Lecture Programme
11 November
Andrea Palladio and English
Paladians
Launce Gribben
The stone mason, Andrea di Pietro delIa
Gondola, was already thirty years old when he was given the nickname,
"Palladio" by a humanist patron, who adopted him as protégé when
working on his villa. The name stuck. Deeply interested in antiquity, Palladio
published his famous "Four Books of Architecture" in Venice in 1570. There were
already several books on how to build like the Romans, but Vitruvius came
without pictures and didn't match the classical ruins, and none of the others
was at all clear what to do in practical situations. The stone mason, however,
made only suggestions which would work on site, since he was a practical man,
and his illustrations were clear to follow. So his books on architecture,
though not the first, proved extremely popular. Inigo Jones and Christopher
Wren owned copies, but the real fashion for Palladio began in the 18th century
when he was seen as the builder's bible by the Palladian movement. Thus nearly
two centuries after he had published them, his volumes were translated into
English, and one can hardly visit a National Trust house without coming face to
face with his influence.
9 December
Kings College, Cambridge:
Architecture and Music (with music)
Elizabeth Gordon
King' s
College Chapel in Cambridge is a breathtaking experience - not only for its
magnificent fan vaulting, the finest in the world, for its carving (both in
wood and in stone), and its dazzling array of stained glass windows, but above
all, perhaps, for the world-famous Choir. It was King Henry VI who founded the
College in 1441, and who established that there should be a fine choir in the
Chapel to sing daily services during term-time. It is especially for the
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols that the Choir is most famous, reaching TV
and radio audiences worldwide on Christmas Eve every year.
2009
13 January
Alton Maltings Centre Medieval
monasticism: Word, Spirit and Culture
The Rt Rev Dom Aidan Bellenger
Abbot of Downside
10 February
The Percy family of Alnwick,
Syon and Petworth
William Forrester
10 March
Constantinople & Istanbul: A
Tale of Two Cities
Sue Rollin
14 April
A Family Affair: Florence and the
House of Medici
Jo Walton
12 May
Alton Maltings Centre Pretty Witty
Nell: Mistress, Mother and Matriarch
Peter Dewar
9 June
Alton Maltings Centre Russian Art
under the Last Tsar
Dr Rosamund Bartlett
8 September
Arabia Felix - Secret Treasure
Chest of Yemen and Oman
Christopher Bradley
Preceded by the AGM
at 7.30pm
13 October
Great Tarts in Art: High Culture
and the Oldest Profession
Linda Smith
10 November
The Scottish Colourists -
Style and Sophistication from the Jazz Age
Vivien Heffernan
8 December
Angels, Cherubs and the Hosts
of Heaven
Frances Feldman
Lecture to start at 7.30pm, followed
by our Christmas Celebration
