Jan van Eyck’s great altarpiece at Ghent is a 15th century masterpiece full of beauty, symbolism and mystery. It has had the most extraordinary history, which is really an art historical thriller. The work was stolen 13 times over six centuries and finally by Adolf Hitler. Its very existence is a miracle, with it only returning home to St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent in 1945. This lecture tells the remarkable story of this altarpiece.

 After her lecture to us last year on Three Great Families and their Gardens, we welcome back Caroline Rayman. Caroline has lectured for many years at universities and art organisations in America, and on cruise boats.  She has conducted cultural tours for Patrons of American Art institutions, visiting private collections and gardens in UK; and she was an official guide at the British Museum.  

Next year is 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death in 1827 and  so it is a great time to reassess his important legacy. Born into a family of court musicians, Beethoven became one of the greatest and most disruptive figures in the history of classical music; completely transforming music's cultural landscape. This lecture presents an overview of this brilliant, cantankerous, visionary and astonishingly original composer and how he became a true Romantic artist, or as he described himself, a “poet in sound.”

 We welcome back Sandy Burnett. Sandy is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as a music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End,  Sandy spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. He devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, and is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene.

When Vasco de Gama set sail from the port of Lisbon in 1497, he was leaving one of the great Gothic jewels of Europe. When he returned, he brought with him the world. With the Age of Exploration came wealth, power and an empire that spanned four continents. This lecture looks at some of the extraordinary treasures that came to Lisbon, and how the art and particularly the architecture of Lisbon responded.

 Isabelle is an academic and educator specialising in the baroque, with a particular focus on Spain and its empire. She received a BA and MPhil in History of Art from Trinity College, Cambridge, where she recently completed her PhD on the art of Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán. She has worked as a curator at the Wallace Collection and in 2020 her book Collecting Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in Britain and Ireland, was published.  Isabelle is an expert guide for a travel company, leading groups around Spain and beyond, and she also teaches regularly for the V&A, Art Fund, Royal Academy, Chelsea Arts Club, Wallace Collection and University of Cambridge.

Since the 19th century English high society had 'wintered over' on the Côte d'Azur, but in the early 1920s an intoxicating mix of artists, writers, musicians, inspired by a mythological seascape of luminous colours, created a new summer season.  This liberating playground of ideas across the visual design arts was stimulated by impresarios Serge Diaghilev and Paul Poiret. Traditional boundaries were torn down; Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Cocteau, and Chanel merged the worlds of fashion, theatre and interiors.

 Mary Alexander trained as an art historian and graduated with a BA Hons and MA in History & History of Art. Her background combines an unusual blend of academic and communications skills and experiences, including lecturing to various arts organisations, working with design professionals on special events and publications, and writing on various aspects of the history of art and design. She has been a curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of English Costume and has lectured at the University of Leeds, University of Manchester, the Open University, and as a visiting lecturer at Christies Education; also at various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies, throughout the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.