Lecturing
New for 2025: now booking
Join me in Oxford from 19-26 July 2025 for a week long Summer School on 'British Baroque'. With classroom seminars, visits to the Ashmolean Museum and Blenheim Palace and a walking tour of Oxford's Baroque architecture, the course will be a visual feast and I can't wait to share it with you. We'll explore the social, political and religious context of some of Britain's most iconic art and architecture.
This course is part of the Oxford University Summer School for Adults. Full programme and booking details here.
The Arts Society
I am an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, and also lecture in person and online to other specialist and general audiences. I offer a range of lectures and study days on different themes relating to British art. My lectures include:
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Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920
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The Baroque country house
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Making sense of portraits in country houses
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Queens, consorts and courtiers: female art patrons in Baroque Britain
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A Village in Heaven: Stanley Spencer's Cookham
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The people and portraits of Stanley Spencer's final years
"Yours was one of our best talks. It greatly enthused our members, who emerged hugely energised at the end, full of praise. You pitched it at exactly the right level and put it over with great authority."
David Howells, Chair, Art Friends Warwickshire
British Baroque Study Day
Through a series of three lectures, my study day explores the Baroque age in Britain (c.1660-1720). The Baroque has its origins in Counter-Reformation Italy, and was intended inspire religious passion through a glorious elevation of the senses. By the time it spread to Britain in the seventeenth century, the Baroque style had been adapted to secular use by monarchs and wealthy patrons. Paintings, sculptures, tapestries, woodcarvings and furnishings in exuberant designs and rich materials were brought together a riot of colours and textures. We will visit court and country to look at some of the greatest works of art and architecture of the British Baroque, and meet the people responsible for them.
Lecture 1: Royal Baroque
Lecture 2: The Baroque Country House
Lecture 3: Queens, Consort and Courtiers: female art patrons in Baroque Britain
Study days can be tailored to your interests, on request.
"A huge thank you for a superb day today. You gave us a wonderful explanation of the history, the politics, the religion, the people, the art and the architecture, and your photos and illustrations captured everything so well. I have had many positive comments from the attendees, who said they 'learned so much', 'a brilliant speaker', 'clearly laid out', 'will revisit the houses with a different eye'."
The Arts Society Oundle
To enquire or book a lecture or study day, please contact me using the form below.