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Click here for future lectures

21 July 2026A passion for fashion: 300 years of style at Blenheim Palace
15 July 2026Evening Lecture and Dinner L S Lowry
16 June 2026Venice and the East
19 May 2026The art of the shell: an object of wonder from the natural world
21 April 2026Wrotham Pottery
17 March 2026Vincent in Ramsgate
17 February 2026The Changing Face of Contemporary Glass Art
20 January 2026African - Art, Craft or Curio? An introduction to sub-Saharan Art
18 November 2025A Dickens of a Christmas and God Bless Us Everyone'
21 October 2025Catherine The Great: the World's Greatest Collector
16 September 2025Banksy - Fraud or Genius?
16 July 2025Evening Lecture and Dinner
15 July 2025Secrets of the Lower Thames and Medway
17 June 2025From Claridge's Hotel to the London Underground: Marion Dorn, textile designer
20 May 2025Cinema from the rubble: the post-war politics of Ealing Studios
15 April 2025The First Emperor of China 221-211 BCE: Qin Shi Huangdi & his Terracotta Legacy
18 March 2025'Mars and the Muses': the Renaissance Art of Armour
18 February 2025Cathedrals: Safe places to do risky things
21 January 2025Pots and Frocks
19 November 2024Highlights of the Vatican Museum and frescoes of the Sistine Chapel
15 October 2024Oleksandr Bohomazov 1880-1930: The Lost Futurist of Ukraine
17 September 2024Curves, Colours and Cool: an introduction to mid-century modern
16 July 2024The Art of Framing
18 June 2024Edward Coley Burne-Jones: the last Pre-Raphaelite
21 May 2024The National Gallery and the stories within
16 April 2024Faber and Faber: 90 Years of Excellence in Cover Design
19 March 2024Hendrick Goltzius: Master Printmaker
20 February 2024Modern British sculpture: Moore, Hepworth, Caro, Frink and others
16 January 2024Venice, Canaletto & his Rivals
21 November 2023Harp and Holly: its history, design and music with a seasonal flavour
17 October 2023Artist's Covent Garden and the Golden Age of British Art
19 September 2023Caught in the Mousetrap: the theatrical world of Agatha Christie
18 July 2023How Napier became the Art Deco capital of the world
20 June 2023The model and the muse in 19th century art
16 May 20231066 and all that - the Bayeux Tapestry: Some secretS and mysteries revealed
18 April 2023The French Impressionists in Britain and their legacy
21 March 2023The Turner Prize: but is it art?
21 February 2023How to understand Buddhist art
17 January 2023The world's most expensive art: where Leonardo meets Picasso
15 November 2022From Tchaikovsky to Tin Pan Alley - uplifting music for Christmas.
18 October 2022The Art of Stained Glass
20 September 2022The Ballets Russes: when art danced with music.
19 July 2022Art UK: Uncovering the nation's hidden oil painting collection
21 June 2022Revolution in the art school: the Bauhaus (1919 – 1933).
17 May 2022A band of brothers: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co
19 April 2022The story of Indian contemporary art.
15 March 2022History of cartoons: from William Hogarth to Private Eye.
15 February 2022The story of the Cook sisters and how they used opera to save lives.
18 January 2022Hans Christian Andersen: wit, artist, traveller; stories, sketches, papercuts, with paintings of the day.
16 November 2021A curator speaks: what are museums for?
19 October 2021The Dowager Empress Cixi: ruling from behind the yellow silk screen
21 September 2021The invention of photography & its impact on early modern painting
17 August 2021Women behind the lens: Outstanding Female Photographers and their contribution to the Art of Photography
27 July 2021One-off Youtube Lecture on Flamenco
20 July 2021The Punch and Judy Show
15 June 2021Lapis Lazuli : Pursuit of a Celestial Stone
18 May 2021Restoration theatre, rakes, fops and wenches
20 April 2021Raphael : A Master in the Making
23 March 2021STUDY DAY - Music to Inspire - From Buckingham Palace to the Caribbean
16 March 2021Picturing the Passion
16 February 2021Conceptual art: Whatever were they thinking of?
19 January 2021The Great age of the Shogun: Art & culture in Edo period Japan
17 November 2020The Politeness of Princes: the Reality of Medieval Etiquette and Table Manners
20 October 2020The Explosive World of Cornelia Parker
15 September 2020Percussion, Use and Abuse
21 July 2020Modigiani: Passion, Paris and Painting
16 June 2020The Punch and Judy Show
19 May 2020Lapis Lazuli: Pursuit of a Celestial Stone
21 April 2020Raphael: A Master in the Making
17 March 2020Picturing the Passion
18 February 2020The Wallace Collection, the Frick Collection, NY and Knole
21 January 2020Salvador Dali: Twentieth Century Renaissance Artist
19 November 2019The Magic of Pantomime
15 October 2019Downton to Gatsby
17 September 2019Through a Glass Darkly
16 July 2019Mad Men and Artists : how the Advertising industry exploited Fine Art
18 June 2019Artemisia Gentileschi and a Passion for Painting
21 May 2019Degas,Manet and Baudelaire: Paris, the City of Modernity
16 April 2019 Stamford Raffles : Art Collector, Discoverer of Singapore
19 March 2019The Love of Line : Medieval Art and Architecture
19 February 2019Lawrence of Arabia's War: excavating a legend
15 January 2019It's not just Tchaikovsky
20 November 2018A Celebration of Christmas in Music and Painting
16 October 2018Meissen and the Story of Porcelain
18 September 2018Rubens and Antwerp
21 August 2018No meeting this month
17 July 2018The Story of American Impressionism
19 June 2018Donatello and the Sculpture of the Renaissance
15 May 2018Servant, Mistress, Scoundrel, Princess – Kensington Palace
17 April 2018Handel and Rembrandt – Two Baroque Protestants
20 March 2018The Story of Kent told through Apples, Ale and Architecture
20 February 2018Zaha Hadid
16 January 2018Brothers of the Brush: Artist Monks in 15th Century Florence

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A passion for fashion: 300 years of style at Blenheim Palace Antonia Keaney Tuesday 21 July 2026

An amusing and informative look at the clothes, underclothes, shoes and accessories which would have been worn by some of the more colourful characters in the Palace’s 300 year history – as well as a look at the House of Dior’s continuing special relationship with Blenheim. The part that arsenic, lead, mercury and mousetraps played in the trends of the day is considered and how, then as now, people went to the most extraordinary lengths to keep abreast of fashion.