MENU PREVIOUS LECTURES


× Home Our Society
About Us Joining Us Where We Meet What Is The Arts Society? Committee Documents
Lectures Visits & Tours Study Days News Diary Volunteering
Arts Volunteers Heritage Volunteers Church Recorders Trails
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

20 October 2026HOGARTH: A HARLOT A RAKE and A MARRIAGE
15 September 2026THE QUEEN MOTHER'S LIFELONG LOVE of JEWELLERY
03 July 2026OH,WE DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE
16 June 2026THE LIFE and WORKS of SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS
26 May 2026REMBRANDT: WHY SELF PORTRAITS
21 April 2026THE SHAKESPEARE OF DOGS- SIR EDWIN LANDSEER
17 March 2026KIKI de MONTPARNASSE
17 February 2026THE CREATION of the BBC
20 January 2026POMP,FEAST and REVELRY: THE MEDIEVAL YEAR in ART
09 December 2025PANTOMIME:WHEN THE FAIRY IS OVER FIFTY!
18 November 2025J. M. W. TURNER : TRADITION and INNOVATION
21 October 2025SULEYMAN the MAGNIFICENT and the GOLDEN AGE of OTTOMAN ART and ARCHITECTURE
16 September 2025THREADS of HISTORY : THE WORLD of the BAYEUX TAPESTRY
04 July 2025THE GRIT and GLAMOUR: ART in the JAZZ AGE
17 June 2025BECOMING JANE AUSTEN: THE MAKING of a LITERARY SUPER STAR
20 May 2025JOHN SINGER SARGENT: THE PRIVATE RADICAL
22 April 2025THE NATION' S MANTELPIECE: A HISTORY of the NATIONAL GALLERY in TEN PAINTINGS
18 March 2025INN SIGNIA: PUB SIGNS, THE ARTWORK and the STORIES BEHIND THEIR NAMES
18 February 2025VAN GOGH and GAUGIN in ARLES
21 January 2025EDWARD HOPPER-PAINTER of LONELINESS
10 December 2024WHEN WINTERS WERE WONDERFUL: LIFE and LEISURE in CANADA of YESTERYEAR
19 November 2024IMPERIAL PURPLE to DENIM BLUE and the COLOURFUL HISTORY of TEXTILES
15 October 2024VITA SACKVILLE WEST and SISSINGHURST (Knole Connection)
17 September 2024THE ARTISTS of MONTMARTRE "THE PILGRIMS of BABYLON
05 July 2024THE ART of TRICKERY, HOW MAGICIANS ARE SEEN in PAINTINGS, PRINTS and CARTOONS
18 June 2024GUSTAV HOLST- THE PLANETS and BEYOND
21 May 2024THE CITY of FAITH, ART and EMPIRE
16 April 2024FRANS HALS- A LOOK BEHIND the JOVIALITY and SPONTANEITY
19 March 2024ART BEHIND BARS: THE ROLE of ARTS in BREAKING the CYCLE of CRIME and of RE_OFFENDING
20 February 2024THE FOUNDERS and TREASURES of the WALLACE COLLECTION
16 January 2024MORE THAN JUST BUNS:DINING OUT IN GEORGIAN LONDON
05 December 2023IN THE FROSTY SEASON : HOW THE ROMANTICS INVENTED WINTER
21 November 2023MARIE BRACQUEMOND- THE UNKNOWN IMPRESSIONIST
17 October 2023MICHAEL SITTOW_TALLIN'S FINEST TALENT
19 September 2023BRAMSHILL,THE MYSTERY of its HISTORIC GARDENS and BPTANICAL PAINTINGS
07 July 2023LIFE on a HARPSTRING : THE HISTORY, DESIGN and MUSIC of this UNIQUE INSTRUMENT
20 June 2023A PORTRAIT of JEWELS FOLLOWING MISSING TREASURERS THROUGH CANVAS
16 May 2023THE ASHCAN PAINTERS: FOUNDERS of NEW YORK REALISM
18 April 2023THE ENGLAND of ERIC RAVILIOUS -1903 to 1942
21 March 2023THE WOMAN WHO TOLD US WHERE TO GO
21 February 2023SICKERT and the CAMDEN TOWN MURDERS
17 January 2023CARAVAGGIO- THE MASTER of LIGHT and SHADOW
06 December 2022ROBED IN DREADFUL MAJESTY-MUSIC, POETRY and TRADITIONS of ADVENT
15 November 2022THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF AL-ANDALUS
18 October 2022RESTORING THE ARTE OF KENT
20 September 2022A JOURNEY TO SANSEPOLCRO- PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA'S RESURRECTION
15 July 2022A BRIEF HISTORY OF WINE
21 June 2022THE BATTLE OF MARATHON
17 May 2022MARC CHAGALL- WONDERING JEW OR CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
19 April 2022THE GREATEST ART PATRON IN THE WORLD - RUDOLPH 11 and his KUNSTKAMMER
