Lunchtime lectures
The Wonder of Art
- Monday, 6 July 2026
- Monday, 13 July 2026
- Monday, 20 July 2026
- Monday, 27 July 2026
Tickets
| Standard: | £10 |
| Concessions: | £8 |
Book all four lectures and receive a 20% discount. The discount will automatically be applied at checkout.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.
About
Join us for a captivating series of lunchtime talks celebrating ‘The Wonder of Art’, a new collection of small yet exquisite volumes from the National Gallery. Each week, the authors will open up their books to reveal the surprising stories, dazzling details and extraordinary artworks that shaped the themes within — colour, still life, fashion and saints. Whether you come for just one talk or all four, rediscover the Gallery’s collection in new and unexpected ways.
Buy all four and save
Book all four lectures and receive a 20% discount. The discount will automatically be applied at checkout
From poison to paint tubes, discover the vibrant story of colour in art with writer and art historian Francesca Herrick. From the shimmering allure of gold leaf to the rich depth of cobalt blue, colour has always been central to how artists capture our senses and emotions. Herrick will reveal intriguing tales behind historic pigments — including toxic arsenic greens and the revolutionary invention of the portable paint tube — while guiding you through artworks by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Vermeer, Monet, Van Gogh and others. This is a vivid journey into how colour transformed artistic expression across centuries.
Francesca Herrick
Francesca Herrick is an art historian and educator. She has led workshops at the Courtauld Gallery for almost two decades. In these, she frequently explores the story of colour and demonstrates how historic paints were made. She specialises in museum interpretation and has written exhibition guides and learning resources on a wide range of topics, from Rubens to Impressionism. She also teaches the history of interior design at Chelsea College of Arts and runs short courses on this rich topic for West Dean College.
A celebration of the extraordinary found within the ordinary. Why do we find beauty in a vase of flowers or a basket of fruit? Join art historian Siân Walters for an exploration of the still-life tradition, from its origins in devotional painting to its flourishing in the hands of artists like Van Gogh. Using striking close-up details, Siân reveals reveals how painters across centuries transformed everyday objects into moments of contemplation, symbolism and quiet wonder.
Siân Walters
Siân Walters is an art historian and the director of ‘Art History in Focus’. She studied at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, and has been a lecturer at the National Gallery for over 20 years. Her specialist areas of research are Italian painting, Spanish art and architecture, Flemish and Dutch painting and the relationship between dance and art. Siân also lectures for The Arts Society and leads specialist art tours abroad. She was a lecturer at University of Surrey for many years and has lived and worked in France and Venice. Along with writer James Payne, she is the presenter of the six-part Sky Arts documentary series 'Beyond the Brush' (2026).
Clothing has long been a canvas onto which artists project luxury, power and personality. Join art historian and lecturer Jacqui Ansell as she explores the opulent world of historical fashion through the paintings of Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Manet and Klimt. Featuring artworks filled with lush velvets, shimmering silks and glittering brocades, this talk uncovers the symbolism behind elaborate ruffs, sweeping skirts and jewelled accessories. Learn how garments once communicated status and virtue, and how artists used them to showcase their painting skills.
Jacqui Ansell
Jacqui Ansell is a former Education Officer at the National Gallery and has devised and delivered an extensive variety of courses and tours based on the collection for more than 25 years. With an MA in dress history from the Courtauld, she specialises in dating paintings through details of dress for art dealers such as Philip Mould. Formerly a Senior Lecturer at Christie’s Education (and author and tutor of many online courses) she is now a freelancer, lecturing internationally for the Arts Society and the main London galleries. She has authored a specialist essay for the Wallace Collection website on the changing taste for Rococo and others, decoding dress in the work of Reynolds and Fragonard. Her latest publication for spring 2026 is ‘Fashion’ (National Gallery & Yale), a richly illustrated exploration of fabric, fur, shoes, gloves, jewellery, hats, fans and clothing styles as depicted in National Gallery paintings.
Before they became icons, saints were extraordinary people with stories full of drama, devotion and transformation. In this session, writer and curator Siobhán Jolley takes a closer look at some of the most moving depictions of saints in Western art. Exploring masterpieces by artists such as Raphael, Crivelli and Dürer, Jolley delves into the gripping narratives of figures such as Saint Barbara and Saint Francis. Discover how artists captured their trials, triumphs and miracles in exquisite visual detail.
Dr Siobhán Jolley
Dr Siobhán Jolley is a specialist in the reception of the Bible in art and popular culture. She is Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Manchester and Visiting Lecturer in Christianity and the Arts at King’s College, London. She was previously the Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Research Fellow in Art and Religion at the National Gallery. An expert in the portrayal of Mary Magdalene, her broader research interests include the work of female artists, the reception of biblical women and the New Testament, and feminist approaches.