Melancholic Johnson at Dr Johnson’s House
By Karen Baston | February 8, 2010
Thursday 18 February 2010, 7pm
Melancholic Johnson
A lecture by Dr Jane Darcy
Boswell was keen to present Johnson as an exemplary eighteenth-century Man of Feeling, a man whose melancholic moods were evidence of his refined sensibility. In so doing, he could play down evidence of Johnson’s distinctly odd behaviour, and most importantly, insist that Johnson had never bordered on madness. But for Johnson himself, melancholy was no mere fashionable complaint. His was a profound religious melancholy. To the end he feared the prospect of madness in this life and of eternal damnation in the next. These bitter experiences of suffering informed his writings and made him a compassionate friend.
Dr Jane Darcy is British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of English, King’s College London
£12/£10 concessions, includes a glass of wine.
Please note, there are many unavoidable steps.
For lectures and performances, doors open at 6:15pm and the event starts promptly at 7pm – seating is limited and tickets must be booked in advance. Send a cheque made payable to Dr Johnson’s House Trust Ltd to Dr Johnson’s House, 17 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE to book your place. Please include your contact details with your cheque.
Visit http://www.drjohnsonshouse.org/events.htm#jane_darcy to see more upcoming events at Dr Johnson’s House.
Topics: Seminars/Lectures | No Comments »
Call for Papers: 17th Century Studies Conference at Durham
By Karen Baston | February 4, 2010
Durham University Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies
THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
DURHAM CASTLE
19-22 JULY 2010
CALL FOR PAPERS
Proposals are invited for the thirteenth Conference of the Durham Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies, which will focus on the general theme:
Ideals and Values
It is expected that this theme will be approached from a very wide range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives; contributions which span national and disciplinary boundaries are, as always, particularly welcome. Papers should be of 20 minutes’ reading time. Each session will have ample time for discussion. Offers to chair sessions are welcomed from participants who are not reading papers.
Proposals for papers should be of approx. 100-200 words, and should be sent to Prof. Richard Maber as soon as possible, but no later than 26 February 2010. Proposals for themed panels are also welcomed.
The conference will take place in the magnificent setting of Durham Castle, from Monday 19 to Thursday 22 July. Residential delegates will depart after lunch on 22 July; it will also be possible to book overnight accommodation for nights before and after the conference if required.
Topics: Calls for Papers | No Comments »
Save Palaeography at King’s Petition
By Karen Baston | February 3, 2010
Humanities are under threat at King’s College, London. One of the proposals is the elimination of the Palaeography Chair. You can read about that – and find some useful links including Mary Beard’s blog post at – http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2010/02/palaeography-at-kings-college-london.html.
There is also a Facebook Group which is keeping track of developments and links available here.
You can sign the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/spkcl10/petition.html
If you want to write to King’s about this issue the person to write to is: Professor Rick Trainor, The Principal, King’s College, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS and copy to Professor Jan Palmowski, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities.
If you want to find out more about palaeography and why it’s so important, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeography. There are some useful links there, too.
Topics: Miscellanys, News | 3 Comments »
Follow a Museum on Twitter
By Karen Baston | February 1, 2010
Today is ‘Follow a Museum Day’ on Twitter. Lots of museums around the world use Twitter to communicate with their followers. It’s a great way for them to promote exhibitions and events. So spread the word about musuems on Twitter! And don’t forget to use the hashtag #followamuseum when you follow museums!
You can find out more about the day at http://www.followamuseum.com/. A list of Twittering museums is available at http://www.followamuseum.com/countries.html.
Or you can follow some museums already listed at http://twitter.com/BirkbeckEMS/museums-galleries. (I’ll be adding to this throughout February so if you know of any museums that are likely to offer items of early modern interest do let me know!)
Topics: Miscellanys, News, Resources | No Comments »
Georgian Group Events, Feb 2010
By Karen Baston | January 31, 2010
The Georgian Group is offering an interesting range of events this month. See http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk/docs/edu/events.php?id=6:2|2010:0:0 for information about booking.
4th February 2010
Lecture / The Country Houses of Sir John Vanbrugh*
6 Fitzroy Square W1
6.30pm, £10
Jeremy Musson reviews the idiosyncratic magnificence of Vanbrugh’s country houses, from Castle Howard and Blenheim to Seaton Delaval, Grimsthorpe and Kimbolton.
9th February 2010
London Visit / Trial of the Pyx
One of the longest established judicial procedures in the country, dating back to the twelfth century, the Trial of the Pyx is the annual check that coins produced at the Royal Mint are the right composition, weight and size. The name Pyx refers to the chests in which the coins are transported and derives from the Pyx chamber in Westminster Abbey, where historically the chests were kept.
17th February 2010
Lecture / Building in Georgian Oxford*
6 Fitzroy Square W1
6.30pm, £10
Malcolm Axtell, former Chairman of the Symm Group and our guide on recent visits to Oxford, talks about the role of Symm (established during the reign of George III) in conserving historic buildings in Oxford and in adding fine new buildings such as the Provost’s Lodgings at Queen’s.
