London Days (Bulletin 5, 2019)

M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • WA L K I N G • H I S TORY • M U S I C • L I T E R AT U R E

LONDON DAYS 2019/20 Newly-launched: London Organs Day Updated list of 2019 & 2020 days

The leading provider of cultural tours Martin Randall Travel is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas.

Each year there are about 250 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10–20 participants), six or seven music festivals, a dozen music and history weekends in the UK and over 40 London Days itineraries.

For 30 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com

‘ Impressively comprehensive offering a cornucopia of delights even to a Londoner.’ ‘ The highlight of my six week trip to the UK and Europe.’

‘The lecturer’s enthusiasm for London’s buildings and history was infectious.’

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LONDON DAYS ‘London, thou art the flower of cities all’ – William Dunbar London Days are all-inclusive, non-residential tours opening doors in the capital to its wonderful art, architecture and history.

They are led by carefully-chosen experts who enthuse, interpret and inspire, bringing to life each specialist theme. Radio guides enable lecturers to talk in a normal conversational voice while participants can hear without difficulty whether in a museum or on a main road.

The itinerary is detailed and meticulously planned with special arrangements and privileged access significant features. Refreshments and lunches are included and planned in appropriate settings for sustenance, conversation and reflection.

These are active, fulfilling days, often with a lot of walking and standing. Travel is mainly by Underground, sometimes taxi, occasionally by private coach or bus.

For an insight into the London Days experience, view our video of The London Backstreet Walk at martinrandall.com/london-days

CONTENTS GALLERY & MUSEUM Caravaggio & Rembrandt.......................... 4 The Italian Renaissance............................. 4 Islamic Art in London............................... 5 Ancient Egypt at the British Museum..... 5 Art and Artefacts of Antiquity.................. 6 Spanish Art in London.............................. 6 The Golden Age of British Painting......... 7 Mother, Maiden, Mistress.......................... 7 Ancient Greece........................................... 8 Roses and Nightingales.............................. 8

The Portrait: Van Eyck to Sargent............ 9 Venetian Art in London............................ 9

MUSIC

WALKING London’s Top Ten...................................... 13 Royal Parks Walk...................................... 13

London Organs Day................................. 10

LONDON DAYS LISTED BY DATE

HISTORY

2019/20 programme................................. 14

Great Railway Termini............................. 11

BOOKING, VOUCHERS, UPDATES

London’s Underground Railway............. 11 Hampstead in the 1930s.......................... 12 The Tudors................................................. 12

Making a booking.................................... 15 Gift vouchers............................................. 15 London Days e-bulletin........................... 15

Be the first to hear about new London Days departures with our fortnightly e-mail updates.

To sign up please e-mail info@martinrandall.co.uk, or call us on +44 (0)20 8742 3355.

LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

Caravaggio & Rembrandt A new naturalism

Tuesday 10 December 2019 (lf 928) Wednesday 4 March 2020 (lg 117) Lecturer: Dr Richard Stemp

Few individuals have had such a revolutionary impact on the history of art as Caravaggio (1571–1610). His short life was violent and intermittently spent as a fugitive, but the impact of his artistic innovations was felt throughout Europe and through the whole course of the seventeenth century.

Start: 10.15am, National Gallery, Sainsbury Wing.

The National Gallery has three paintings

by Caravaggio (sometimes one is on loan elsewhere), but the emphasis of this day is on putting the artist and his achievements in his Italian context and on exploring his influence beyond the peninsula. Among the other artists studied, therefore, are Rubens, Velázquez, and, above all, Rembrandt (1606–1669).

Combine the March day with: The Italian Renaissance, 5 March 2020.

The NG has one of the best collections of Rembrandt paintings in the world – the Dutchman never fell from favour among collectors, in sharp contrast with Caravaggio, who was practically forgotten in the nineteenth century. But they shared much, principally exploitation of the expressive and naturalistic potential of chiaroscuro (contrasting light and shade) to dramatic effect, and the use of humble models and realism rather than idealism to tell religious stories in a new and moving way.

Finish: 5.15pm.

Price: £205. This includes lunch, midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshments.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

‘I learnt a great deal about the painters but also an appreciation of the riches of the National Gallery.’ a participant on Caravaggio & Rembrandt.

Four gallery sessions are around an hour each.

The Italian Renaissance at the National Gallery London’s National Gallery possesses the finest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings outside Italy. Unlike most other national collections in Europe, it was formed (over nearly 200 years) by connoisseurs and art historians rather than princes and nobles whose less discerning eyes allowed the admission of a proportion of second- and third-raters. There’s no dross on show in Trafalgar Square.

Tuesday 12 November 2019 (lf 886) Thursday 5 March 2020 (lg 119) Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Thursday 29 October 2020 (lg 546) Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley 4

There are four sessions in the galleries of approximately an hour each. While most paintings commissioned then were of a religious nature, the call for portraits and mythologies speak of the burgeoning humanistic interests of patrons. Meaning, context, scale and innovation and what it was that marked out images by the great masters in this period will all be considered. Between the sessions there are leisurely adjournments for refreshments. With no more than fourteen in the group, radio guides to eliminate problems of audibility, and the presence of an MRT staffer to oversee the arrangements, this should be a highly agreeable and efficacious way to enhance your knowledge and appreciation of Renaissance painting.

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Start: 10.15am, National Gallery.

Finish: 5.15pm, National Gallery.

Price: £205. This includes lunch, midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshments.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Combine the October day with: Venetian Art in London, 30 October 2020 or Venice: Pageantry & Piety, 2-7 November 2020.

LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

Islamic Art in London The V&A and the British Museum Friday 15 November 2019 (lf 899) Tuesday 11 February 2020 (lg 106) Lecturer: Professor James Allan

the different designs displayed, particularly on carpets and textiles, as well as learning about individual pieces.

