Events
Winter 2025 Programme
ARTscapades is delighted to bring you this unique and exciting programme of art through talks by expert speakers. We continue to be grateful for your support which enables profits from our ticket sales to help UK museums and arts-based organisations.
Join us for the first of our special curator talks on this winter’s unmissable exhibitions, an introduction to Drawing the Italian Renaissance at the King’s Gallery with Martin Clayton. Discover English portrait miniatures in The Reflective Self at Compton Verney with Emma Rutherford and Oli McCall.
Explore the art of India through V&A’s sumptuous The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence in our Study Evening with exhibition curator Susan Stronge.
Alexandra Loske looks at colour in The Artist’s Palette; British Museum curators Akiko Yano and Rosina Buckland discuss Japanese art and society in Salon Culture in Japan: Making Art. Bloomsbury radical Vanessa Bell is the focus of our talk by Wendy Hitchmough.
By popular request, author Martin Gayford returns with a second talk on his most recent book How Painting Happens and T J Clark considers the efficacy of art as a political instrument. In a new Virtual Walk, Katie Wignall explores the tunnels, rivers and ruins underneath London.
Immerse yourself in our Italian theme this season with Desmond Shawe-Taylor’s study evening Mother of the Arts: Italy in the Royal Collection — and ARTscapades’ short course Four Sienese Artists with Richard Stemp based on the National Gallery’s upcoming exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting.
All events take place via Zoom Webinar and can be watched live including Q&A. Ticket holders will be emailed a link to join 24 hours in advance. In case you can’t make it on the day, ticket holders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for one month.
Ticket proceeds go to help support UK museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations.
If you missed booking a ticket to a recent online event you can purchase a link by visiting our on-demand Recordings page. A selection of past Talks and Study Courses is currently available through 31 January 2025.
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Looking for a present? Click here for details on giving an ARTscapades talk as a gift.
If you have any queries or feedback please do not hesitate to contact us.
Forthcoming events
Tuesday 21 January 2025, 6-7pm. £10
Martin Clayton introduces the acclaimed Drawing the Italian Renaissance at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. The widest-ranging exhibition of such drawings ever shown in the UK – 160 sheets by more than 80 different artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Titian and many more.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 28 January 2025, 6-7pm. £10
Behind every painted masterpiece is a palette; and each palette and the colours that remain on its surface provide a vital insight into artists and their process. In an enticing ARTscapades talk, Alexandra Loske looks at some unique palettes alongside stunning paintings by the celebrated artists who used them.
Read more and book here >
Thursday 30 January 2025, 2.30-3.30pm. £10
The art of portrait miniature painting flourished in Britain for over 300 years. Join ARTscapades for a talk by the curators of Compton Verney’s current exhibition as they share highlights and discoveries of the exquisitely painted, portable portraits that functioned as emblems of love and loyalty, as diplomatic gifts exchanged between foreign courts or as markers of royal favour.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 4 February 2025, 5-7.30pm. £20
Join ARTscapades for this fascinating Study Evening with Susan Stronge, curator of the V&A’s major exhibition on the Golden Age of the Mughal Court (about 1560–1660) during the reigns of its most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 11 February 2025, 6-7pm. £10
From 'lost' rivers, to secret tunnels, discover what lies beneath London. Whether it's for transporting people, packages or sewage, there's a lot going on right under your feet. From ancient ruins to ground-breaking new technology, join Blue Badge Tour Guide Katie Wignall on this ARTscapades virtual walk as she peels back the layers of the city's history and travels down through London's strata!
Read more and book here >
Thursday 13 February 2025, 6-7pm. £10
In early modern Japan, cultural salons were creative spaces for people of all ages and social levels to come together to pursue painting, poetry and other artistic endeavours, as serious but amateur practitioners. This ARTscapades talk by British Museum Japanese Collections curators offers a new perspective on Japanese art and society in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 18 February 2025, 6-7pm. £10
By popular demand, Martin Gayford returns to ARTscapades for a second talk based on his most recent book. Drawing on his extraordinary interviews with painters carried out over more than three decades and bringing together artists’ voices, past and present, he offers a wealth of insights into painters and painting.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 4 March 2025, 6-7pm. £10
Artists occasionally find themselves tempted — or is it obliged, to be 'political'. But what that means is a big question. Is it just a matter of making artworks with political content? Or does it involve intervening in political struggle? But is art good at intervening? T J Clark asks these questions of two examples of art made in revolutionary circumstances.
Read more and book here >
Wednesday 19 March, 6-7pm. £10
Vanessa Bell was one of the most radical and influential artists working in Britain during the early 20th century and opened up professional opportunities for women, including her sister, Virginia Woolf. Dr Wendy Hitchmough, former curator at Charleston, explores how Bell positioned her own work within a European canon, presenting an alternative, feminist perspective on female sexuality and fertility.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 25 March 2025, 5-7.30pm. £20
The exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting will be at the National Gallery this March, setting out to show how many innovations which we associate with the 15th-century Florentine Renaissance have their origins in Siena a century before. Join Richard Stemp for this ARTscapades short course to investigate more closely; looking at the four key protagonists and their influence, especially on the work of their contemporaries.
Read more and book here >
Tuesday 1 April, 5-7.30pm. £20
The exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting will be at the National Gallery this March, setting out to show how many innovations which we associate with the 15th-century Florentine Renaissance have their origins in Siena a century before. Join Richard Stemp for this ARTscapades short course to investigate more closely; looking at the four key protagonists and their influence, especially on the work of their contemporaries.
Read more and book here >
Past events
Recording Links
If you missed booking a ticket to a recent online event by expert curators and speakers, you can purchase a link to the on-demand recording by visiting our Recordings page. Over the holiday period, we have extended our selection of events for viewing through 31 January 2025.
Tuesday 25 February 2025, 5-7.30pm. £20
Join Desmond Shawe-Taylor for an ARTscapades Study Evening on Italian artists of the Renaissance and the creation of the British Royal Collection. Discover how the achievement of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, et al, became the model of what painting should be and how it should be understood.
Read more and book here >