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Live and Recorded talks relating to:

the 18th Century

  • Private Tour: Grayson Perry at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
    Private Tour: Grayson Perry at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
    Private Tour: Grayson Perry at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
    Join us for the final days of this unique show. Here the Turner-Prize-winning artist’s 6 large-scale tapestries are displayed in the building where William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, the inspiration behind Perry’s tapestries, were purchased for and displayed.
  • Course: from Enlightenment to Romanticism, forces of change
    Course: from Enlightenment to Romanticism, forces of change
    Multiple Dates
    Course: from Enlightenment to Romanticism, forces of change
    This term we are looking at art and artists that shaped a new evolution in the arts. We will cover different aspects of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, brought to you by some of our best speakers. more info below
  • Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Founder & 1st President of the RA, his Grand Manner style looked at art of the past, to create idealised portraits of the British aristocracy. With little tradition in England for homegrown artists, Reynolds obtained royal patronage to train British artists & display their works annually. more below
  • 18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    Casta paintings illustrated the varying degrees of intermixture between colonial subjects, defining them for 18th century Spanish officials. A discovery in Leicester Museums and Galleries art store has lead to new research and an upcoming exhibition. Michael discusses. See more info below
  • The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    She reigned over a golden age of Russian culture, founding what would become the State Hermitage Museum and transforming St. Petersburg into one of Europe’s cultural centers. Started for political reasons, she becomes a knowledgeable and passionate collector owning 4,000 Old Master paintings.
  • Hogarth and Europe
    Hogarth and Europe
    Hogarth and Europe
    Cindy Polemis, explores the artistic exchanges of the 18th century, and investigates how Hogarth and artists across Europe captured the new social, philosophical and economic ideas in unforgettable visual social commentaries which still resonate today. More information below.
  • Imperial Purple to Marie Antoinette’s fleas
    Imperial Purple to Marie Antoinette’s fleas
    Imperial Purple to Marie Antoinette’s fleas
    The social history of colour in textiles from BC to the end of the 18th century. This lecture shows the developing skills of the dyers to meet the desires of their customers, how they learned to colour different materials and how fashionable colours emerged from the most unlikely sources.
  • Spanish Art: Suffering - Goya & Sunshine - Sorolla
    Spanish Art: Suffering - Goya & Sunshine - Sorolla
    Spanish Art: Suffering - Goya & Sunshine - Sorolla
    Goya's artworks show his personal approvals & dislikes, and his despair with Spanish politics. While Joaquín Sorolla focusses on leisure beautiful Spanish coastal scenes, reflecting a Spain on the brink of a new era.
  • IDEALISED CLASSICISM: Jean-August Ingres
    IDEALISED CLASSICISM: Jean-August Ingres
    IDEALISED CLASSICISM: Jean-August Ingres
    ‘There comes a time when an artist of genius feels somehow swept along by his own capacities...I think I am that man'. This week Alan will consider the great French Master Ingres, his history paintings, his portraits and his skill as a draughtsman.
  • Stuff of Nightmares
    Stuff of Nightmares
    Stuff of Nightmares
    As the nights draw in, Cindy Polemis looks at artists who have been fascinated by images of violence, horror and the supernatural to convey feelings of terror and wonder. From the 18th century Gothic Nightmare of Henry Fuseli to the contemporary dystopian landscapes of Anselm Kiefer.
  • The Intimacy of Miniatures
    The Intimacy of Miniatures
    The Intimacy of Miniatures
    From diplomatic gifts to tokens of love, between 16th-19th c miniatures were commissioned as small portraits which could be held in the hand or placed inside lockets creating an intimate relationship between the owner and sitter. Cindy looks at the history of these tiny treasures of art.
  • Master Pieces: Drouais - Madame de Pompadour
    Master Pieces: Drouais - Madame de Pompadour
    Master Pieces: Drouais - Madame de Pompadour
    Madame de Pompadour was hugely influential at the French court during the rule of Louis XV, and incremental in the development of the Rococo style. During this Master Pieces lecture we will look at this portrait made at the end of her life.
  • 'The Most Cultivated Woman in Europe’: The Life and Work of Angelika Kauffman
    'The Most Cultivated Woman in Europe’: The Life and Work of Angelika Kauffman
    'The Most Cultivated Woman in Europe’: The Life and Work of Angelika Kauffman
    Known for her celebrity portraits & trail blazing history paintings, Angelika Kauffman was a woman artist in a man’s world- an artist who helped to shape the direction of European art in the 18th century. Join Cindy to explore the fascinating world of Kauffman. More info below
  • Printing the Picturesque: the British landscape publishing boom
    Printing the Picturesque: the British landscape publishing boom
    Printing the Picturesque: the British landscape publishing boom
    This talk examines how landscape prints promoted aesthetic appreciation of British scenery - and vice versa - as horizons, both geographical and artistic, expanded in the late Georgian period. more info below
  • Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Sir Joshua Reynolds: the most important English portrait painter of the late 18th century.
    Founder & 1st President of the RA, his Grand Manner style looked at art of the past, to create idealised portraits of the British aristocracy. With little tradition in England for homegrown artists, Reynolds obtained royal patronage to train British artists & display their works annually. more below
  • 18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    18th Century Mexican CASTA Paintings and the Birth of Colourism
    Casta paintings illustrated the varying degrees of intermixture between colonial subjects, defining them for 18th century Spanish officials. A discovery in Leicester Museums and Galleries art store has lead to new research and an upcoming exhibition. Michael discusses. See more info below
  • Gardens of Love in the 17th & 18th century
    Gardens of Love in the 17th & 18th century
    Gardens of Love in the 17th & 18th century
    Love Gardens are a popular theme with roots dating back to the Middle Ages, courtly love & the Garden of Earthly Delights. Often comparing the beauty of youth with the beauty of nature, innocence, elegance & bounty are all important ingredients for a genre that would prove extremely popular.
  • The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    The Greatest Female Patrons in History: Catherine the Great (1729–1796)
    She reigned over a golden age of Russian culture, founding what would become the State Hermitage Museum and transforming St. Petersburg into one of Europe’s cultural centers. Started for political reasons, she becomes a knowledgeable and passionate collector owning 4,000 Old Master paintings.
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