Two of Britain’s greatest museums provide a London treasure-house of Islamic works of art. The first is the V&A. One of its original aims, in 1852, was to inspire British designers and manufacturers. And its Islamic collections did just that, one of its most notable recipients being William de Morgan (1839-1917), the great lustre ceramicist.

The British Museum offers the visitor an incredibly rich collection of Islamic ceramics and metalwork, as well as some works of art on paper. The development of Islamic art in the different media is traced and the techniques explored which enabled them to evolve and develop, and to have such an impact on Italian Renaissance ceramics and design. The visit will include the major redisplay in the new Albukhary Foundation Galleries of the Islamic world.

Today, the Islamic gallery, focused on the famous Ardabil carpet, houses an awesome assemblage of Islamic works of art, including ceramics, tilework, metalwork, woodwork, glass, rock crystal, textiles and carpets. It also has a valuable educational group of cases which display the four elements so common in Islamic art – calligraphy, geometry, the arabesque (‘inspired by plants’), and figural art (‘images and poetry’). The day will start with these to form an initial understanding of Islamic art and what aesthetic or religious principles have helped to fashion it. Moving through the gallery, art and design are put into their Islamic cultural context, while enjoying

Start: 10.15am at the V&A. Finish: c. 5.15pm at the British Museum.

Price: £210 in 2019 and £215 in 2020. This includes morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch, donations and one journey by Underground.

Fitness: travel is by Underground and there is some walking and standing during the day.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Ancient Egypt at the British Museum Belief and society Friday 22 November 2019 (lf 905) Friday 2 October 2020 (lg 451) Lecturer: Lucia Gahlin Ancient Egypt is perhaps best known for its mummies and pharaonic splendour, its monumental architecture and colossal statuary. One of the world’s most important collections of these antiquities is housed in London, at the British Museum. Its display of pharaonic might is second to none – Ramesses II casts his eyes downwards, a gaze which inspired Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’. The tours of the Egyptian galleries during this lateafternoon visit focus on the beliefs and lives of the ordinary people.

The itinerary takes advantage of the lesscrowded Friday ‘late’ at the British Museum and starts by exploring the formation of the Egyptian state around 3100 BC, and the changes this brought to the ancient people living in the Nile Valley. The material culture of this early period in Egypt’s history helps us understand the cultural, technological and political developments which changed Egypt forever; the social history of the Ancient Egyptian people, the transition from chiefdoms to a country united under one ruler.

Time is spent in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery, to wander between the statues of pharaohs and gods. Here is a treasure-trove of evidence for private religion and daily life, lesser-known aspects of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. And in the Nebamun gallery, fragments of painted plaster from the tomb of the 15th Century bc temple accountant, as fine as any known examples of ancient Egyptian art, are found displayed alongside an array of objects of daily use. Art and artifacts complement each other to create the fullest picture of ancient Egyptian society.

Sessions are interspersed with refreshments in the Great Court restaurant.

Start: 3.15pm at the British Museum.

Finish: c. 8.15pm at the British Museum.

Price: £190 in 2019 and £205 in 2020. This includes afternoon refreshments, a light supper (one-course with wine) and a donation to the museum.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Combine the November day with: The London Lecture Afternoon, Saturday 23 November 2019. +44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk | www.martinrandall.com/london-days

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LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

Art and Artefacts of Antiquity at the British Museum The works of Classical antiquity, including the controversial Parthenon frieze (the Elgin Marbles), number some 100,000 objects, mostly ranging from the Bronze Age (about 3200bc) to the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the reign of the Constantine I, ad313.

Exploring the galleries of the British Museum is not only a joy in itself, but is one of the best ways to develop a sense of the ancient past. This illuminating and enlightening day will use the art and artefacts of the museum’s rich collections to create a picture of life lived many millennia ago. Objects, it will be argued, are good to think with. Considering artefacts in all their sensuous and cognitive complexity and with all the resources of art history, this tour presents artefact studies as a productive and vital counterpart to visual studies. By examining key works from across ancient Europe, the Near East, North Africa, and Eurasia, it is possible to discover how ancient civilisations interacted, borrowed and shared knowledge, and promoted their own identities.

Friday 29 November 2019 (lf 912) Wednesday 3 June 2020 (lg 239) Lecturer: Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Since its founding in 1753, the British Museum has been world-renowned for its collection of antiquities. As early as the 1840s, the museum was benefiting from the archaeological excavations taking place in Iraq

Start: 10.15am, British Museum. at ancient sites such as Nineveh and Nimrud; the 1850s saw the creation of the Assyrian sculpture galleries which still form a central part of the museum’s collection. Similarly, the magnificent Egyptian antiquities were put on public display by the 1860s and their growth in popularity exploded in the 1920s, following Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Spanish Art in London At Apsley House, Wallace Collection and National Gallery Saturday 30 November 2019 (lf 911) Lecturer: Dr Xavier Bray In 1848 the great pioneer in the study of Spanish art, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, declared that ‘the private collections of England could probably furnish forth a gallery of Spanish pictures second only to that of the Queen of Spain’. A great many of these pictures have since entered public collections throughout the country, making Great Britain one of the best places outside Spain to study Spanish art.

Initially, it was the Peninsular War of 18081814 that broke the floodgates and provided a new market for Spanish art, and many more paintings were to leave Spain when the Spanish monasteries were dissolved in 1832.

One such private collection is the 1st Duke of Wellington’s at Apsley House. Inside are numerous paintings taken from Madrid’s 6

Royal Palace by Bonaparte during the Peninsular War and later given to Wellington

by King Ferdinand of Spain.

