Lectures

Watercolourist, muralist, ceramicist and wood-engraver, Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) was one of the most distinctive young British artists working between the two World Wars; he is of increasing interest and popularity, as recent exhibitions and sales of his work have revealed. This lecture explores Ravilious’s career, looking both at his place in the long tradition of watercolour painting in England, as well as within the social and cultural context of England in the 1920s and 1930s, leading up to his untimely death as an official war artist in Iceland in 1942.

Without the tireless efforts of Sir Henry J Wood, British musical life would be very different indeed. Organist, vocal pedagogue, recording artist and conductor were all disciplines that defined this indefatigable musician. Aware of the elitist nature of concert life during the late nineteenth century, he set about making music available to everyone by founding the Promenade Concerts at Queen's Hall in 1895 with the impresario Robert Newman. Wood was also quick to recognise the potential of the gramophone, as both a means of mass musical dissemination and as a teaching aid.

In this lecture Bertie recounts the extraordinary tale of how a small bronze statue, 18 inches high, bought by his grandfather in 1951 for seven guineas, which had sat in his garden for 40 years, was discovered to be a masterpiece and ended up in the Getty Museum, California. 
Adriaen de Vries (c1556–1626) 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. He became the most famous European sculptor of his generation.