Meetings
Wednesday February 15th 2012: “The Villa Borghese Art Gallery – Rome’s Jewel”
An illustrated talk by David Lamb, freelance Tour Manager.
Wednesday February 15th 2012: “The Villa Borghese Art Gallery – Rome’s Jewel”
An illustrated talk by David Lamb, freelance Tour Manager.
No visit to Rome can be complete without seeing the Borghese Gallery - one of Europe's most extraordinary art experiences and one of Rome's greatest patrician collections.
The Villa Borghese was built in the early 17th century surrounded by parks and gardens and became a setting for the collection commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, who was an extravagant patron of the arts, and amassed one of the finest collectons of paintings, statues and antiquities to be found in Europe.
Works by Bernini, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio amongst many others are to be found here.
Visit the official Villa Borghese Gallery website
Wednesday January 18th 2012: “Leonardo da Vinci’s Monsters”
We welcome the return of author Ross King.
Wednesday January 18th 2012: “Leonardo da Vinci’s Monsters” We welcome the return of author Ross King.
Ross King, the author of The Fantasia of Leonardo Da Vinci, will explain Leonardo's interest in fantastic and imaginary creatures such as dragons and unicorns which appear in his bestiary and his collection of fables.
"Leonardo da Vinci was a polymathic genius, but he was also playful, fanciful, funny—and often angry about the mistreatment of animals. Ross King shows the Leonardo behind the paintings, as the artist tells the tales he might have told at court and to friends over dinner, including fables about animals and a funny story about monks. King's perceptive narrative guides us through this little-known Leonardo: his bestiary, fables, jests and riddles. It's a revealing portrait of a Leonardo unknown to all but the most diligent and perceptive of scholars, beautifully illustrated with images from the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle."
Further background on Ross King and this lecture can be found on his personal website.
