A ‘cracking’ talk.  It will fundamentally change your view of William Hogarth. Pots, crocks and chinaware tumble through Hogarth’s domestic dramas.  His detailed paintings and prints are wittily infiltrated with recognizable ceramics  – earthenwares, stonewares and ‘china’-  in an age drunk on Luxury.  Potters across continents compete with each other, fuelled by the ‘china mania’ gripping the emerging middle classes.  And Hogarth catches them. And in an ironic twist: Hogarth’s own images are themselves translated onto clay. A typical post-talk plaudit: “I shall never look at Hogarth in the same way again”.

Lecturer : Lars Tharp

Tharp is a noted William Hogarth enthusiast, and is also well known for his regular appearences (1984 to present) as a ceramics expert on the BBC's globably seen programme Antiques Roadshow. 

One of the most famous pictures in London's National Gallery is The Arnolfini Portrait painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434. No one is quite sure if it represents a wedding, a betrothal or even a commemoration. It's an image filled with symbolism as are many of van Eyck's works which is one of the many joys of exploring them; some of the pictures give up their secrets slowly, so minute are the details created by van Eyck's brush. Other works explore the superiority of paint over stone. Some of them, at a glance, appear to show astonishingly realistic sculptures, but closer inspection shows them to be painted.

Lecturer: Imogen Corrigen 

After nearly 20 years in the British army, 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. 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. Has written Stone on Stone: the Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published 2019. A Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators. Advisor on memorials and monuments for Canterbury's Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Early Christians celebrated Christmas at the same time as the ancient Romans were feasting and partying for their pagan Saturnalia festival. Many of the pagan habits were therefore absorbed into our Christmas traditions. Present-giving, holly and even party-hats all have their origins in this 2000-year-old party. This talk will revel in artwork that is ancient and modern as we unwrap the images and stories behind our festive season.

Lecturer: Gilllian Hovell BA (Hons) Latin and Ancient History, Exeter Iniversity, and then branched out into archaaeology,  Ex-BBC Lecturer for British Museum and York University,