Welcome back art lovers. You find the itinerant art historian arriving this morning in the bright sunlight and azure skies of a briskly chilly Winchester the home of King Arthur's round table; well at least something that claims to be this legendary object. Of course the reason why I am here in Winchester is not to see the round table, but to give a lecture to the Winchester decorative and fine arts society on the subject of 'The Art of Portraiture: From Titian to van Dyck'. The society is a large one that requires me to give this lecture twice today to accommodate their membership, which numbers almost 500.
But as I sit here in the Victorian Gothic splendour of the Winchester's raked seating Guildhall theatre venue waiting to take to the stage and give my lecture, I reflect on my brief walk around the interior of this grand build where I came across many other large and splendid halls, some of which contained paintings of great figures associated with Winchester's great and historical past, including a rather large, if somewhat unimpressive portrait of Charles II by one of the many artists that would benefit from imitating the style of Anthony van Dyck - Sir Peter Lely.
But as my mind now drifts back to the first of my two lectures here in Winchester, I glance around the lecture theatre to observe the great and the good of the Winchester DFAS arriving. As the theatre starts to fill for the morning rendition of my lecture one can hear the conversations that abound as to what revelations might be revealed by this lecture. Amongst the chatter I overhear a lady remark, as she looks at the title of the my lecture displayed in large type on the screen on the stage, "does it say Titan,who is he"? At least there will be one revelation that I can be guaranteed to be revealed.
In two days time I head off once again on my travels with art around the country bound for Huddersfield via Wakefield station to give this lecture again. See you there, and stay up to date at my twitter feed.
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