23rd February 2010
Lecture / Behind Closed Doors – at Home in Georgian England*
6 Fitzroy Square W1
6.30pm, £10
As Frances Wilson said in The Sunday Times, Professor Amanda Vickery gives us ‘the Georgians at home as we have never seen them before in this ground-breaking book. Vickery can make a young wife’s arrangement of china into an event of thrilling social and psychological tension. Behind Closed Doors is both scholarly and terrifically good fun. Worth staying at home for.’ And this lecture by Amanda Vickery, based on the book, is well worth going out for.
Visit The Georgian Group for more information about the Group and its activities.
Topics: Early Modern Events, Seminars/Lectures | No Comments »
Coeli Specto: RIP Charles I & Upcoming Related Exhibition
By Karen Baston | January 30, 2010
Today is the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I (or Charles Stuart as my Roundhead friends call him!). So it seems a good idea to mention an exhibition opening next month at the National Gallery.
A Masterpiece Recovered: Delaroche’s Charles I Insulted
The National Gallery, London
24 February – 23 May 2010
Free
First shown at the Paris Salon of 1837, ‘Charles I Insulted’ is one of the great paintings on themes of English history for which Paul Delaroche become renowned.
The king is shown in the days before his execution in 1649, being bullied by Cromwell’s defiant troops.
The painting was housed at Bridgewater House in London where it was badly damaged during the Blitz. The painting was quickly consolidated, rolled up and evacuated to a house in the Scottish Borders, where it has remained safe and dry for almost 70 years. It was unrolled for the first time only in the summer of 2009.
Despite the damage – conservators counted some 200 tears in total – the picture was discovered to be almost entirely legible and has lost none of its emotive intensity. The painting is being cared for by conservators but is yet to be fully restored, so will retain its war wounds for visitors to examine.
Topics: Exhibitions | 2 Comments »
Reminder: Birkbeck EMS’s first event of 2010! Tonight!
By Karen Baston | January 29, 2010
Prof. Alex Walsham, (Exeter), Skeletons in the Cupboard: Relics after the English Reformation, Friday 29 Jan, 6.30 pm, Malet St, room 321.
Happy New Year! You are warmly invited to our first paper of 2010. Prof. Alex Walsham works on the religious and cultural history of early modern Britain, especially the immediate impact and long-term repercussions of the Reformation. Her publications include Providence in Early Modern England (2001), and Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500-1700 (Politics, culture & society in early modern Britain)(2009). The subject of relics after the Reformation sounds fascinating!
Membership is £5 and can be obtained at any of our lectures, alternatively it costs £3 to attend a single event.
Topics: Birkbeck Early Modern Society Events | No Comments »
Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey at the National Gallery, London
By Karen Baston | January 26, 2010
24 February – 23 May 2010
Sainsbury Wing Exhibition
Admission charge
From the National Portrait Gallery:
Paul Delaroche was one of the most celebrated artists of his time. His large history paintings received wide acclaim at the Paris annual exhibition, then dominated by the conflicting influences of Neo-classicism and Romanticism.
Such was Delaroche’s success that it often exceeded that of his contemporaries, Ingres and Delacroix. His paintings combine Ingres’s highly finished style with Delacroix’s historical themes to great effect, resembling stage productions where dramatic scenes are being acted.
About the paintingThe monumental Execution of Lady Jane Grey, Delaroche’s most famous painting, is arguably the best example of this new genre. Depicting the moment before the execution of the young queen in 1554, after a reign of just nine days, it is poignant in subject matter and uncanny in its intense realism.
Through preparatory drawings and sketches, this exhibition traces the slow and careful gestation of the painting. It also places it in the wider context of history painting of the time. Important precedents are displayed alongside the major works which established Delaroche’s reputation in the 1820s and 30s.
‘Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey’ examines Delaroche’s predilection for emotionally-affecting English themes and his involvement with the theatre, both essential components of his art. The exhibition aims to return critical attention to a major painter who fell from favour soon after his death, but to whom the public now respond with wide admiration.
Find out more and book tickets at http://nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/delaroche-lady-jane-grey.
Topics: Exhibitions | No Comments »
Italian Drawings at the British Museum
By Karen Baston | January 25, 2010
The British Museum
22 April–25 July 2010
Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings
From the British Museum website:
Drawn from the two foremost collections in the field, this major exhibition features 100 exquisite drawings by Italian Renaissance artists including Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Verrocchio.
A unique collaboration between the Uffizi in Florence and the British Museum, the display charts the increasing importance of drawing during this period, featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Verrocchio and Titian.
In 15th-century Italy there was a fundamental shift in style and artistic thinking in the use of preparatory drawings. What began as a means of preserving artistic ideas became the ideal way to perfect more naturalistic forms and perspective – a new approach by painters, sculptors and architects.