The Wallace Collection includes Velázquez’s mesmerizing portrait of a Lady with a Fan as well as a rare work by the Sevillian artist, Alonso Cano, who was known as the ‘Michelangelo of Spain’.

The National Gallery owns 9 paintings by Velázquez, from his early beginnings in Seville to his courtly paintings for Philip IV in Madrid. Alongside, some of Murillo’s finest paintings hang, including several large canvases that originally decorated the altars of Seville’s monasteries and convents. The National Gallery also prides itself on a small group of works by El Greco, an artist who became fashionable in the early 20th century, thanks to art critic Roger Fry who compared the abstract quality of his work with Cézanne.

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Finish: c. 5.15pm, British Museum.

Price: £210. This includes lunch and morning and afternoon refreshments at the Great Court Restaurant.

Group size: maximum 14 participants Combine the November day with: London’s Underground Railway, 27 November, or Spanish Art in London, 30 November.

SATURDAY DEPARTURE Start: 10.15am at Apsley House.

Finish: c. 5.30pm at the National Gallery.

Price: £215. This includes lunch, refreshments, donations to the galleries and taxis.

Fitness: travel is by taxi, but you are on your feet throughout the day.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

‘Thank you very much for organising a most stimulating day. The atmosphere created was harmonious, humorous and educational!’ a participant on Spanish Art in London.

LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

The Golden Age of British Painting Hogarth to the Pre-Raphaelites Tuesday 3 December 2019 (lf 924) Lecturer: Patrick Bade

a native school of painting that could rival the great Continental schools.

The Reformation dealt a deadly blow to the visual arts in Britain by removing ecclesiastical patronage and severing access to sources of new artistic trends in continental Europe.

The aristocracy avidly collected the work of dead foreign artists but failed to nurture living British artists.

They succeeded, and between 1730 and 1850 English painting was unsurpassed in its richness and diversity with a list of great names that includes Stubbs, Joseph Wright of Derby, Blake, Constable, Turner, Samuel Palmer and the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

Not to mention the Scottish contingent of Allan Ramsay and Henry Raeburn or the Irish James Barry and the Welsh Richard Wilson.

Stylistically the day moves from the Rococo, through Neo-Classicism and Romanticism, to the meticulous truth to nature of the early Pre-Raphaelites.

During the early eighteenth century debate abounded around the relationship between British artists and their contemporaries and forerunners across the Channel. Hogarth represented truculent insularity, whilst Reynolds stood for a stance of patrician internationalism and a hope that influence could flow in both directions. However, both artists were united in their longing to establish

rewarding period of British painting. The day takes in a selection of the greatest masterpieces of English painting in the collections at the National Gallery and Tate Britain.

Start: 10.15am, at the National Gallery.

Finish: c. 5.30pm, at Tate Britain.

Price: £205. This includes lunch, refreshments, one taxi journey and donations to the galleries.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Combine the day with: Advent Choral Day, Monday 2 December 2019; or Mother, Maiden Mistress, Wednesday 4 December 2019.

The day’s four sessions, three at Tate Britain and one at the National Gallery, offer a survey and exploration of this fascinating and

Mother, Maiden, Mistress Women in Art Wednesday 4 December 2019 (lf 929) Thursday 2 April 2020 (lg 152) Lecturer: Dr Catherine McCormack Whether through images of Eve,Venus and the Virgin Mary, or as mother, maiden and mistress, women have been framed throughout centuries of art history into certain archetypes that are so embedded in our cultural consciousness we often fail to recognise fully their influence. Over the course of this day we will study a number of archetypes of women and femininity in images made by artists ranging from Botticelli to Titian, Velázquez to Gainsborough.

Also considered will be work by women artists ranging from Gentileschi, Vigée Le Brun and Morisot to a wide range of 20th and 21st century women artists from Bell, to Wylie and Emin. These works will prompt questions and debate around feminism and art. Why have women historically been excluded from studying and practising as artists? Why has art history favoured the contributions of men, often suppressing the history of women’s work? Why are nude images of women in the gallery and public arenas repeatedly normalised?

The first half of the day at the National Gallery considers the historical depiction of women in religious, mythological and history paintings and portraits as well as the way in which women were held back from acceptance into the art establishment until late into the 19th century. The afternoon is spent at Tate Britain where, after lunch at the Rex

Whistler restaurant, the important and often overlooked contributions of women artists in Britain are assessed, ultimately focusing on late 20th century women artists such as Chadwick, Hiller, Lucas and many others represented in the Tate’s collection.

Practicalities Start: 10.20am, at the National Gallery.

Finish: c. 5.10pm, at Tate Britain.

Price: £215. This includes lunch, refreshments, and one taxi journey.

Dr Catherine McCormack Author, lecturer and curator. She works as Consultant Lecturer and Course Leader of the Women and Art summer study programme at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and is currently writing Women in the Picture (Icon Books, 2020).

Group size: maximum 14 participants. +44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk | www.martinrandall.com/london-days

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LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

Ancient Greece at the British Museum Thursday 5 December 2019 (lf 926) Monday 24 February 2020 (lg 113) Thursday 3 December 2020 (lg 602) Lecturer: Professor Antony Spawforth A product of the Renaissance and of the Enlightenment, it is appropriate that the British Museum should be housed in a building modelled on Ancient Greek architecture – indeed, it is the grandest example of the Greek Revival in the country. It is equally appropriate that it houses one of the greatest collections of Greek art and artefacts outside Greece, given that the Classical world was the first and for long the primary object of antiquarian study and literary exegesis in Europe. It is the case that Britain had a special if controversial role in the creation of modern Greece.

The exceptionally wide range of its holdings enables the day to begin two millennia before the Classical period and to finish with Roman copies of Greek sculpture made hundreds of years after the originals. The day consists of

four sessions in the galleries of approximately an hour each, with relatively leisurely refreshment breaks.

