MENU PREVIOUS LECTURES


× Home Our Society
About Us Joining Us Where We Meet What Is The Arts Society? Committee Documents
Lectures Visits & Tours Special Interest Days News Diary Volunteering
Arts Volunteers Heritage Volunteers Church Recorders
Gallery Web Page Links
Useful Links Culture Links Videos
Contact Us Surrey Area
About The Area Area Events Local Society Events


Click here for future lectures



Click here for future lectures

14 October 2026Music and Art in the Age of Vermeer
08 July 2026The History of the City of London as told through its Stained Glass
10 June 2026Paintbrushes at Dawn: the World's Greatest Artistic Feuds,Rows and Quarrels
13 May 2026Notre Dame de Paris: Its iconic status in France's history
08 April 2026Iceland: More than Fire and Ice
11 March 2026Insatiable Appetites: Eating Out In Georgian London
11 February 2026Rococo-the First Pop Art?
14 January 2026Edward Burne-Jones and the Legend of the Briar Rose
10 December 2025Creating an Imaginary World- Theatre Design from Temple to Playhouse.
12 November 2025Bonnard and Vuillard: The Seduction of the Visual
08 October 2025Art Deco: Celebrating the Centenary of the 1925 Paris Expo
09 July 2025Matisse and his travels to the Sun
11 June 2025The Stirling Prize: British architecture's Oscars
14 May 2025A History of London's Royal Parks
09 April 2025Tinker,Tailor, Artist, Spy: Sir Peter Paul Rubens as a Diplomat and Agent
12 March 2025A Decorative Art: History of Wallpapers
12 February 2025Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de St Georges – the African Mozart
08 January 2025Thomas Cromwell, the Goldsmiths' Company and the Mint
11 December 2024Bath: The Story of a City
13 November 2024The Origins of Art Nouveau Architecture
09 October 2024Breugel, the Seasons and the World
10 July 2024Secret Art in the Passport - How we use it to fox the forger
12 June 2024'Debo'- Mitford, Cavendish, Devonshire Duchess, Housewife 1920-2014
08 May 2024Cinema from the Rubble: The Post-War Politics of Ealing Studios
10 April 2024Tulip Mania in Golden Age Holland
13 March 2024The England of Eric Ravilious (1903-1942)
14 February 2024The Wonderful World of Medieval Manuscript Marginalia
10 January 2024Creating the Golden Era of Transatlantic Liners
13 December 2023The Journey of the Magi: Origins, Myth and Reality-The True Story of the Three Kings
08 November 2023The Cenotaph- Armistice Day
11 October 2023Manet: An Unintentional Revolutionary
12 July 2023Summering in Newport: Cottages, Celebrities and Suffragettes
14 June 2023William Morris's Red House - "The Most Beautifullest Place on Earth"
10 May 2023Bach and Handel- Separated at Birth
12 April 2023Art Of the River Thames
08 March 2023The World's Most Expensive Art - Where Leonardo Meets Picasso
08 February 2023Stone on Stone: The Men Who Built The Cathedrals
11 January 2023Churchill : An Inspirational Life in Photographs, Words and Paintings
14 December 2022The Power of Photography
09 November 2022Hitchcock: Master of Suspense
12 October 2022The Bayeux Tapestry: 950 years of Propaganda, Intrigue and Spin
13 July 2022Agatha Christie
08 June 2022Seaside Modern: Art & Life on the Beach
11 May 2022Milord Abroad...The British Grand Tour
13 April 2022What really happened on Easter Island
09 March 2022West End Winners - The Rise of the British Musical from Noel Coward to Lionel Bart
09 February 2022Louis XIV and the creation of Versailles
12 January 2022The Glamour Years: Jewellery & Fashion 1929-59
08 December 2021Giles: His Life, Times and Cartoons
10 November 2021Dresden: Art and Architecture
13 October 2021Art in Advertising
14 July 2021Balls and Parties: Legendary Festivities
16 June 2021Caravaggio: A Rebel with a Cause
16 June 2021Caravaggio: A Rebel with a Cause
19 May 2021Hogarth: Harlots, Rakes and Crashing China
21 April 2021A Load of Old Balls
17 March 2021The Sea in Danish Painting
10 February 2021The World of L. S. Lowry
13 January 2021The Pre-Raphaelites
09 December 2020Beethoven at 250 – Classical Music’s Greatest Revolutionary
11 November 2020The Art of the Steal: Nazi Looting in World War 2
14 October 2020"Gilt and Gorgeousness" - A Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of King George IV's Accession to the Throne
08 July 2020Louis XIV and the Creation of Versailles - THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR THE FUTURE
10 June 2020The Glamour Years: Jewellery & Fashion 1929-1959 - THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT WE WILL RESCHEDULE FOR THE FUTURE
13 May 2020Dresden and its Treasures - THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT WE WILL RESCHEDULE IN THE FUTURE
