A light-hearted, possibly audacious survey of some of the more peculiar images depicted on icons within the pan-Orthodox Christian world. We take on board the pagan origins, ancient legends and extraordinary saints that have given rise to so many curious images over the centuries. From leafy underpants to pillar saints, from dog-headed soldiers to naked desert hermits, we ask were they really so odd after all?

Textiles provided the interiors of Elizabethan aristocratic houses with colour, glamour, texture and symbolism. Now only a fraction survives of the huge collections of textiles that once graced and invigorated Elizabethan mansions and palaces. This talk looks at the designs, techniques and uses of these textiles, as well as subject matter and the Elizabethans’ fondness for decoding hidden messages and devices. 

Sandy Burnett’s close relationship with Bach’s music stretches back for decades; between 1997 and 2010 he directed a complete cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas. In this lecture he takes a detailed look at the Christmas Oratorio that Bach wrote for his Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig. After surveying Bach’s life and achievements, Sandy moves on to explore this magnificent work by focussing on six key moments; they draw on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale, and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses which harness the power of music and deploy it in the service of God

Rome is a city of many glories, from distant antiquity onwards, and amongst her remarkable churches, fountains and monuments are the spectacular works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This complex, driven artist was the friend and confidant of Popes and princes, a child prodigy and a prolific, if understandably arrogant, genius. Find out about his architecture, sculpture, paintings, fountains – even plays – but also discover why such exuberance and magnificence became powerful weapons in a religious and political propaganda war.   

Between 1870 and 1914, at the height of America’s Gilded Age, no less than 454 heiresses exchanged their crisp, new American dollars, for musty, old European titles. Aside from the new lease of life now afforded to the previously cash-strapped aristocrats, the first task was to restore their crumbling, ancestral piles - many of which today are counted among the UK’s best-loved national treasures. But just who was taking advantage of who?

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp. The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

The story of two remarkable Victorians and the birth of English comic opera. Their quarter of a century long partnership began in 1871, when the pair were brought together by the remarkably entrepreneurial theatre manager Richard D’Oyly Carte, with whom they collaborated on fourteen unique comic operas.  Perhaps best known for The Mikado, H.M.S Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe, their satirical brilliance can still inspire and impress today. Enjoy the bouquets, brickbats and their extraordinary popularity and fame. 

2026 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of the quintessential English landscapist John Constable.   His modern reputation masks a radical, experimental artist who pushed the boundaries of art of his time just as much as his near-contemporary (and far more successful) rival Turner.   This lecture will examine Constable’s career and propose five reasons why he should be considered revolutionary and Britain’s greatest landscape painter.

René Gruau’s illustrations gave the House of Dior its iconic, glamorous visual identity. Connie Gray’s lecture explores their lifelong collaboration and friendship, analyzing how Gruau’s minimalist brushstrokes and bold use of negative space revolutionized mid-20th-century fashion advertising.