The first session looks at Minoan and Mycenaean Greece, and at the Geometric and Archaic periods which saw Greek civilisation emerge to greatness again after the mysterious extinction of the earlier civilisations. The second session is largely devoted to the peerless sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, the so-called Elgin Marbles, famously – infamously – the highlight of the collection, and among the most fascinating and beautiful creations in western art.

Lunch is at the Great Court restaurant, after which there is a little back-tracking to look at the development of pottery from the Archaic to the Classical periods, almost the only evidence of the glories of Greek painting that remains. Finally comes the Hellenistic period, Alexander the Great and after, especially the remarkable monuments from Lycia, the Nereid Monument and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.

Start: 10.15am in 2019 and 10.20am in 2020.

Finish: by 5.15pm.

Price: £195 in 2019 and £205 in 2020. Includes lunch and refreshments at the Great Court Restaurant.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Combine the December 2019 day with: Mother, Maiden, Mistress, Wednesday 4 December 2019.

‘I cannot fault the itinerary.

We were steered along a pathway from earliest Greece to the Romans using carefully selected exhibits to illustrate each historical period.’ a participant on Ancient Greece.

Roses and Nightingales Persianate art at the V&A and British Museum southern Russia to the Indian Ocean, it held together for 230 years. Exceptionally for the ancient world, it was built on the principles of tolerance and harmony.

Under the Sasanian shahs (224–651ad), Persia went head to head in a power struggle with Rome and it was in this era that Iranian culture spread into the west, ultimately having a profound effect upon the Byzantine culture of the Christian world. The coming of Islam to Iran through the Arab invasion saw a hiatus in the spread of Persian culture, but ultimately even the Arabs were ‘Persianized.’

Friday 24 January 2020 (lg 987) Lecturer: Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones The art of Iran is an eclectic mix of styles and motifs drawn from different encounters with foreign peoples but fused together to produce a distinctive and harmonious look which is distinctly - and wonderfully - Persian.

Persia, or modern-day Iran, lies at the heart of world civilisations. Its strategic position on 8

the world map helps explain its importance as a conduit through which world cultures have passed and as a hub of civilisation which has had a profound influence upon all societies it has encountered. The Persians under the Achaemenid dynasty (559–331bc) were the first people to create a world-empire, the largest and most influential before Alexander.

Encompassing twenty-three disparate lands and peoples, from Libya to India and from

+44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk | www.martinrandall.com/london-days

This day gives the opportunity to become familiar with objects of supreme historical and cultural significance. The V&A and British Museum hold rich and important collections of Persian artefacts which between them tell the story of Iran from its ancient past to its vibrant present.

Start: 10.15am, British Museum Finish: c. 4.30pm, V&A Price: £215. This includes lunch, midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshments, one Underground journey and donations to the museums.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

LONDON DAYS | GALLERY & MUSEUM

The Portrait from Van Eyck to Sargent at the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery Friday 31 January 2020 (lg 986) Lecturer: Patrick Bade If you were to meet Giovanni Arnolfini on a London bus, you would recognise him instantly from his portrait in the NG by Jan van Eyck. The same is true of those who sat for John Singer Sargent, though they would be less likely to travel on a bus, and reality, shorn of the glamour imparted by the artist, might disappoint. Over the centuries, portraitists have sought to find the appropriate balance between truth and flattery. Van Dyck and Sargent were among the most successful in combining the two, while Rembrandt and Frans Hals veered towards unvarnished truth.

Lely flattered to the extent that his sitters lost all individuality.

There is a peculiar fascination in confronting the likenesses of long dead people. When they were painted by top rank artists, we feel that we know them intimately and they can seem far more alive and real than in any photographic representation.

We have inherited many sculpted and a few painted portraits from the ancient world, but it was in the Renaissance that the painted portrait became an important art form and that the individual human being was celebrated and commemorated. Using the rich collections of the NG and the NPG, the four sessions will trace the evolution of the painted portrait from the fifteenth to the early twentieth century.

Among other artists to be studied are Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Bronzino, Holbein, Rubens, David, Delacroix, Manet and Renoir. The British have made a special contribution to the art of portraiture: Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough and Lawrence have key roles in this day. The seductive Belle Époque portraits of Sargent and his contemporaries bring the day to a dazzling conclusion.

Start: 10.15am, National Gallery, Getty Entrance.

history and system of government profoundly influenced Venetian art. The Bellini family, Titian, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese fulfilled commissions for the State, the Church and nobility. In the eighteenth century when Venice’s mercantile empire was in decline the city experienced a second great flourishing of art which was fluent and elegant and full of colour and light. Artists such as Sebastiano Ricci and Giambattista Tiepolo were international, travelling throughout Europe and much in demand. These artists looked back at Venice’s great past while their contemporary the great topographical artist Canaletto provided pictorial records of the city for its visitors.

Start: 10.15am, National Gallery.

Finish: 5.00pm National Portrait Gallery.

Price: £215. This includes lunch at the National Portrait gallery restaurant, midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshments.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Venetian Art in London Colour, light and canals Friday 30 October 2020 (lg 547) Lecturer: Lucy Whitaker From the eleventh century Venice developed into a wealthy trading empire with Byzantium and the rest of Europe, its unique position made it the gateway between western Europe and the East. The end of the fifteenth century and the sixteenth century saw great achievements in architecture, sculpture and painting. Trading links with the East meant that Venetian artists could obtain the finest pigments for oil paint and it was in Venice that artists developed the technique of painting in oils. They became famous for their skill in creating illusionistic scenes in rich colours, with an awareness of light affected by the continuously changing effects of large skies and the ever-moving water.