08 April 2020Art in Advertising - THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT WE WILL RESCHEDULE IN THE FUTURE
11 March 2020Double Dutch: Symbols, Emblems and ‘Double- Entendre’ in Dutch paintings
12 February 2020The Field of Cloth of Gold
08 January 2020Raphael - A Master in the Making
11 December 2019Art Inspired by Wine
13 November 2019Turner
09 October 2019Royal Collectors: Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their Art
10 July 2019Postcards from Far and Near: Picturing the 20th Century
12 June 2019The Elgin Marbles
08 May 2019Riviera Paradise Art: Art, Design and Pleasure in the 1920s
10 April 2019Faberge at the Court of the Tsar
13 March 2019Manet and Music
13 February 2019Curiouser and Curiouser: The Life and Works of Lewis Carroll
09 January 2019Sir Christopher Wren and the Wren churches
12 December 2018We Three Kings - The Coming of the Magi
14 November 2018William Hogarth: Snapping at the Heels of the Establishment in the 18th Century
10 October 2018The Gates of Heroes
11 July 2018The Seine: River of Light, Artists’ Delight, the Home of Impressionism
13 June 2018The Scottish Colourists
09 May 2018Artists in London 1520 - 1677
11 April 2018The art and culture of the Fin de Siecle Vienna
14 March 2018Contemporary Artists: Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor
14 February 2018More than meets the eye:artists and camouflage
10 January 2018Charles Rennie Mackintosh
13 December 2017Will the real Santa Claus please stand up?
08 November 2017Travellers Among Mountains and Streams: Masterpieces of Chinese Landscape Paintings
11 October 2017Rene Lalique Master of Art Nouveau, Jewellery and Art Deco Glass
12 July 2017 Mille Miglia: Cars and Culture
14 June 2017Treasures of the Turf: The Fine and Decorative Art of Horse Racing
10 May 2017The Interiors of Jane Austen's Heroines
12 April 2017John Singer Sargent – much more than just a modern Van Dyck
08 March 2017Faking it – the allure of imitation jewels from the 1500s
08 February 2017Mr Barry''s Great Work: Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament
11 January 2017Renaissance Women: Artists, Patrons and Subjects
14 December 2016The Secret World of Charles Dickens: Conjuring in life, letters & literature
09 November 2016Gold of the Gods: Treasures of South America and the search for El Dorado
12 October 2016Romancing the Rails: British Railway Posters. On Track with the World's Best
13 July 2016The Punch and Judy Show: A Subversive symbol from Commedia Dell’Arte to the Present Day
08 June 2016The Wonderful Mediterranean: Cradle of Cultures and Civilisations
11 May 2016Three Great Families and their Gardens: The Rothschilds, The Sackville-Wests and the Astors
13 April 2016“I am the very model”: Parodies of Victorian Society in Gilbert and Sullivan
09 March 2016Constable’s Great Landscapes: The Materials and Techniques
10 February 2016The Cuisine of Art and the Art of Cuisine
13 January 2016Photography as Fine Art
09 December 2015Hidden Treasures of 20th Century Book Illustration
11 November 2015Three Artists of the First World War
14 October 2015Italian Art at the Dawn of the Renaissance

Click on a row and scroll to display more details about the lecture

Music and Art in the Age of Vermeer Adam Busiakiewicz Wednesday 14 October 2026

Musical instruments are found throughout the paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. Despite this, knowledge of their symbolic meaning, and how they sounded to their original participants, is often lost on modern audiences. The associations of music with love and intimacy, enlivened by the sound quality and tone of the instruments of the period, help unravel their meaning. From Jan Steen’s brothel scenes to the solemn interiors of Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, this lecture charts the vast meaning and rich significance of music in Dutch art.

Our lecturer Adam Busiakiewicz is an Art Historian, Lecturer and Lutenist. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in History at University College London in 2010 he held the position of Head of Historical Interpretation (curator) at Warwick Castle. He left the castle in 2013 after winning a full AHRC studentship to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine and Decorative Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He completed his doctorate in the History of Art at the University of Warwick in 2022 and became a cataloguer in the Old Master Paintings Department at Sotheby's where he remains a Consultant.

The Guitar Player, c.1672 Johannes Vermeer