Founded in 1824, the National Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square houses one of the world's finest collections of European paintings, including such favourites as Jan Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Marriage", Sandro Botticelli's "Venus and Mars", John Constable's "Cornfield" and Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers". In contrast to its peers, however, this institution did not begin its life as a royal collection: the Gallery was founded by parliament and remains reliant on public funding. This lecture uses highlights from the NG's collection to show how our vision of the "ideal" art collection has evolved over time, along with ideas of the kinds of people the Gallery was supposed to serve.
2024 marked the bicentenary of our Gallery. “NG200” was celebrated by a two-year, nation-wide programme of exhibitions and a new official history – which the National Gallery asked me to write for them. My talk tells the history of the gallery in ten paintings. Why did we buy this painting at that time? How has our taste in masterpieces changed, along with the ways we display them?
Jonathan Conlin:
I am a historian and author particularly interested in the history of great museums/collectors. All my talks draw on my own research, allowing me to take audiences behind the scenes: sharing the surprise discoveries as well as the questions that we still haven't been able to answer. In 2024 I wrote the National Gallery's official bicentenary history, and appeared alongside Claudia Winkleman and Michael Palin in My National Gallery, a film about the National Gallery, shown on ITV and in over 300 UK cinemas. Previous books include a biography of the oil baron and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian and a comparative history of Paris and London. These books have been praised for their readability and their research by the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Spectator, New York Post and other mainstream media. Alongside lecturing for Arts Society groups, I also teach, as Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton. Born in New York, I studied History and Modern Languages at Oxford, subsequently moving to the Courtauld Institute and Cambridge for my MA and PhD.14 October.
A wealthy Venetian shopping in the Rialto area had access to goods from far and wide. Luxury goods were entering Venice both from the Islamic East and Northern Europe. This lecture vividly evokes a day on the Rialto, its surrounding buildings and its merchants. We will examine the wares that were on offer and how Venetians displayed them after purchase.
Antonia Gatward Cevizli:
Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli is an independent art historian specialising in both Italian Renaissance art and Ottoman art. She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her publications focus on cultural and diplomatic exchange between the Italian city-states and the Ottomans. Antonia has lectured for a number of institutions including Sabancı University, Istanbul; Sotheby’s Institute of Art; the National Gallery; the V&A Academy and The Courtauld summer school. Her interests are wide-ranging and she also worked across the collections of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain as a professional guide. She has lived in Siena, Venice and Istanbul.
Scottish architect, designer and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh is now a well-known name and a major draw for the tourist industry in Glasgow, with several of his buildings still existing, as well as his designs for Tea Rooms. However, his work was not always so well received and, following some early success, which included his architectural masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, his prospects floundered. In this lecture we track him from that early success in his native Glasgow, through the more difficult years, ultimately to the South of France where he enjoyed the last few years of his life travelling with his wife and collaborator Margaret and reinvented himself as a water colourist. There is a wonderful array of beautifully designed buildings, furniture and interiors to enjoy along the way as we explore his extraordinary career.
Rosalind Whyte:
BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. Experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. Lectures at Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises.
This talk is on how magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries, whether in paintings, satirical prints or cartoons. Early artists used the magician to symbolise the mysterious and the unknown, associating them with astrology. In the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch produced two of the most famous and striking pictures of the conjurer performing the Cups and Balls trick. The 18th and 19th century saw a proliferation in engravings and lithographs showing the magician both indoors and on the streets.
Ian Keable:
Gained a First Class degree from Oxford University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and then became a Professional Magician. In 2014 he published Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature. His latest book is The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England.
He now divides his time between performing magic, giving talks and researching and writing. He is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle and in 2024 was appointed the Archivist of The Magic Circle. He is presently writing a biography of David Devant, the first President of The Magic Circle and considered to be England's greatest ever magician.