The Venetian Republic was proud of its maritime prowess and independence and its

Finish: c.5.20pm, National Gallery.

Price: £205. This includes a donation to the gallery, mid-morning refreshments, midafternoon refreshments and lunch.

Fitness: There is a lot of standing in galleries during the course of the day.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

Combine with: Venice: Pageantry & Piety, 2–7 November 2020.

The National Gallery has a superb collection of Venetian art, both Renaissance and eighteenth century, which is explored during the four sessions here. +44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk | www.martinrandall.com/london-days

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NEW LONDON DAYS | MUSIC

London Organs Day In the City and West End Friday 15 May 2020 (lg 881) The London Organs Day will be an enthralling experience for both pipe-organ devotees and for the merely interested. London has an outstanding wealth of historic and modern instruments – no other city in the world comes close – and five very fine examples will be heard today, played by four excellent organists.

At all four venues you hear music ideally suited to the organ in that particular church and, by the end of the day, will have enjoyed a cross section of the repertoire which is the widest of any instrument, stretching back to medieval times and continuously augmented by today’s composers.

Each recital will be preceded by a discussion with the church’s organist, teasing out what is special about the instruments and providing background to the music to be played. The interviewer throughout will be Simon Williams, deputy director of the Royal College of Organists and director of music at St George’s Hanover Square, Handel’s parish church.

All the organs are located in historic churches of great architectural and historical interest. It is not by coincidence that our selection is clustered around the Central Line: the day involves one journey by Tube, but otherwise progress between recitals and lunch will be on foot, a total distance of one and a half miles spread over seven short walks.

The venues St Margaret Lothbury Organist: Richard Townend Tucked behind the Bank of England, St Margaret Lothbury was rebuilt after the Great Fire under the direction of Christopher Wren.

Relatively unscathed during the Blitz, it has one of the most fully furnished church interiors of the era, including carvings by Grinling Gibbons; many pieces found a home here during the wave of church demolitions in the 19th century.

Built by George England in 1801, the organ is an exceptional survival of a classical instrument. Restored in 1984, it retains much of its original pipe work. It has two manuals and pedals and, with 21 speaking stops is the smallest of the four instruments.

St Lawrence Jewry Organist: Catherine Ennis One of the most expensive of Wren’s City churches, a ‘sumptuous barn’, St Lawrence is now the official Church of the Corporation of London. Damaged in 1940 and restored in 1957, it has a spectacular white and gold interior.

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The main organ was built in 2001 by Johannes Klais Orgelbau of Bonn and has three manuals and pedals with 39 stops. A much smaller one in the Commonwealth Chapel organ, also by Klais, has one manual and pedals with six stops.

All Saints Margaret Street Organist: Jeremiah Stephenson Historically and artistically, All Saints Margaret Street is arguably the most important Gothic Revival church in central London. Designed in 1850 by William Butterfield, the red and black brick exterior shelters an interior of unsurpassed richness.

The organ is a superb four-manual Harrison and Harrison instrument with 66 speaking stops, built in 1910 (restored it 2003). It retains the best of the pipe work of its predecessor, the considerably smaller Hill organ. Though as big as those found in most cathedrals, it sounds intimate when played quietly and monumental when loud.

St George’s Hanover Square Organist: Simon Williams St George’s is the parish church of Mayfair, built 1721–24 to the designs of John James.

The classical front with six great Corinthian columns was innovatory and highly influential, and the Grinling Gibbons reredos frames a ‘Last Supper’ by William Kent. The interior was modified in 1894 under the direction of Sir Arthur Blomfield and was splendidly refurbished in 2010. George Frideric Handel was a regular worshipper at St George’s, which is home to the annual London Handel Festival.

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Gerard Smith, nephew of Bernard Smith, built the first organ in 1725, but this was rebuilt several times – in 1761 by John Snetzler, and in 2012 by Richards, Fowkes & Co. of Ooltewah, Tennessee. This has its stylistic roots in the magnificent 17th and 18th century organs of North Germany and Holland, and has three manuals and pedals with 46 stops.

The interviewer Simon Williams. Organist and Director of Music at St George’s, Hanover Square, since 2000. He was closely involved with the commissioning of the church’s organ which was installed in 2012. He combines his position at St George’s with those of Director for the Royal College of Organists’ East, South and South West region, and Music Director of Harrow Choral Society. He is also an RCO Accredited Teacher.

Practicalities Start: 10.30am, St Margaret Lothbury.

Finish: c. 5.15pm, St George’s Hanover Square.

Fitness: there are walks at a leisurely pace of, at most 10 minutes, (waiting at pedestrian crossings included).

Price: £215. This includes lunch and refreshments as well as exclusive admission to the four recitals.

Audience size: maximum of 80 participants.

Booking: you do not need to complete a booking form for this event. Please call us to book over the telephone, or book online at www.martinrandall.com.

Photographs ©Ben Ealovega.

LONDON DAYS | HISTORY

Great Railway Termini Paddington, King’s Cross and St Pancras stations Wednesday 13 November 2019 (lf 898) Lecturer: Anthony Lambert Wednesday 16 September 2020 (lg 834) Lecturer: Dr Steven Brindle Two eyebrow-raising assertions: the railways were a Georgian invention, all the ingredients being in place before 1830; and the twentyfirst century is witnessing a golden age of rail travel. The first is indisputable fact, if surprising to contemplate; the second is likely to provoke an unprintable retort from many a daily commuter.

However, few would quibble with a statement that the greatest achievements of railway architecture and engineering are Victorian.

But seeing and appreciating magnificent stations such as those studied today is to a large extent possible because of enlightened

intervention in the last ten or twenty years.

