Events

Sir Gabriele Finaldi will give a talk ‘The National Gallery: A Growing Collection’, followed by a conversation with Professor Charles Martindale, Chair of the Friends, about his career and role as Director of one of the greatest galleries in the world. The National Gallery has been much in the news recently. On May 10 2024 […]

*** Fully booked *** Friends' Exclusive Preview of the Exhibition 'Making Waves' The exhibition of Japanese prints, ‘Making Waves’, opens to the public in the Madsen Galleries on Friday 27 February. Before the public are admitted, there will be a special Friends-only preview from 10.00 –11.00am, with a tour led by the show’s lead curator, […]

Stillness and Strength: Cavallino’s Saint Agatha Our programme of Gallery Talks will resume on Wednesday 11 March at 11.30 with a talk on Cavallino’s Saint Agatha from Maisie McDonough, one of the Gallery’s Duty Managers. Join us for a closer look at Bernardo Cavallino’s Saint Agatha, a painting whose power comes from stillness rather than spectacle. […]

Stage Design: Drama through Art; Art through Drama. Seminar by Professor Anthony Ogus Over two sessions, 10.30 - 11.15 and 11.45 - 12.30 with a break for coffee and cookie, the speaker, Professor Anthony Ogus, will discuss how developments in stage design and painting styles are related. He will demonstrate how art enhances drama and […]

We will start our tour at 11am in the medieval Guildhall, with its fine 18th century courtroom, local history museum, and collection of paintings by the Beverley artists Fred and Mary Elwell. The Guildhall was remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries and the Court Room has fine plasterwork by Guiseppe Cortese. Here we will […]

We will leave Memorial Gardens by coach at 9am to travel to Skipton. Here we will first visit the newly refurbished Craven Museum, which was shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the year in 2024. Here we will have coffee and a short talk by the Curator, before touring the collection, which includes a […]

Leaving Memorial Gardens at 1pm, we will travel by coach to Birdsall House, near Malton for a 2-hour guided tour by a member of the Willoughby family. Set in beautiful parkland, the original Tudor house was enlarged in the mid eighteenth century and later extended by the architect Anthony Salvin in 1870, who added the […]

Leaving the Memorial Gardens at 8am, we will travel by coach to Calke Abbey. This remarkable house has been sensitively conserved by the National Trust. It has a wonderful display of Gilray cartoons and a large natural history collection. After a self-funded lunch at Calke, we will travel to Ironbridge where we will visit Ironbridge […]

The Borthwick is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. Since 2005 it has been based in a purpose- built building made possible by a grant of £4.4 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund. In this tour, Gary Brannan, the Keeper of Archives and Special Collections will showcase the breadth and importance of the […]

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 […]

This five-day coach tour to Sussex has been arranged for the Friends by Travel Editions. Departing from York Memorial Gardens on Monday 28 September, we will visit Wardown House Museum & Gallery en route. Accommodation will be at the four-star Holiday Inn on Brighton Sea Front. The tour will include Farleys House & Towner Eastbourne […]

Talk by Sir Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum: Wedgwood and Flaxman Flaxman worked as a designer and modeller for Wedgwood, who rated him above all his other designers. With Wedgwood’s financial help, Flaxman spent seven years in Rome where his sculptures were also much admired. He supported the purchase by the […]