUCIA GAHLIN ‘Wonderful things!’ Tutankhamum’s Tomb and Treasures The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 was arguably the greatest archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. The name of this boy-king conjures up wonderful imagery and mysterious tales of the pharaohs. In this lecture I shall explore this unusual tomb and its iconic treasures. I shall examine the design and decoration of the most famous tomb in the Valley of the Kings. I shall discuss Carter’s discovery of the tomb, and explore what happened to the incredible wealth of funerary goods found inside. I shall survey these fabulous treasures, from Tutankhamun’s golden shrines to his ornate board games. 28 March 2024 CHRIS ASLAN How to get down from a Yak - Adventures in Central Asian Nomadic Textiles Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on yak, or camel at a moment’s notice; the little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world. Chris also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years. 25 January 2024 LOIS OLIVER Rosa Bonheur: animal painter extraordinaire One of the most celebrated artists of her time, French painter Rosa Bonheur had an extraordinary gift for painting animals that brought her international fame and recognition. Her works fetched exceptionally high prices on both sides of the Atlantic, and in 1865 she became the first woman to be awarded the légion d’honneur, France’s highest of merit. Defying convention, Bonheur obtained official police permission to wear men’s clothing, so that she could study animal anatomy in the male-only spaces of livestock sales. Her most famous work ‘The Horse Fair’ displays such dynamism that when it was exhibited at the 1853 Paris Salon, one critic wrote that he had to suppress the urge to jump out of the way of the galloping horses. Such was its fame, that Queen Victoria requested a private viewing at Buckingham Palace. Bonheur’s commercial success enabled her to buy the Chateau de By, near Fontainebleau, where she lived with her lifelong companion Nathalie Micas, establishing a studio and menagerie, that included sheep, gazelles, monkeys, and three lions. This lecture offers an in-depth account of her extraordinary life and work Rosa Bonheur, Lion (the Lookout) Photo Wiikmedia Commons