The adaptation and upgrading of ageing infrastructure to meet modern requirements has been a major achievement, but so has the restoration and cleaning of historic fabric. And the sensitive addition of new structures of the highest quality of design has been a triumph.

and its conversion for use as the Eurostar terminus, completed 2007, created one of the most exciting sets of public spaces in Europe.

The contiguous Midland Grand Hotel by Sir George Gilbert Scott is perhaps the bestknown of all Victorian buildings.

Largely the creation of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Paddington is well preserved and in some ways the most appealing of London’s termini. King’s Cross has always been admired for the majesty of its unadorned functionality, but recent removal of twentieth-century clutter enables it to be better appreciated than for a century. And in 2012 the station acquired a magnificent new lattice steel foyer, the widest span in Europe apparently.

Finish: c. 4.45pm at St Pancras Station.

Start: 9.30am at Paddington Station.

Price: £205 in 2019 and £215 in 2020.

This includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, one journey by underground and special arrangements.

Group size: maximum 16 participants.

Combine the September day with: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 17-22 September 2020.

The 240 ft span of the St Pancras train shed far surpassed any previous structure in the world

‘Lucid and fascinating exposition of the railway termini and their surroundings. A real eye opener for me; I found myself taken back in time so that it felt as if I were really there.’ a participant on Great Railway Termini.

London’s Underground Railway A history and appreciation of the Tube Wednesday 27 November 2019 (lf 910) Wednesday 22 April 2020 (lg 159) Wednesday 16 September 2019 (lg 379) Lecturer: Andrew Martin Shanghai has more track, Paris and New York have more stations, but London has by a clear margin the oldest urban underground railway in the world: 2013 was its 150th anniversary.

It is also by far the most complicated, having started messily as several independent and often competing enterprises; contrary to sensible practice, strategic planning by unitary municipal government came towards the end of the process, not in advance.

Modern London was shaped by the Tube rather than vice versa. Motivation and management has been various: commercial and philanthropic, entrepreneurial and Keynesian, expansionist and defeatist. The first ‘cut and cover’ lines, in trenches under existing roads, were vigorously promoted by a

socialistic solicitor. The ‘deep level’ tube lines were pushed through by a maverick American, while the suburban extensions between the wars fulfilled the utopian ideals of a dour Yorkshireman who came bitterly to regret the urban sprawl they spawned. Now, after decades of relative neglect, investment and improvement are on an unprecedented scale.

The day is led by Andrew Martin, journalist, novelist, historian and author of Underground Overground: a Passenger’s History of the Tube (2012). During the 1990s he was ‘Tube Talk’ columnist for the Evening Standard. He stresses that his approach will not be drily academic or technical but anecdotal and affectionate, highlighting the human stories, the architecture and design, the overlooked detail and the downright odd.

Among the places and themes examined are the first ever stations, still in use and little changed; the even earlier Brunel tunnel under the Thames, mother of all modern tunnels,

opened 1841; the subtle beauties of Leslie Green’s tiled stations of the early 20th century and the revered modernist architecture of the 1930s; and the architectural bravura of the 1990s Jubilee Line Extension. The day is not all spent below ground, and by special arrangement there is a visit to London Transport’s historic headquarters at 55 Broadway.

Start: 9.00am at Baker Street Station.

Finish: c. 5.00pm at Southwark (a short walk to Waterloo station).

Fitness: participants need to be able to cope with busy trains and a considerable time on foot; standing or walking. There are a lot of station steps as well as a flight of 100 which are steep and narrow within 55 Broadway.

Price: £215 in 2019 and £220 in 2020.

This includes all Tube travel, lunch and refreshments.

Group size: maximum 15 participants.

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LONDON DAYS | HISTORY

Hampstead in the 1930s A walking tour and visits

As the abundance of wall plaques in the area demonstrates, visual artists have been drawn to the physical and cultural attractions of Hampstead since the late eighteenth century.

This London day, however, concentrates on artistic life in Hampstead in the 1930s, the period in which it occupied a unique place in the story of British art and architecture.

This was in large measure due to the number of talented émigrés from Nazi-dominated Europe who found refuge here, and the British individuals who welcomed and worked alongside them.

A private view of selected items from the era at Hampstead museum’s collection at Burgh House, and an introductory lecture, set the scene. It was during the 1930s that such residents as Paul Nash, Roland Penrose and Henry Moore made the area the hub of avantgarde activities in the UK. Both the abstract and surrealist camps were well represented and modernist architects Wells Coates and Maxwell Fry also lived here during this period.

A walk through Frognal is testament to their influence and work, and there is a visit to Hungarian-born Erno Goldfinger’s pioneering home at nearby 2 Willow Road.

By special arrangement, we visit the former garage of the Isokon building in Lawn Road which has been converted into a small gallery devoted to the colourful history of these flats whose tenants included Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, as well as Agatha Christie and a significant number of Communist spies. The Mall Studios were home to what Herbert Read described as a ‘gentle nest of artists’, among them Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson.

For a brief but significant spell, Piet Mondrian lived just around the corner.

The day is led by lecturer, writer and curator specialising in 20th century art, Monica Bohm-Duchen who was born in Hampstead and has lived there most of her life.

Start: 10.00am at Hampstead Underground Station.

Finish: c. 5.30pm in central Hampstead just a short walk from Hampstead Underground Station.

Price: £220. This includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, admission charges and donations, one taxi journey.

Fitness: there is a fair amount of walking on steep streets and you are on your feet most of the day at the sites visited.

Group size: maximum 14 participants.

The Tudors Hampton Court, tombs and portraits Monday 22 June 2020 (lg 278) Lecturer: Dr Neil Younger Tudor architecture, culture and politics are studied through two of the finest buildings of the era, and Tudor people through the two best assemblies of images.