15 March 2022SADLERS WELLS -THE THEATRICAL MOTHERSHIP
15 February 2022A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA
18 January 2022CELEBRATIONS IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART
07 December 2021CHRISTMAS at COVENT GARDEN -BACKSTAGE at the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
16 November 2021POTS AND FROCKS_ THE WORLD OF GRAYSON PERRY
19 October 2021THE NATIONAL INTEREST-ART, THE SUN KING and the ACADEMIC REVOLUTION
21 September 2021PEGGY GUGGENHEIM
15 June 2021THE LUTE WITHIN OLD MASTERS PAINTINGS
18 May 2021AUGUST RODIN AND 19th CENTURY SCULPTURE
20 April 2021ARTIST'S VIEW of 19CENTURY RURAL BRITAIN: IDYLL or HARD LABOUR
20 April 2021ARTIST'S VIEW OF 19th CENTURY RURAL BRITAIN: RURAL IDYLL OR HARD LABOUR
16 March 2021TAMARA DE LEMPICKA
16 February 2021ROMANCING THE RAILS
19 January 2021STANLEY SPENCER: THE ODD ONE OUT
08 December 2020SINGE WE YULE
17 November 2020FRIDA KAHLO: A LIFE IN ART
20 October 2020LONDON'S COUNTRY HOUSES
15 September 2020THE SUNFLOWER IN ART AND CULTURE
10 July 2020A BRIEF HISTORY OF WINE -------- CANCELLED --------
16 June 2020THE LUTE WITHIN OLD MASTERS PAINTINGS ------------------ CANCELLED -----------------
19 May 2020AUGUST RODIN AND 19TH-CENTURY SCULPTURE CANCELLED
21 April 2020POTS AND FROCKS - THE WORLD OF GRAYSON PERRY CANCELLED
17 March 2020PEGGY GUGGENHEIM
18 February 2020ART AND ARCHITECTURE
21 January 2020THE EMPTY CHAIR: FROM VAN GOGH TO AI WEIWEI – HOW ARTISTS DEPICT WHAT IS MISSING
03 December 2019THE INVENTORS OF CHRISTMAS
19 November 2019IMPERIAL CALCUTTA: ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE
15 October 2019PEARLS AND POMEGRANATES, PEACOCKS AND PIPES: THE HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF RENAISSANCE ART
17 September 2019DRAWN FROM ART – THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AUGUSTUS JOHN
18 June 2019THE ANATOMICAL DRAWINGS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI – A SURGEON’S VIEW
21 May 2019THE TIGER IN ASIAN ART
16 April 2019"THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY" – A HISTORY OF GLASS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ARTIST
19 March 2019GEORGIA O’KEEFFE AND HER UNIQUE ARTISTIC VISION
19 February 2019THE REBUILDING OF THE TOWN OF YPRES AFTER THE GREAT WAR
15 January 2019MOZART’S OPERATIC WORLD

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

Lecture: HOGARTH: A HARLOT A RAKE and A MARRIAGE Lecturer: HILARY WILLIAMS Tuesday 20 October 2026

Hogarth was born in the City of London into a lower-middle-class family. In his youth he took up an apprenticeship with an engraver, but did not complete the apprenticeship. His father underwent periods of mixed fortune, and was at one time imprisoned in lieu of payment of outstanding debts, an event that is thought to have informed William's paintings and prints with a hard edge.

Influenced by French and Italian painting and engraving,Hogarth's works are mostly satirical caricatures, sometimes bawdily sexual,mostly of the first rank of realistic portraiture. They became widely popular and mass-produced via prints in his lifetime, and he was by far the most significant English artist of his generation. Charles Lamb deemed Hogarth's images to be books, filled with "the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of words. Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read."

This lecture tells the stories in “The Harlot’s Progress”, the Rake’s Progress” and “Marriage-a-la-Mode” and shows how Hogarth was an artist with a social conscience and keen sense of humour