Venue: GREETHAM VALLEY GOLF CLUB

From the early Kosovan silver mines which are  mentioned in Dante, through the twentieth  century politics over Kosovo’s mines which  resulted in both a war and a golf course, a silver  thread winds through Kosovo’s history.  Its most intricate tanglings are in the country’s  cultural capital, Prizren, where a seventh  generation of filigree artisans use ‘filum’ and  ‘granum’, zigzags, ‘mouse-tooth’ designs and  other twists and turns to magic lacy creations  from dull sticks of raw material.  The results – in boxes, buttons, jewellery,  religious ornamentation and the talismans of  superstition – are a fine narrative of Kosovo’s  history and traditions. 

Medieval panagiarion Serbian. Photo: JohnGotten. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike  4.0

Venue: All Saints Church Oakham

In this lecture Bertie recounts the extraordinary tale of how a small bronze statue, which had sat in his Grandfather’s garden for 40 years, was discovered as a master piece and ended up in the Getty Museum, California. Adriaen De Vries (c.1556-1626) was a Northern Mannerist sculptor born in the Netherlands. A technical virtuoso, he created spectacular bronzes for the most discerning patrons of his time, including the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Prague.He excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting and in the manipulation of patina and became the most famous European sculptor of his generation.

Lecturer Lucinda Hawksley wrote "When researching my biographies of Lizzie Siddal and Kate Perugini, I kept coming across a mysterious princess, attending studio parties, helping fellow artists in times of need, and being linked with several scandals. I was amazed to discover Princess Louise was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and a well-respected sculptor. Her life and legacy has been locked away in the Royal Archives ever since her death in 1939, but her work was stunning, and her life fascinating. Researching her biography was like being a detective, so I titled my book The Mystery of Princess Louise."

This lecture tells the story of men's tailoring over the past 200 years, told through the lives of the men who commissioned and created and wore it. Tailors, shirtmaker, hatters and other craftspeople in London’s west end, especially around Savile Row & Jermyn Street have shaped the way men dress since the Regency. How did men such as Beau Brummell, The Duke of Windsor, Tommy Nutter, Montague Burton, Alexander McQueen and John Stephen create their signature looks which influenced the mens fashion? This lecture also looks at the wider cultural shifts since the early 19th century to the present day and how they affected the way that men present themselves.

In this lively introduction to the tapestry – so much more than the story of Hastings – Rupert unravels some of its mysteries, places it in the context of its age and firmly establishes it as a landmark in the history of Western art.

So many portraits of artists’ fathers show them sitting still, wearing dark suits and reading a newspaper. But further research reveals broader aspects of how artists have viewed their parent – not always with filial affection. 

'Haunt me, then!  Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad...'     Wuthering Heights    Since the middle of the 19th century there has been intense fascination with the lives and works of the Bronte sisters; or, as one critic coined it, ‘Brontemania’.  Their novels – and life stories - have entered the public imagination through countless stage and screen adaptations; their Yorkshire home has long been a place of pilgrimage for Bronte fans from across the world; and Bronte lives and writings continue to inspire the work of authors, artists and musicians.

At the start of the 20th century Arthur Evans unearthed an entire civilisation on the island of Crete. Its impressive public buildings, advanced social structures and political institutions, centred on the vast complex which he dubbed the 'Palace of Minos', showed that European civilisation was as ancient and sophisticated as that of Egypt. Illustrated with both slides and video, this talk will examine the culture of the Minoans, including their fabulous frescoes, painted pottery, architecture, social structures and writing, and conclude by assessing the theories relating to their demise – notably the cataclysmic Late Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini.   

British painting has used maps in so many different ways that painting sometimes looks like an imaginative branch of geography. 

Since the pandemic, audiences have been behaving badly. They have booed opera singers, heckled comedians and fought in the stalls. Even at the best of times, all of us have been irritated by crisp packets, mobile phones and inappropriate conversations. But is this such a new thing? In this entertaining lecture, Mark Fisher revisits the audiences of the past to discover outbursts, protests and punch-ups. From the fatal Astor Place riot in 19th-century New York to the reception of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, he looks at the stories behind the greatest controversies in the performing arts.