The day begins at Westminster Abbey in the Henry VII Chapel, not only the most glorious ecclesiastical Tudor building but burial place of most of the Tudor monarchs. The theme of commemoration continues at the National Portrait Gallery, broadening to include courtiers.

Hampton Court began as the country palace of Cardinal Wolsey, one of the richest and most powerful individuals in Europe, before being sequestered by Henry VIII. Partially rebuilt and extended for William and Mary, it nevertheless retains some outstanding 16thcentury interiors and works of art – great hall, chapel, private apartments, kitchens, tapestries and paintings.

He is the author of War and Politics in the Elizabethan Counties and is currently working on a biography of the Elizabethan courtier Sir Christopher Hatton.

Start: 9.25am, Westminster Abbey (west door).

Finish: c. 6.30pm at Waterloo Station.

Price: £225. This includes lunch, morning refreshments, admission charges and transport.

Transport: taxis within London, return national rail between Waterloo Station and Hampton Court.

Fitness: there are walks of up to 20 minutes between station and palace at Hampton Court, and a lot of standing in galleries and buildings.

Group size: maximum 16 participants.

The lecturer Dr Neil Younger is a specialist in Tudor politics, government and court culture.

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Image: ©Isokon Building, Hampstead, London

Wednesday 27 May 2020 (lg 234) Lecturer: Monica Bohm-Duchen

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‘Fascinating and enjoyable.

Particularly seeing the penthouse flat of the Isokon.’ a participant on Hampstead in the 1930s.

LONDON DAYS | WALKING

London’s Top Ten A walking tour unveiling the famous sights architectural and historical context, and by placing them in the history of London and in the history of the nation, the lecturer will change the way you see these world-famous places.

We’ve misled you slightly: the Day will include only eight or nine places, selected by the lecturer for that day from this list of ten: Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the Shard (from a distance), St Paul’s Cathedral (entered), Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey (entered), Houses of Parliament, Piccadilly Circus, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace – enhanced of course by our leader’s commentary.

Start: 9.15am, Tower Hill Underground Station.

Finish: 5.15pm Green Park Underground Station.

Tuesday 19 May 2020 (lg 213) Lecturer: Sophie Campbell Most of our London Days focus on a particular and sometimes arcane theme, and usually they provide access to the inaccessible and show you little-visited gems. ‘Top Ten’ takes the opposite tack in that it leads you to London’s most famous tourist sights.

What justifies this apparent volte-face in the MRT repertoire? The lecturer’s discourse. You

will hear information and explanation rarely imparted by ordinary guides and guidebooks and hear analyses and interpretations, often reflecting new scholarship, which go beyond the expectations of the majority of tourists.

Monuments that have been familiar since childhood become difficult to appraise with one’s usual sensory and critical faculties; this tour aims to lift the veil and enable you to see and feel their deeper significance and beauty. By locating the sights in a broader

Fitness: The day involves several short journeys by public transport but is otherwise spent on foot. There is a considerable amount of walking throughout the day, up to half a mile at a time. A good level of fitness is recommended.

Price: £220. This includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, two admission charges and transport.

Group size: maximum 16 participants.

Combine the day with: London Organs Day, 15 May 2020.

Royal Parks Walk London’s green lungs Monday 29 June 2020 (lg 281) Lecturer: Steven Desmond There are many royal parks in London. Their long history as royal preserves gradually admitting the public has left London with a distinguished legacy of public open spaces free from developer pressure and sprinkled with monuments. This walk will take us through three of these great parks to examine this ancient landscape of wood, water, turf and flowers, and dwell on some of its treasures.

St James’s Park, virtually the front garden of Buckingham Palace, was made into something more than a place of public resort by Charles II although its present appearance owes most to the softening of its lines by John Nash in 1826.

Regent’s Park began as confiscated monastic land. The Prince Regent turned it into the centrepiece of his prototype garden city,

to which the public were first admitted in 1835. William Andrews Nesfield and his son Markham laid out the elaborate Avenue Gardens in the 1870s and the former botanic garden in the central circle was converted into the opulent rose garden in 1930.

The day is led by Steven Desmond, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture and specialist in the conservation of historic gardens.

Hyde Park was detached from Westminster Abbey by Henry VIII in 1536, and was first opened to the public by Charles I. It became the venue of a series of spectacular events in the 19th century: the Trafalgar re-enactment on the Serpentine in 1814, when the model French fleet was destroyed; the Crystal Palace of 1851, the world’s first modular exhibition centre and a sensational success; and the building of the Albert Memorial of 1872, a structure whose reputation has never stood higher. The royal enclave of Kensington Gardens, remodelled by Charles Bridgman in 1726, includes the charming sunken garden of the 1920s by the versatile Ernest Law.

Finish: 4.30pm, Hyde Park.

Start: 10.00am, Westminster Underground Station.

Price: £205. This includes lunch, morning and afternoon refreshments one Underground and one taxi journey.

Fitness: The distance covered is c. 6 miles and you are on your feet for most of the day while looking and listening. Please don’t attempt it unless you are able to walk at about 3 mph for at least an hour at a time. Stout shoes are of course advisable.

Group size: maximum 16 participants.

