Monday 13 July 2020
Chelsea and Fulham Palace Walk
Blue badge guide Emma Matthews will take us on a virtual walk around Chelsea and Fulham, ending up at Fulham Palace.
Tuesday 11 August 2020
The Queen’s Jewellery
Viv Haxbuy will showcase the Queen’s Jewellery.
Wednesday 26 August 2020
Royal London
Vincent Manda will walk in the open from the Banqueting House to Buckingham Palace, streaming to us using a headcam, a first for The Arts Society.
Thursday 11 September 2020
Highlights of the British Museum
Anne Warrilow will point out some of the treasures of the British Museum.
Thursday 15 October 2020
The City Skyline
Ian Swankie will point out some of the ever changing and ever growing City Skyline.
Monday 19 October 2020
Live walking tour in Venice
Local tour guide Luisella Romeo will walk us live around the dorsoduro district of Venice taking in Santa Maria della Salute, the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, the Accademia, gondola maintenance yards and much more. Please pray for fine weather.
Tuesday 17 November 2020
The City of Bath
Blue Badge Guide, Maeve Hamilton Hercod, will give us a tour of the City of Bath.
Wednesday 9 December 2020
Saucy Soho
Pepé Martinez gave us our first Zoom walk. Today he is taking us around Soho for “350 Years of Sex, Drugs and Communism”. Sounds like fun!
Thursday 14 January 2021
Baroque Archtecture Around England
Blue Badge Guide Sarah Ciacci will explain how the Stuarts in the 1600s and early 1700s used the Baroque style to underline their power, assert their power and give the illusion of power. We will look at works by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck and Sir Peter Lely.
Tuesday 16 February 2021
LIVE WALK IN TOKYO WITH INSIDEJAPAN TOURS
This is a live virtual walk around the Ginza district of Tokyo with specialist tour operator InsideJapan Tours who are based in Bristol and who have an army of English speaking guides throughout Japan. Chantel Furbert will take us on a walk through the Ginza district which is famed as being Tokyo’s upmarket shopping area but is in reality an area with many personalities. Not far from the designer shops and the modern architecture along the Chuo-dori’ main road, you will find the famous Kabuki-za theatre and the countless back streets are home to boutique galleries, ‘Yokocho’ districts with their narrow alleys, eateries and traditional izakaya bars and the odd shrine or two. There is plenty here to entertain any virtual traveller and Chantel will get us beneath the surface in this multifaceted Tokyo district.
Thursday 25 February 2021
Tour of Bermondsey
Cross Tower Bridge and you’re in Bermondsey. It’s a busy area of converted warehouses and stylish riverside flats. A hip crowd mingles in cosy pubs, eateries, and indie shops lining villagelike Bermondsey Street. Bermondsey Square hosts an antiques market. Gourmet food stalls and bars sit beneath Maltby Street Market’s railway arches. The Fashion and Textile Museum and the White Cube contemporary art gallery attract a cultured crowd, including you.
Tuesday 16 March 2021
The Huguenots in London
Hear about the Huguenots, who they were, why they came to England and where they settled – from Wandsworth to Soho, from Greenwich to Spitalfields. Their skills were outstanding and they influenced bookbinding, banking and finance, the military, clockmaking and so much more. You’ll also hear about the journey from worm to wardrobe, a look at how the 18th century lady acquired her silk dress. The talk will be given by Tim Kidd, Huguenot Lecturer and Blue Badge Guide, and Charlie de Wet, Chair of Huguenots of Spitalfields.
Tuesday 30 March 2021 at 9am UK time
Live walk in Kyoto, Japan
Kyoto is arguably the cultural capital of Japan having been the imperial capital for around a thousand years. It is home to over two thousand temples and shrines, 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites, palaces, incredible gardens and the iconic Geisha. Richard Farmer of InsideJapan Tours will take us on a stroll of the traditional Gion and Higashiyama districts of the City with their tea houses, traditional Machiya townhouses, shrines and gardens. Hopefully we will see some of Japan’s famous cherry blossom.
Tuesday 20 April 2021
Charles I, Absolute Monarch to Civil War 1540-1650
Laurence Shafe will talk about paintings at Tate Britain from Henry VIII and the Reformation to Charles I and his Art Collecting.
Tuesday 25 May 2021
The Wallace Collection: Making Money with Art
This talk focuses on a small but varied selection of paintings in the Wallace Collection in London and will increase our familiarity with the Collection as well as offering a “toolkit for looking”, which you can apply to other paintings. We will learn how to appreciate the subtleties of paintings, which are only apparent when we allow ourselves the time to look closely.
Thursday 17 June 2021
Famous Women at the National Gallery
Accredited Arts Society lecturer, Siân Walters, will talk about female artists and explain why so few have come to prominence. Looking at the wide variety of works of art produced during the Renaissance we can arrive at one clear conclusion: nearly all of them were commissioned and created by men. As long as power was in their control, so was the world of artistic patronage and production. Or so it was thought. Recently, historians have discovered more and more evidence of women acting independently and uncovered a number of clues which tell quite a different story. We look at a number of influential figures during the period, including the accomplished and enthusiastic patroness, Isabella d’Este.
Wednesday 14 July 2021
Tour of Alnick Castle, its Grounds & interiors, and Highlights of the Collection
Alnick Castle is the seat of the Dukes of Northumberland. We will enjoy an insider’s view of the castle and its treasures.
Tuesday 12 August 2021
Treasures of the Villa Borghese in Rome
Stuart Harvey
The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial collection of paintings, sculptures and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (1605–1621). Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio who is well represented in the collection. Additional paintings of note include Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael’s Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci.
Tuesday 14 September 2021
The Bridges of London
There are 35 bridges between Hampton Court Bridge to Tower Bridge. Can you name them all. If not, here’s a map!
Thursday 14 October 2021
London Legal Walk
Blue Badge guide Emma Matthews will take us on a virtual walking tour around the The Royal Courts of Justice, the Inns of Court and other legal landmarks of London.
Wednesday 17 November 2021
The Archaeology of Crossrail
Leo Heaton puts together the pieces that make up London’s archaeological jigsaw puzzle. From everyday items like Victorian chamber pots and Roman coins to rare treasures such as medieval water pumps and a piece of 55 MILLION year old amber. Come and explore the sites and some of the objects that this remarkable project has uncovered.
Tuesday 14 December 2021
Sir Peter Lely’s Famous Paintings of “The Windsor Beauties” now in Hampton Court Palace
The gallery of so-called ‘Windsor Beauties’ is the name given to the collection of portraits painted by Sir Peter Lely (1618-80) of celebrated courtesans and women of the nobility in Restoration England, which can be seen in the Communication Gallery at Hampton Court Palace. Ten portraits in The Royal Collection can be identified as having belonged to the original group of Lely’s eleven paintings.
Click here for this year’s visits
Click here for the 2019/20 visits