A talk by Sir Nicholas Penny FBA, FSA, Director of the National Gallery 2008-2015.

Flaxman as Sculptor and Illustrator.

This lecture by Sir Nicholas, together with one by Sir Tristram Hunt in October, has been organised in connection with the exhibition, John Flaxman: Echoes of Eternity, held to mark the bicentenary of his death. The exhibition opens at York Art Gallery on 18 September. Flaxman, (1755-1826), sculptor and designer, was one of the most celebrated artists of day and remained the best-known British sculptor in Europe until Henry Moore. He influenced major European artists including Ingres and Goya and was a key figure in the pan-European artistic movement of the day, Neoclassicism, in particular through the influence of his illustrations to the poetry of Homer, Dante and Aeschylus. In 1810 he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy, a post specially created for him.

Cost £22 50: to include tea/coffee and cake after the talk.