+44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk | www.martinrandall.com/london-days

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LONDON DAYS | BY DATE

NOVEMBER 2019 12

13

15

22

27

29

30

The Italian Renaissance (lf 886) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................ 4 Great Railway Termini (lf 898) Anthony Lambert........................................ 11 Islamic Art in London (lf 899) Professor James Allan................................... 5 Ancient Egypt at the British Museum (lf 905) Lucia Gahlin..................................5 London’s Underground Railway (lf 910) Andrew Martin........................................... 11 Art and Artefacts of Antiquity (lf 912) Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones................... 6 Spanish Art in London (lf 911) Dr Xavier Bray.............................................. 6

DECEMBER 2019

3 4

5

10

The Golden Age of British Painting (lf 924) Patrick Bade..................................7 Mother, Maiden, Mistress (lf 929) Dr Catherine McCormack...........................7 Ancient Greece (lf 926) Professor Antony Spawforth......................... 8 Caravaggio & Rembrandt (lf 928) Dr Richard Stemp......................................... 4

JANUARY 2020 24

31

Roses and Nightingales (lg 987) Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones................... 8 The Portrait from Van Eyck to Sargent (lg 986) Patrick Bade..................................9

FEBRUARY 2020 11

24

Islamic Art in London (lg 106) Professor James Allan................................... 5 Ancient Greece (lg 113) Professor Antony Spawforth......................... 8

MARCH 2020 4

5

Caravaggio & Rembrandt (lg 117) Dr Richard Stemp......................................... 4 The Italian Renaissance (lg 119) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................ 4

APRIL 2020 2

22

Mother, Maiden, Mistress (lg 152) Dr Catherine McCormack...........................7 London’s Underground Railway (lg 159) Andrew Martin........................................... 11

SEPTEMBER 2020 16

16

London’s Underground Railway (lg 379) Andrew Martin........................................... 11 Great Railway Termini (lg 834) Dr Steven Brindle........................................ 11

OCTOBER 2020 2

29

30

Ancient Egypt at the British Museum (lg 451) Lucia Gahlin.................................5 The Italian Renaissance (lg 546) Dr Antonia Whitley...................................... 4 Venetian Art in London (lg 547) Lucy Whitaker............................................... 9

DECEMBER 2020 3

Ancient Greece (lg 602) Professor Antony Spawforth......................... 8

MAY 2020 15

19

27

London Organs Day (lg 881) Simon Williams........................................... 10 London’s Top Ten (lg 213) Sophie Campbell......................................... 13 Hampstead in the 1930s (lg 234) Monica Bohm-Duchen............................... 12

JUNE 2020 3

22

29

Art and Artefacts of Antiquity (lg 239) Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones................... 6 The Tudors (lg 278) Dr Neil Younger.......................................... 12 Royal Parks Walk (lg 281) Steven Desmond.......................................... 13

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST New departures are released frequently throughout the year.

To register your interest for any of the below itineraries, please e-mail alerts@martinrandall.co.uk

London Choral Day, Summer 2020

Japanese Art in London

Advent Choral Day, Winter 2020

Hawksmoor

The Genius of Titian

The London Backstreet Walk

John Nash

Roman London Walk

The Ever Changing City Skyline

Seven Churches & A Synagogue

The Stuarts

The South Bank Walk

Interwar Interiors

Wellington in London

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The London Gardens Walk

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LONDON DAYS | BOOKING, GIFT VOUCHERS

& UPDATES MAKING A BOOKING There is no booking form for London Days. You can book over the phone, or online at martinrandall.com/london-days.

If booking by phone, we will need to know: •

Name and date of the London Day(s) you are booking.

•

Your name(s), as you would like it/ them to appear to other participants.

•

Your address, telephone number and e-mail address (if you have one).

•

Any special dietary requirements and your contact details for the night prior to the day.

Payment. If by credit or debit card, give the card number, start date and expiry date (but for security not in an e-mail).

There is no charge for using either a credit or debit card.

Confirmation will be sent to you upon receipt of payment. Further details including joining instructions will be sent about two weeks before the day.

Cancellation. We will return the full amount if you notify us 22 or more days before the event. We will retain 50% if cancellation is made within three weeks and 100% if within three days. Please put your cancellation in writing to info@ martinrandall.co.uk. We advise taking out insurance in case of cancellation and recommend that overseas clients are also covered for possible medical and repatriation costs.

London Days gift vouchers Since its inception in 2012 our London Days programme has opened doors and minds to the wonders of the capital, and has continued to grow in breadth and popularity.

London Days gift vouchers offer the opportunity to share the experience of a cultural day out in the capital and make an ideal present.

The gift voucher, a large postcard print depicting St Paul’s Cathedral, can be purchased to any value, or for a specified day.

For further information or to purchase a London Days gift voucher, please contact us on: Martin Randall Travel: 020 8742 3355, or e-mail info@martinrandall.co.uk Martin Randall Australasia: 1300 55 95 95, or e-mail anz@martinrandall.com.au North America: 1 800 988 6168, or e-mail usa@martinrandall.com

SIGN UP TO OUR FORTNIGHTLY E-BULLETIN New departures are released frequently throughout the year. Be the first to hear about the latest range of London Days with our fortnightly e-mail updates.

To sign up please e-mail info@martinrandall.co.uk, or call us on 020 8742 3355.

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Relief from the modern world.

Our award-winning archaeological tours don’t just disinter the past – they bring its mysteries thrillingly to life. This is down to expert lecturers, chosen not just for their scholarship but for their skill in painting vivid pictures of antique worlds. From Pompeii to Petra, from Hadrian’s Wall to Hebron, our meticulously planned itineraries celebrate the genius of ancient civilisations.

‘So varied and utterly interesting. Delightful travelling companions and group. Everything matched up to the high standards of Martin Randall Travel.’

Best Special Interest Holiday Company at the British Travel Awards in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Contact us: +44 (0)20 8742 3355 martinrandall.com ATOL 3622 | ABTA Y6050 | AITO 5085

Archaeology tours in 2020 include: Pompeii & Herculaneum 27 April–2 May 21–26 September | 19–24 October Palestine, Past & Present 12–20 October Essential Jordan 18–26 April | 16–24 October Classical Greece 23 May–1 June | 10–19 October Walking Hadrian’s Wall 18–24 May | 14–20 September