News

The Art of Courtship in Renaissance Italy by Dr Lydia Goodson – Thursday 6th March 2025

The Art of Courtship in Renaissance Italy by Dr Lydia Goodson - Thursday 6th March 2025
Dr Lydia Goodson, art historian and lecturer specializing in material culture in Renaissance Italy gave us a delightful talk about the “business” of marriage and the exchange of courtship gifts in 15th Century Perugia. For the propertied classes, marriages were of economic and political significance: it was an expensive and protracted business negotiation. The objects exchanged signified wealth and imagery, love did not come into ...

History of the Royal Parks by Paul Rabbitts – Thursday 9th January 2025

History of the Royal Parks by Paul Rabbitts - Thursday 9th January 2025
For our first lecture of 2025, which is also the 40th Anniversary year  of  the founding of the Arts Society in Grayshott,  Paul Rabbitts gave a remarkably comprehensive talk on the creation, development and history of the eight London Royal Parks. These comprise  Bushy, Green, Greenwich, Hyde Park, Marylebone which became Regent’s, St James’ and Richmond Park. Greenwich Park was the first area to be ...

Dingley Dell to “A Christmas Carol” By Vicky Bailey – Thursday 5th December

Dingley Dell to “A Christmas Carol” By Vicky Bailey - Thursday 5th December
Author, lecturer and London Blue Badge guide Vicky Bailey gave a lively lecture describing how Christmas used to be just for the rich up until about 1812. The Christmas tree became popular after Queen Victoria and Albert were seen to have one with their family. Henry Cole, the inventor, worked with Rowland Hill on the introduction of the Penny Post in 1841 and started sending ...

The Medici – Bankrolling the Renaissance by Douglas Skeggs – Monday 25th November 2024

The Medici - Bankrolling the Renaissance by Douglas Skeggs - Monday 25th November 2024
We were delighted to welcome back lecturer, author and artist Douglas Skeggs for this Special Interest Day on the rise and fall of the Medici. Using a wide range of pictures illustrating paintings, sculpture and architecture, he enthralled the audience of 46 members with the history of the most prominent and successful members of the Medici, the wealth, power and political  influence they accrued throughout ...

Curtains, Copies and Ways of Looking by Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe – Thursday 7th November 2024

Curtains, Copies and Ways of Looking by Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe - Thursday 7th November 2024
How do we look at paintings? Nowadays most of us gaze upon Old Masters in Museums and Art Galleries. We don’t think of why it was painted or where it was to be hung. Art historian and lecturer Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe opened our eyes on how to look at old paintings the way they would have been seen in the past. Then, people took their time ...

The Green Man in English Churches by Imogen Corrigan – Thursday 3rd October 2024

The Green Man in English Churches by Imogen Corrigan - Thursday 3rd October 2024
The term “Green Man” which describes the disembodied heads with foliage coming out of their mouths, noses, eyes and ears found inside and outside many British Churches was actually only coined in 1939 - so declared author and lecturer Imogen Corrigan in her highly knowledgeable, humorous and intriguing lecture. Before that they were only known as “foliate heads” visible in Anglo-Saxon and medieval churches and ...

London Bridged : 3,500 years of Crossing the Thames by Charlie Forman – Thursday 5 September 2024

London Bridged : 3,500 years of Crossing the Thames by Charlie Forman - Thursday 5 September 2024
London Bridged: 3,500 years of Crossing the Thames by Charlie Forman. Lecturer and London Walking Guide Charlie Forman gave us a fascinating historical account of thedevelopment of bridges across the Thames, from the time of the bronze age period to the present day. Using a state of the art pinpoint magnifier, Charlie was able to show us details of archaeological remains of ancient bridges still ...

Now you see us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 by Amy Lim – Thursday 6th June 2024

Now you see us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 by Amy Lim - Thursday 6th June 2024
Curator, lecturer and author Dr Amy Lim gave us a most enlightening lecture on the uphill struggle that women faced to be recognized as serious artists from the 16th– 20th Centuries. Focusing on just 8 female artists, who were either British or who had lived in Britain, out of the 112 that make up the Exhibition currently at Tate Britain (from the 12th June – ...

Visit to Waddesdon Manor Aylesbury, Bucks – Wednesday 12th June 2024

Visit to Waddesdon Manor Aylesbury, Bucks – Wednesday 12th June 2024
Forty one members of the Society enjoyed an outing to Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury,  the family seat of the  English branch of the Rothschild family. Built between 1874-1885 and designed by the French architect G.H Destailleur in the Neo Classical style, it is very reminiscent of a French palace. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898)  created it as a country weekend retreat to entertain his friends ...

Visit to Quebec House and Titsey Place – Wednesday 15th May 2024

Visit to Quebec House and Titsey Place – Wednesday 15th May 2024
Our outing to Quebec House and Titsey Place happened to fall on an unexpectedly sunny day. Twenty six members of the Society left Grayshott at 9a.m in the coach and arrived in the attractive town of Westerham, where Quebec House is located. Originally built in the 1500s, and initially called Spiers House, it became the childhood home of General James Wolfe, eldest son to Edward ...

Grace Darling and the Fine Art of Saving Lives at Sea by James Taylor – Thursday 2nd May 2024

Grace Darling and the Fine Art of Saving Lives at Sea by James Taylor - Thursday 2nd May 2024
There will be few who have not seen Thomas Brooke’s famous picture of RNLI’s poster girl, Grace Darling. Former curator of Greenwich Maritime Museum and writer, Dr James Taylor, gave members an interesting and well illustrated talk on why she is so famous. Grace was the seventh of nine children of an English lighthouse keeper and she gained notoriety when she and her father rescued ...

Wealth Adornment Art: A Study of Jewellery in 17th-19th Century England by Amanda Herries – Thursday 4th April 2024

Wealth Adornment Art: A Study of Jewellery in 17th-19th Century England by Amanda Herries - Thursday 4th April 2024
Former curator of the Museum of London specialising in the decorative arts, Amanda Herries started her lecture by showing us stark examples of how jewellery can be worn for adornment. A tribeswoman wearing many necklaces from her shoulders to her chin, representing wealth and status. A man’s face covered with lacy tattoos and heavy metal piercing — both changing their original persona. Britain from 1550 ...