Lecture programme Place : Great Hale (Magna) Hall - postcode NG34 9LH Time : 2:00pm - Doors open at 1:30pm. Followed by tea and biscuits. On Lunch Days doors open at 11.30am Lunches, with wine included, are served from 12.00 noon at a price of £7. PLEASE BOOK YOUR LUNCH AT LEAST A WEEK IN ADVANCE. Start of the new membership year 2023/24 11 April 2024 Karin Fernald The ‘Shakespeare Of Dogs’: The Eventful Life of Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802 – 1873) In his heyday, the animal artist Edwin Landseer was hugely celebrated and loved for his dogs and Highland stags; later, for his lions in Trafalgar Square. He was a child prodigy; aged 5 years old he made a detailed study of a foxhound which astounded everybody; later he became known for his vivid and varied textures of animal skin, hair and fur, which he achieved with special brushes, keeping their design a secret. He was a party man, with party tricks; with his left hand he could draw a horse’s head and with his right a stag’s head complete with horns – at the same time! Most widely appreciated for his dogs, he could paint comic dogs, tragic dogs and in-between dogs, and he became known - with some justification - as the Shakespeare of Dogs. He was socially much in demand with the aristocracy and with Royalty, teaching the Queen and Prince to etch. But after awhile it all gets too exhausting; the celebrated artist feels happier up in the Highlands of Scotland. He ends up stressed, drunk and mad, comparing himself to one of his own hunted stags. Nobody can get him to behave except his neighbour Mrs Pritchard, an elderly widow said to look like “ a very small monkey, with bright blinking eyes and a merry mouth.” When Sir Edwin died they named a pub after him; they buried him in St Paul’s Cathedral, and someone put black wreaths around the necks of those lions in Trafalgar Square. Buffet lunch available Sir Edwin Landseer (1803-73) - The Connoisseurs, Portrait of the Artist with two Dogs - Royal Collection 9 May 2024 Suzanne Fagence Cooper Love Is Enough: At Home With Jane & William Morris William Morris wrote:’The secret of true happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.’ This lecture looks at the houses and works of art that Jane & William made together, from the Red House to Kelmscott Manor. Through newly revealed letters & diaries, furniture, wall- hangings & beautiful books, we can explore the pioneering life they embraced with their artist friends. St. Catherine wall hanging, designed by William Morris for Red House, worked by Jane Morris, 1860-1861, wool threads on linen ground, appliqued onto velvet - Kelmscott Manor - Oxfordshire, England Photo: Daderot, Public domain AGM 13 June 2024, Giles Ramsay Indestructible Theatre: 1900 Till Now. In this talk Giles romps through the Edwardian period, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, the Space Race and the Information Revolution and shows how, in this age of extremes, the show still went on and continued to tell us our own story. Buffet lunch available