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10 September 2026Now you see it, Now you don't - The Art of Visual Deception
11 June 2026The subtle Science and Exact Art of Colour in the English Garden
14 May 2026Sandro Botticelli and the Golden Age of Renaissance Art
16 April 2026Turner and Constable - Romantic Rivals
12 March 2026Screening the Novel - Books into Films
12 February 2026Diego Velázquez and the Court of Philip IV
08 January 2026The Car in Art
13 November 2025From Tchaikovsky to Tin Pan Alley - uplifting music for Christmas
09 October 2025The most dissolute man in London - the Duke of Devonshire and the building of Chatsworth.
11 September 2025Tinker, Tailor, Canvas, Chair: How modernism became a cold war.
12 June 2025She loves you - the music of the sixties
08 May 2025American Impressionism
24 April 2025From Negative to Positive - how photography became art.
13 March 2025The Frick Collection, New York - a feast for the eyes.
13 February 2025The big three in Florence: Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael
09 January 2025The Festival of Britain 1951
05 December 2024SPECIAL SOCIAL EVENT AND LECTURE - . John Singer Sargent: The Private Radical
14 November 2024The Artists of Montmartre - The Pilgrims of Babylon. AGM
10 October 2024Courtly life in Mantua; hunchbacks, dwarves and giants
12 September 2024The Mayan civilisation of Central America
13 June 2024The healing power of plants
09 May 2024Artemisia Gentileschi: Daughter of Rome, painter of Europe
11 April 2024From Rome to Kent: The Baroque Style in English Furniture
14 March 2024The Rijksmuseum: Rembrandt's Night Watch and much more
08 February 2024Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera: The golden age of Mexican Painting
11 January 2024An actor's life for me
09 November 2023The Painting Secrets of Freud and Bacon
12 October 2023Wilde about Oscar: Famous for being Famous (& Infamous)
14 September 2023A Photographic Odyssey:Shackelton’s Expedition on Camera
08 June 2023Great Operatic Rivalries~Handbags at Dawn
11 May 2023From Biscuits to Blouses : Garibaldi and the British
13 April 2023Black Artists Working in Britain since the 1980s
09 March 2023Norman Rockwell :Great American Artist
09 February 2023Caravaggio - Painter Extraordinaire - A flawed Genius - A Murderer
12 January 2023‘Jolly January’ A’fun’ lecture by an amazing Showman
10 November 2022THE SISTINE CHAPEL
13 October 2022LORD FITZWILLIAM AND THE FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM
08 September 2022Harlots, Rakes & Crashing China. An accidental Introduction to ceramics through William Hogarth
09 June 2022THE CULTURE AND TREASURES OF UKRAINE
12 May 2022SS GREAT BRITAIN
21 April 2022THE ELGIN MARBLES........Please note change of DATE
10 March 2022THE ENGLISH COUNTRY CHURCH
10 February 2022THE SILK ROAD
13 January 2022THE MAKING OF LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHS
11 November 2021WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS- THE BEATLES AND THEIR ARTISTS
14 October 2021FIRST CATCH A SQUIRREL- HISTORICAL MATERIALS AND PAINTING TECHNIQUES C15- C18
09 September 2021Due to Unforeseen Circumstances Sarah Dunant's Lecture is changed to.....Getting Under Their Skins
08 July 2021CHANGE OF LECTURE...............THE FIELD OF CLOTH OF GOLD
10 June 2021LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - EXCAVATING A LEGEND
13 May 2021PRINCE AND PROPHET
08 April 2021THE ARTS OF ISLAMIC PERSIA: BEHIND THE VEIL
11 March 2021FROM GARBO TO GARLAND. THE MAGICAL ART OF HOLLYWOOD
11 February 2021THE GENIUS OF BEETHOVEN
14 January 2021SECRETS AND SYMBOLS IN PAINTINGS

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Now you see it, Now you don't - The Art of Visual Deception Bertie Pearce Thursday 10 September 2026

This is one of the quirkiest lectures you will ever hear. There is a universal delight in being deceived and in this lecture Bertie Pearce takes his audience on a whistle stop tour of art which fools, surprises and amuses the viewer. Beginning and ending with the Belgian surrealist, René Magritte, it encompasses Trompe L’eoil, Banksy, Bridget Riley, Arcimboldo and Escher to name a few. Hold on to your seats and get ready to be visually fried.