The Georgians, from all walks of life, enjoyed dining out in pubs, coaching inns, and confectioners. They indulged in a variety of street foods, relished buns and early morning drinks before dawn, and sampled Billingsgate dinners as well as Jewish takeaway delicacies from the East End. This talk features illustrations from prints and broadsheets of the period.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

This beautifully illustrated lecture explores the life and artistry of Tirzah Garwood (1908–1951). Often overshadowed by her husband Eric Ravilious, Garwood was a distinguished and original artist in her own right. Renowned for her exceptional wood engraving skills, she later found equal success in the art of paper marbling.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

Founded by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus moved in 1924 to a specially designed campus. This attracted some of the leading artists and designers working in Europe including Kandinsky, Klee and Maholy-Nagy. The school modelled itself on a medieval guild.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

In 1876 Whistler was commissioned, by one of his most important patrons, Frederick Leyland, to advise on the decorative scheme for the dining room of his London house. In Leyland’s absence the project tookon a life of its own. The result, the Peacock Room,is a spectacular example of the Victorian aesthetic movement in art. However, it led to a rift between artist and patron.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

More than four centuries after his death Bruegel’s work continues to fascinate us. His brief career introduced new subjects of landscapes and everyday life. These seemingly innocent paintings hold hidden social and political messages which are now being rediscovered by scholars.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

The Persian empire exploded into life during the middle of the 6th century BC and was the largest empire in the world for the next two centuries. Darius the 1st commissioned a new city, Persepolis, with his palace at its centre. What does the palace and its art tell us about the ideology of the extraordinary and influential empire?

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

In 1997 the RA took the world by storm by curating an exhibition of contemporary art, mostly owned by Charles Saatchi. The main galleries of Burlington House were transformed for the landmark show which launched the careers of many YBAs (Young British Artists) but also gathered much controversy. NB Some content may be viewed as shocking or upsetting.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

This most famous merchant dynasty became the first Russians to buy a painting by Van Gogh. After Mikail died in 1903, his younger brother continued to add to the collection. The lecture follows the brothers’ remarkable collections and their interest in contemporary art.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

With seemingly inexhaustible wealth she set about developing the most glittering court in Europe. She cultivated artists, and created an unparalleled collection of paintings, ornaments and porcelain many of which formed the nucleus of the Hermitage Museum.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

PLEASE NOTE YOUR 2028 SUBSCRIPTION IS DUE on Nov 1st

This meeting will be preceded by the AGM starting at 10.30

The first thing Mrs. Abby Rockefeller did on getting married was to give  away every cent given to her by her father-in-law, America’s first billionaire. That set a precedent for her, her husband and descendants to spend money on the causes that mattered to her. By the early 1920s her personal collection of modern art included many Impressionists. In 1929 she founded New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

Dore was the foremost French illustrator of the 19th Century. His ability to conjure up fantastic scenes of natural grandeur, and sometimes horror, could convey more in black and white than most great masters could do in colour.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.

We explore the dramatic impact that the light and colour of the South of France had on the artists that flocked there. Matisse and Derain’s summer sojourn of 1905 will be a particular focus. Paintings by Monet in Antibes, Signac in St Tropez and later Picasso and Klein on the Côte d’Azur will also feature.

Lectures in The Guildhall, Sandwich at 11.00am. Coffee served from 10.15am until 10.45am. Please be seated by 10.50am.

Members are welcome to bring guests to lectures for £7.