E-News Bulletin June 2026

Artwork of the Month Submissions
“Artwork of the Month” is a feature we would like to introduce onto the Society’s Instagram page and is a chance to share the artworks that resonate most with our members. If there’s an artwork that has inspired you, challenged you, or simply caught your attention, please send your suggestion to our Communications Coordinator. A short note about why it stands out to you is appreciated, but not required.

SOCIETY EVENTS

The next members’ lecture is Mars and the Muses: The Renaissance Art of Armour on Wednesday 10th June at 18:00 at the Art Workers’ Guild in London. He will bring a few copies of his new book, Armour of the English Knight: An Armourers’ Album, in case anyone would like to have a closer look.Tobias informs his academic approach to the history of armour with decades of practical experience in armed battles and jousts, giving him a unique insight into the field. Armour was not only an expensive high-status product of developing warfare and manufacturing technology but also reflected changing fashions in clothing, contributing to chivalric culture in royal and aristocratic circles. One of our members says, “Toby’s lively lecturing style opened up for me a hitherto mysterious world: now I never see a suit of armour without stopping, guessing the date and appreciating these extraordinary works of art.” This event is free for members, but booking is required. We will also celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Society at the drinks reception following the lecture. This will end an hour later than usual, at 21.15 and finger foods will be provided as well as drinks. We will be joined by past and current lecturers as well as our Society President Clare Ford-Wille. A limited number of spaces are also available for members’ guests – tickets can be booked in the normal way for £10.

Places are available on our upcoming study events:

Forging the Baroque: histories of Neapolitan art in the long 17th century a three-day online course on Tuesday 2nd, Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th June 2026, 11.00-13:00 with Dr Giulia Martina Weston. Giulia is known to many of our members from her courses on Poussin and other topics. The term ‘baroque’ can be off-putting but the early modern period is a fascinating transition from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment – as we discovered on our recent Michaelina Wautier study day.

American Art and its Publics 1880-1939 a study day at Lettsom House with Dr Kathy McLaughlan on Friday 3rd July.

Barbizon and the Making of Modern Landscape a three-day online course on 6th, 7th and 8th October 14.00-16.00 with Jo Rhymer.

NEW Byzantium’s Capital: Constantinople, the New Rome, the Queen of Cities a study day led by Dr Cecily Hennessy on the 28th October from 11:00 – 16:30 at Lettsom House.

London Interiors – Style and Taste in Interior Design, 1660-1940 a three-day online course on 24th, 25th and 26th November 10.00-12.00 with Steven Brindle.

All the above are in-person study events (except Forging the Baroque, Barbizon and the Making of Modern Landscape and London Interiors – Style and Taste in Interior Design, 1660-1940) and are also offered on a post-event recording only basis, with recordings available to all attendees for 4 weeks.

There are also many upcoming study visits and walks:

Jo Spence exhibition at the Peltz Gallery, a study tour led by Professor Patrizia Di Bello and some of her students on Wednesday 17th June. This is a special opportunity for a tour with Professor Patrizia di Bello of The Project Remains Incomplete: Jo Spence, Curated by Terry Dennett, a restaging of an exhibition curated in 2008 for a photo therapy conference in Turku, Finland.

Visit to Coventry Cathedral Coventry on Friday 10th July.

Cathedral Mosaics in London starting at St Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral then heading to Westminster Cathedral on 14th July 2026.

Visit to Romsey Abbey led by Dr Richard Plant on Wednesday 9th September at 13:30.

Visit to Canterbury Cathedral October 2026 with Dr Sally Dormer on Friday 2nd October. Any of our members can sign-up for this event, not only those who put their names on a waiting list.

Please bear in mind that in order for these events to go ahead, we need to cover their costs. We kindly ask that members book as early as possible to ensure that events do not need to be rescheduled or at worst cancelled.

Date for your diary:

• 2nd November – An evening tour of Simon Gillespie Studio for the Conservation & Restoration of Fine Art. Available to book from the 1st of July

Volunteering

We still urgently need volunteers, both for the events team and to help produce the Newsletter. Working on the Newsletter might appeal to a couple of friends who enjoy meeting up and bouncing ideas around. We’d appreciate any offers of assistance – no-one is “thrown in at the deep end” and training is provided. If you’d like to learn more, please contact our Chair, Jeanette McCauley, via the email link on the website or speak to her or one of the other Organisers in person at one of the upcoming events.

Current Exhibitions and Lectures in London

Talk: Emily Allchurch and The Six Seasons at Upton House, Online event on Wednesday June 3rd from 18:00 – 19:00

Athena Art Foundation is hosting an online conversation between the artist Emily Allchurch and Upton House curator Michelle Leake about the property’s current exhibition of Allchurch’s work. This features her photographic recreation of six paintings of ‘the Seasons’ by the sixteenth-century artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Like the Breugels, Allchurch’s assemblages of thousands of contemporary photographs look at man’s relationship to nature and the land and ask what has changed in the intervening centuries, and what has stayed the same.

Talk: Curator Daniel Sobrino Ralston talks about Zurbarán at the National Gallery Online event on Thursday June 25th from 18:00 – 19:00

With thanks to Eva Bigalke, you can access and download a listing of current and future exhibitions showing in London from now until November 2026 here.

Overseas Exhibitions

Art Basel returns to Basel from 18–21 June 2026, bringing together more than 200 leading galleries and over 4,000 artists from around the world in what remains one of the most influential events on the international contemporary art calendar. Alongside the fair, museums and cultural institutions across the city will launch major exhibitions, transforming Basel into a vibrant centre for artistic exchange and critical dialogue throughout June.

Jasper Johns: Night Driver at the Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain. On now until 10th December.

Jasper Johns: Night Driver presents a major survey of one of the most influential artists of the post-war era, bringing together works from across seven decades of his career. The exhibition explores Johns’s enduring fascination with symbols, language and perception, highlighting the innovations that reshaped contemporary art and influenced generations of artists.

If you wish to recommend other overseas exhibitions that may be of interest to fellow members please contact our Communications Coordinator.