Infrared and other technology used in conservation research provide fresh insights into how drawing allowed painters to experiment and explore with a freedom not always reflected in their finished works. Examples in the exhibition show the trend towards depiction of movement and expression of emotion, often inspired by classical antiquity.
This exhibition is a unique opportunity to discover the evolution of drawing which laid the foundations of the High Renaissance style of Michelangelo and Raphael.
You can find all the details and book tickets at http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/italian_renaissance_drawings.aspx
Topics: Exhibitions | No Comments »
Renaissance Ball at the V&A
By Karen Baston | January 24, 2010
29 January 2010, 18:30-22:00
Drawing on the masked tradition of the Commedia del arte join the V&A on a night dedicated to the amazing new Medieval & Renaissance Galleries and explore the V&A collection with a museum-wide programme of live music and performance. Dig out your best sparkling ball attire as the Last Tuesday Society bring the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries to life with a night of unique demonstrations, workshops, performances and readings.
Enjoy special concerts by the The Listening Gallery, from the Royal College of Music. Witness a special parade of Renaissance-inspired costume designed by students from the Wimbledon College of Art’s Theatre Design course and sit in on a specially commissioned dance performance choreographed and performed by graduates of the London Contemporary Dance School.
All events are free and drop-in, unless stipulated otherwise.
Filming and photography will be taking place at this event.
Events
DJ Russell Taylor
Grand Entrance
18.30-21.50
Adjust your masks and raise your goblet to Russell Taylor MBE, Last Tuesday Society Ball DJ extraordinaire.
The Glyndebourne Opera Company
Balcony, Gallery 50A
Timings are tbc
Enjoy a rare treat as Glyndebourne Opera Company as bring the galleries to life with a selection of arias from Tallis and Purcell, who will induct you into the delights of the passepied and pavane.
Madrigals
Balcony, Gallery 50A
Timings are tbc
Listen in to magical madrigals sung by choristers from the Monteverdi Choir.
Finger sticks and Masks
Sackler Art Studio and Sackler Lunch Room
Under the tutelage of master artisan Simon Aronson you can turn your hand to mask making and cast a mould of your index finger to make a special stick for pointing, prodding and poking.
Places are limited.
Lavaterian Silhouettes
Gallery 50A
18.30-21.30
Monseigneur Simon Warner will utilise the optical trickery of his silhouette chair to create your portrait.
The Little Theatre of Dolls
Gallery 50A
Performance times tbc
Enter the medieval world of mountebanks and marionettes with The Little Theatre of Dolls.
ROBIN AND PARTRIDGE’S Gallant Shadow Theatre present ‘Cottage Cheese Cosmology’
Gallery 64b
Performance times tbc
Robin and Partridge invite you to take a seat as they explore the true story of a sixteenth century miller, heresy and some cheese.
No Yesterday’s on the Road
Raphael Gallery
Timings tbc
View a specially commissioned, site-specific dance piece drawing inspiration from the new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries. Designed and choreographed by graduates of the London Contemporary Dance School four dancers explore an elaborate maze of pathways and chess boards. An abstract depiction of a journey through time, the dance piece is accompanied by a live cello trio with music composed by Jered Sorkin.
Places are limited.
Orfeo
Sculpture Gallery 22 to 24
Timing tbc
Observe as first year students of Design for Performance at Wimbledon College of Art bring to life performance costumes based on contemporary views of Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo.
Nathan the Wise
Sculpture Gallery 22 to 24
Timings tbc
Watch as first year Costume Design and Interpretation students from Wimbledon College of Art display specially designed costumes based on a contemporary view of Nathan the Wise, an 18th century dramatic poem by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
Performances No Yesterdays on the Road, Orfeo and Nathan the Wise supported by Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London. With special thanks to Karen Greenhough, London Contemporary Dance School and Peter Farley.
The Listening Gallery
Paintings Gallery 82 and Sculpture Gallery 111
Timings TBC
Listen in on specially commissioned, intimate performances using traditional instruments and choral chanting techniques. The Listening Gallery is a two-year collaboration between the RCM and the V&A. Stemming from recent research in music, art, design, and technology, the project connects objects in the V&A’s collections with music that shares their rich and distinctive pasts.
Tales, Tours and Talks
Explore the redisplay through a series of intimate and intriguing talks and tours.
All timings are tbc
Places are limited. Free tickets will be available from 18.00 on the night
Dan Cruickshank
Renowned historian Dan Cruickshank will act as your guide to the chalices and chasubles, sarcophagi and stemmata of the V&A’s newly opened Medieval and Renaissance galleries.
Curator-led tours
Join V&A curators as they uncover the secrets of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries.
Telling Tales
Gallery 50B
Timings tbc
The Society’s own bard, Giles Abbot esquire, who will regale you with tales from Tudor England and Classical Antiquity.
CONTACTS:
The Last Tuesday Society.
And if all that wasn’t enough – the V&A shop will be offering a 15% off discount during the Renaissance Ball!
See V&A Friday Evenings, January 2010 for all the details.
Thanks go to Robin for this!
Topics: Early Modern Events | No Comments »
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